If there would be a "Eurovision efficiency Box festival" our 10 points would undoubtedly go the FEFCO 230, also known as the American Box (And our box enthousiast Toon would probably host the show). It's not just one of the most popular choices for pre-made boxes. Even with the Slimbox, where you have a wild variety of different box types, the American box stands out as one of the most popular and most used.
Why?
Quite simply: it's a very practical and fast box, it's both efficient and fast in printing as in handling. Printing speed always depends on the volume of the product (and the size of the box offcourse) but for the Fefco 230 the cut- and fold lines are very straightforward and reduced to a minimum. We'll discuss handling later, but let's remember it's one of the fastest and easiest boxes to erect, pack and ship.
When to use the American Box?
This allrounder can be used to ship most of the products. It's probably easier to discuss the exceptions. We wouldn't use the fefco 230 when it comes to very fragile products, those you would want to pack with extra protection or air chambers (like the FEFCO 403) or boxes types better fitted to the specific shape or dimension of the product.
Another exception would be when your customer experience and aesthetics are important, let's be honnest, it's not the best looking box in the Slimbox range. When this is important, we would go for the Fefco 210, Auto lock box, Fefco 403, Fefco 427 or a custom made box.
Another advantige is that this American box is also an allrounder when it comes to dimensions, this because the very straightforward lines and corrugated use. This means that you can pack quite big products within this box. Altough, when it comes to long products, there are better options in the Slimbox range.
Sofware
Because it's allround profile, the American box is a perfect match within automation . This means that the FEFCO 230 is in the most cases the standard selection when your WMS/ERP/Backoffice is Linked to the Slimbox software. This because it can handle most of the product types and dimensions.
Note that within the Slimbox software you can also play with the flap size, you can make the flapsize larger to create more protection towards internal or external piercing. Or just to make the handling even more easy. Keep in mind that a bigger flap size takes more corrugated and can have an impact on the box dimensions.
Handling
There are 2 ways of plying the American box as you can see in the video. The handling of the box can be made a lot easier when you use your product in the packing process, in stead of first making the box as Toon is showing in both of the examples.
Step 1: Tape the side flap
Step 2: Fold & tape the bottom of the box
Step 3: Put your product in the box
Step 4: Fold & tape the top
Products used:
Butterfly/Bear/Bull/Leopard corrugated (E/B/EB/EE)
American box Recap
To sum up the American Box in just two words: Efficient All-Rounder. This translates into the Slimbox box scoring as follows:
· Box design: Efficiency
· Easiness & speed of handling: High - 5 seconds
· Box safety: Medium low
· Suggested type of corrugated: Butterfly (E-flute)/ Bull (B-flute)/ Leopard (EE-flute)/
Bear (EB- flute)
· Corrugated efficiency: high
· Print speed: high