Our innovative, double-glue style bulk bins are not only functional but they also have more stacking strength than most other comparable bins. The built-in divider seperates product and decreases damage. Click here for more information.
Corrugated boxes are made through a series of steps, from paper-making to finishing. These are often completed at different physical locations and involve completely different processes. The first step in making a corrugated box is actually making the paper. Most of today's corrugated paper, called containerboard, is made of fully recycled/recyclable material. The containerboard, made from OCC (old corrugated containers), is made into large rolls (some weighing over 2 tons) which are shipped to the box plant. There are over 100 different varieties of containerboard, depending on the weight, alignment of fibers and color.
At the box plant, the containerboard initially goes to the corrugator, a large machine that converts three, five, or seven individual sheets of containerboard into one piece of corrugated board, known as combined board. It does this by first combining with glue two pieces of containerboard; one is the outside liner and one is the medium (which has waves, or flutes, pressed into it by passing through two interlocking rolls that are almost like gears). Then, another sheet of linerboard is glued to the outside to make single wall corrugated board. To make double wall, this process is repeated, using the existing piece of corrugated board instead of the outside liner.
After the corrugated board is glued together, it continues through the corrugator and is automatically cut into predetermined sizes, depending on what is needed in the converting department. The accuracy of these sheets is within 1/32". Once the sheets are cut, they are automatically stacked and moved (or shipped, depending on the final destination) to the converting department. Plants that make boxes but don't have a corrugator in-house are known as sheet plants. Sheet plants purchase corrugated board to start their work instead of rolls of paper.
The pre-cut corrugated board arrives at the converting department, which is either at the box or sheet plant, and is sent to the appropriate machine. What machine the board is sent to depends on final size, shape and look of that box. The corrugated board passes through the converting machine, which usually cuts and prints the box. Some machines can also fold and glue the boxes in the same process, and can produce as many as 5 boxes per second. Once the boxes are made, they are then stacked on a pallet and shipped to the customer.
Bates has a 98" corrugator which can produce A, B, C and E flutes. Flute sizes refer to the number of flutes, or waves, per lineal foot. The sheets that are produced on this corrugator are then moved to the converting department, as well as shipped to our San Antonio and Longview plants, to be made into boxes. Bates Container is able to produce most corrugated boxes, die-cuts, pads, sheets, bulk bins, etc, due to both our experience in the industry and breadth of machinery. Between the box plant and two sheet plants, Bates has 8 flexo folder-gluers ranging in roll diameter from 38" to 66" and maximum width of 190"; 6 die-cutters, from 50" to 66" up to 125" in width; two specialty folder-gluers; one wax curtain coater; and various other box converting machinery.