(847) 717-3300You may know it as a corner board, VBoard, or Angleboard, but these terms all refer to the same concept. Corner board is a high-strength, moisture-resistant edge protector made from layers of 100% recycled paperboard and coated with biodegradable, water-resistant coatings. A corner board can be placed on the edge, corner, top, or bottom of the product to hold it together during the shipping and storage process, protecting it from external elements and reducing the risk of a product being damaged during transit.
What makes VBoard the leading-edge protector in the packaging industry is the variety of packaging functions it serves.
Table of Contents
- What Is A Corner Board Used For?
- What Are The Key Properties Of Corner Board?
- Corner Board In Action: Real-World Example
- What Is FlexBoard?
- FlexBoard Example: Replacing Wooden Crates
What Is A Corner Board Used For?
1. Edge Protection & Unitizing
As you may have guessed by now, the first and primary use of VBoard is to guarantee edge protection for pallets, specifically during the transportation process. When product containers are configured on a pallet, corner boards are placed across the top edges of the pallet to keep the stack configured as a column (also called unitizing), preventing shifting or sliding during transit. This will reduce the risk of accidental damage during both transit and handling activities.
2. Stacking Strength & Space Savings
This thick, sturdy VBoard not only ensures edge protection, but it also allows for the products (such as pallets) to be easily stacked, saving on warehouse space or potential storage costs. In other words, a corner board can increase the stacking strength of the package, maximizing the use of space in the container, reducing shipping costs, and mitigating damage.
3. Internal Reinforcement & Cushioning
If we shift our attention to the inside of the box, VBoard is also extremely useful when placed inside the package. It can provide internal reinforcement and cushioning by creating space between the product and the box.
What Are The Key Properties Of Corner Board?
Now that we know what it’s used for, let’s focus on the properties that make VBoard so unique. Easy to cut and form, the corner board is lightweight, strong, and durable. VBoard is also versatile and flexible, since it can easily be combined with other materials and used in a variety of configurations to ensure the right fit for different applications. But that’s not all. The use of paperboard in the corner board also reduces carbon footprint, as it requires less material to be broken down, and it is 100% recyclable.
Everything seems great, right? But according to several articles that explain how to write a successful blog post, listing the benefits of a product isn’t enough. It is essential to show how those benefits helped achieve a solution in real life, using real operational information.
Corner Board In Action: Real-World Example
Here’s how Millennium helped a large egg farm reduce shipping costs through smarter corner board selection.
“A large egg farm wanted to reduce their shipping costs, and contacted Millennium to create a plan. During our analysis of their operation, it emerged that they were using a 0.160 thick corner board as primary edge protector in their packaging. To determine the exact resistance of their corner board, we decided to run an Edge Crush Test (ECT). Based on our review of their logistics, corner board, and results of the crush test, we suggested they switched to a thinner 0.140 board. With the ECT, we proved that, by moving to 0.140 board, we could maintain their existing board strength and also achieve a 12.5% reduction in the amount of material used on every piece of corner board.
By taking the time to carefully examine their operation and materials used, Millennium was able to find a solution that offered the customer material and cost savings on a product they use daily”.
After reading the short story of how Millennium successfully implemented a plan that saved one of its customers money and energy, you should have a clearer idea of the advantages of using Angleboard. This brings me to part two of the post: describing a specific type of corner board, called FlexBoard.
What Is FlexBoard?
The FlexBoard is a flexible kind of corner board, as it features evenly spaced notches (every 3”) that enable it to conform to the edges of almost any irregular shape. This type of corner board is ideal to protect curved, round products, such as master rolls of paper or rolled steel that will be shipped to converters. FlexBoard is available in lengths from 72” to 288”.
FlexBoard Example: Replacing Wooden Crates
Here’s an interesting case where Millennium helped one of its customers save on costly materials and labor costs.
“This customer manufactures 42” (in diameter) and 48” tall bulk heavy-duty laminating film rolls. To protect these expensive rolls, they were using wooden crates to secure their shipments. However, they wanted to eliminate the pricey wooden crates, so reached out to Millennium to find a solution. After careful investigation, we decided to replace the wooden crates with a 2x2x60 .160 FlexBoard OD Protector, which was placed around the outside diameter of the roll to protect the edges. The roll was additionally protected by using a 48” single face A-flute corrugated sheet under the roll and a 1 mil clear poly top sheet on top of the roll. Because the roll sat on a pallet, we stretched wrapped around the circumference of the roll, capturing the pallet as well. With the use of the recommended FlexBoard, our customer was able to fully remove wooden crates in the shipping process, which allowed them to save significant time from having to prepare the crates. They also gained a less-expensive, yet well-protected fully encapsulated roll”.
Learn More About Corner Board Solutions
If you’re interested in discovering more about the benefits of the corner board and how Millennium can help you achieve the best solution based on your operation and product(s), please contact our team of experts at (847) 719-6101 or send us a message.