Reflection on video: "How it’s made > Cardboard boxes"

This video explains a brief history of the invention of card board as well as a very comprehensive explanation of how cardboards are manufactured, printed, folded and cut.

According to this video cardboard was invented by an accident by Robert Gears. They are made of two parts, one wavy sheet of paper called the flute which is surrounded by two sheets of papers called liners. These three layers together form what is called a corrugated board.

In the beginning, large sized recycled papers start the production of paper boards. These papers are very wide and their thickness is dependent on the strength required for the finished cardboard. The wavy layer of the cardboard is made by feeding the recycled paper through a corrugator which makes the wavy shape on the papers by pressing it through a roll. To make the process easier hot steam is used to soften down the board. Then the flute is fed through another roller which covers the both sides of the flute with a kind of glue which is made of a mixture of water and starch. The waves on the flute provide air cushion for the board and the flute is made of half recycled paper.

After the main wide cardboard is made the pieces are cut in order to give the edges a sharper look. Then these boards are stacked up and fed through a roller that presses the parts which are meant to be folded. The fold pattern is made in the roller and it is covered with cushions around it in order to make the fold marks cleaner and sharper looking.

After that the colours that are meant to be printed on the cardboards are mixed up in a container. The specific amount of ink required to make a certain colour is poured in the container and then they are mixed. These colours are then applied to a roller. The cardboards are fed through different rollers that apply a different colour to the cardboard.

At the end the cardboard is cut again through a roller into the desired cutting pattern and they are stacked up ready to be shipped to a specific manufacturer or market. These are normally flat packed when shipped and the flat packed  cardboards are folded in the specific manufacturing company.