subject: Packaging, Between Functionality And Aesthetics [print this page] The world of packaging is so wide and entered so completely in the world of commerce that we dont even realize all the packages we normally handle: thanks to the packaging machines we can buy packs of chips, in packs of various sizes, from snack to family size, as well as crackers, bread-sticks and rusk.
The packaging systems are a salvation for the commerce: without them all the goods sold in the supermarkets and stores couldnt be transported, and there would be no packages to attract our eyes and help us two choose the products we will buy; moreover, many products are preserved thanks to the vacuum-packs, which keep the products fresh for a longer time, giving them the time to get from their place of origin to the place in which they will be finally sold.
The machines used for the production of packages have been studied to create resistant packages of different kinds, depending on the products that need to be packed; hence, there are various machineries with forming sets with round, oval and rectangular edges, special forming sets, vertical packaging machine, vacuum-packs, alimentary and much more.
After all, the kinds of processing are as many as the kinds of packages we see every day on the stores shelves of our cities: chips, spaghetti, bread, sauces, ham and cheese, thinking about a little part of the alimentary products, but lets think of the non alimentary products: pens, pencils, soaps, cigarettes, shoes, computers and...how many others things can you name? Everything we buy has got a packaging, studied to protect the product and make its transportation as easy as possible.
In fact, there are different levels of packaging: first, second and third. The first level of package is the one that arrives in our hands, its the one that attracts our sight in the stores, that convinces us to buy a product instead of another one, even without knowing it. The second level of package is the multiple package, that is to say the package that contains more than one unit of product: for example, the package of bottles of water, CDs, tomato sauce or tuna fish.
Then, the third level: it contains the first and the second packaging, its the bigger one, which serves for the transportation of the goods, so that they are protected and compact in order to occupy as little space as possible so that more goods can be transported. Of course, the packaging destined to the alimentary products have particular rules as far as the materials are concerned, which of course must not release toxic substances that would be dangerous for the food it contains.
The packing is a whole world to discover, so wide that it often becomes invisible: surrounded by every kind of packaging, we dont realize the fundamental role they have in commerce and, as a consequence, in our day to day life.
