How Folding Cartons and Takeaway Boxes Are Made

How are folding cartons made? The production route in brief

Folding cartons are made by printing paperboard sheets, finishing them, cutting and creasing individual blanks from each sheet with a steel rule die, then folding and gluing the blanks so they ship flat and are erected at the packing point or in the kitchen. Food boxes add a barrier coating on the board before printing and often need different glues.

The typical route:

1. Board selection and preparation: the grade, grammage and grain direction are fixed; for food boxes, a PE or dispersion barrier is applied on the reel before it is cut into sheets.
2. Prepress and tooling: artwork is placed on the approved dieline, plates are made, and the cutting die, creasing matrix and any foil or embossing dies are produced.
3. Printing: most cartons are printed sheet-fed offset with an inline varnish; kraft boxes may be printed flexo; short runs may be printed digitally.
4. Finishing: optional off-line steps such as film lamination, hot foil, embossing and spot UV.
5. Die-cutting: a flatbed platen die cutter cuts and creases the blanks, strips waste and separates blanks; rotary die-cutting is used on some web-fed lines.
6. Folder-gluing: blanks are pre-broken, folded and glued as straight-line, crash-lock or corner-glued cartons. Fold-up boxes skip this step and ship as flat blanks.
7. Quality control: in-process checks on colour, registration, creasing and glue, plus tests on barrier performance for food boxes.
8. Packing: cartons are counted into bundles or shipper cases, palletised and protected against humidity.

The rest of this guide takes each stage in turn. Terms used here are defined in the converting and manufacturing glossary and the printing and prepress glossary.

Board selection, grain direction and incoming checks

Which boards are used?

Four families of paperboard cover almost all folding cartons and board food boxes. The full comparison of grades, codes and costs is in FBB vs SBS vs WLC; the production view is summarised here.

Retail cartons typically run from about 250 to 450 gsm. Takeaway boxes and clamshells typically sit in a similar range, with fries scoops at the lighter end and large meal boxes at the heavier end, before the barrier coating is added. Caliper matters more than grammage for stiffness and for every tool setting downstream: the creasing matrix, the folder-gluer belts and the die cutter's make-ready are all set to caliper, not gsm. Board grades are introduced in the materials glossary and in packaging paper grades.

Why does grain direction matter?

Paperboard fibres align with the direction the web travelled through the board machine (machine direction, MD). Board is noticeably stiffer in MD than across it (cross direction, CD), and it folds differently along and across the grain. Because every blank on a printed sheet shares the same grain, the direction is fixed when the sheet layout is planned.

Common practice is to orient the grain so it runs around the carton, at right angles to the main body creases. This gives the side panels more resistance to bulging, helps the carton stay square when erected and gives cleaner folds on the main creases. There are exceptions, for example trays, clamshell lids that must not sag, or cartons that a specific cartoning machine handles in one direction, so the structural designer balances grain against the number of blanks per sheet. A carton redesigned to fit more blanks on a sheet can end up with the grain the wrong way; ask whether the layout changed the grain direction when a new size is quoted.

Sheeting and conditioning

Board arrives either as sheets cut at the mill or as reels that the converter, or a sheeting service, cuts into sheets on a rotary sheeter. Sheet sizes are matched to the press format; B1-format presses (sheets of roughly 70 x 100 cm) are a common class for cartons, with larger formats used for big blanks and long runs. Accurate, square sheets with clean edges matter because the press, die cutter and stripping tools all register off the sheet edges.

Board is hygroscopic: it takes up or loses moisture until it reaches equilibrium with the surrounding air. Pallets moved from a cold warehouse into a warm pressroom, or left unwrapped in humid air, curl and change dimension, which shows up later as misregistration, feeding problems and poor creasing. Converters typically keep board wrapped until it has reached pressroom temperature and control pressroom humidity, often in the region of 50 to 55 percent relative humidity. Exact targets vary by plant and board.

Incoming inspection

Typical checks on incoming board include grammage (ISO 536), caliper (ISO 534), moisture content, surface and curl, and, for coated food board, coat weight and surface treatment level. The mill or coater normally supplies a certificate of analysis per lot and a food-contact declaration for the grade. Lot numbers are recorded so finished cartons can be traced back to the board batch, which Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 requires for food-contact materials in the EU through its traceability article.

How is a barrier added to food boxes before printing?

For burger boxes, meal boxes, noodle pails and other boxes that hold hot, greasy or wet food, the barrier is normally applied to the board on the reel, before sheeting and printing. PE is applied by extrusion coating; aqueous dispersion barriers are applied by roll, blade or curtain coating. Applying the barrier at reel stage gives an even coat weight across the whole sheet that a printing press cannot match.

PE extrusion coating

In extrusion coating, low-density polyethylene is melted, extruded through a flat die as a thin curtain and laid onto the moving board web, where a chilled roll and a pressure roll bond it to the fibres. For takeaway boxes the coat weight is typically in the region of 12 to 20 g/m² on the food side; some boxes for delivery or very wet food are coated on both sides.

Two details affect later production:

• Corona or flame treatment of the board before coating improves PE adhesion. A second corona treatment of the PE surface raises its surface energy so that inks, coatings and glues can wet it. Untreated PE has low surface energy and repels water-based materials.
• Surface treatment decays over time in storage, so converters typically check it on arrival and before printing or gluing, often with test inks or pens calibrated in mN/m (dynes).

Aqueous dispersion barriers

Dispersion barriers are water-based polymer coatings, often applied in more than one layer and at a lower coat weight than PE extrusion coating. They are usually applied at the board mill (mill-applied barrier board) or by a specialist coater, and are dried with hot air or infrared. Because dispersion coatings are thinner and less elastic than PE, crease cracking through the barrier is a real risk; the barrier's performance should be tested on creased samples, not only on flat board.

Fluorochemical grease-proofing is no longer an option for EU food-contact packaging: from 12 August 2026, Article 5 of the PPWR (Regulation (EU) 2025/40) restricts PFAS in food-contact packaging. Grease resistance on board boxes now comes from PE, dispersion barriers, mill-applied non-fluorinated barriers or dense fibre structures. The regulatory picture is covered in PFAS-free food packaging, and barrier chemistry, recyclability and the position of coated paper under the Single-Use Plastics Directive in barrier coatings for paper packaging.

Barrier choice in production terms

Prepress and tooling

Before a sheet is printed, three sets of tools are prepared from the same approved dieline: printing plates (or a digital file), the cutting and creasing die with its matrix, and any foil, embossing or spot UV tools. They must agree with each other to fractions of a millimetre, which is why the dieline is fixed before tooling starts.

• Dieline and sheet layout: the structural designer repeats the blank across the sheet (the number of "ups"), sets grain direction and shares cut lines to save board. Dieline line types and die costs are explained in carton dielines, cutting dies and structural prototyping.
• Artwork and separations: graphics are placed on the dieline with bleed, with glue areas kept free of ink and varnish, and foil, spot UV and emboss on separate layers. File rules are covered in the packaging artwork guide.
• Proofing: a contract proof and, for structure, a white sample cut on a sample table confirm colour and fit before plates and dies are ordered.
• Plates: for offset, aluminium plates are imaged directly from the file (computer-to-plate), one per colour plus a plate or blanket for the varnish unit if spot varnishing is used. For flexo, photopolymer plates are made per colour.
• Cutting die and matrix: the die-maker laser-cuts the die board, bends and inserts cutting, creasing and perforating rules, and fits ejection rubber. The creasing matrix is selected for the board caliper.
• Finishing tools: magnesium, copper or brass dies for hot foil and embossing (with a matching counter for embossing), and screens or coating plates for spot UV.

In German the cutting die is a Stanzform and the folding carton itself a Faltschachtel; Dutch buyers call it a vouwdoos.

How are folding cartons printed?

Most folding cartons are printed by sheet-fed offset lithography, which gives fine screens, accurate brand colours and an inline varnish in one pass. Flexo is common for kraft board and some long-run food boxes, often printed on the reel. Digital printing covers short runs, samples and versioned designs. The wider comparison is in flexo vs offset vs gravure vs digital printing.

Sheet-fed offset

A sheet-fed carton press feeds sheets one at a time through a series of printing units, each carrying one colour. In each unit the image is transferred from the plate to a rubber blanket and from the blanket to the board. Carton presses typically have five to seven or more printing units: four for CMYK and the rest for spot colours (brand reds, metallic inks, opaque whites) or a primer. Halftone screens on carton board are often in the region of 150 to 200 lines per inch, with finer screens possible on smooth SBS.

After the last printing unit, most carton presses have a coating unit, usually an anilox roller with a chambered doctor blade that meters a set volume of varnish onto the sheet through a coating plate or blanket. This is where the overall aqueous varnish, or a UV varnish on UV-equipped presses, is applied inline. Some presses have a second coating unit for effects such as a primer followed by UV gloss.

Drying and curing depend on the ink and varnish system:

Two production details matter for food cartons. First, set-off: in the delivery pile, the printed face of one sheet rests on the unprinted reverse of the next, and ink components can transfer to what becomes the food-contact side. Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006 on good manufacturing practice, in its annex on printing inks, requires that substances from the printed surface are not transferred to the food-contact side by set-off in the stack or reel, or through the substrate. Low-migration ink series, adequate drying, controlled pile heights and correct powder or varnish use are the practical controls. Second, mineral oil: conventional sheet-fed inks have historically contained mineral oils, and many brand owners now require mineral-oil-free inks for food packaging, especially for dry foods. In Germany, the Printing Ink Ordinance (Druckfarbenverordnung) adds a positive list for substances in printing inks on food-contact materials, applying from 1 January 2027. See mineral oil barriers and food-safe cartons for the board side of the issue.

In-press controls include ink density and colour measurement on a colour bar (spectrophotometer, often inline or at a press-side scanning table), registration marks between units, and comparison with the approved proof or press sample. Colour tolerances, Delta E and Pantone matching are covered in Pantone vs CMYK in packaging.

Flexo for kraft board and long-run food boxes

Flexo transfers fluid ink from an engraved anilox roller to a raised photopolymer plate and then to the board. It suits uncoated or lightly coated kraft board, where offset's paste inks and fine screens bring little benefit, and long runs of simpler designs: one to four spot colours, logos, patterns. Kraft takeaway boxes, noodle pails and some burger boxes are often printed this way, either web-fed (on the reel, before sheeting or with inline rotary die-cutting) or on sheet-fed flexo equipment.

Key parameters are the anilox volume and screen. Solids and line work on absorbent kraft typically use higher-volume, coarser anilox rollers; finer process work on smoother white board uses lower-volume, finer screens. Water-based inks dried by hot air are the usual choice for food boxes, with UV flexo used on some lines. Because kraft is brown, light colours print darker unless a white underprint is laid down first. Dot gain is higher than in offset, so artwork for flexo kraft boxes is usually designed with bolder elements. More on brown versus white board for food boxes is in kraft vs white board takeaway boxes.

Digital printing for short runs

Sheet-fed digital presses, using dry toner, liquid electrophotography or inkjet, print cartons without plates. They are used for samples, launches, seasonal or regional versions and short runs of many designs. The sheets then go through the same die-cutting and gluing route, although some short-run work is cut on digital cutting tables instead of with a steel rule die. For food boxes, the suitability of the ink or toner system for food packaging, and its behaviour on barrier-coated board, must be confirmed for the specific job.

Finishing: lamination, foil, embossing, spot UV and windows

Finishing steps that cannot be done inline on the press are carried out off-line, each on its own machine and each with its own make-ready and waste allowance. The usual order is printing and inline coating, then lamination, spot UV, foil stamping and embossing, then die-cutting. Choosing between finishes is covered in carton finishes; this section explains what happens in production.

Hot foil dies typically run in the region of 100 to 150 °C, depending on foil and board. Window patching happens after die-cutting, because the window opening is cut by the die; the film is usually PET, PP or a cellulose-based film. For takeaway boxes, film lamination and heavy decoration are rare; the usual finish is an aqueous or low-migration UV varnish on the outside, with the barrier on the inside.

How does die-cutting work?

Die-cutting turns a printed sheet into separate carton blanks. The sheet is pressed between a steel rule die and a counter plate: sharp cutting rules cut through the board, rounded creasing rules push it into channels on a creasing matrix to form fold lines, and ejection rubbers push the board off the rules. Most folding cartons are cut on flatbed platen die cutters; rotary die-cutting is used inline on some web-fed lines.

Flatbed platen die cutters

An automatic flatbed (platen) die cutter works in stations:

Many carton plants also use die cutters with integrated hot foil units, which stamp foil and cut in sequence. Sheet speeds typically range from several thousand to around ten thousand sheets per hour, but depend heavily on machine, format, board and how much stripping the job needs.

The die, rules and matrix

A steel rule die is a flat board, typically laser-cut plywood or a composite, with hardened steel rules inserted into slots. Cutting rules have a sharpened edge; creasing rules have a rounded edge and are slightly lower than cutting rules, so they push the board into the matrix without cutting it. The difference in rule height is set according to board caliper.

The creasing matrix (also called the counter or make-ready channel) is a strip with a precise channel, glued to the counter plate beneath each creasing rule. A common starting point is a channel width equal to the creasing rule thickness plus around 1.3 to 1.5 times the board caliper, and a channel depth close to the board caliper. Board manufacturers publish their own creasing recommendations for each grade, and converters fine-tune them in trials.

Make-ready on a die cutter means levelling the impression: thin patching tape or a make-ready sheet is built up under low spots so every rule cuts with the same pressure across the sheet. On complex dies, make-ready is a skilled and time-consuming step, and it is part of why short runs carry a higher cost per carton.

Nicks, stripping and blanking

Nicks are tiny gaps ground into the cutting rules, typically a fraction of a millimetre wide, that leave the blanks attached to the sheet so it can travel through stripping and delivery in one piece. Too few nicks and blanks fall out and jam; too many, or nicks in the wrong place, leave rough tags on visible edges. Die-makers place nicks on non-display edges, glue flaps and inner corners where possible.

Stripping tools remove internal waste, such as windows, vent holes and handle cut-outs, and the gaps between blanks. Poor stripping leaves chads of board inside cartons, which is a food-contact contamination risk as well as a cosmetic defect. Blanking separates the finished blanks automatically, giving clean stacks ready for the folder-gluer or for packing as flat blanks.

Rotary die-cutting

Rotary die-cutting uses a cylindrical die and anvil, so cutting is continuous rather than one impression per sheet. It is used inline on web-fed flexo or gravure lines and for very long runs of stable designs, such as some food box and cup-carrier blanks. Rotary dies cost more than flat dies, and changeovers take longer, so the method suits high, repeated volumes rather than frequent design changes.

How does a folder-gluer work?

A folder-gluer turns flat blanks into glued, flat-folded cartons ready to be opened in one movement. Blanks are fed one at a time, pre-folded to loosen key creases, glued on the flaps that need bonding, folded over by belts and hooks, and pressed in a compression section while the glue sets. Machine modules are configured differently for straight-line, crash-lock and corner-glued styles.

Folder-gluer sections

Straight-line cartons, glued only on the side seam, run fastest. Crash-lock and corner-glued styles run slower because each carton needs several glue points and more complex folding.

Straight-line, crash-lock and corner-glued styles

• Straight-line: a single side seam (the manufacturer's joint) glued along the glue flap. Used for reverse and straight tuck ends, sleeves and seal-end cartons.
• Crash-lock (auto-bottom): bottom flaps are folded and glued on the folder-gluer so the bottom locks into place when the carton is squared. Used for heavier products and fast hand packing.
• 4-corner and 6-corner: corner webs or flaps of trays and lids are glued so the tray springs into shape. 6-corner trays also have the side walls folded in for a double-wall or hinged lid. Pre-glued burger clamshells and many meal trays are made this way.

Carton styles and when each is worth its gluing cost are compared in folding carton styles.

Cold glue or hot melt?

Cold glue, typically a water-based PVAc emulsion, is the default for uncoated board and aqueous-varnished surfaces: it penetrates the fibres, gives fibre-tearing bonds and is economical. It needs absorbent surfaces, so it bonds poorly to PE, UV varnish, laminated film or heavy ink. Hot melt adhesives, based on EVA or polyolefins, are applied molten, set by cooling within seconds and bond to many closed surfaces, so they are used for PE-coated board, laminated cartons and difficult coatings. Hot melt adds cost and must be specified for the temperature range the box will meet, including hot food and refrigerated storage.

Food-contact documentation should cover the adhesive as well as the board, ink and coating. Most carton adhesives are applied on the outside or within the seam, but the declaration should reflect where glue is used.

Glue detection and inspection

Modern folder-gluers typically carry sensors that confirm glue is present on each carton, often with optical or capacitive detectors for cold glue and infrared or vision systems for hot melt. Camera systems can also check print, fold position and codes, and ejection gates divert faulty cartons out of the stream. For multi-SKU orders with near-identical designs, code or barcode readers prevent a carton from a different version entering the batch. A buyer cannot see these systems but can ask how missing glue, mixed versions and skewed folds are detected and what happens to rejects.

How are burger boxes and takeaway food boxes made differently?

Burger clamshells, fries scoops, chicken boxes and meal trays follow the same sheet-fed route as retail cartons, but three things change: the board usually carries a barrier on the food side, the die includes locking tabs, vents and food-zone details, and gluing must cope with coated surfaces and heat. Many fold-up food boxes skip the folder-gluer and ship as flat die-cut blanks.

Locking tabs, slots and vents

The clamshell's front locking tab and its slot are cut by the same die as the rest of the blank, so tab shape, slot width and their position relative to the creases are set in the die and tested on white samples. A slot that is too tight tears when staff close the box quickly; one that is too loose lets the lid spring open under steam. Lock styles are compared in burger box structural designs.

Vent holes, side vents and lid louvres are punched or cut in the die-cutting pass. Round holes and small slots need stripping tools so the chads leave the sheet; partial-cut louvres are left attached and fold open. Vent placement is a balance between letting steam out and keeping cut edges above the food line, because raw fibre at a cut edge wicks grease and moisture. How venting affects food quality in delivery is covered in burger box venting and delivery.

Gluing PE-coated board

PE-coated board is harder to glue than uncoated board because PE has low surface energy and does not absorb water-based glue. Converters typically use one or more of these approaches:

• Design the glue flap so the bond is PE to clay-coated or uncoated board, not PE to PE, where the structure allows.
• Corona-treat the PE surface inline on the folder-gluer, or rely on treatment applied at the coater, then use a cold glue formulated for treated PE.
• Switch to hot melt on coated glue areas.
• Heat-seal PE to PE, as on some trays and pails, using hot air or heated tools to melt the coating and press the surfaces together.
• Specify a pattern-coated board where the glue zone is left free of barrier, an option with some dispersion and mill-applied barriers.

Glue bonds on coated food boxes are checked after conditioning and, where the box holds hot food, after exposure to heat and steam, because a bond that is fine at room temperature can let go when the box is warm.

Erect-at-site vs pre-glued

Some high-volume food boxes, especially trays and pails from PE-coated board, are formed by machine instead: blanks are delivered flat and erected on forming machines that heat-seal or glue the corners, either at a converter or at a central kitchen. Wet-food structures and seam choices are covered in takeaway boxes for hot, wet and saucy food.

Quality control during carton production

Quality control on cartons combines in-process checks at each station with tests on finished cartons against the approved sample and specification. For food boxes, barrier performance tests are added. Sampling plans and approval documents are explained in packaging quality control; test methods are defined in the testing and quality glossary.

Grease resistance ratings are explained in KIT test and grease resistance ratings.

Common carton and food box defects

Most carton defects can be traced to one station. The table links each defect to its usual cause and to what a buyer can check on delivered goods.

Packing, palletising and storage

Finished cartons ship flat, counted into bundles or shipper cases and palletised. Packing protects the cartons from crushing, humidity and contamination, and it decides how easily they can be used at the packing line or in the kitchen. Count, case size and pallet pattern are part of the specification, not an afterthought.

• Counts: cartons are counted into bundles, shrink-wrapped or banded stacks, or corrugated shipper cases, typically in round numbers. Foodservice sites usually want case counts that match daily or weekly use and fit their storage shelving. Inner bags inside cases are common for food-contact boxes to keep dust out.
• Labelling: each case typically carries the item code, description, quantity, lot or batch number and production date, so complaints can be traced to a production lot.
• Pallets: Euro pallets (1200 x 800 mm) are standard for much of continental Europe, 1200 x 1000 mm pallets are also common in the UK and northern Europe, and 48 x 40 inch pallets in the US. Cases are stacked in column or interlocked patterns, with corner boards, top sheets and stretch-wrap. Column stacking uses the case corners for compression strength; interlocking improves stability.
• Humidity: flat-packed board takes up moisture from the air, which leads to warp, curl and poor opening. Pallets should be stored off the floor, wrapped, in dry and temperate conditions, and allowed to reach room temperature before unwrapping when moved from a cold warehouse or container.
• Transport: long sea and road transport exposes pallets to temperature swings and condensation. Shipping options, documents and container loading for orders from Türkiye are covered in sourcing packaging from Türkiye.

How the production route drives MOQ, cost and lead time

The carton route has high fixed set-up costs and low running costs per sheet. Plates, cutting dies, foil and embossing dies are paid once per design or structure, and every station needs a make-ready with waste sheets before good production starts. Those fixed costs are spread across the run, so quantity, the number of designs and the number of finishing passes drive minimum order and unit price.

How these drivers turn into numbers is covered in packaging MOQ, packaging cost drivers and packaging lead times. For a typical carton job the timeline is set by artwork and white-sample approval, die and plate production, board procurement (longer for barrier-coated grades) and the number of production passes.

Food-contact hygiene in carton production

Cartons and boxes for food are produced under good manufacturing practice. In the EU, Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006 requires a documented quality assurance and control system for food-contact materials, and Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 sets the general safety requirement and traceability. For paper and board, buyers usually expect a declaration referencing 1935/2004 and BfR Recommendation XXXVI; for PE-coated board, suppliers typically also document the plastic layer, commonly by reference to Regulation (EU) No 10/2011. Obligations depend on the company's role and the food, so confirm them with a compliance adviser. See food-contact packaging compliance.

In practice, hygiene in a carton plant covers:

• Separation and line clearance: removing all cartons, waste and labels of one job before the next starts, so versions do not mix.
• Foreign body control: policies on glass and brittle plastics, blade and tool control, removal of board chads and dust at stripping and in packing, clean pallets.
• Ink and coating management: low-migration ink series for food packaging, set-off controls, documented supplier declarations, and no non-food inks or lubricants reaching food-contact surfaces.
• Pest control, clean storage and covered finished goods.
• Traceability: board lot, ink batch and production date linked to each case.
• Retained samples from each lot, kept for complaint investigation.

Buyers of food-contact cartons often ask whether a manufacturer is certified to a hygiene or food-safety scheme. The schemes commonly asked about are BRCGS Packaging Materials, FSSC 22000 (which uses ISO 22000 with the prerequisite programme ISO/TS 22002-4 for packaging manufacturing) and ISO 22000 itself. Certification status and scope should be confirmed directly with the supplier and checked on the certification body's register; what to ask during supplier selection is covered in how to choose a packaging manufacturer.

What should a buyer specify or ask about the carton process?

A carton specification that describes the production route, and not only the finished look, avoids most surprises at first delivery. Use this list when preparing a request or reviewing a quotation.

• Board: grade family (FBB, SBS, WLC, CKB/SUS), grammage and caliper, virgin or recycled fibre, and grain direction if the carton is sensitive to it.
• Barrier: none, PE (one or both sides, coat weight), dispersion or mill-applied barrier; required KIT or grease hold-out and Cobb value; PFAS-free statement.
• Print: offset, flexo or digital; number of colours and spot references; inside print; low-migration or mineral-oil-free inks for food.
• Coating and finishes: aqueous or low-migration UV varnish, lamination, foil, embossing, spot UV, window film type.
• Structure: approved dieline reference, style (straight-line, crash-lock, 4- or 6-corner, fold-up), locking tab, vents, glue-free zones.
• Gluing: pre-glued or flat blanks; adhesive type for coated surfaces; whether boxes will hold hot food.
• Quality: approved golden sample, colour tolerance, defect classification and sampling plan, tests required per lot (for example KIT, glue strength, opening force).
• Packing: count per bundle or case, case size, inner bag, labelling, pallet type, pallet height and pattern.
• Documents: food-contact declaration covering board, coating, inks and adhesive; test reports; material data for EPR reporting.

Questions worth asking the manufacturer:

• Which station sets the critical tolerance for this job, and how is it checked?
• How is glue presence verified, and how are mixed versions prevented on multi-SKU orders?
• What creasing set-up and tests are used for barrier-coated board to avoid cracking at corners?
• How long are cutting dies stored, and who owns them?
• How are pallets protected against humidity in transit?

A complete request also includes quantities, delivery terms and timing; the packaging RFQ guide covers the full structure. Product-specific choices are on the hubs for custom printed folding cartons, custom printed burger boxes and custom printed takeaway food boxes. Corrugated pizza and mailer boxes follow a different route, explained in how corrugated packaging is made, and round cups and bowls are covered in how paper cups and food containers are made.

When the specification is drafted, send it to 9 Packaging with your dieline or a sample, and the production route, tooling and documents are confirmed at quotation and technical review.