Irish paper-based packaging producer Smurfit Kappa has launched Board Referee, its latest innovation in corrugated board, to advance its production capabilities to manufacture packaging products.
Designed by Smurfit Kappa’s Development Centre in the Netherlands, Board Referee has been exclusively developed across all of the company’s production sites in Europe.
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Smurfit Kappa claims that Board Referee is the first to apply the three-point bending theory (TPB) to packaging, which provides data to the company on the bending strength of the corrugated board used in packaging, so that it can be developed and improved accordingly.
This ensures that the board used in the stacking and storage of boxes is optimised for its purpose, by providing customers with packaging that is strong enough to carry the load of the product and stack, the company said.
Smurfit Kappa research and development (R&D) vice-president Arco Berkenbosch said: "This industry-first technology is perfectly suited to our customers’ needs, allowing us to develop packaging that uses the full potential of paper in the most efficient and sustainable way possible.
"The Board Referee means that we will be able to measure the performance of 50,000 products each month, giving us a unique ability to make rapid improvements to packaging board where necessary.
"This is part of our commitment to ensuring customers receive high-performance packaging, informed by smart insight and measurement."
Image: Smurfit Kappa rolls out the Board Referee to global operations. Photo: courtesy of Smurfit Kappa Group.
