With summer about to arrive, now is the time to start thinking about how you will protect your products during the hottest months of the year. Extreme heat may not cause damage to certain types of products, but there are many that it can damage. If you sell food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, electronics, testing equipment, or anything else that is temperature-sensitive, keep these packaging solutions in mind to combat the summer’s heat as your product travels to its destination.
Make Heat Sensitivity Clear
No matter the type of item that you sell, you should be fully aware whether high temperatures pose a potential risk to the product or environment. Furthermore, you should know what temperature the storage space can reach without causing damage. With that information in mind, make sure that your packaging is clearly labeled so everyone at every step of the supply chain is aware and takes appropriate steps. This means placing a warning about heat sensitivity on the individual product packages and the larger boxes you ship them in.
Get Climatized Transportation
Depending on your product’s heat sensitivity level, you may want to invest in climatized transportation. While this can cost slightly more per product for shipping than non-climatized transportation, it will be well worth it. After all, failing to keep the products at the proper temperature can render them useless or dangerous. In the best-case scenario, damaged products get discounted or end up as waste, costing you money. In the worst-case scenario, they are sold anyway and hurt customers, leaving you open to lawsuits and a damaged reputation.
Choose Packaging Materials Wisely
You also need to take great care when it comes time to select the packaging materials that will be right for your product during the summer months. Do some research into which materials are best at maintaining the ideal temperature. You can even ask your packaging manufacturer for suggestions. Thanks to their experience, they should definitely have some solid recommendations.
Remember to also pay close attention to the other materials you use, like adhesives and labels. Some of these products may begin to degrade and become less effective or even fall off at higher temperatures. Do your research and avoid those sensitive materials.
Test the Packaging in the Heat
If you do not plan on making any adjustments to your current product packaging to handle the extreme summer heat, then at least confirm it can withstand the temperatures. Clearly you cannot do a real-world test run of the packaging until the summer hits, at which point it will be too late to make changes quickly.
Instead, try doing some in-house testing or hire a company to do so. You essentially want to expose the packaging to the temperatures it would interact with during the summer and throw in some movement to simulate traveling to its destination. If you do this now, you will have time to make adjustments, if necessary. If you do not have to make adjustments, then you have one less thing to worry about.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
