All your custom packaging jobs are not created equal.

You might need a truckload of brown boxes, but several retail-ready displays for different products. Not to mention a limited run of corporate gifting boxes around the holidays.

If you’re a younger company your quantities might be modest to start. But you need to be able to scale fast when opportunity hits.

And it all has to come in on budget.

Instead of juggling 3 or 4 different vendors, the right packaging partner will be able to scale up and down with you using different production methods. And for each job, they’ll guide you to the option with the best cost-per-unit.

Here’s what to look for in a packaging partner—at every scale.

Small Runs and Specialty Boxes: Affordable Customization at Lower Volumes

There are lots of reasons you might only need a few hundred boxes—or even just 25–50.

Limited edition products. Displays for a specialty retailer. Holiday gift boxes for your clients.

The key is getting them done on budget.

In previous decades, the set up costs for flexographic printing and die cutting made small-run custom boxes a tough value proposition.

But the progress in digital production continues to transform the space and bring costs down.

A good digital press prints high-quality, detailed graphics with minimal set up cost and fast turnaround. And digital cutters make creative designs an affordable option—even at low quantities.

‍Questions to ask your packaging partner:

• Do you have end-to-end digital production capabilities?
• What’s the minimum quantity?
• At what quantity is digital less cost effective?

At Pacific Box, we’ve invested in the perfect mix of digital machinery to make short run jobs cost-effective for our clients. Even at quantities as low as 25 units.

But if your job calls for more than about 1,000 units, it’s often more cost-effective to use a different method.

Mid-Volume Runs: Get Cost-Effective Quality

When a big retailer agrees to test you in their stores, you might need a few thousand boxes designed to their strength specifications.

Or as a growing company, you might be ready to make the jump from a few hundred boxes here and there, to the cost savings that come with larger quantities.

Around 1,000 or more units, it often starts to make sense to move away from digital.

Flexographic presses and rotary die cutters have a higher setup cost than digital, but their marginal cost-per-unit is quite a bit lower. So when you spread those setup costs over thousands of units, your total cost drops significantly.

‍Questions to ask your packaging partner:

• At what quantity does it make sense to move to a flexographic process?
• How do you ensure that I always get the most cost-effective option?

At Pacific Box we’ve built our company as your long-term packaging partner. The relationship is much more important to us than some extra margin on any one job.

So we always guide you to the most cost-effective option for each job. Even showing you to quantity savings potentials you might not have considered.

High-Volume Packaging: Maximum Savings Without Losing Quality

As you scale your bread-and-butter business, eventually it makes sense to order boxes by the truckload.

The key is a partner with highly efficient equipment.

High-speed flexo folder gluers and rotary die cutters give you maximum efficiency, so you get the lowest cost-per-unit available.

But at that scale you also need a steady source of quality corrugated materials. You need a partner who has control over their materials supply.

‍Questions to ask your packaging partner:

• What equipment do you have to ensure efficiency at large quantities?
• How much control do you have over your supply of corrugated?

At Pacific Box, we’ve invested for the long game.

We recently installed a state of the art Bobst FFG 8.20 Expertline flexo folder gluer that can produce 24,000 custom boxes per hour—with built in quality control.

But for even larger quantities we have a second location called Commencement Bay Corrugated that’s designed for high-graphic, high-volume jobs. We even invested in one of the most advanced 110” corrugators available so you can count on a steady supply of top-quality materials.

Get a Packaging Partner Who Keeps Your Costs Top of Mind

We’ve spent decades learning what companies need to make their packaging a smooth, cost-effective part of their business.

That includes production capabilities to compete at any scale. From 25 boxes to 250,000 or more.

We’ve even developed a suite of services to help you leverage larger quantity discounts through warehousing and just-in-time delivery.

So if you’re ready for a custom packaging partner who delivers cost-effective, quality packaging—no matter the quantity—get in touch today and we’ll show you what’s possible.