Just over a year ago Board24 Coalville opened its doors to their newly refurbished and redecorated Testing Laboratory. During 2016 Lab & CAD Technician Jemma Hudson held in excess of 30 workshops, a number of which were held offsite, using videos and the same materials that is used in the lab. Each workshop is very hands on; customers are able to operate the testing equipment themselves, under close supervision.

The Board24 introduction to corrugated board testing techniques workshop gives an opportunity to learn more about the technical aspects of corrugated. The knowledge gained should enhance overall understanding of the test methods and becoming more informed on the process to gain the results.

Used throughout the industry, the test methods are used as a guide to ascertain the appropriate material for the application. For this introduction, different board grade samples are measured on the day to appreciate an understanding of the basic differences between flutes.

Customers have been particularly interested in:

• Comparative performance of board grades under the same test condition i.e. B v C v BC flute
• Comparative performance of papers under the same test conditions i.e. 125K v 150K
• The simple board analysis to assess the weights of paper.
• Participating in the testing and understanding how the equipment works

Delegates have been amazed at the difference between their expectation of a given board grade against the results from the testing machines. Once viewed first hand it has helped bring context to theoretical evaluations of case performance within palletised loads, a critical feature of corrugated packaging within the supply chain. The theoretical calculations are also discussed in detail to understand how the formula provides board grade suggestions.

Ultimately the workshop should provide an introduction to testing techniques, increasing knowledge and understanding, making the job of explaining what could and should be used for different applications, a little easier.

Customer comment; “It was really useful. Jemma would make a great teacher! She turned a potentially boring subject into something interesting.”

Another customer commented; “just wanted to say thanks for the training, I really enjoyed it.”

Alex Morris, Sales and Marketing Director, commented; “We started the workshops a year ago following demand from our customer base to have a greater understanding of board performance measures and how they can use that information for the benefit of increasing case performance, while minimising any cost differential. The customer feedback has been a lot better than we expected, Jemma has developed an engaging interactive workshop, allowing delegates to operate the machinery to observe paper and board differences first hand.”