Clamshell packaging is the ideal option for many products. At Indepak, we design clamshell containers for a wide range of specialty food products as well as many retail products. We can provide you with an affordable and innovative design, and have many budget-friendly options and processes, including the following:
1. Semi-Custom Clamshells
Stock clamshells are one of the most affordable packaging options, but they simply don’t work for every product. However, semi-custom clamshells might be a budget-friendly option to consider. For these clamshell containers, we use a stock or standard-size base and add a custom cavity designed especially for your product.
This can be a good option for items where you need a bit more protection than you might achieve with other types of blister packaging, such as a trap blister or face seal blister. Clamshell packaging can be sealed tightly to prevent tampering, where other types of blister packaging might not be as secure.
2. Consistent Package Design
For many products, both retail and even specialty food items, we can create a single package design that will suit a range of your products. In some cases, we really don’t need to reinvent the wheel in order to provide you with custom packaging. This is especially true with many specialty foods as different products might fit easily into the same size and shape of food packaging.
For instance, perhaps you sell deli sandwiches, salads and wraps. It’s quite possible that we can design a clamshell container that is suitable for all three of these food items. When we can create a versatile design that can be used with many products, we can opt for a larger production run, which reduces your per-item packaging cost.
3. Think Beyond Clamshell Containers
In some cases, with retail products, you might actually be better off with a different type of blister packaging. Technically, a clamshell is a type of blister packaging, but there are other blister packoptions that might be a better fit. For instance, if you opt for a trap blister, the card size could be the same for many products, and we would just design custom plastic cavities to suit each product.
Additionally, for lighter-weight and less expensive items, a face seal blister is a highly affordable packaging option to consider. For this, we simply create a custom plastic cavity to surround your item and seal it to a cardboard backing. If you need a bit more security, but still want a more affordable option, full-face seal blisters and full card blisters might be something to consider.
4. Smaller Size = Lower Cost
Packaging doesn’t have to be large to be protective. Plastic materials are highly impact-resistant and keep out moisture, and you don’t need a ton of material to protect your food item. Our design team can create a package that’s just the right size for your products. This not only reduces the cost of materials, but it’s also an eco-friendly packaging option that produces less waste and it costs less to ship smaller packaging, so that’s another savings to consider.
5. It’s Not Just About The Package
While reducing the size of packaging and perhaps opting for semi-custom packaging can help reduce costs, it’s not just the cost of the actual clamshell containers that you have to figure in your total packaging cost. Your labeling practices also are part of this total cost, so finding ways to reduce the costs of labeling can be helpful.
For instance, you might opt for a single spot color instead of a four-color design. You might opt for paper labels rather than a glossy label material. For the insert in your clamshell packaging, you might opt for the thinnest material possible, as this will be cheaper and reduce the weight slightly.
How Indepak Can Reduce Your Costs
We’ve been creating plastic packaging for more than 50 years, and we have vast experience designing and producing clamshell containers and blister packaging, as well as plastic trays, tubs and many unique designs. Our design team can create smaller packages and opt for the most inexpensive materials possible to help reduce your costs.
Additionally, we keep everything in-house from design to prototyping to production. We have an in-house tooling shop, so we never need outside help to create your packaging. This further reduces costs for our customers. We have multiple lines of high-speed thermoforming equipment that can process a wide range of plastic materials, including PET, PETG, HDPE, LDPE, PP, OPS, PVC, bioplastics and more.
