- Inflatable, on-demand packaging can help companies meet rising e-commerce demand
- Creates right-sized packages that help reduce freight costs, minimize waste
- Specially designed cushion bubbles help ensure outstanding product protection
CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 17, 2016– Sealed Air Corporation (NYSE: SEE) today announced that its “unpoppable” Bubble Wrap® IB protective packaging solution is now commercially available worldwide.
A new version of the company’s iconic brand, Bubble Wrap IB is an ideal cushion packaging material for companies that want to enhance their e-commerce and supply chain efficiency. It uses specially designed air channels that transfer shock away from products and provide superior cushioning protection.
“As e-commerce continues to redefine the buying experience for consumers and businesses, companies need solutions like Bubble Wrap IB that can help them expedite – and better protect – the shipment of their products,” said Ken Chrisman, President, Product Care at Sealed Air.
Bubble Wrap IB is shipped flat and inflated on premise and on demand by the customer, using a simple-to-operate machine, the NewAir I.B. Express inflatable cushioning system. Using the machine, customers can inflate the flat sheets of patented polymeric film, as needed. Doing so enables them to inflate only what they need, minimizing material usage and the storage space required.
By creating right-sized packages that deliver exceptional protection, Bubble Wrap IB enables companies to generate valuable financial performance and sustainability-related benefits over competitive bubble packaging technologies, including:
- Better Damage Reduction: Sealed Air’s Barrier Bubble technology extends cushioning protection for warehousing or long ship cycles, making Bubble Wrap IB unpoppable. In extensive testing, Bubble Wrap IB’s specially designed bubbles delivered 30 percent more protection power than competitive bubble technologies.
- Better Cube Optimization: Bubble Wrap IB provides superior protection in compact bubble heights and allows customers to reduce material usage. The larger bubbles minimize box size, helping companies reduce freight costs and resource consumption.
- Better Fulfillment Velocity: The large bubbles that form Bubble Wrap IB provide maximum protection, enabling companies to minimize the number of packaging layers they need and spend less time wrapping products. This helps companies to gets packages out the door more efficiently.
- Better Customer Experience: Creating right-sized packages that offer exceptional protection, Bubble Wrap IB enables companies to develop consumer-friendly packaging options, helping to enhance brand reputation and customer experience.
“Now, with Bubble Wrap IB’s self-serve protective packaging, companies around the world can create their packaging on site according to their needs, helping them to reduce freight costs, simplify order fulfillment and optimize the efficiency of their shipping facilities,” Chrisman said.
Bubble Wrap IB can also drastically reduce the impact of freight costs for customers and carries a significantly smaller carbon footprint.
By inflating at the point of use, Bubble Wrap IB can reduce the number of trucks required to supply a customer’s operation by nearly 97 percent. In fact, one truck-load of uninflated Bubble Wrap IB, requiring two man hours, is the equivalent of 36 truck-loads of standard bubble cushioning and 72 man hours.