molded paper packaging

I just bought a new MBP, from MacMall. One of the most exciting parts about receiving it was finding these molded paper corner pieces in the secondary corrugate packaging! They feel quite heavy, stiff, and strong - almost like 2-ply chipboard. They are made with two formed pieces glued together.

Anyone have experience designing these kinds of parts?


Yessir…

I’ve done a bunch of this sort of stuff for a local company here in Vancouver called Earthcycle.
http://www.earthcycle.com
Earthcycle’s material is derived from former waste from the palm oil industry in Malaysia -and most importantly is compostable.

Depending on how much fiber you have in the mix you can make the final product quite rigid - which along with some ribs and other details make for very strong - yet compostable - shipping inserts.

The biggest design issue tends to be draft as the products not only need to be easily removed from the tool but also generally need to nest for shipping.

You can do some cool things if you start to look at gluing multiple shells, lining with wax or an internal bag, dying etc…

That is a complex design problem. With this package, the largest dimensions of the glued flanges contact the inner walls of the corrugate box, so there is a line of contact all around four sides. The MBP packaging then symbiotically works across the four corner inserts to hold them aligned and in place.