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Once You Pop, You Can’t Stop

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Brian Porter

We at Ernest love when our passions in life and our work coincide. When you love the product you sell, life is just better. Ernest has packaging solution experts and consultants that are among the most innovative in the industry. How have we managed to get them all under one roof?

We know why people want to work here; it’s simple, really. We have a nearly unlimited supply of bubble wrap. Bubble wrap is like a drug, and at Ernest we are all addicts.

It comes in rolls, air pillows, bags, sheets and multilayer. You can get your bubble wrap in anti-static, cohesive or adhesive in any grade. We have bubble wrap for shipping or storage from the industry’s leading bubble wrap supplies.

But that’s not fun. You know what is fun? Making them all go “POP.” The only difference between us and this baby is we get paid to do this:

When you bring on Ernest’s team of designers, engineers and packaging specialists,  we’ll help you find the right solution for your packaging challenges, and if you want to pop a little bubble wrap when you visit us, go ahead, we won’t tell anyone. It will be our little secret.

Who says packaging can’t be fun? We take our jobs seriously, but not too seriously. We know when it’s time to play and when it’s time to get to work, and when it’s time to work no one can match us.  Contact Ernest Packaging Solutions today to see what we can do for your packaging needs.

Posted in Consumer Goods, Warehouse | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Ice Is Cheap, Shipping It Is Not

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Brian Porter

Shouldn’t your cold-chain shipping strategy be a little better calculated than packing up a few sixers in a cooler before your next golf outing?

How do your healthcare packaging solutions look these days; are you up to date on regulatory compliance and have the most cost-effective strategy for delivering your cold chain cargo?

The healthcare industry is complex and no two packages are alike and so your standard, same-old same-old approach to thermal packaging isn’t going to cut it when you need to protect your product and reduce weight as much as possible.

 

What we’re saying is that if you’re still tossing in gel packs into a package until it can’t hold anymore, well then, it’s probably time to call Ernest Packaging Solutions.

We at Ernest Packaging Solutions are prepared to meet your cold chain demands — especially with TempEndure technology.

TempEndure is a proven fully integrated insulated packaging solution designed to control the temperature of your product throughout shipping.

In addition, TempEndure products are sustainable. Less packaging material is used overall for TempEndure, with the packaging also being reusable and recyclable. We’re talking being green and in the black while keeping your product cool on matter what environment your shipments experience.

And if you want to talk to us about using TempEndure to keep your beverages cold while you golf or fish, well that’s a challenge we may want to do some extensive field research on first.

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Ernest Packaging Solutions Making An Appearance on ABC 30

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Brian Porter

Fresno wholesale bakery The Brownie Baker was recently featured in a two-part news segment on KFSN ABC 30 highlighting the delicious brownies, muffins, cookies and more being produced every day right here in California.

If you want to see Ernest Packaging Solutions in action, then be sure to watch the second video, as all of the boxes stacked in the back are ours! Of course, if you want to see 500 pounds of double-chocolate batter used to make their best-selling Double Chocolate Muffins, then watch the first video instead. We understand.

The Brownie Bakers mix, bake, wrap and ship thousands of product units every day, so making sure their distribution is safe and as cost effective as possible is vital for their bottom line.

And when the customers get that first bite of a Double Chocolate Muffin packaged fresh in their bakery, it’s no wonder The Brownie Bakers are preparing for growth in the near future.

We’re proud to be a part of helping a family company grow and meet their needs as they move forward. That’s what we do. We help companies large and small, with problems large and small get their product to market fast, cost-effectively, safely and in this case, deliciously.

And you can be sure the next time we see an apple danish or a brownie from The Brownie Bakers we’re just going to go ahead and buy one … it’s just for research, right?

Posted in Bakery Food Processing, Consumer Goods, Dairy Processing, Warehouse | Leave a comment

The Significance Of Rebranding And Redesigns

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Greg Feinberg

Very few arguments, if any, remain today in regard to the importance of packaging design and its impact on consumers’ responses to goods and subsequent sales.Essentially, good packaging design represents a product and brand identity well, all while remaining simple, sustainable and practical. On top of that, it can prompt browsing shoppers to turn into buying shoppers.

Unless you’re going to a P Diddy party, you’re going to want some color on those packages.

But every so often, packaging may need a bit of an update with either a rebranding or a redesign — which quite often go hand in hand. Package design has moved beyond blue = boys and pink = girls, put a handsome guys sell home cleaning and pretty girls sell beer…well some things remain the same I guess.

It’s important for a company to assess the vision and focus of its brand with the passage of time and the changing of fashions. After much research and reflection, it may be necessary for a business to shift focus and stance as well as packaging design to appeal to consumers as trends evolve.

After all, packaging is the primary way to convey the brand’s message and identity. It’s the first thing consumers experience, and in some cases like Coca-Cola’s classic bottles, the packaging itself can become so closely tied to the good that it’s almost overlooked as mere packaging and becomes part of the product.

So what are some examples of successful rebrandings and redesigns?

Take PBR and Apple, for example, bet you never thought you’d read that statement in your lifetime. PBR has long been a cheap beer beloved by American dads and college students, but since Pabst Blue Ribbon debuted its repackaged, rebranded “Blue Ribbon 1844” in China, it’s been selling for $44 a bottle. And Apple was on the edge of bankruptcy before its rebranding and redesign in 1997, and, well, we know how that’s working out for the company.

What are some of the steps that go into rebranding and redesigns?

  • Research
  • Finding a balance between the brand’s history and new trends
  • An execution plan

At Ernest Packaging Solutions, we take every aspect of a redesign seriously and strive to conquer every challenge companies face in the redesign process. We truly go above and beyond to find solutions that work best for you.

Think of a redesign? Contact Ernest Packaging Solutions today. We’ll do our best to keep you from ending up like Tropicana.

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$5 Gas By June? Reduce Your Packaging Weight Now

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Brian Porter

We’re not a political company. We don’t do job forecasting or oil production speculation. Ernest is an packaging company with some of the best engineers and designers in the industry, but we do keep an eye on market trends to better help you prepare.

As positive economic news is steadily emerging, some in the press are referring to this season as “Recovery Winter.” While the increase of consumer confidence and purchasing power as unemployment rates tic ever lower is fantastic news, there is one spot of concern as it relates to your shipping needs.

The increase in buying means the increase in shipping and production, but that also means increased oil consumption around the world, which means higher gas prices. Some are even predicting $5 per gallon by June.

There will be a delicate balance for consumer goods shipping to maneuver when gas prices can rise much faster than the you can pass on to the customer. If the gas price forecasters are correct, this means you will have to bear the brunt of the initial increases in the price of getting your product to market.

Or you could just call Ernest.

Now we can’t sell you gas at $1 a gallon, but what we can do is reduce the weight of your freight to cut shipping costs. Whether it’s bubble wrap, stretch film or any of our packaging products, we can find ways to cut the fat out of your shipping making you lean, mean and ready to handle the ebbs and flows of gas prices.

See some of our happy clients who have enjoyed ongoing cost-savings as a result of weight reduction, material reduction, or strategic packagings to pack more into each box. We can redesign or reduce the size of your packaging thus reducing costs on shipping.

Don’t let Recovery Winter create a Sad Spring when your shipping isn’t ready to handle rising gas prices.

Posted in Consumer Goods, Logistics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Ernest Packaging Solutions Success Story: Advanced BioHealing

Posted on February 29, 2012 by michelle

With TempEndure® and Ernest Packaging Solutions, monumental strides are being made with temperature-specific packaging solutions.

TempEndure® packaging technology provides sustainable, customized packaging solutions that are developed and designed to provide cargo with a thermally effective environment. This optimized approach to packaging keeps sensitive contents, no matter what they may be, safe and sound.

Want to see Ernest’s TempEndure®  in action? Check out the Ernest Challenge Cobra Eggs video with our President, Tim Wilson.

While we like to have fun, our TempEndure® solutions have many other real-world uses.

A little more serious example is Ernest Packaging Solutions’ successes with Advanced BioHealing. The company is one of the regenerative medicine companies at the forefront of its field worldwide, and it is the producer and distributor of Dermagraft®, which is a break-through bioengineered tissue product for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers.

When patients are treated with Dermagraft®, they see results much more quickly than they would with more conventional treatments of diabetic foot ulcers.

However, shipping Dermagraft® to physicians who can provide care to patients can be a bit complicated. Dermagraft® has incredibly strict temperature requirements: -75˚±10˚C for at least 96 hours during shipping and temporary storage.

While this stringent parameter posed a great challenge, Ernest was ready to tackle it head on.

After Ernest Packaging Solutions delved into learning all the intricacies of BioHealing’s processes and needs, the company created for Advanced BioHealing a custom TempEndure® system and then tested it rigorously until the desired results were ultimately met.

Now Dermagraft® is on track to being safely and reliably delivered so health care providers can give patients in need the best treatment possible.

Do you have particular packaging needs similar to Advanced BioHealing that you need to have met? Our Ernest Packaging family is important and we treat our customers needs like we treat our own. Contact Ernest Packaging today to see what we can do for you.

Posted in Biologics, Health, Logistics, TempEndure | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Is PET the PVC Killer?

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Brian Porter

Proctor and Gamble (P&G) began avoiding the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in its packaging back in the early ’90s. However to “reduce” and to “eliminate” are two very different beasts. Although PVC only accounts for less than 1.5 percent of P&G’s packaging plastic, the company is still the world’s largest multinational consumer goods company.

This may all sound like a bunch of science mumbo-jumbo but the real-world significance of this reduction can positively impact the plant for coming generations.

That’s why it made big news in January when P&G announced it was taking another step in removing PVC from their Oral-B packaging and instead is going with Octal Petrochemicals direct PET (DPET) as an alternative.

Octal COO Joe Barenberg told plasticstoday.com that “more companies are making the switch to PET because of its recyclability, sustainability and great appearance.” Taking it one step further, P&G’s use of DPET lowers the carbon footprint of traditional PET, making it an even greener solution.

PVC has long been a thorn in the side of proponents of environmental packaging. As large companies begin to embrace PET and similar packaging options, we will see a world with more sustainable distribution networks.

It’s advances like these that reduce materials, reduce the amount of energy required to transform sheets of plastic into incredible packaging and finally are more eco-friendly at the point of disposal that are converging into major packaging trends.

Every company not run by Lex Luthor would like to be greener and more environmentally aware. The balance of costs, appearance and finding the right solution are keys.

You can’t change your production line every time a better plastic comes out. At the same time, however, you can’t avoid the change forever.

There are many different ways to reduce and reuse shipping materials. There are always new advances in recyclable plastics and other options. You need a partner that has found working solutions for many different packaging quandaries while creating process cost savings. Contact Ernest Packaging Solutions today.

Posted in Consumer Goods, Distribution | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Beyond Protecting Your Product: Other Ways Packaging Can Work For You

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Brian Porter

You know those times when you hit the beach, and even though you think you’ve applied enough sunscreen, you still get a super-terrible burn? That totally stinks, doesn’t it? Yeah, we hate it, too. Ugh.

Well, according to a recent study conducted in Australia – where skin cancer rates are the highest in the world — specific kinds of packaging are linked to playing a key role in influencing consumers to use greater amounts of sunscreen, leading to much better protection from the sun.

And that better protection against exposure to harmful rays of the sun means better protection against skin cancer. Genius!

The study followed dozens of school-aged kids using sunscreen each day for three weeks. At the end of the period, the researchers ranked users of pump dispensers as the most likely to apply the most sunscreen, with squeeze-bottle users following those, and roll-on applicator users trailing in last.

It’s amazing to think that packaging can have such a great impact on how effectively a product is used! What most people probably don’t think about is how packaging can go beyond the essential function of protecting and transporting products, extending all the way to marketing products and helping to influence how the actual product is used. That’s a pretty big deal!

We at Ernest Packaging are up to date on recent research and and keep on the cutting-edge in our labs. We are finding creative packaging solutions for you and your products.

We’ll go above and beyond to make sure your packaging works for you in the most groundbreaking ways possible. Trust us to do the legwork in staying on the cutting edge and bringing all the latest innovations in packaging to you.

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Retro And Handmade Packaging Design Still Going Strong

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Brian Porter

Like trends in many industries — from fashion to automobiles to home decor, and yes, to packaging — waves of popularity are always evolving but are often overlapping and repeating. And one huge trend in packaging design that continues to go strong is the look of retro and vintage design.

What is it about retro packaging that makes consumers swoon?

Part of it, of course, is nostalgia. People love to reminisce about days gone by, often romanticizing the gloriousness of other eras in time to a fault (Owen Wilson in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, anyone?).

Low-saturation colors with texturizing effects, Old-Hollywood glamour, campy graphics, bold geometric shapes, hand-made designs fashioned from natural materials, and old-fashioned typefaces: These styles get consumers thinking about times like those lovely childhood summers they spent barbecuing and swimming at the lake or of the olden days when stunningly captivating sirens graced the silver screen.

But another reason consumers go crazy for the packaging of yesteryear is that much of it was, and continues to be, just plain good design. “Old design” is not equated with “stale design” — the year the design was created doesn’t directly correspond with how remarkable, fresh and inventive it feels today.

On the contrary: If any retro or retro-esque look stands the test of time and continues making waves while doing a fantastic job of speaking to audiences today, it is truly exceptional.

After all, the packaging that speaks to the consumer is the packaging that makes it into the cart, right?

Have you got a product that would work well with a retro- or vintage-inspired packaging look? Contact Ernest to see what sort of packaging solutions we can come up with to meet your (modern-day) old-fashioned needs.

Posted in Consumer Goods, Home, Home Decor | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Keep Valentine’s Day Pressure At Bay With Innovative Packaging Solutions

Posted on February 14, 2012 by michelle

Ah, Valentine’s Day. It’s one of the most romantic days of the year, full of hearts, flowers, candies and love — and pressure.

Whether you’re a kid trying to impress a long-time crush or a seasoned Valentine’s Day vet finding a gift for your spouse, it’s got to be perfect. Otherwise, you run the risk of landing in the dog house, big time.

For companies — especially those in the business of sweet treats — the good news is that consumer demand for cookies, cakes and other decadent foods is extremely high. After all, who doesn’t love receiving an expression of love in the form of a decorated cookie on Valentine’s Day?

But unfortunately for those business owners, the Valentine’s Day pressure that consumers shoulder can often have an extreme ripple effect on companies providing tasty goods for Valentine’s Day gifts, as well.

Not only do businesses have to create those perfect sweet treats, but they’ve got to be sure that these goods are protected when shipped to the consumer and arrive in pristine condition on the special day. On a big holiday like Valentine’s Day, their reputation and success is at stake.

That’s a bit of a tall order, but Ernest Packaging Solutions has solutions for you.

With TempEndure technology, your packaging can be turned into a temperature-controlled environment. This protects the integrity of your cakes, candies, or other products for a prolonged period of time, which ultimately saves you money.

And how, exactly, do you save money? TempEndure cuts down on overall packaging costs by cutting materials and, therefore, shipping weight. Additionally, prolonging the time your product keeps allows you to ship items by ground for much cheaper than with the required overnight air you’d use without TempEndure.

Talk about a great solution! With TempEndure, you can keep your Valentine’s customers satisfied and happy.

If you’re interested in exploring possibilities with Ernest Packaging Solutions, contact us. We’ll be sure to provide you with cool solutions that will keep both you and your customers out of the dog house.

Posted in Bakery Food Processing, Consumer Goods, Dairy Processing, Logistics, TempEndure | Tagged , , | Leave a comment