My uncle’s company packing process

Growing up, I remember walking around my uncle’s big warehouse building that was converted to a laser tag building shop. They had many different methods and packing supplies when it came to shipping these built props. When a laser tag area is being built, it is done in small sections that can easily fit together in a semi-truck and then be put together at the site to make the big arenas. To safely get these pieces to the site, the workers need to ensure they follow a procedure in order to pack up these large items properly. The way something gets wrapped is entirely dependent on the shape of it and what it is for. 

The walls can be packed together. In order to do this, they are stood up on a wooden pallet. Once that is done, they are taped together, so they are more or less one piece. After this, edge guards are added to the four corners. These are fixed to the walls with more packing tape to ensure a snug fit. After that has been done, bubble wrap is applied around the walls. Not much is needed due to the fact they are wooden for one and because the edge guards are in place, keeping the exposed corners protected. The bubble wrap is primarily used to keep the faces and backs of the walls from getting any sort of chips or damages to them in transit. After the bubble wrap is applied, they use stretch wrap. This is the final step in the packing process. The plastic wrap is used to keep everything together and make it a solid piece. That’s about two to five walls done out of the hundreds.

 

The large foam sculptures have a different packing process but use similar materials. These foam sculptures need to be protected very carefully because they are foam with a hard outer layer. You may think the outer layer is firm enough, but one good hit and a massive project need to be restarted. Depending on the prop will determine the exact way it needs to be wrapped. Most of the giant sculptures will come apart in smaller pieces allowing for more accessible transportation. 

The way these are packed can vary, as I said, but it’s more or less consistent. Most of the time, a piece is put onto a wooden pallet. Once that has been done, if it has hard square edges, then edge guards will be added. If it is less of an organic shape, then lots and lots of bubble wrap is used. Once the bubble wrap is applied, stretch wrap is put around it so the bubble wrap will stay secure and provide a snug fit to the object being shipped. None of these products can be stacked on one another unless it is a box prop that has been thoroughly wrapped. 

As you can see mu uncle’s company uses many different kinds of packaging supplies. I believe they are looking for a better and more efficient way to wrap their products, but this way has been working since two thousand and five. I feel like a lot of companies who also deal in large items like my uncles do something similar when they are packing their things up.