How Are Boxes Made?

When linerboard is shipped to a converting plant (where boxes are made), it goes into a large machine called a corrugator. Here an accordion-like inner section is formed from a different kind of paper (corrugating medium) and glued inside two pieces of the linerboard to make what is then called corrugated boxboard. Another machine, called a printer-slotter, cuts the boxboard to the desired size and shape and in the same operation prints the advertising message or brand name of the product on the unfolded boxes.

In today's competitive environment where graphics play a major role, linerboard is often preprinted in as many as nine colors before being converted to boxboard.