Double-wall fluting of a corrugated container!  by homeschoolmom

Double-wall fluting of a corrugated container!

In 1994, my husband left the Army due to a reduction in force and got a job as a supervisor in a box factory outside St. Louis. He was a production line supervisor, the shipping supervisor and then the maintenance supervisor there. Right after our daughter was born in 1997, he was hired as the quality manager at a different box factory in St. Louis. Two weeks after our son was born in 2000, he was fired for threatening to blow up the factory. No, he didn't really do that. It was an on-going joke between him and another supervisor. That guy would always give my husband a hard time about being former military, saying that he would come into work one day and shoot the place up since he fit the profile of someone who would go "postal." He didn't actually fit the profile, other than he was a white male with a military background. My husband would always joke back saying that he was an Army Engineer so he would probably blow the place up. Months went by, the other supervisor was not doing his quality checks, and my husband had been documenting this. The other guy found out and went to the plant manager saying that Dave threatened to blow up the factory. He got called into the office and sent home for the day, a Friday. Went back to work on Monday afternoon and was fired. I don't think they were really worried about him blowing up the factory since he went home for the weekend with his keys to the factory and was allowed to come back to work on Monday. But, they fired him any way. In reality, they were trying to get rid of the military guys the former plant manager had hired. And thus ended his 5 year career in the corrugated container industry. Two weeks later, he got a job at a brokerage firm in St. Louis as an Information Technology trainer, where he worked until his Army Reserve unit was called up after 9-11 to train troops going to Afghanistan, when our youngest son was 4 months old. About three years later, he had come full circle and was back in St. Louis working full time for the Army. It seems like yesterday, but the baby just turned 13, and we have moved 3 times. And every time we move, my hubby explains to the movers the difference between cardboard and corrugated containers! LOL!

Any way, this is what happens when your husband spends 5 years making boxes. We are no longer allowed to call this type of box "cardboard." Cardboard is is a single layer, such as a cereal box, which is made from card stock. This box is a corrugated container. The V shapes inside is call fluting. Since there is two layers of it, separated by a layer of paper, it's a double wall, which makes the box stronger. And, it's all held together by starch glue. Believe it or not, there are actually strict quality standards used when making boxes. If you turn the box over, there is a square chart on the bottom that gives the strength of the box and who made it, as well as some other info that no one outside the industry understands.
Now I know the difference between cardboard and corrugated! Interesting.
November 5th, 2015  
A little worn
November 5th, 2015  
A nice abstract and a fascinating story.
November 5th, 2015  
@redy4et @bernicrumb Thanks!
@digitalrn This box has held one of our chandeliers through 3 big moves. It is very worn. LOL!
November 5th, 2015  
What a story...
November 5th, 2015  
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