The new product is the ultimate protective solution for fragile items
Kite Packaging, one of the UK’s leading packaging suppliers has introduced the Kite Air Shock to its ever-expanding e-commerce site following the products success in Kite’s group accounts business. The company first revealed the Kite Air Shock system at Packaging Innovations last year, and it was swiftly rolled out to its major accounts division.
The Kite Air Shock has experienced great growth as part of the Major branch business and as a result Kite S3 (Specialist Services and Solutions – Kite’s newly appointed team of highly experience packaging engineers and technologists, who specialise in innovation and supply chain improvement) have worked hard on a consolidated range for its website customers. This includes packs for bottles, crockery and electronic items such as computer tablets. On the bespoke side of things, Kite has recently signed a deal with a large bathroom retailer, and can supply packs suitable for all kinds of goods through its branch operation including baths and televisions.
The Kite Air Shock system online offering includes a range of lightweight air packs, manufactured from LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene) and PA (Polyamide) to improve air retention, they consist of several solid air tubes to armour even the most fragile of products. The packs are 98% air and 2% film, pioneering the way for environmentally-friendly solutions, which also reduce delivery costs and warehouse space. The products are also re-usable, recyclable and are designed to remain inflated for an extensive period of time with different sized tubing to suit different sized product specs.
The packs are easily inflated using a compressor and inflation kit, which are also sold on the Kite website. The company offers two kinds of compressors to suit both large and small businesses including a 24 litre twin-pump to maximise efficiency in a large packing operation, and a 4.5 litre portable compressor for smaller businesses. The packs can be inflated within seconds, creating a light but incredibly robust pouch for fragile items. What’s more, as these packs come with outer boxes, the Air Shock provides a full packaging solution which is much more cost effective than traditional methods of packaging crockery and other delicate items.
Cost-saving is an over-riding aim of the Kite S3 team and the Air Shock has been designed with this in mind. Early figures have shown that the Kite Air Shock has saved Kite customers over 15% in pack material costs, as well as providing additional savings in labour and space due to rationalised packing materials and efficiency. Cost savings for larger products are even bigger, as Kite Air Shock provides an excellent replacement for expanded foam, polystyrene fittings and corrugated shock absorbers all of which are traditionally made bespoke to the item and therefore costly.
A spokesperson for Kite said “The Kite Air Shock is a fantastic product that we are really excited about launching on to the website. This system will revolutionise the way fragile products are packaged, save on a number of cost variants and reduce damages in transit. It is a great addition to the S3 team portfolio, and will open up some great new markets for us.”
The Kite Air Shock is the third product to be added to the company’s ever-growing product list of machinery that has been designed to tackle a variety of problems in the supply chain. The first launch was most notably the Kite Mini Air – a low cost, compact air cushion machine that completely eradicates the need for void fill such as loose fill and bubble-wrap. This machine has been a great success story for the company, which has been rolled out in packing operations both small and large. Kite has also launched Wrap & Hold – a system designed specifically for high volume users, with tailored packs for a variety of items.
All the packs have been rigorously tested by the Kite team to ensure they do not burst or tear in transit, and will protect breakable goods even when dropped or thrown. You can watch some great demonstration videos of how to use the Air Shock, and live drop-testing videos over at the Kite website. Please visit www.kitepackaging.co.uk
