Corrugated, Retail & E-Commerce Box Manufacturer
The box that carries everything else — printed retail packs, e-commerce mailers and export cases, made on the same site as the packaging inside them.
- Litho-Laminated
- Flexo Printed
- E-Commerce Mailers
- Export Cases
- Retail-Ready
- Recycled Board
Overview
Corrugated is where packaging stops being about presentation and starts being about arithmetic: board grade against stacking load, box size against carton fill and container cube, print method against run length. Get it wrong in the cheap direction and product arrives damaged; get it wrong in the expensive direction and you ship air across an ocean.
Our carton line is a fully automated system integrating printing, laminating and gluing, and it serves publicly listed companies alongside brand programmes. That combination is why the same line produces plain transit cases for injection products and litho-laminated retail packs where an offset-printed sheet is mounted to corrugated board for shelf-quality print with corrugated strength.
Most usefully, the corrugated is made where the packaging inside it is made. A gift box, its label and its export case can be developed as one specification — which is how you avoid the common outcome where the retail pack is beautiful and the shipper it arrives in is scuffed, oversized and off-brand.
Explore the range
- E-Commerce Mailer Boxes — A product-sized corrugated mailer designed for the parcel journey and the opening moment, rather than selected from a stock-box list.
- Regular Slotted Cases (RSC) — The conventional corrugated transit case, specified around units per case, stacking, the journey and the information the shipper must carry.
- Retail-Ready & Shelf-Ready Packs — A corrugated case designed to change from shipper to shelf display without repacking the products into a second container.
- Corrugated Inserts & Dividers — Paper-based fitments developed with the outer case to control product position, separation and the sequence in which items are revealed.
What you can customise
- Internal dimensions calculated from the product and how many go in a case
- Board grade and wall construction against stacking and transit
- Print method — litho-laminated, flexo, or plain
- Inner printing for the unboxing moment
- Tear strips, handles and shelf-ready perforation
- Corrugated dividers and fitments assessed as a fibre-based support option
- Shipping marks, carton counts and pallet configuration
Specifications
| Minimum order quantity | Standard cartons from 1,000 units |
|---|---|
| Production lead time | 15–20 working days after artwork approval |
| Converting line | Fully automated line integrating printing, laminating and gluing |
| Print processes | Offset litho-lamination on the Rapida 106; six-colour flexo and water-based printing for direct liner print |
Terms for this specification
- Sampling
- Presentation-quality sample in 5–7 working days. The sample cost is credited against your first approved production order.
- Colour matching
- Pantone references and physical samples are used where the selected print process supports them. The approval method follows the substrate, artwork and process.
- Certifications
- ISO 9001, ISO 14001:2015, ISO 45001 and China Environmental Labelling (Ten-Ring). ISO 22000 applies to eligible food-contact work.
- Sustainable options
- FSC-certified or recycled-content paper and board, water-based inks and adhesives, and fibre-based fitments are available where the selected construction supports them.
What drives the cost
Size dominates here, and not in the way most people expect. Board grade matters, but a box that ships air costs you twice — once in material, and again in every container it half-fills. We run the cube arithmetic as part of quoting for exactly this reason.
Quantity
Most of the cost of a print job is set-up — plates, dies, make-ready, the first good sheet. Doubling a run rarely doubles the price, which is why it is worth asking for two or three volumes on the same quote.
Structure
A rigid box is formed, wrapped and often assembled by hand; a folding carton is die-cut and glued in one pass. Structure is usually the single biggest difference between two otherwise identical packs.
Material
Board grade and wrap stock. Specialty and textured papers cost more per sheet, but can replace a finishing pass — sometimes the cheaper route to the same effect.
Finishing passes
Each of foil, emboss, spot UV and lamination is a separate pass through a machine. Two effects cost roughly twice one, so the question is always which effect earns its place.
Tooling
Dies, emboss plates and foil blocks are one-off costs carried by the first order and reused on every repeat. Repeat runs of an approved specification are materially cheaper than the first.
Design & artwork
From an artwork check, through a dimensioned dieline and print-ready files, to a full concept package across a range — done by the factory that will make it.
Box Types
Litho-Laminated Retail Boxes
An offset-printed sheet mounted to corrugated board. Retail print quality with corrugated strength — the format behind most premium multipacks.
E-Commerce Mailers
Self-locking mailers sized to the product rather than to a stock box, with printable inner surfaces for the unboxing moment.
Regular Slotted Cases (RSC)
The workhorse transit case — flexo printed with brand, batch, storage and handling information.
Retail-Ready / Shelf-Ready Packs
Cases that open into a shelf display without repacking, with a perforated tear-away front.
Multipack & Gift Set Cases
Outer cases holding several units or a full gift set, with dividers where the contents need separating in transit.
Export Shipping Cases
Specified against stacking, humidity and container transit, with carton count, shipping marks and pallet configuration to your requirement.
Corrugated Inserts & Dividers
Paper-based fitments to evaluate where a fibre-based packing system is the goal; suitability depends on the product and journey.
Materials
Single-Wall Corrugated
The default for retail packs and lighter e-commerce goods, balancing strength against cube and cost.
Double-Wall Corrugated
For heavier products, tall stacking and long export transit where a single wall would crush.
Litho Face Papers
Coated art paper printed offset and laminated to the board, carrying the finishes retail print expects.
Kraft Liners
Brown or white kraft outer liners, printed direct where one or two colours is all the job needs.
Recycled & FSC-Certified Board
Recycled-content and certified board with water-based inks — corrugated is the easiest part of a pack to make genuinely circular.
Printing & Finishes
Litho Lamination
Offset-printed sheet bonded to corrugated board — photographic print quality on a structural box.
Flexo Printing
Direct printing on the liner using our six-colour flexo and water-based equipment. Economical for transit cases and high volumes.
Matte & Gloss Lamination
Applied to litho-laminated packs for scuff resistance through distribution.
Foil & Spot UV
Available on the litho face before lamination, for retail packs that sit on shelf as well as ship.
Die Cutting, Perforation & Gluing
Tear strips, handle cut-outs, shelf-ready perforation and automatic gluing on the integrated line.
Board & material options
Natural Brown Kraft
Unbleached brown fibre, the recycled-content standard.
The lowest-processing option we stock. Remember that the brown ground shifts every ink laid over it — colours need proofing on the actual stock, not on white.
White Kraft
Strong uncoated white fibre with a natural surface.
Reads honest rather than glossy, and takes one or two spot colours well. Recycled and FSC-certified grades are available where a materials policy applies.
Recycled Content Board
Post-consumer fibre, visible in the surface.
The speckle is the point — it reads as recycled without a label saying so. Colour varies between batches, which has to be accepted up front.
Coated One Side (C1S)
Coated on the printing face, uncoated on the reverse.
The default carton and wrap board. You are paying for coating only where the print goes, so it is the economical choice whenever the inside face is not seen.
Finishing options
Die Cutting
Custom shapes, windows and cut-outs.
Windows, shaped lids, handle apertures and label outlines. A window can be left open or patched with clear film depending on whether the product needs protecting.
Aqueous Coating
A water-based protective coat applied in-line.
The low-cost seal on cartons and shippers. Water-based, so it stays inside a recyclable mono-material specification.
Spot UV
Gloss varnish applied to selected artwork elements.
Highest contrast over a matte or soft-touch base. On a gloss laminate it barely reads — the base finish decides whether spot UV is worth paying for.
Anti-Scuff Lamination
A matte film formulated to resist marking.
Ordinary matte film scuffs on dark artwork in transit. This is what you specify when the pack is dark and ships a long way.
Applications
E-Commerce & DTC
Mailers sized to the product and available with inside and outside print. The complete loaded pack and acceptance method are agreed for the intended parcel journey.
Retail & Multipack
Litho-laminated packs and shelf-ready cases for products that ship and merchandise from the same box.
Spirits & Beverage
Printed cases for bottled products, including the multi-brand case work in our portfolio.
Pharmaceutical & Industrial
Transit cases carrying batch, storage and handling information for regulated products.
How it is made
Product, load & transit review
Weight, fragility, units per case, stacking height and journey decide board grade before anything is drawn.
Structure & cube optimisation
Internal dimensions set against pallet and container fit — the difference between shipping product and shipping air.
Print method decision
Litho-lamination where shelf quality is needed, flexo where the case is transit only.
Sampling
Samples in 5–7 working days, loaded with the actual product wherever possible.
Printing, laminating & gluing
The integrated line runs print, lamination and gluing in sequence, then die cutting and perforation.
Inspection & dispatch
Dimensional, glue and print inspection against the approved sample, then palletising and shipping marks.
Selected work
Why Yuan Packaging
- Fully automated line integrating printing, laminating and gluing — serving publicly listed companies
- Litho-lamination and flexo under one roof, so print method follows the job rather than the equipment
- Corrugated made where the retail pack inside it is made — one specification for the whole shipment
- Recycled and FSC-certified board with water-based inks for mono-material recyclable packs
Frequently asked questions
What board grade do we need?
It follows the load and the journey, not the product category. Weight, units per case, stacking height and transport conditions all matter. Those inputs guide the proposed grade; the acceptance method for the complete pack should then be agreed for the intended journey.
What is litho-lamination and when is it worth it?
An offset-printed sheet is bonded to corrugated board, giving photographic print on a structural box. It is worth it when the box is seen by the customer — retail multipacks, premium e-commerce, gift sets. For a pure transit case, flexo printing costs far less and performs identically.
Can you make the mailer and the retail box together?
Yes, and that is the main advantage of ordering corrugated here. The gift box, its label and the case it ships in can be developed as one specification, so the outer box stops being an afterthought sourced from whoever was cheapest that month.
Can paper-based inserts be considered instead of foam?
Corrugated dividers and folded fitments can be evaluated as a fibre-based option. Fit, movement and material compatibility are checked on the loaded pack, while any transport-protection requirement needs its own agreed test method for the intended journey.