Manufacturing Process
At the beginning of 2017, we invested £2.5million pounds into a new factory to ensure the highest quality of mailbags are produced. Below is a brief step by step guide to how we produce our mailbags.
- Gathering Raw Materials
The first procedure in the production line is to gather the raw materials necessary to produce the mailbags. Polyethylene (PE) is the most common polymer in the world, due to the wide range of possible uses. Using our 15 years of manufacturing experience, we determine which resin is the best quality and most suitable as this can come from a variety of recycled sources. By doing this, it allows us to produce the best quality mailbags.
(Plastic Resin)
2. Film Blowing Process
The second procedure in the production line is the blown film extrusion process. The small plastic pellets, resin, are blended then melted at 176C under controlled conditions until it is molten and pliable.
- They are then extruded to form a continuous tube of plastic.
- Co-extrusion technology, allows us to produce the bags with three layers of polythene film compressed into one.
- Whilst in molten state, the film is then inflated and stretched to the desired thickness.
- After this, the film goes through a cooling process before being cut into the desired size.
After this procedure has been carried out, again, we need to ensure that the film is produced at the desired thickness and quality with no other issues. If so, we need to return to stage one and reproduce the roll of polythene film.
3. Cutting Bag Process
The next procedure is to cut the polythene film into the desired size for the mailing bags.
- Rolls of film are cut using a heated blade that will melt the film and in turn seal the edges of the bags to the according size.
- If the blade is not hot enough, it can cause splitting edges.
- If the blade has not been replaced after many times of use, it may also cause a problem of uneven edges due to the bluntness.
Therefore in order for these issues to be reduced, we are constantly taking quality control procedures after every stage.
If all is well, this is then repeated until there are no rolls of film remaining. The bags are now ready to be packed into small packets.
4. Packing Process
Once the bags have been cut into the according size, they are required to be packed into packets of 100 pieces. However, before the packing takes place, again we ensure that the machine has been set to 100 pieces to reduce the possibility of having mailbags missing.
5. Final Quality Check
Once the bags are packed into packets of 100, they are ready to be placed into cartons/boxes with the size determining the quantity per carton/box. We then run through one more quality check before placing the full cartons onto the pallet ready to be shipped.
6. Shipping
Once all quality control has been carried out, the cartons are ready to be loaded onto the pallets ready to be dispatched onto a container and shipped to the UK. The shipping process can take up to/more than one month. Once the container arrives, we are ready to unload and ready for sale.
