Cardboard or Corrugated: What Buyers Mean, and What to Ask For
“Cardboard box” is used for two quite different products: a single-layer paperboard carton, like the box a tube of toothpaste comes in, and a corrugated box, like the one that carries forty of them. Asking for the right one — by name — saves a round of wrong quotes.
What “cardboard” usually means
| Term | What it usually means | Typical box |
|---|---|---|
| Cardboard | Everyday word for any stiff paper-based board | Either of the two below |
| Paperboard | A single thick layer of board, such as duplex | Retail and mono cartons |
| Corrugated board | Flat liners glued to fluted layers, 3 ply and up | Shipping and industrial boxes |
| Kraft | Strong brown paper, unbleached | The liners of most corrugated boxes |
When a supplier and a buyer mean different things by “cardboard box”, the quotes will be for the wrong product. Naming the board — paperboard carton or corrugated box — avoids it.
Which one does your product need?
- A paperboard carton if the box is mainly for the shelf: it presents one product unit, carries retail information, and travels inside another box.
- A corrugated box if the box has to carry a load: shipping, stacking, storage, or anything heavy, fragile or high-value.
- Both, most often: products in paperboard cartons, shipped in a corrugated box. See the mono carton guide for how the two work together.
Printing on cardboard boxes
Paperboard cartons are usually printed offset, for shelf-quality graphics. Corrugated boxes are printed flexo, for bold simple graphics, or offset, for fine detail and images. On corrugated, the flute and the liner colour change how the print looks — the guide to printing on corrugated explains why.
What to ask a printed box supplier
- Is the box paperboard or corrugated — and if corrugated, what ply, grade and flute?
- Which print process, and how many colours?
- Will I approve the artwork and colours before printing?
- Will I get a physical sample before bulk production?
- Is the box made to my product’s internal dimensions?
- Is the price delivered, and what is the minimum order?
Printed boxes from Bakrol
Himalaya Packaging makes printed corrugated boxes from 3 to 9 ply at our plant in Bakrol Bujrang, Ahmedabad, with four-colour offset printing and lamination in house, made to your product’s size. We deliver across Ahmedabad and Gujarat and by road across India. See our printed corrugated boxes. Small printed paperboard cartons and mono cartons are supplied through our other website, boxmanufacturers.co.in.
The product behind this article
Printed Corrugated Boxes
Branded outer packaging with print quality that holds up on a customer-facing carton.
Offset 4-colour
Die-cutting
Lamination
