Flocked Tray

Flocked Tray: The Ultimate FAQ Guide

1. What is a Flocked Tray?

A flocked tray is a thermoformed tray made of plastic material that is surfaced with soft velvet-like material on one side.

The function of the tray is to display and protect products in retail packaging.

This tray is available in a variety of materials, colors, and thickness, allowing for technical performance and branding flexibility.

It can also be customized to the exact material, thickness, and color needed to complement a product and brand.

2. How are Flocked Trays Different from Dunnage Trays?

Flocked trays are made of flocking plastic that consist of a plastic thermoforming material and soft fibers.

Dunnage trays are made only of plastic thermoforming material.

Also, dunnage trays are specially made for shipping and in-house handling of industrial parts and assemblies.

Flocked trays on the other are designed for products retail display and protection purposes.

3. What is a Flocked Tray Insert?

Flocked insert tray is designed to display, protect, and organize products inside an outer container, like a folding carton, or rigid presentation boxes.

These tray inserts are built for visual purposes and are quite popular in the retail display applications.

They come with several design features such as product snap-fit, anti-rotation, and finger access.

4. Why use Flocked Trays?

Because they are an elegant and eye-catching packaging solution that will also provide optimum protection for products.

They are cost-effective compared to other packaging tray alternatives.

5. What are Flocked Trays Used for?

Flocked trays are widely used for keeping, storing, displaying, and protecting various items.

The items range from stationery, jewelry, cosmetics, cutlery, toys, and luxury items.

6. Any Flocked Tray Design Options You can Recommend?

There are several design features that you can consider for your custom flocked trays among which I can recommend the following;

• Cavities designed to fit the shape of your product
• Snap-on cover for the trays
• Indentations on the sides/end for easy removal from tight-fitting shipping boxes
• Stacking lugs to avoid products to be touched by the stacking of the trays
• Finger spaces for easy removal of products that “snap-in” to the tray cavity/s
• Embossed codes, numbers or words on the trays for branding or marketing/advertising purposes
• Clamshell feature

7. How Do You Choose the Best-flocked Tray Material?

Material choice is a crucial consideration when getting custom flocked trays.

Flocked trays are made from thermoformed plastic material that is, of course, flocked with fine fibers. The most common types of plastic used in this case are PETG, PVC, and Polystyrene. Each plastic type has pros and cons.

Meaning, not every thermoforming plastic is appropriate for every project.

Therefore, your material of choice should correspond to your products’ unique properties.

This is why it advisable to work closely with your assigned engineer when selecting the best-flocked tray material for your application.

As you do that, make sure to base your selection on characteristics such as thickness, strength, and resistance.

8. Are There Benefits of In-house Tooling for Flocked Tray Thermoforming?

Yes.

In-house tooling offers a wide array of benefits.

• It helps to speed up the production process. In-house tooling allows your product to move through the design, engineering, product development, and production phase quickly and easily.
• In-house tooling also helps to ensure that trays are made to spec and that they reflect the quality that you desire.

The manufacturer can always adjust the materials, equipment, and processes to modify any aspects that are not working to their fullest potential.

• It can also help to protect your investment in tooling.

9. Why Choose Flocked Trays and not Shipping Trays?

Flocked trays are visually appealing and are the best packaging for luxury goods.

They are also strong, excellent quality and can be customized in any shape or form.

The best part? Flocked trays are versatile. They can be used to transport, store as well as display products at retail points.

Shipping trays, on the other hand, are only suitable for transporting products from one location to another

They are made to be strong and resistant to impact and abrasion. This makes them the best alternative when you need to protect your products from damage during shipping.

Overall, flocked trays are versatile; they serve a dual purpose, saving time and money. They are also easy on the eye and highly durable.

And since they can be customized into any design and color, flocked trays are guaranteed to give your products a self-selling feature.

10. Is There a Size Limitation for Flocked Trays?

Size limitation for flocked will often depend on your specific project requirements.

Whether you want small, medium, or large sizes of flocked trays, you will always get options that suit your needs.

The good thing with thermoformed packaging trays is that you can get products virtually in any design, size, and thickness.

11. How are Flocked Trays Made?

Flocked trays are made in a process called thermoforming.

Here, a mold is made following the approved package design.

Then, a long flocking plastic sheet of the chosen material and color is fed into a machine for heating.

Please note that flocking material is made using short, fine fibers, and plastic material.

The plastic material is first coated with adhesive after which the fine fibers are attached to it via an electrostatic mechanism.

The entire process produces a texturized material that feels like soft velvet on the upper side.

It is this material that is used in flocked tray thermoforming where it is heated to a pliable state.

Once pliable, the material moves to the molding area of a thermoforming machine. Here, the material is pushed onto the mold with varying levels of pressure to produce the necessary level of detail.

12. How Do You Ensure the Quality of Flocked Tray?

You can ensure the quality of flocked trays in several ways including;

• Ensuring the use of sustainable materials that conform to, FDA, CE, ISO and RoHS standards.
• Having tray designs and molds carefully created and inspected to ensure they meet the required standards
• Monitoring production from start to finish to ascertain that all steps and processes conform to your requirements and the requisite industry standards
• After production, have the finished products inspected for any defects that may compromise quality, efficiency and durability

In addition to these, you can guarantee the best quality of flocked trays by working with a certified manufacturer.

13. Are Flocked Trays Reusable?

Thin gauge trays are only suitable for one-time use. They are not strong enough to be used more than once.

Heavy gauge flocked trays can be used for multiple cycles in select applications. These have to be made using strong materials that can withstand the effects of consistent use. Material thickness, in this case, has to be considered such as .060” PVC.

14. What is the Custom Flocked Tray Tooling Costs?

Custom tooling costs are the charges for making tooling for custom flocked tray designs.

These vary depending on several factors such as design complexity, size, and tray material. Some tray materials such as polypropylene require more sophisticated tooling.

While flocked tray tooling costs can be high, the advantage is that the tooling can be maintained for the life of your program. Usually, mold can be used to make more 500,000 flocked tray or more depending on maintenance.

15. Will Elsepack Produce Custom Flocked Trays?

Yes, we offer custom flocked trays for a variety of applications.

16. What Flocked Tray Color Options does Elsepack Offer?

Elsepack customizes flocked trays in a wide range of colors.

We can provide yellow, white, black, pink, beige, or even blue flocked trays. The color choice will depend on your product and preference.

Often though, we advise our client’s to choose a color that will act as a self-sealing feature for their brand.

17. Does Elsepack Pack Offer Flocked Tray Design?

Yes.

We have professional in-house designers that undertake all design tasks.

Our typical flocked tray design process is as follows;

• You give us your idea, we evaluate it and give you a free design quote based on your specific requirements
• Our design team creates a drawing of the intended flocked tray design and passes it on for approval. This step is necessary as it helps us to ensure that the tray drawing meets the set expectations.

The approval window also provides the chance to make adjustments and/or changes to the proposed tray design

• After design approval, we create a prototype so that with the help of our engineers, you can test and evaluate the suitability of the tray for your product.

Again, if you don’t like the look and specifications as depicted by the prototype, you can propose changes at this stage before we commence final tooling and manufacturing.

18. How Long will it Take to Receive my Flocked Tray Order from Elsepack?

Lead times for flocked tray orders vary depending on several factors.

Standard lead time is 7-15 days.

Typically, basic and low volume orders have a shorter delivery time, mostly between 3-7 days.

Large orders take longer, from 15 days to a month if order is complex.

Delivery period may also increase if changes are made during the design process.

19. Do You Have Stock Flocked Tray Options?

Unfortunately, we don’t stock or have off-the-shelf flocked trays.

20. Which Payment Methods does Elsepack Accept for Flocked Tray Order?

We accept several payment methods including PayPal, T/T, and Letter of Credit.

You should choose a payment method based on your preference and the complexity of your order. For large orders, a letter of credit is preferable. Small and medium volume orders can be paid via PayPal and T/T.

21. How Does Elsepack Maintain the Quality of Flocked Trays

Elsepack has a functional, quality management system. This system provides the framework through which we strive to continuously enhance the value of our products and services.

The system is primarily the vehicle through which we provide consistent high quality flocked trays that enhance the presentation and function of retail packaging.

Besides, we also have a highly professional and certified in-house quality control staff.

22. Does Elsepack Provide Samples of Flocked Tray

Yes. We provide samples for most of our thermoformed trays.

Our samples are no charge FOB ship point. We can ship via express shipping services such as FedEx, UPS, DHL, EMS etc.

Contact our support team to arrange for flocked tray samples.