Independent & family-run in Marysville, Michigan · Since 1980
Independent & family-run in Marysville, Michigan · Since 1980
Versatile, cost-effective, protective paperboard materials. From internal dunnage on lightweight automotive parts to retail packaging, chipboard covers it all.
Independent and family-run in Marysville, Michigan. Since 1980.
Chipboard is solid recycled paperboard, no fluting. It is measured in caliper, thickness in thousandths of an inch, and that single number decides whether a carton feels flimsy or feels right.
We run chipboard as folding cartons and printed folding cartons for retail, as pads, sheets and separators, and as internal dunnage on lightweight automotive parts where corrugated would be more box than the job needs.
The usual reason to choose it: it costs less than corrugated, takes print beautifully, and folds flat until you need it. The usual reason not to: it does not stack or cushion like a fluted board. We will tell you which side of that line your product sits on.
One material, several jobs. These are the forms it takes most often.
The classic retail carton: die-cut, creased and shipped flat, folded and filled at your end. Light, cost effective to ship as a blank, and it sets up in seconds.
The same carton with your artwork on it. Chipboard takes print cleanly, which is why so much shelf packaging is built on it rather than on corrugated.
Chipboard inserts, sleeves and wraps that keep lightweight parts separated inside a bigger container. Standard work for automotive and hardware kitting.
Flat chipboard pads and sheets used as layer separators, tray liners, backing boards and pallet-layer protection.
Cells and dividers that stop parts touching in transit, in a lighter and more cost effective board than corrugated partitions.
Backing cards, sleeves, set-up boxes and the small-format packaging that sells the product on a shelf rather than protecting it on a pallet.
If the shape is not standard, it gets a die. Structural design happens in-house and we sample it before a full run.
Many jobs often use chipboard on the inside, and corrugated on the outside. Quoting them together is the point of a one-stop shop. See corrugated boxes.
Two questions cover it: how thick, and is chipboard the right material at all.
Caliper is chipboard’s core spec. It is the board thickness in thousandths of an inch, usually written in points, so 0.022 in is 22 pt board. Thicker caliper means more rigidity, more protection and more cost.
There is no universal right answer, only the lightest board that holds its shape under your product and your handling.
| Caliper range | What it behaves like | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Light (roughly 12 to 18 pt) | Flexible, folds easily, minimal rigidity on its own. | Pads, separators, liners, backing sheets, lightweight sleeves. |
| Medium (roughly 18 to 24 pt) | The everyday folding carton feel. Holds a crease and stands up filled. | Retail folding cartons, printed cartons, inserts and dunnage. |
| Heavy (roughly 24 pt and up) | Stiff and structural, closer to a set-up box than a folded one. | Rigid retail packaging, heavier parts, anything that has to hold its shape empty. |
They are not competitors so much as different tools. Most complete packs use both.
| Property | Chipboard | Corrugated |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Solid paperboard, no flute. | Fluted layer or layers between liners. |
| Strength | Rigidity without much cushioning or stacking strength. | Cushions, resists puncture and stacks. |
| Best at | Retail cartons, printing, inserts, separators, light parts. | Shipping, heavy or dense loads, protection in transit. |
| Cost | Lower cost, thinner, ships flat and light. | Higher cost, and more protection per box. |
The usual answer for a shipped retail product is a printed chipboard carton inside a corrugated shipper. We quote both together.
Lightweight, printable and cost effective to hold in stock, so it turns up in a lot of places.
Internal dunnage, sleeves and separators for lightweight parts moving to the line in kit boxes.
Printed folding cartons, backing cards and sleeves that have to look right on a shelf.
Small-format cartons and dividers for high-count, low-weight parts.
Insert cards, trays and separators that keep components apart.
Secondary cartons and separators alongside our bakery and food packaging.
Backing boards, mailer stiffeners and flat protection for anything that must not bend.
We are an independent, family-run shop in Marysville, Michigan, operating since 1980.
Corrugated and chipboard manufactured and distributed in Marysville, Michigan.
Structural design and a physical prototype, proofed before a full run.
Boxes and the supplies that go around them, consolidated onto a single PO.
Our corrugated stock is fully recyclable, and we engineer packs to use less material.
Chipboard is solid recycled paperboard with no fluting inside it, the same material as the back of a notepad but engineered to a controlled thickness. In packaging it becomes folding cartons, pads, separators, inserts and internal dunnage.
It is lighter, thinner, and more cost effective than corrugated, prints well, and ships flat until it is folded. What it does not do is cushion or stack like a fluted board, which is why shipping outers are still corrugated.
Caliper is the thickness of the board in thousandths of an inch, usually quoted in points. 0.022 in is 22 pt board. Higher caliper means a stiffer, more protective, more expensive carton.
Light board around 12 to 18 pt suits pads, liners and separators. The 18 to 24 pt range covers most retail folding cartons. Above that you are into rigid packaging that holds its shape empty. The reliable way to land on a number is to send us a sample of something close to what you want.
Use chipboard when the job is presentation, organization or light separation: retail cartons, printed packaging, inserts, dunnage for light parts. Use corrugated when the job is protection in transit: shipping, stacking, heavy or dense loads.
Plenty of products need both, a printed chipboard carton inside a corrugated shipper, and we make both here so you get one quote instead of two.
Yes, printed folding cartons are one of the main reasons to choose chipboard. The surface takes print far better than a corrugated liner does, which is why shelf packaging tends to be board rather than fluted.
We do. Custom structural design is done in-house, we cut and fold a physical sample before committing to a run.
Chipboard is made largely from recycled fibre and is recyclable again through normal paper streams. Where a carton needs a coating or a laminate, that can change, so tell us if recyclability is a requirement and we will spec to it.
Yes. Internal dunnage, sleeves, and separators for lightweight automotive parts are regularly used here.
Everything below ships from the same plant, on the same purchase order.
Send it over and we'll engineer, sample and price it, all from Marysville.
