Distribution testing at Smithers
Watch this video from Smithers distribution testing experts to get an overview of how they help clients validate packaging performance, simulating every part of the supply chain.
Smithers' magazine insert and sachet testing highlights
- Magazine give-away testing and sachet testing measures the durability of promotional magazine give-away samples for shipment through the magazine delivery supply chain.
- Magazine sachet testing avoids burst sachets, damaged give-aways and costly wastage of magazine bundles or even pallets that need to be written-off.
- This testing ensure magazines with sachets or other give-aways are available at point of sale and are not missing from shelf due to damage in distribution.
- The test has a proven track record of identifying sample packs that are likely to fail in distribution so that they can be re-worked or refined before being inserted into magazines and being distributed.
- Turnaround is fast - testing can be completed within 48 hours of test request and is recognized as definitive.
- Smithers first developed a magazine sachet testing procedure 25 years ago at the request of a major publishing house. The publisher was experiencing instances of product leakage, writing off not only the give-aways themselves but sometimes entire print runs of magazines.
Our test protocol - the 'Pira Test'
The Smithers magazine sachet and give-away test realistically simulates the physical hazards experienced by give-away samples from point of insertion into the magazine to point of sale. Commonly known as the 'Pira Test', the test protocol consists of three distinct physical tests performed sequentially:
- Dynamic compression test, representing the binding and trimming forces occurring in magazine production.
- A series of drop tests on complete bundles of magazines, representing impacts that occur during manual handling of stacks of magazines in distribution.
- Static compression (stack) testing representing the loads applied to stacks of magazines during storage in bulk before delivery.
During Pira Testing, samples are inspected to examine material and seal strength - both of these factors are vital in developing packs suitable for magazine insertion. Other issues are equally important, including product fill level and viscosity, location of the sample within the magazine and the size and weight of the magazine itself - these are all key to the overall performance in distribution and all are assessed through the Pira Test. No other test sequence assesses this full range of performance parameters.
Product examples:
- Sachets
- Health and Beauty
- Bags and Pouches
- Bottles
- Gift items
- Kids give-aways
- Holiday promotions
- Blister packs
Magazine test clients Include:
- Time Inc
- Sampling Innovations
- Arcade Marketing
- Hearst Magazines
- Conde Nast
- Johnson & Johnson
- Unilever
- Shiseido
- Procter & Gamble
- Clarins
- Beirsdorf
- L`Oreal
- LVMH.
Types of sachet and give-away testing
Testing is normally based on a set of known parameters for the publication and sachet or give-away concerned, for example the magazine format and size, number of pages, location of sachet or give-away. The testing reproduces the intended real life magazine and sachet arrangement so delivers best possible simulation of intended use.
If the type of magazine associated with the give-away is not known at the time of testing, then 'Range Testing' can be requested. The sachet or give-away is tested in a 50 page title and a 450 page title to provide an assurance of performance across the normal range of magazine weights and sizes.
Laboratory-based testing offers the significant advantage of controlled, repeatable and rapid sample evaluation, allowing an objective assessment of real life performance.
