Correll Concepts – World Leader in Pizza Box Design Innovation™
E-flute vs. B-flute
Far and away, the most common type of pizza box is the corrugated pizza box.
The most common type of corrugated board used in pizza boxes is single wall board, also known as double face board. It consists of two outer sheets of flat paper, called facings or liners, glued to a fluted, or corrugated, inner sheet, called medium. The paper used for the facing or liner is called linerboard. The paper used for the medium is called medium.
Corrugated board is produced in various flutes. The flute is the undulation or corrugation of the medium. The flute size is the size, or height, of the corrugation. Corrugated board is produced in various heights, or thicknesses, by varying the size, or height, of the flute. There are four basic flute sizes: A-flute, B-flute, C-flute, and E-flute. (More recently, some smaller flute sizes also have appeared, such as F-flute and microflute.)
Virtually all corrugated pizza boxes are made with either E-flute or B-flute board. Each has its advantages.
Advantages of B-flute Board
1 – It tends to warp less from pizza steam than does E-flute.
2 – Some folks believe that the thicker board connotes higher quality.
Advantages
of E-flute Board
1 – It saves almost 50 percent in box blank storage space over B-flute.
2 – It tends to print up slightly better.
The
Misconceptions of E-flute vs. B-flute
Much misconception swirls
around the topic of E-flute versus B-flute corrugated board. Generally speaking,
E-flute gets a worse rap than it deserves and B-flute receives more praise than
it deserves. We'll explain how that is.
To begin we'll point out the main difference between these two types of board. B-flute board is about one-eighth inch thick. E-flute board is about half of that, or one-sixteenth inch thick. Some folk assume that B-flute board is made with heavier paper. This is false. The thickness of the board, or size of the flute, has nothing to do with the thickness, or weight, of the paper used in making the board. You can have a B-flute pizza box that's made with flimsy, light-weight paper. Conversely, you can have an E-flute pizza box that's made with gutsy, heavier-weight paper.
Some pizza companies use a B-flute box on the belief that B-flute makes for a more-rigid, higher-quality carton. This, however, is one of those deceptive "half-true" beliefs. It's true under some conditions but not under other conditions. Specifically, it's true when applied to a pizza box structure that's sloppy due to poor design. The extra rigidity of the B-flute board tends to compensate for the inherent sloppiness resulting from the deficient design. HOWEVER, for a box that's properly designed, E-flute board will yield as rigid of a box as does B-flute. In fact, in certain instances the E-flute version will be more rigid than the B-flute. This happens to be the case with the New Green Pizza Box™. It performs better in E-flute than in B-flute.
There are three more misconceptions concerning E-flute versus B-flute. First, some folk believe that B-flute keeps a pizza hotter. This is false. Heat loss from a B-flute box is as great as that from an E-flute. Second, some also believe that B-flute holds up better to the rigors of carrying hot, steamy product. This also is false. What determines how well a board holds up to hot, steamy product is the weight of the paper, not the flute size. Third, some further believe that a B-flute pizza box has more stacking strength, or crush resistance, than an E-flute box. This, too, is false. The biggest factor affecting stacking strength of a pizza box is the architecture, or structural design, of the box, not the flute-type of the corrugated board used in making it. An E-flute pizza box derived from a strong design will have more stacking strength than a B-flute pizza box derived from a weak design. The New Green Pizza Box™ happens to be a very strong design.
The only valid potential criticism of E-flute board pertains to cover warping. As you likely know, when exposed to pizza steam the cover panel of a pizza box warps downward in the center. The warping occurs in both B-flute and E-flute pizza boxes, but moreso with E-flute. The amount of warp depends on the size of the box, with larger boxes undergoing greater warp. Generally speaking, the cover panel of an E-flute pizza box will warp downward in the center about 1/8-inch more than will the cover panel of a B-flute box. However, if the box is of a standard height (1-7/8 inches high), this extra warp virtually doesn't matter. Meaning, the box cover still doesn't contact the top of the pizza. (In fact, some pizza companies have, for years, been using a 1-3/4 inch high E-flute pizza box without experiencing any cover warping issues whatsoever. Thus, a standard-height box of 1-7/8 inches has a fully-adequate amount of cover clearance to accomodate the use of E-flute board.)
Thus, when you're dealing with a box that's based on a strong design (or the right design), B-flute has no advantage over E-flute. However, E-flute has two advantages over B-flute. First, it tends to yield crisper, higher-quality printing. Second, it saves substantial space (because E-flute blank bundles consume almost 50 percent less space in warehouses, trucks, and pizza stores).
In
conclusion, one type of flute does not automatically perform better than the other.
It all depends on the design of the box. In some box designs B-flute works better.
In other designs E-flute works better. The key to a high-performance pizza box
lies in the design, or architecture, of the box – not in the flute-type of
the corrugated board. The New Green Pizza Box™ happens to work superbly in
E-flute.