The packaging industry has inspired few films, let’s be honest. Yet no aspect of human life is free from the filter of TV and film, and almost always reflects some cliché or other. We are going to take on three famous portrayals of “box factories” – one of which no doubt is already in your mind – to dismantle them and, in the process, have a good laugh. However, pay attention: although it may seem that everything they reflect about the sector is horrible, some of them point out interesting details.
Bart gets lost in the box factory
Yes, it was the easiest one to remember. It’s all in The Simpsons, in this particular case, in an episode from the 5th season, entitled Bart gets famous, from the “I didn’t do it” episode, aired back in 1994. The kids in Bart’s class go on a field trip to the most tedious and boring place in the universe: the box factory. It portrays an assembly line that folds cardboard with hardly any human intervention and a little grey man as a guide who only Principal Skinner and the nerdy Martin find interesting.
The first thing to note is that no “box factory” is called that. You are also very unlikely to find a single employee and a single type of packaging (the cardboard box on the assembly line). The modern sustainable packaging industry has evolved to adapt to customer needs, developing all types of packaging for other industries (food, agriculture, mass consumption). And, in the case of large firms such as Hinojosa, they directly provide up to 2,500 jobs.
The best hiding place for a drug trafficker
Well, in this episode of Breaking Bad, also from season 5, in this case aired more recently in 2013, Saul Goodman tries to convince Walter White and his cronies to turn another “box factory” into a front for his business… cooking methamphetamine.
Compared to the one portrayed in The Simpsons, the factory in this series is more modern and realistic, with contemporary technology and a detail on the part of White, the most qualified character in the series: it takes a certain level of scientific knowledge to work there. It’s not a boring job folding boxes: to make corrugated cardboard you need to have knowledge of chemistry and technology and training to operate the machinery. And once in place, you would of course hire a more honest lawyer than Goodman.
Richard Gere takes you off the assembly line
Yes! Perhaps you didn’t remember, but the final scene of An Officer and Gentleman is a “box factory”! Again, the assembly line, in this case one from 1982. Zack (Richard Gere) appears in his Navy officer’s uniform and “rescues” his beloved Paula (Debra Winger) from her monotony – showing her that he is now a man of substance and responsibility. The Simpsons parodied this scene with a message to Homer’s boss, but here, not even that; they just leave.
And again, we find the cliché of boredom, when in any workplace dedicated to packaging, design and innovation are part of the daily routine. It is not easy to design the ideal packaging for each product; even with various machine operators, different types of equipment and a specialised industry that is far from being dedicated to “folding cardboard”. Nor is it easy to ensure that this packaging provides value and a positive social and environmental impact: a path on which the sector, in general, and Hinojosa in particular, has come a long way.
In summary, the modern packaging industry, focused on sustainability and ecological transition, goes far beyond assembly lines where the same box is always churned out. It is an innovative sector that prioritises teamwork and the creation of new developments, with highly specialised companies such as Hinojosa, manufacturing diverse solutions adapted to the needs of its more than 9,000 customers all around the world. Because every plant and every talent is unique.
