Vibration comes in many forms – good, bad, sinusoidal and random to name a few. Although the first two may be more subjective than the latter, Westpak gave a great introduction and application of product and packaging vibration testing.
On March 10th, Westpak’s Chairman, Herb Schueneman, discussed why, when, and how we perform vibration testing on products and package systems. The webinar included an in-depth look at the dynamics and variables of vibration to gain a better understanding of why testing is so important to products and their package systems. Mr. Schueneman also reviewed the test protocols and test plans often used by various industries for different situations.
During one of the Q&A breaks, one attendee asked about determining what should be the appropriate level of testing when designing packaging per ASTM D4169. Herb responded saying that Assurance Levels (AL) should vary based on the value of the product – those concerned with high-value products should consider testing to a higher level of confidence using Assurance Level 1, whereas those who are shipping mass-produced items could tolerate a lower AL of 2 or 3.
Vibration Dynamics of Cushions was also addressed, including the development of Transmissibility Plots and how to use the resulting data in package system design.
Herb also used this teaching opportunity to provide the attendees with some of the techniques he uses to identify and mitigate a common cause of product death: Resonance.
In terms of attendance, this was by far one of our most successful webinars yet! We are grateful to all those that participated in and attended our Product & Packaging Vibration Testing Webinar. If you are interested in learning more about this or any webinar topic, you can download a free PDF version of the materials and/or listen to a recording on our Webinar Resources webpage. We would also be happy to discuss our testing capabilities and make recommendations on test plans and standards. Feel free to reach out to us via our Contact Us page on our website or by calling either of our two locations and asking for our Engineering Services department.
