Liberty Intercept Blog

6 Steps to Creating a Rust Inhibition Program

Posted by Joe Spitz on Dec 14, 2011 8:18:00 AM

Liberty Packaging’s Recommended 6 Steps to Placement of Rust Inhibition Program

 1. Know that nature is fluid:  Where man’s understanding is derived from categorizing, nature is fluid and sometimes unpredictable. The atmosphere is ever changing.  Sure, in general, there are corrosive areas where it becomes more difficult for companies to ship and store, but that cannot always be predicted.
    Dramatic events such as:
    volcanos, tsunamis, earthquakes, wind storms, and hurricanes
    along with the understated variations such as:
    temperature changes, humidity, dew point changes, seasonal vegetation decay
    and man’s contributions to the atmospheric change with:
    emission releases and landfill placements
All can increase the amount of dust, soot, and corrosive gases in the atmosphere ready to rust your hard earned products. For this reason unanticipated problems may occur in areas where your company may have shipped previously without problems. If your product has value to you and your customer, prepare for the worst.

2.  Consider packaging as a solution: Packaging has solved many problems in society.  For example, when our society needed vandalism protection or shelf life extension for foods and medicine, packaging has been the solution.  In many cases, packaging is needed anyway, increasing its capabilities is less expensive compared to other solutions.

 3.  Confer with a Liberty consultant: We make it easy for you to implement a rust inhibiting program - just contact us to begin the process. Most companies that have implemented our program have lowered their cost of goods, certainly from defect elimination due to rust.  Additional savings may be accrued with an increase in pack density and/or decrease in labor and materials.

 4.  Test and trial:  Though we have many success stories to share, some will feel more comfortable conducting their own test or trial. This is an area where companies have stumbled in the process. They may make the test period so long that the project loses steam. Typically, if our packaging program of modifying the internal space is put in place and works in shipment or for a short period of storage, it will work over long periods. Getting it right at the beginning is the key.

 5.  Put in Place:  Our program modifies the internal pack space and does not need any special equipment.  This is a program where the packaging does the work. It may require the packers to understand what needs to be done or, with Intercept packaging (many times compared to other packaging materials), what does NOT need to be done.

 6.  Finish the project: Put an end to the vicious cycle. After 15 years of working in our area of expertise, here is our view of "the unfortunate cycle":

  • Rust and Corrosion shows itself on a product. It proves embarrassing with the customer and ends up being costly with returns, re-works and repairs.
  • Company agents are assigned to evaluate and solve the problem.
  • A project is started, and Liberty is contacted.
  • During the evaluation period, the corrosion problem seems to disappear and because the rust “thorn” is not hurting at that time, the program dissolves without implemention of the proper protection.
  • Rust/corrosion happens again during the similar seasonal cycle or area or even somewhere unanticipated.


The rust problem didn’t go away, the season may have changed or the corrosive conditions were not as prevalent for a particular time period or shipment (see number 1). It could be that the rust was not as visible, but is still there, robbing the whole life of the product and hence, your company’s reputation.  How about the folks directly responsible? Wouldn’t they sleep better at night knowing the proper protection is in place and they aren’t concerned that “the other shoe will drop” due to this nagging corrosion problem?  

Let us help. Here is our informative video about how Intercept Technology Packaging works: Barrier Packaging by Intercept Technology

View Intercept Video

Intercept Technology Packaging products fit within a sustainability strategy because they are reusable, recyclable, do not contain or use volatile components (No VOCs, Not a VCI) and leave a smaller carbon footprint than most traditional protective packaging products.  

Topics: anti-corrosion, anti-corrosion barrier packaging

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