Why We Pack Curtain Runners in Cylinders: A Production Innovation

A young customer recently asked me why we pack curtain runners in cylinders. Well, this method is actually my own invention—and it solved a real production headache.

Today a customer came to the factory to check on a shipment before loading. She’s a young entrepreneur handling African orders, and we’ve been working together for a while now. This batch is standard curtain runners for Shangfei electric tracks, and we ship a steady volume every month. Since we have a good working relationship, I skipped the usual inspection this time and just shot a video of the loading process to send to her buyer.

While we were waiting for the goods to be loaded, she was wandering around the factory, curious. She asked me: “Why do you stack the runners like this? Why not just put them in boxes or other containers?”

I explained that this was my own method—and honestly, I’m not sure how it got out, but now other manufacturers have started copying it. Just so you know, we normally don’t allow non-employees in our factory. We definitely don’t usually let customers tour the production floor.

So what’s the real problem this cylinder solves?

The issue is simple but annoying: these runners have a line attached to them. That line is soft and flexible—no matter how you stack them, it gets tangled. Then in the packaging stage, you’d have to spend a ton of time untangling everything before you can pack it. It’s a real pain.

This cylinder works perfectly because it has a small diameter and a smooth surface. When gravity pulls it down and the packing machine starts pulling the runners out, the line doesn’t tangle. Plus, here’s the clever part: after we loop the line with the plastic bead through the runner, the tail end of the line sits right on the edge of the cylinder. And the cylinder is just tall enough to hold 100 meters of line—which is exactly the standard roll length for most of our packaging. Everything just fits perfectly. When I first came up with this trick, it seriously boosted our efficiency.

I was the first to figure out this elegant solution, but eventually other factories caught wind of it and have been using it ever since.

I’m a curtain runner manufacturer based in China—top 1% in production quality. I’m a window covering component supplier with over 20 years in the curtain hardware business.