Fancy Packaging Ideas

After my last post, which highlighted a non-glamorous item, it is time to enliven this blog a bit. Worldwide industrial designers come up with new packaging ideas, a large part of these ideas is just self-employment, in other words there is no client involved. They are just the fruits of a creative spirit, no commercial or technical requirements and restrictions limiting the brainwave. Of course a great deal is useless, too far fetched or impossible to execute or manufacture. But sometimes you encounter a packaging design concept, of which you say: “Nice idea, maybe it is worth to give it a try.”

As this blog has as goal to promote ‘green’ creativity in packaging, both design ideas described here, are spouted from ‘green’ spirits. Be aware also, that concepts do need some detailing work for the real world, at the other hand the choice of material is free, while both ideas might offer a strong marketing incentive in regard to sustainabilty, a word which is on everybody’s lips.

In my article “EcoPak and Ecocentric – What’s in a Name?” I described the plantable Pangea body-care packages with its herb seeds moulded in the 100% post-consumer paperboard sides of the packages. Soak it in water, after use and plant it in soil.

The designer Yun Hwan Sung comes up with an interesting twist on recycling, as despite the fact that PET-bottles are relatively easy to recycle, all too many end up in landfills or even worse in nature. His bottle with the “Seeds in the Bottle” concept is actually a variant of the Pangea paperboard packages. In this case the seeds are stored in an indent in the side of the bottle and covered by a label. After drinking down or using the last drop from the bottle, simply tip the bottle upside down, remove the bottom, fill the bottle up with soil, remove the label and take out the seeds, drop the seeds in, spray with water and wait to harvest your own fresh herbs.

Imagine the bottles themselves made attractive with a nice looking picture, and no consumer would mind having these plants (and your iconic bottle) all over his house.

About the designer. The first information I received about Yun Hwan Sung was that he was Chinese or Taiwanese. However my friends in Taiwan have not been able to locate him and state that the way the idea is presented is the Japanese style, but, according to them, Yun Hwan Sung definitely must be a Korean. Whatever the nationality, the Seoul Design Foundation doesn’t know Yun, I haven’t been able to gather more specific information.

As always is the case with ideas and concepts few technical aspects are known. The second creation is no better.

The NNew Can stands out as it has a deliberate round spiral shape. Designed by Choi Kwenyoung and Park Jiwoon (both from the Kongju National University, Korea) for those who separate garbage to have a quick and easy time crushing cans into a size of one third of a normal can.

I know, I know, seeing this concept will make the hair of many a technician stand on end. Let’s have a closer look.
First, of course is the shape with spirals enabling easy crushing of the can. What is the can doing when stacked high in a warehouse? In principle there shouldn’t be a problem, as the cans have a concave indent in the bottom as well as the pressure inside. It is even said, and certainly imaginable, that such structures as these spirals have indirectly formed ribs around the can, strengthening the structure instead, due to the surface deformations created.
If this is the case there should be found a balance between the above and the enabling to crush the aluminium can more easily.

The second problem is the manufacturing. In my opinion this can with its spiral structure only can be blow-moulded, as a high-speed draw re-draw (DRD) process can’t be used. But who am I to deny creativity in re-designing the DRD-process. After all, if this can gets picked up by any of the big beverage companies, this could certainly change how cans are produced.

And furthermore there is new shaping technology in aluminium bottles (CCL Containers) that features dramatic curves and contours the full length of the container. So, in other words, I think, that the production problems can be overcome.

Ok, maybe not for the big boys, as Coca-Cola, Pepsi etc, but think in terms of a healthy energy drink. It just might be the extra incentive to underline the green credentials and differentiation in the aisle.

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Packaging Dictionary

The Packaging Dictionary has been updated extensively per Nov. 01, 2009. A large number of definitions has been added, as well as a large amount of printing definitions.

Looking for a packaging or printing related definition? Click here or choose one of the letters below.

0 – 9

A *  B *  C *  D *  E *  F *  G *  H *  I *  J *  K *  L *  M *  N *  O
P *  Q *  R *  S *  T *  U *  V *  W *  X *  Y *  Z

Short, Shorter, the Shortest (Part 2)

In the first part of my article (which you find here) I wrote about the consequences of the introduction of the new PCO 1881 standard neck-finish for beverage bottles.

Bericap PCO 1881 neck finish

As the beverage industry appears to be ready to adopt the new neck-finish standard, e.g. from PCO 1810 (5.1g / 21mm length) to PCO 1881 ISBT (3.8g / 17mm), lightweight solutions are literally in everyone’s mind and consequently a number of different so-called short-neck closures have hit the market. Let’s look at some of them.

Bericap’s SuperShorty is available with two different external designs: a crown look; and a soft-drink look. The crown design targets PET beer bottles and soft-drink bottles in smaller package sizes. Both closure variants can be equipped with an in-shell, moulded oxygen-scavenging liner for oxygen-sensitive products like beer or juices.
Bericap’s DoubleSeal SuperShorty closure for PCO 1881 is suitable for mineral water and carbonated soft drinks up to 8 g CO2/ltr. Bericap completed its product range for the PCO 1881 light weight neck-finish with the development of the LinerSeal SuperShorty. The LinerSeal SuperShorty is a 2-piece closure made from polypropylene with a free rotating EVA-liner.

CSI closure for Frankfurter Brauhaus

Another catalyst in the market of PCO 1881 closures is Xtra-Lok mini of CSI – Closures Systems International (previously Alcoa). The company’s new MB-Lok mini beer closure was selected by Frankfurter Brauhaus for their next generation PET beer packaging.
The new package is much lighter with over 20% material savings in the threaded bottle finish area of the package. Utilizing a shorter and lighter-weight bottle finish and CSI’s MB-Lok mini closure, the sleek new beer package represents a major step forward to reduce packaging materials and to improve sustainability. It has a classic profile, combined with an easy to grip “Sure Grip” knurl pattern, specifically designed for ease of opening and consumer satisfaction.

The third player in the PCO 1881 market is the Swiss company, Corvaglia Closures Eschlikon AG, claiming to be one of the first cap producers to react to the trend.

Numerous beverage bottlers, including some multinationals, have selected the PCO Corvaglia as their new global standard. Starting in Italy, where the percentage of mineral water that is lightly or even heavily carbonated is as high as in Germany, the short PCO Corvaglia cap very quickly established itself on a broad front. Major fillers in Brazil, Mexico and Poland soon followed.

Corvaglia SportCap PCO 1881

The success is very much due to the cap’s advantages over other short versions, which include its compatibility with existing neck-finishes and the low cost of blowing machine and filling line conversion.

And with this, the word ‘conversion’ dropped into our story.
The switch to PCO 1881 will lead to a major retooling of pre-form and closure moulds, but above all, a conversion also means that bottling plants must be converted to be able to handle the new thread length. Here, up to € 250,000 in conversion costs are quickly incurred – money that can be a problem to raise and invest in this financially uncertain times, particularly for the smaller bottlers.

Conversion PCO 1810 - PCO 1881

In my first article I already wrote about the ComPetCap CC 28/21-01 designed by the German company CCT (Creative Closure Technology GmbH) creating a lightweight alternative for owners of older bottling plants. Often the older bottling plants can only be converted to a shorter thread length at high cost, while the ComPetCap doesn’t require reconstruction costs on moulding, filling and capping.

Adoption of PCO 1881 will also have a dramatic and far-reaching effect on the tooling industry. Apart from demand for new moulds, it will advance developments in tool design and fabrication, component engineering and multilayer moulding. Mould makers that have continued to invest in technology and expand their capabilities despite recent downturns in business will see the biggest gains.

Is this the end of the evolution in shorter caps. I doubt it. I am sure, the development of bottle closures continues in the direction of more savings in raw material. Time will tell.

90969

Short, Shorter, the Shortest

Bericap PCO 1881 neck finish

The item I want to handle today, doesn’t belong to the glamorous part of packaging. However its existence and eventual evolution have tremendous impact on the beverage industry and as a consequence on the sustainability credentials of the beverage packaging: the bottle.

The market environment in the mineral water and soft drinks industry, as well as in the beer sector changes rapidly. Best price offers in one-way PET are the bench mark sparking off the urgent need of a dramatic adaptation of the cost structures.

When it comes to exploiting possible saving potentials the weight of bottle and closure play an important role. Using less raw materials and moving less weight in the complete supply chain can translate in mouth-watering savings.

The new short-height neck-finish standard PCO 1881, which has been recently agreed upon within the International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT), is making serious inroads in the market for plastic single and multi-serve soft drink bottles (250 ml – 2 litre), taking over from the (old standard 28 mm) PCO 1810 with enormous material savings as result.

PCO 1881 neck-finish

The new standard PCO 1881 seeks to reduce resin costs associated with making polyethylene terephthalate pre-forms and polyolefin closures. It will create thinner neck finishes and lighter-weight polyolefin closures, decreasing the amount of material used in pre-forms by 1.3 grams and in standard 28-mm closures by 0.5 grams.

Material reductions totalling 1.8 grams per bottle, multiplied by the hundreds of billions of pre-forms and caps moulded worldwide each year, could yield savings of hundreds of millions of dollars annually for major brand holders like Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo, Cadbury Schweppes and others.
Even regional beverage companies would see resin costs reduced by hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars, depending on volume.
And last but not least, PCO 1881 has the added benefit of “green” engineering. Light-weighting a high-volume product like beverage bottles and consequently reducing the amount of post-consumer waste generated by the market, create savings on a global scale that not only equate to hundreds of thousands of tonnes of resin per year, but also have a tremendous impact on handling, transport and recycling.

CSI closure for Frankfurter Brauhaus

Although adoption of the standard is voluntary, everybody is in on it because there are so many advantages to be exploited. Take this example: With the PCO 1881 a 600 ml PET-bottle for the Brazilian Coca-Cola is 4 mm shorter in height and weighs 26 gr, against the 28 gr of the old bottle. With the new neck-finish, the part of the bottle which is responsible for the largest share in material consumption, is thinner and smaller. The new neck-finish only has two screw threads, against three in the past. This results in a material saving of approx 1.5 gr of the PET for the bottle and 0.2 gr PP for the closure.

As the beverage industry appears to be ready to adopt the new neck-finish standard, e.g. from PCO 1810 (5.1g / 21mm length) to PCO 1881 ISBT (3.8g / 17mm), lightweight solutions are literally in everyone’s mind and consequently a number of different so-called short-neck closures have hit the market. I describe several of them in my article: “Short, Shorter, the Shortest (Part 2)”.

But what with the conversion from PCO 1810 to the new PCO 1881. The switch to PCO 1881 will lead to a major retooling of pre-form and closure moulds, but above all, a conversion also means that bottling plants must be converted to be able to handle the new thread length. Here, up to € 250,000 in conversion costs are quickly incurred – money that can be a problem to raise and invest in this financially uncertain times, particularly for the smaller bottlers.

Conversion PCO 1810 - PCO 1881

The German company CCT (Creative Closure Technology GmbH) designed the ComPetCap CC 28/21-01 especially for carbonated beverage packaging. This is a neck and closure version, called “PCO 1881 med”, which ideally combines the material-saving neck and closure version PCO 1881 with the quality of consumer-friendly neck and closure version PCO 28 (1810) being used by the market for decades. The closure is 21 mm tall and only weighs 3.9 g, resulting in a saving of at least 1.5 g for pre-form and closure in comparison with the neck and closure version PCO 28 (1810). As the ComPetCap doesn’t require reconstruction costs on moulding, filling and capping, it makes it the lightweight alternative for owners of older bottling plants, as they can often only convert from PCO 1810 to PCO 1880 at high cost.

Is this the end of the evolution in shorter caps. I doubt it. I am sure, the development of bottle closures continues in the direction of more savings in raw material. Time will tell.

90969

CupCan and CreaTin – Creative Design in Steel Cans

When the Institute of Medicine (IOM) called in its 2009 report “School Meals” for increasing the amount and variety of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, along with reducing saturated fat and sodium, the Canned Food Alliance jumped on the bandwagon and waved vigorously with a study of the University of California at Davis, that concludes that all forms of fruits and vegetables – canned, fresh and frozen – are nutritionally similar and contribute important nutrients that comprise a healthy diet.

The goal of this action of the Canned Food Alliance is obvious. Although steel cans belong to the select group of oldest and most trusted pillars of the packaging industry it is beyond discussion that the steel can, like glass and wood, lost considerable market share to the new developed packaging formats which claim to be lightweight and consumer friendly with sophisticated designs and printing options.
And indeed it should be said that in general the tin is, except for the decorated tins promoted as collectables, a dull packaging format, with its cylindrical shape and paper-wrapped label. Except for some printing, neither vegetables, not fruit and other food products are showcased in this  packaging format worth the 21st century.

And still steel is a material that is particularly suitable for food packaging due to its many different properties. Just to refresh the memory, a steel can or tin can, or just a tin, is a single-walled container moulded mostly by impact extrusion of tinplate or black plate (including tin-free steel). Tin plate has been replaced by tin-free steel which is given a tin coating, usually as thin as a human hair, to prevent rusting. Protective (plastic) coatings applied to the inside of the cans ensure the integrity of the contents, allowing tins to hold a wide variety of products.

The canning process does not require the use of preservatives; precise heating in the canning process and vacuum sealing maintain the quality, safety and integrity of the product. And then there is the sustainability, the ‘greenness’ of the tin. Tins are 100% recyclable – which means that there are no waste and waste substances in the recycling process as with plastics or paper/cardboard. And furthermore the latest figures from APEAL (the Association of European Producers of Steel for Packaging) show that 69% of steel packaging is recycled in Europe. This represents over 2.5 million tons of food and drinks cans and other steel containers, saving 4.8 million tons of CO2. Top performers were Belgium and Germany where more than 90% of steel packaging was recycled. Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands follow closely behind, recycling over 80% of their steel containers.
In other words recycling is second nature for steel as recycled materials are an essential part of the steelmaking process. Steel is one of that few materials that have an infinite recycling loop – it can be recycled over and over again without any loss of its inherent properties.

So, when it’s such a perfect packaging material, why are the results, the designs, so dull. Shape communicates instantly. Shape creates memorable and recognizable branding. It also offers upscale, sophisticated cues. Innovative, shapely designs support brand positioning. A complimentary high-resolution colour printing helps contemporize metal packaging and the products they contain. Where is the creativity in simple steel cans?

I have to be honest. There is some. In 2008, Silgan Containers Corp., the largest manufacturer of metal food cans in the United States, launched it’s shaped can manufacturing capability under the brand name “Sculptured Metal Technology”, in a move to provide increased value.

And fortunately there is more to come. In Europe the R&D department of the Danish can manufacturer Glud & Marstrand developed a range of shapely steel containers under the name CupCan and CreaTin with remarkable decorating results in off-set printing.

The CupCan range is launched in a 100 ml ø73×36 mm and a 150 ml ø83×40 mm size with easy-open lids and full panel opening. The CupCan has a conical shape which gives it a nice organic look. It fits well in the hand and will have great eye-catching effect on the shelves, enhancing its perceived product value. The can is therefore well suited for more exclusive or modern products.
The new conical can is stackable which means that it only takes up approximately one-quarter of the space required by the traditional straight walled can when being transported and stored.

CreaTin is a product range – with a lot of different opportunities – made in either ø73 mm or ø99 mm and are available in different heights and different shapes. For the CreaTin range G&M developed a technology which can expand cans into new and unconventional shapes, starting from two expanded cans in the standard selection, creating a unique can that results in an exceptional sales promoting package.

The Milk Can as shown in the picture above is made by making a ground design that supports the effect with a finishing combining different lacquering techniques. By combining glossy lacquers with matt surfaces Glud & Marstrand created a three-dimensional graphic effect that accentuates the milk streaming over the top of the can.

Printing on metal is approaching photographic quality. Sharp and beautiful colours make the product stand out from other products. Using various matt, glossy and texture lacquers create a special visual (e.g. crackle) and touch feel (e.g. velvet) effect.

And furthermore there is the proprietary”Can2Can” design – a plastic ring that makes it possible to combine various cans from the G&M assortment in one package – metal packaging expands to new application areas. A nice opportunity for co-promotion of products from various categories such as sweets and toys or various components for ready-meals.

With some creativity the steel can certainly has a bright future.
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If you want to know more about the steel can, its history and evolution, read my post: The Revival of the Tin Can – The Collectible as Marketing Tool , as the tin’s history began in 1795 when Napoleon Bonaparte, who famously noted that an army “travels on its stomach”, offered a prize of 12,000 francs to anyone who could invent a method of preserving food. From a marketing point of view the tin container became a very popular collectible in the past and of which we see a revival lately.

Crossposted at Packaging Digest blog: Excellence in Packaging

90938

The Evolution of the Stand-Up Pouch (Part 2)

As I promised in my previous post “The Evolution of the Stand-Up Pouch” in this post we shall take a look at some stand-up pouches which feature in one way or another a speciality. There are innumerable ways to design original stand-up pouches using the ultimate in technology to accentuate the brand’s presence on the shelves. Keep in mind that more than two thirds of purchasing decisions are made in the aisle. The competition is decided then and there by what the consumer favours, and it is on the shelves that the brand must make the impact. The only problem is, as it often is in the packaging world, the application of revolutionary technologies and/or material compositions, isn’t always recognised or even recognisable by the consumer.

All pouches described here, have in common that they are special in one way or another. All used the ultimate developments in packaging technology, printing techniques, material composition and design. All are outstanding examples of how the DoyPack evolved to a mature  and very popular packaging format. All are claiming ‘green credentials’.

Young & Smylie
Young and Smylie, the creators of quality confectionary products since 1845, introduced Strawberry Licorice in an 8 oz. (227 gr), re-sealable, stand-up pouch. Although the technical details about the package are proprietary, and not made public, there is still some known.

In fact the Young and Smylie pouch is a standard stand-up. The speciality lies in the printing technique used. Using an 8 ga (0,08 mil) PET-film, Printpack, one of the largest flexible and specialty rigid packaging converters in the US, printed the pouches in 9 colours on a Cerutti press using Sun Chemical inks.
The soft, natural look of the Young and Smylie Licorice pouch is created using a matte lacquer, a simple design, and small, well executed fonts. All the fonts are kept exceptionally clean with the help of Extreme-E engraving. Extreme-E is a high resolution engraving method which utilizes a machine that can engrave as low as a 2 point font without compromising the copy integrity. Compared to conventional engraving, Extreme-E technology produces engraved cells via a series of cuts. The advantage of this technology is that the smooth edges of this kind of etching can keep the small copy very legible and clean, versus the normal hounds-tooth edge of conventional engravings.

Grape Ranch Frozen Rose
Grape Ranch Frozen Rose is an all mixed and ready to throw in the freezer alcoholic beverage. Freeze till hard to the touch, tear off the top and mix in a blender, top with a favourite red wine or liqueur.
To withstand freezing and below-freezing storage conditions, the Grape Ranch Frozen Rose stand-up pouch, made by PPi Technologies, is using a multi-layer laminate film from Amcor Flexibles, uniquely designed to contain alcoholic beverages. In the frozen beverage category it is a stand-alone since it is offered in a re-closeable, stand-up pouch. The Grape Ranch Frozen Rose packaging format and design brings differentiation and opens with its significant convenience for the consumer a whole new market in frozen alcoholic beverages..

Bertolli Premium Pasta Sauces
The 21st DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation honoured sustainability in packaging design and construction and the Bertolli Premium-brand stand-up pouch for pasta sauces, was one of the winners.

When launched the new 13.5-oz (400 ml) stand-up pouch for Bertolli Premium boasted a sophisticated appearance on the shelves. But the pouch had more to offer beyond its striking and mouth-watering appeal. While not a replacement for the glass jars used by Unilever for its Bertolli sauces, the stand-up pouch offers consumers microwaveability that allows them to heat the product in the pouch in just 90 seconds.

Amcor Flexibles produced the non-foil pouch-stock of a 104-micron (4.09-mil), seven-colour reverse-printed barrier lamination comprising PET as outer layer, nylon as barrier and PP as sealant, which provide a nine-month shelf life for the oxygen-sensitive product. Unilever settled on the material that gave the best combination of low cost, high barrier, heat stability, microwaveability, optical clarity (the consumer can see the product through the clear, bottom panel), and machine-ability at the converter and the filling operation.
The sauces are contract-packaged on an intermittent motion Toyo Jidoki system.

ShakerPAK
ShakerPAK, manufactured by Ampac Flexibles, a Division of Ampac Packaging LLC is unique in that the bottom of the pouch, the so called bottom gusset, has been replaced with an inside perforated layer for dispensing dry solids like seed, fertilizers, and ice melt. Below the perforation is a press-to-close zipper for recloseability.

The stand-up pouch includes a laser score tear strip for tamper evidence and product protection. The consumer needs only to open the package via the easy tear strip on the bottom of the package, pull open the zipper, position the package over the desired area with the easy-carry handle, and then shake the package to dispense the product. This allows the consumer to control where and how much product is dispensed without actually coming into contact with the product. The reclose feature protects the product from moisture for future use.

The ShakerPAK stand-up pouch is only 2% by weight of the replaced bulky rigid HDPE container, providing a considerable improvement through light-weighting.

Honest Kids
Honest Kids, an organic fruit juice product of Honest Tea, has a very special and modern stand-up pouch design. Although the modern design camouflages the original construction of a stand-up pouch, all elements are there including the gusset bottom and the traditional Doyen sealing of the edges of all 4 sides of the hourglass-shaped pouch, clearly connecting front and back panel.

Honest Kids hourglass-shaped 6,75 oz (200 ml) pouches, designed by Flow Design have a modern shape, a built-in straw, and white backgrounds picturing fruit splashing into pastel shades of water. The modern design has the objective to appeal to children and the hourglass-shape helps them to grip the package. The back of the pouches have a saying or quote at the top, such as “Don’t worry if your tasks are small and rewards are few, remember that the mighty oak was once a nut like you!”

The ‘green credentials’ of this pouch look impressive: The empty pouch weighs 5,63 gr, which is only 2,7% of the gross weight, in other words 97,3% is pure fruit juice. A good ratio, if there wasn’t a small problem.
With the Honest Kids stand-up pouches Honest Tea faced ‘green’ problems since the aluminium used by its contract packer on the bottom of the juice pouch made the pouch not-recyclable. Instead of replacing it by a recyclable material, Honest Tea honed in on re-use, paying schools 2 dollar cents for every juice pouch sent back to the company.
One of Honest Tea’s partners stitches the returned pouches together to make school-supply pouches.

Is this thought to be the new circle in a ‘green’ economy? Not really, as there still is one ‘little’ problem after the life as school-supply pouches, they still can’t be recycled and will end up at landfill.
Is the Honest Kids pouch not quite honest? Does it look like ‘green-washing’?

Oscar Mayer Mini Hot Dogs
Oscar Mayer Mini Hot Dogs, in a compact, stand-up pouch, embodies the essential characteristics of a packaging for a grab-and-go snack. The 10-oz (283 gr) pouch contains approximately 20 precooked Oscar Mayer Mini Hot Dogs, which are smaller than their full-size counterparts, but a bit larger than cocktail wieners.

The bottom-gusset pouch stands approximately 7” (19 cm) tall and 7” (19 cm) wide, providing a bright and visible billboard for the product in the refrigerated section. The pouch’s bottom gusset is made of clear film allowing the consumer a view at the miniature hot dogs inside. The front and back panel of the pouch appear to be a foil lamination. Consequently the hot dogs can’t be heated in the microwave when still sitting in the pouch.

The resealability of the pouch is enabled with a Zip-Pak Slider zipper, which employs a “clip” that slides back and forth, allowing the consumer to open and close the pouch. Before it is opened the first time, the FreshSlide zipper, as it is baptized by Oscar Mayer, is covered with a hood of film to be removed by gripping the side of the bag and tearing across the top. Once opened, the pouch provides the mini hot dogs with a seven-day refrigerated shelf life.

This short overview gave the most interesting stand-up pouches based on the standard DoyPack construction in recent time. I will close this cycle of posts about stand-up pouches with an article devoted to special designs. A special development in the stand-up pouches is the section where the in a stand-up pouch packaged food product is sterilized or pasteurised via an autoclave or retort process. The characteristics of retort sterilization require special materials. The retort pouch gained popularity in part from developments of ready-to-eat meals for the armed forces. In fact these packages for the military, officially known as tri-laminate retort pouches, aka “flexible cans”, got essentially the retort-pouches started.

Another item I shall describe in my next post are the designs that found their base in the original DoyPack but underwent such modifications that you barely can call them stand-up pouches anymore. The first will be the PushPop of Amcor and the second,  one of the most amazing evolutions in the stand-up pouch, the S-Pouch, a double gusset stand-up pouch, which not only offers benefits in comparison to the standard stand-up pouch but also offers amazing options for fitments.

True Innovation from Process to Packaging

“Preshafruit’s unique triangular bottle really sets it apart from other offerings in the juice aisle,” said Beverage Innovation magazine Managing Editor Claire Phoenix. “The bottle immediately gives the product a super-premium feel and the whole presentation, including the sophisticated labelling and unique closure, gives consumers plenty of clues as to just how good these drinks taste. First purchase is pretty much assured through the packaging innovation, repeat purchase is guaranteed through a really great tasting and refreshing drinking experience”.

Quite often a fruit juice receives lauding words, but in this case every word is well earned by this exceptional innovation of Preshafood for its fruit juice range which uses a new high pressure processing system and consequently is presented in unique triangular bottles.

Presha fruit juices are made by Australian Donny Boy Fresh Food Company,  a food processing company established in 2006 utilising High Pressure Processing (HPP). Its first commercial product, an apricot, peach and apple mix for yoghurt, was the world’s first HPP fruit product used in the dairy industry. And this time it is again the world’s first to use HPP, not heat pasteurisation, to create fruit juices. All juices, (apart from freshly squeezed juices) are heat pasteurised, a process that affects the level of nutrients and taste of the final product.

HPP, a technology developed in Europe and used predominantly for meat and seafood, is a method of food preserving where food is subjected to high pressures (up to 87,000 lbs/sq inch or approx 6,000 kgs/cm2), to achieve microbial inactivation or to alter the food attributes in order to achieve consumer-desired qualities. Most vegetative micro-organisms (bacteria, yeasts and moulds) inactivate at pressures above 60,000 lbs/sq inch. HPP retains food quality, leaves the vitamins and bioactive components unchanged, maintains natural freshness, and extends shelf life.

In a typical HPP process, the product is packaged in a flexible or semi-rigid container (usually a pouch or plastic bottle) and is loaded into a high pressure chamber filled with water. The water in the chamber is pressurised with a pump, and this pressure is transmitted through the package onto the food itself. Pressure is applied for a specific time, usually 2 to 5 minutes.
The HPP process basically follows the Law of Blaise Pascal which implies that by increasing the pressure at any point in a confined fluid, there is an equal increase at every other point in the container, i.e., any change in pressure applied at any point of the fluid is transmitted undiminished throughout the fluids.
As the pressure is transmitted uniformly (in all directions simultaneously), food retains its shape, even at extreme pressure levels.

To cope with the enormous pressures of HPP, the tube-like pressure vessels are very small. The HPP machine, manufactured by NC Hyperbaric of Spain, for Donny Boy’s Preshafruit has a pressure vessel with a diameter of only 19 cm, consequently requiring the juice bottles to be triangular in order to fit efficiently in the machine’s circular pressure vessel. This in itself created a unique approach to the packaging as six of the Preshafruit triangle bottles form a hexagon which fits exactly in the circular shape of the pressure chamber, consequently creating a juice bottle as no other in the market.

It was up to Design By Pidgeon to complete the design for a highly competitive market and to communicate Preshafruit’s benefits and points of differentiation. The triangular bottle allowed Design By Pidgeon to design three faces on each bottle to communicate the three different messages of the brand’s key story – 100% Australian, pressurised cold, just picked taste. The triangular or wedge shaped bottle allows for an especially effective promotion in the supermarket aisles.

VIP Packaging, a leading plastic and steel packaging solutions provider in Australia and New Zealand, manufactures the unique 350ml PET bottle and closure for Preshafruit juices.

A brilliant packaging innovation.

90950

The Evolution of the Stand-Up Pouch

In the 1950s cellophane was the only clear film material available as flexible packaging material. In the 1960s, flexible packages started to evolve, with new processes and material innovations introduced at a daily basis. While many bags and pouches were made of coated papers, polypropylene and polyethylene came along, followed by co-extrusions, coatings and laminations, which were hailed as two of the biggest breakthroughs in flexible packaging.

According to the FPA (Flexible Packaging Association), plastic consumption by flexible packagers grew at double-digit rates throughout the 1960s and 1970s as preformed pouches got jump-started.
Four or five decades later, in 2008 the European flexible packaging market totalled USD 15.22 billion in sales, thanks mainly to the green credentials flexible packaging is supposed to have in comparison with other packaging formats. To underscore this statement, the FPE (Flexible Packaging Europe) is emphasizing the “product-to-packaging ratio”, along with full life cycle analyses. For example, in contrast with a metal can, plastic jar and flexible “brick-pack” (each holding 11.5 oz/325 gr of coffee), the flexible packaging wins hands-down. Its 29:1 ratio versus the can’s 5:1 and the jar’s 3:1 clearly shows “flexible packaging as the most resource-efficient.
Although recent studies indicate the end of a strong grow of converted flexible packaging in the USA and Europe, the flexible packaging will see, in my opinion, many more new applications as no continental market on the planet is “eco-hotter” than Europe in terms of sustainability and recyclability.

The flexible packaging market includes all kinds of pouches, but the popular stand-up pouch was and still is the most impressive driver in the flexible packaging market, particularly with the breakthrough of the various material compositions, the re-closable zipper and other fitments that enhance consumer convenience, and have led stand-up pouches move dramatically into new applications.

The stand-up pouch found it’s origin in 1968, when Louis Doyen, CEO of the French packaging machinery manufacturer Thimonnier, obtained US Patent 3,380,646 for a stand-up pouch design. That pouch design, including many variants, is still in use today. It is, in fact, the dominant style. The basic Doyen design consists of two flat sheets seamed together along their sides, with a “W” fold running along the bottom and sealed to the tube wall with an upside-down U-shaped area. When the pouch is filled, the “W” (also called gusset) opens and provides a circular base on which the pouch can stand. The original Doyen design showed the top being sealed straight across, but subsequent modifications include fitments of all sorts.
Albeit a revolutionary design with great market potential the DoyPack stand-up pouch didn’t lead to a revolution in the packaging world, mainly because the pack was much more expensive than the standard pillow pouches or even the bottles, jars and cartons it should replace. Sustainability and environment were no core issues in the 1970s.

In the USA, Capri Sun was with its juice drinks at the forefront to introduce the stand-up pouch in the 1980s. But it wasn’t until the turn of the century, when the patent of the Doyen Brothers expired that stand-up pouches as we know them today truly established a strong market presence and made a major market impact by replacing other types of containers.

Of course the stand-up pouch, DoyPack as it was originally named, Doyne-style stand-up pouch, a bottom-gusset stand-up pouch or flexible can or flexible bottle as enthusiasts like to call it, evolved over the years, as the original DoyPack had various shortcomings, which had to be solved to meet the explosion of innovations in materials, printing techniques and manufacturing of fitments, like spouts, built-in straws, zippers etc.

Speaking in general terms there are two shortcomings in the Doyen style pouches.x One is that, because the DoyPack body tapers from the circular bottom to the flat lined top and is fabricated from two flat sheets, the pouch when partly full, or better still, half empty tends to cause the top of the pouch to fold over, rather than stand erect, due to the weight of the fitment.
The second shortcoming is the difficulty in adding a fitment, other then a zipper, to a DoyPack pouch and to many other pouch designs as well. Due to fitment sealing methods and the construction of the stand-up pouch, the fitment must be of the “canoe” style to create a joint that can be reliably sealed. The canoe type of fitment is an attempt to minimize the change in direction of pouch material as it comes into contact with the fitment, and in doing so, improve the integrity of the joint where the two sides of the pouch come together at the fitment. However, even the use of a canoe shaped fitment does not completely solve the difficulties in sealing a fitment into a stand-up pouch, what many a designer brought to the decision to locate the fitment in the front of the packaging. Some recent developments show the introduction of a gusset at the top of the pouch to create a flat surface for the spout fitment.

In the next post we shall take a look at some stand-up pouches which feature in one way or another a speciality. There are innumerable ways to design original stand-up pouches using the ultimate in technology to accentuate the brand’s presence on the shelves. Keep in mind that more than two thirds of purchasing decisions are made in the aisle. The competition is decided then and there by what the consumer favours, and it is on the shelves that the brand must make the impact. The only problem is, as it is often in the packaging world, the application of revolutionary technologies and/or material compositions, isn’t always recognised or even recognisable by the consumer.

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Unique closure Creates a Serving-Tray

This upside-down package, called 1-Seal Kupa, is specifically designed to allow for the lid of the package to be used in upside-down position as a serving tray for the Arboga/Atria skivbarpastej (sliceable pâté). The design of the lid/tray of the packaging allows the vacuum seal to be broken while opening the container without damaging the meat product inside. This was accomplished by varying the thickness of the sides, notching the bottom, and utilizing moulded ridges for gripping the sides.

The 1-Seal Kupa …. continue reading

Pick and Place Technology for Fragile Fresh Fruit

This blog only has seen posts about new packaging innovations in regard to packaging design, packaging construction, material use and packaging and printing technologies. However I don’t see a reason why I should restrict myself to those topics and not write about new packaging machinery innovations, particularly when one meets an interesting design for automatic handling of fragile fresh fruits.

In addition to that, the fresh fruit packaging in itself is not subject to spectacular innovations as it hasn’t seen any in years, still being the (corrugated) cardboard box tray as it was decades ago. Packaging companies might have modified the way the box tray is set up, but you can’t report of any significant innovation. That said, it does mean that any innovation in efficiently packing of fresh and fragile fruit has to come from the machinery companies. Well, here is one of them.

In the country of the kiwi’s, Stroba Ltd, developed a Pick and Place Autopacker to pack Kiwi fruit, and ….. continue reading