Articles Tagged with ''lightweight packaging''

Some consumer packaged goods products take a cue from their competitors and play it safe at retail by blending in. But in the increasingly competitive beverage space, many brands are daring to be different.

The product name has been trademarked; the formulation has been perfected and patented; the packaging is unique and shelfworthy; yet, this product might never make it to retail because the owner forgot about one vital step: inspection.

As a proliferation of new brands and flavors continues to hit the market, the beverage industry also has experienced an influx of new package styles and designs to help those products stand out on the shelf.

As Disney’s “Toy Story 3” movie portrays, children’s interests in toys change as they grow up. Similarly, as the beverage can industry matures, its interest in packaging sizes changes. These changes have a domino effect on the equipment that fills and seams these cans.

With a career spanning 35 years in the bottled water business, Kim Jeffery has seen a drastic change within the beverage industry since he joined Perrier Group of America in 1978.

Although it’s important to consider the end-consumer when choosing a labeling material, beverage-makers also need to look at the larger labeling picture and their teams’ abilities, advises Lou Iovoli, vice president of strategic partnerships for Hammer Packaging, Rochester, N.Y.

At retail, beverage packages are tasked with not only displaying an attractive shelf presence but also ensuring the quality of the product and the integrity of the brand.

For beverage containers on the shelf, standing out tends to be the name of the game. To create a differentiated shelf presence, beverage packages often flaunt different shapes, materials and styles.

On the production line, beverage packages face multiple obstacles, such as chipped or broken glass, deformed plastic, mis-seamed cans, over- or under-filling, incorrect labeling, leaking, contamination, and misapplied caps and closures, to name a few defects. 

 The innovative, entrepreneurial spirit that helped Honest Tea, Bethesda, Md., establish its roots in 1998 can still be found within the company 14 years later.