AIP National Office 34 Lawson Street Oxley QLD 4075 Australia +61 7 3278 4490 +61 7 3009 9916 [email protected]www.aipack.com.au AIP NEWSLETTER Join the AIP on 1 AUGUST 2014 T he AIP recently recognised five members who have contributed over 125 years of service to the Institute and the packaging industry. The five recipients were Peter Hull MAIP, Technical Manager, Ardagh Group, Gregory Johnson MAIP, Product Development Manager, Visy Board, Mitchell McDonald MAIP, Key Account Manager, Amcor Flexibles, Andrew Preston MAIP, Appointment Group and Tony Whelan MAIP, Regional Sales Manager, Ulma Packaging. The AIP would like to acknowledge all five recipients and their contribution to the packaging industry over the last 25 years or more. The AIP invited Tony Whelan MAIP to share some of his insights into the last 25 years…Tony started in the packaging industry in 1986 for Leigh Mardon Flexibles in Sydney and he worked with a very young George Ganzenmuller FAIP. When asked about the things that have changed in the industry over the last 25 years Tony said that his work over the last ten years has been specifically in the packaging equipment field and it is in this area that he has seen significant improvements in the quality of equipment being produced today. “With improved health and safety requirements of today’s customers, packaging machinery is increasingly exposed to aggressive cleaning processes and must be able to withstand exposure to a wide range of cleaning agents. Some of the equipment being manufactured today is almost submersible,” Mr Whelan said. “Having worked in the packaging industry now for 28 years I would invite everyone to be a part of the AIP in some way. The AIP has always been about the monthly meeting and the chance to catch up with colleagues and meet new people. Training and education, like the AIP provides, is critical in our industry today. Every company involved in packaging food items should have a qualified packaging professional working for them.” he said. When asked what advice he would give the people just starting out in the packaging industry Tony said FIVE MEMBERS RECOGNISED FOR 25 YEARS OF SERVICE Tony Whelan MAIP receiving his 25 years Certificate NEW MEMBERS The AIP would like to welcome the following new Members... Aleah Back Associate NSW Iain Blair Member VIC Ryan Davis Associate VIC Richard Fernandez Member VIC Robert Foulston Associate VIC Matthew Morgan Member NSW JOIN THE AIP LINKED IN GROUP TODAY The AIP recognises the changing role of social media as an additional means of reaching our members, sponsors, and industry contacts across Australasia as an international group. The AIP has a Linked in Group and we invite you to join your peers who have already connected. Linkedin: Australian Institute of Packaging. The AIP, in conjunction with the SPE, APPMA, PAK NZ and other industry associations, are pleased to advise that the pilot program for the Ignite Packaging mentoring program will be commencing shortly. The pilot program has participants from both Australia and New Zealand and all across the industry. Stay tuned for regular updates on this wonderful initiative for the industry. If you are asked to do anything in an organisation and you don’t know how to do it say yes anyway and then then learn what to do as quickly as you can.
Transcript
AIP National Office 34 Lawson Street Oxley QLD 4075 Australia +61 7 3278 4490 +61 7 3009 9916 [email protected] www.aipack.com.au
AIP NEWSLETTERJoin the AIP on
1
AUGUST 2014
The AIP recently recognised five members who have contributed over 125 years of service to the Institute and the packaging industry. The five recipients were Peter Hull MAIP, Technical Manager, Ardagh Group,
Gregory Johnson MAIP, Product Development Manager, Visy Board, Mitchell McDonald MAIP, Key Account Manager, Amcor Flexibles, Andrew Preston MAIP, Appointment Group and Tony Whelan MAIP, Regional Sales Manager, Ulma Packaging. The AIP would like to acknowledge all five recipients and their contribution to the packaging industry over the last 25 years or more.
The AIP invited Tony Whelan MAIP to share some of his insights into the last 25 years…Tony started in the packaging industry in 1986 for Leigh Mardon Flexibles in Sydney and he worked with a very young George Ganzenmuller FAIP. When asked about the things that have changed in the industry over the last 25 years Tony said that his work over the last ten years has been specifically in the packaging equipment field and it is in this area that he has seen significant improvements in the quality of equipment being produced today.
“With improved health and safety requirements of today’s customers, packaging machinery is increasingly exposed to aggressive cleaning processes and must be able to withstand exposure to a wide range of cleaning agents. Some of the equipment being manufactured today is almost submersible,” Mr Whelan said.
“Having worked in the packaging industry now for 28 years I would invite everyone to be a part of the AIP in some way. The AIP has always been about the monthly meeting and the chance to catch up with colleagues and meet new people. Training and education, like the AIP provides, is critical in our industry today. Every company involved in packaging food items should have a qualified packaging professional working for them.” he said.
When asked what advice he would give the people just starting out in the packaging industry Tony said
FIVE MEMBERS RECOGNISED FOR 25 YEARS OF SERVICE
Tony Whelan MAIP receiving his 25 years Certificate
NEW MEMBERSThe AIP would like to welcome the following new Members...
Aleah Back Associate NSWIain Blair Member VICRyan Davis Associate VICRichard Fernandez Member VICRobert Foulston Associate VICMatthew Morgan Member NSW
JOIN THE AIP LINKED IN GROUP TODAY
The AIP recognises the changing role of social media as an additional means of reaching our members, sponsors, and industry contacts across Australasia as an international group. The AIP has a Linked in Group and we invite you to join your peers who have already connected. Linkedin: Australian Institute of Packaging.
The AIP, in conjunction with the SPE, APPMA, PAK NZ and other industry associations, are pleased to advise that the pilot program for the Ignite Packaging mentoring program will be commencing shortly.
The pilot program has participants from both Australia and New Zealand and all across the industry. Stay tuned for regular updates on this wonderful initiative for the industry.
If you are asked to do anything in an organisation and you don’t know how to do it say yes anyway and then then learn what to do as quickly as you can.
DON’T MISS OUT ON THE LATEST AIP ACTIVITIES FOR 2014ALL MEMBERS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND ANY EVENTS ACROSS AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALANDTo register to attend any of the events simply email [email protected] or visit the events page on www.aipack.com.au
When: Thursday the 7th of AugustWhere: Oatlands Golf ClubTime: 6.00 pmTopic:Speakers:
When: Thursday the 28th of August Where: Partec, Mt GravattTime: 5.30 pmWhat:
When: Wednesday the 26th of NovemberWhere: Albert Park Yachting and Angling Club Time: 6.30 pm
When: Friday the 5th of DecemberWhere: Officers Mess, Victoria BarracksTime: 10.30 am
When: Wednesday the 6th of AugustWhere: Box Hill Golf ClubTime: 6.00 pmTopic: Packaging And Processing Innovations Discovered At Interpack 2014
When: Wednesday the 3rd of SeptemberWhere: Box Hill Golf ClubTime: 6.00 pmSpeaker:
Stephen Flaherty AAIPMarketing Services ManagerConfoil
Claude D’Amico MAIPMarket Development ManagerInnovia Films Asia Pacific
Mark DingleyChairmanAPPMA
This half-day training course is designed to give a comprehensive guide to labelling and how to navigate through the myriad of options available for each style of packaging.
When: Wednesday the 24th of SeptemberWhere: ASB Showgrounds, Epsom Auckland Time: 10.00 amPresenter: Dr Carol Lawrence PhD, MAIP Environment & Sustainability Specialist UPM Raflatac Oceania
NEW COURSE
NZLABELLING & MATCHING THE LABEL WITH THE PACKAGEHALF-DAY TRAINING COURSE Personal Care and Plastics Packaging
This seminar will show how industry and society can benefit from applying new technology using EVOH and other materials to enhance barrier properties in food packaging to extend shelf life for packaged food.
PACKING 800 HAMPERS FOR FOODBANK
Ronald CornelissePackaging Site LeaderJohnson & Johnson Pacific Trends and Issues in Plastics Packaging from the Perspective of the Brand Owner Aleksander LajovicSales & Marketing ManagerImpact International GroupThe Short Squeeze on the History and Use of TubesRoger ShahaniSales Manager Australian NutraceuticalsThe Joy of Packaging: An Insider’s Guide
Ian Hayes FAIPInnovation Manager PackagingMurray Goulburn
Dennis ChooSolution Architect ESKO
Brand Collaboration and Packaging AutomationIs there a better way? With Esko’s packaging management solution, WebCenter, you can automate communication and ensure the entire team is working from the latest and most accurate files. Not only will you have visibility to all your projects, you will be able to meet deadlines and budgets with the increased process efficiencies delivered by Esko Solutions.
Heath van der WaerdenTechnical SalesTasman Machinery
3D Printing improving design, production and speed to market.Heath will present a paper discussing the product development cycles for a wide variety of packaging solutions and will also talk about 3D printing as a new innovation.
AIP NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2014 3
VIC
QLD
INDUSTRY EVENTS
When: 23rd to 25th of SeptemberWhere: ASB Showgrounds Auckland, New ZealandWhen: 9th to 12th of September
Where: Nairobi, Kenya
www.foodtechpacktech.co.nzwww.eastafripack.com
Foodtech Packtech is the most important trade event for the New Zealand Food Technology and Packaging Technology industries. This biennial event gives you the opportunity to come face-to-face with the experts behind the key innovations entering the New Zealand market. Foodtech Packtech will showcase the freshest ideas, latest technologies and the newest developments entering the Food Technology and Packaging Technology market.
East Afripack, the first not to miss regional exhibition for processing, packaging and converting technology in the EAC region has been presented to the local press during a meeting held on June 3rd at the Southern Sun Mayfair Hotel of Nairobi. Participants included Mpoko Bokanga, UNIDO representative for Kenya, Eritrea and South Sudan; Julius Korir, Industrial Secretary, Ministry
FOODTECH PACKTECH COME & SEE THE AIP ON STAND 2037 NZ
PACKAGING + PROCESSING
OWNED AND PRESENTED BY THE APPMA
30TH ANNIVERSARY
For more information visit auspack.com.au
AUSPACK. 30 YEARS OF INNOVATION.
AUSPACK'S
ANNIVERSARY
TH30OWNED AND PRESENTED BY ORGANISED BY
DON’T MISS OUT ON THE LATEST AIP ACTIVITIES FOR 2014
ALL MEMBERS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND ANY EVENTS ACROSS AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALANDTo register to attend any of the events simply email [email protected] or visit the events page on www.aipack.com.au
EAST 2014 AFRIPACK
AIP NEWSLETTER AUGUST 20144
The Instituto de Embalagens in Brazil is pleased to announce the release of its 10th publication, Better Packaging. Better World. The Book is divided into 6 sections including the Introduction to the Packaging Universe, Packaging Materials, Packaging Types, Packaging Processes, Packaging Machinery and Sustainability and is full of illustrations and case study examples. The book was organised by a multidisciplinary team designed to build a complete and
organised work. Each chapter was written by invited authors that are specialised in each field and are respected in the Brazilian and world market.
BETTER PACKAGING. BETTER WORLDPUBLICATION NOW AVAILABLE IN AUSTRALIA
AIP Members $119 +postage & handling Non-Members $139 +postage and handling
Postage Australia wide $15 and NZ wide $25. All prices are in AUD. For all orders outside of Aust/NZ postage will be POA.
To request an order form for Better Packaging Better World simply email [email protected]
NOW SOLD IN AUSTRALIA
Collaboration – the cornerstone of industry success
Packaging and Innovation Ex-cellence was the conference theme, but the key message that emerged over the two days of presentations and discus-sions was that neither of these is possible without one essen-tial ingredient: collaboration.
Whether presenters were talking about the development of a new ma-terial or technology, relaunching a brand or bringing shelf ready pack-aging to market, the common thrust was the importance of collaboration – within the organisation itself across functional streams involved in the project, upstream with the customer (end-user) and the con-sumer, and downstream with the supply chain.
Speakers representing big brand owners were strong proponents of the message. It came through when Craig Walker of Coca-Cola Amatil discussed redevelopment of PET
SKUs across the business; when Paul Horn of Lion discussed the develop-ment and launch of beer packaging innovation TapKing; when Bryan McKay outlined steps in packaging evaluation at Campbell Arnott’s; and when Frank Bova of Kimberly-Clark Australia relayed the challenging journey developing shelf-ready packaging for tissues.
These examples, and many more besides, highlighted the value of working in partnership with all stakeholders.
But when it comes to achieving success for the industry as a whole, and increasing our global competi-tiveness, there’s another level to con-sider – cross-industry collaboration. Yes, competitors talking to each oth-er and sharing their expertise for the greater good. And the presenter who best drove this point home was Nico-las Georges of Mondelez Internation-al, who spoke about the opportuni-
Esteemed fellows welcome new members to the fold: (from left) Jason Fields, Frank Bova, Bryan McKay, Ron Mines, Craig Wellman, Robin Tuckerman, Ralph Moyle, Richard Smith, Burt Beaumont, Pierre Pienaar.
APPMA chairman Mark Dingley awards the 2014 APPMA Scholarship to happy winner, Aleah Back.
The australian institute of Packaging national conference is a biennial gathering of packaging industry experts who share business insights and technical knowledge with industry peers in an atmosphere conducive to fostering business relationships and professional development. The 2014 event, held in Sydney, delivered this and more, writes Lindy Hughson.
32
ties for cross-industry collaboration that could open doors for the local industry in the burgeoning Asian market, by accessing facilities and expertise available at the new Food Innovation Centre at Mondelez’ Ringwood facility in Victoria. The newly-launched centre’s vision is to build a brighter future for local food manufacturers, with sights set spe-cifically on developing new prod-ucts for export into Asia (see full re-port in PKN May/June 2014) .
“Being a closed industry is not go-ing to get us where we want to be,” Georges said. He advocates talent de-velopment, resource pooling, an open innovation approach, and the use of new technology to fast-track concept generation and idea proto-typing. Establishing best practices that industry as a whole can tap into will enable us to unlock future growth platforms in Asia, he said.
Collaboration starts with industry peers sharing ideas and learnings at forums like this. The next major event will be the AIP Technical Fo-rum that will run alongside AUS-PACK 2015 at the Melbourne Con-vention and Exhibition Centre from 24-26 March 2015. ■
ThE winner of the 6th APPMA Scholarship was announced at the AIP conference gala dinner: Aleah Back, packaging engineer, Johnson & Johnson Pacific.
Presenting the award, Mark Dingley, chairman of APPMA, said: “Aleah has shown a huge interest and commitment in undertaking the Diploma in Packaging Technology. She has both academic and practical expertise in the industry and is keen to expand her technical education in the packaging industry.”
Back’s APPMA Scholarship will allow her to complete a Diploma in Packaging Technology to the value of $9,000. The Diploma in Packaging Technology, offered by the AIP, is a comprehensive and internation-ally recognised Level 5 foundation degree qualification covering the principles of
packaging, packaging materials and packaging processes. When Back gradu-ates, she will be equipped to take responsi-bility for packaging operations at any level through the supply chain.
Dingley also congratulated the other three finalists: Alexandra Brayshaw, Arthritis Australia; Mirvic Camacho, Murray Goul-burn; and Sumit Kini, Orora Glass.
ThE grade of Fellow is the highest accolade awarded to AIP members, recognising significant and sustained contribution to technology, science or application to packaging within the industry. Ralph Moyle and Craig Wellman were honoured with this award at the AIP gala dinner. Ralph Moyle is packaging development officer at Simplot Australia and national president of the AIP. He was recognised for the significant contribution he has made to the packaging industry over the last 40 years. Moyle is an experienced food and packaging consultant and has worked in many areas, including quality management and control, operational management, and packaging design and development.
His most recent work has been with the Australian Packaging Covenant and in shelf friendly packaging development currently in Australia and New Zealand stores, which was a key contributor to this recognition.
Craig Wellman is chief executive officer of Wellman Packaging, recognised for his leadership in the area of plastics technology and injection moulded closures over the last two decades. He has been engaged in the plastics and packaging industries through his family business and has led the company to become a top tier supplier of rigid packaging solutions for FMCG products, with manufacturing and distribution operations across four main business units – bottles, preforms, closures and thinwall IML. He is an ardent advocate of development in packag-ing and process technology and he holds a number of patents as an inventor.
GLOBAL VIEWPOINTamong the international speakers in the conference line-up this year was keynote presenter Rick Fox, chair-man of US and Canadian trade asso-ciation, PMMI.
Fox shared his view on factors that will have an impact on packaging go-ing forward. Retailing is top of the list. US suppliers are facing similar pressure on margins to those in Aus-tralia, he said. This pressure drives some interesting decisions. Fox relat-ed how one of the largest US beverage manufacturers has almost trebled its number of SKUs to try to maintain brand share, but of those new SKUs, only 130 make profit, 100 SKUs break even, and 462 lose money! Increasing SKUs is not feasible, especially when retailers are reducing SKUs carried, with some stores now down to six choices or less in certain categories.
But what’s going to hurt the mar-ket more, he said, is the move to on-line retailing. Wal Mart has had its fifth straight quarterly decline, and is now testing the online grocery channel and, like other retailers, is looking at converting stores to ‘ship from’ warehouses.
Another driver of change, Fox said, is the millennial generation – these shoppers are shaping the retail envi-ronment. Research that Fox cited showed that millennials believe brands are ‘suspect’. Also, close to 50 per cent use apps to aid in purchasing decisions. This increased level of mobile device usage translates into increased sensitivity at the packag-ing level, said Fox. If the pack image that comes up online is not the same as that on shelf when shoppers with mobile phones scanned a barcode la-bel, they won’t buy the brand. ■
Rick Fox: Packaging will be impacted by changes in the retailing landscape.
THIS ARTICLE WAS REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM PKN PACKAGING NEWS
Collaboration – the cornerstone of industry success
Packaging and Innovation Ex-cellence was the conference theme, but the key message that emerged over the two days of presentations and discus-sions was that neither of these is possible without one essen-tial ingredient: collaboration.
Whether presenters were talking about the development of a new ma-terial or technology, relaunching a brand or bringing shelf ready pack-aging to market, the common thrust was the importance of collaboration – within the organisation itself across functional streams involved in the project, upstream with the customer (end-user) and the con-sumer, and downstream with the supply chain.
Speakers representing big brand owners were strong proponents of the message. It came through when Craig Walker of Coca-Cola Amatil discussed redevelopment of PET
SKUs across the business; when Paul Horn of Lion discussed the develop-ment and launch of beer packaging innovation TapKing; when Bryan McKay outlined steps in packaging evaluation at Campbell Arnott’s; and when Frank Bova of Kimberly-Clark Australia relayed the challenging journey developing shelf-ready packaging for tissues.
These examples, and many more besides, highlighted the value of working in partnership with all stakeholders.
But when it comes to achieving success for the industry as a whole, and increasing our global competi-tiveness, there’s another level to con-sider – cross-industry collaboration. Yes, competitors talking to each oth-er and sharing their expertise for the greater good. And the presenter who best drove this point home was Nico-las Georges of Mondelez Internation-al, who spoke about the opportuni-
Esteemed fellows welcome new members to the fold: (from left) Jason Fields, Frank Bova, Bryan McKay, Ron Mines, Craig Wellman, Robin Tuckerman, Ralph Moyle, Richard Smith, Burt Beaumont, Pierre Pienaar.
APPMA chairman Mark Dingley awards the 2014 APPMA Scholarship to happy winner, Aleah Back.
The australian institute of Packaging national conference is a biennial gathering of packaging industry experts who share business insights and technical knowledge with industry peers in an atmosphere conducive to fostering business relationships and professional development. The 2014 event, held in Sydney, delivered this and more, writes Lindy Hughson.
32
ties for cross-industry collaboration that could open doors for the local industry in the burgeoning Asian market, by accessing facilities and expertise available at the new Food Innovation Centre at Mondelez’ Ringwood facility in Victoria. The newly-launched centre’s vision is to build a brighter future for local food manufacturers, with sights set spe-cifically on developing new prod-ucts for export into Asia (see full re-port in PKN May/June 2014) .
“Being a closed industry is not go-ing to get us where we want to be,” Georges said. He advocates talent de-velopment, resource pooling, an open innovation approach, and the use of new technology to fast-track concept generation and idea proto-typing. Establishing best practices that industry as a whole can tap into will enable us to unlock future growth platforms in Asia, he said.
Collaboration starts with industry peers sharing ideas and learnings at forums like this. The next major event will be the AIP Technical Fo-rum that will run alongside AUS-PACK 2015 at the Melbourne Con-vention and Exhibition Centre from 24-26 March 2015. ■
ThE winner of the 6th APPMA Scholarship was announced at the AIP conference gala dinner: Aleah Back, packaging engineer, Johnson & Johnson Pacific.
Presenting the award, Mark Dingley, chairman of APPMA, said: “Aleah has shown a huge interest and commitment in undertaking the Diploma in Packaging Technology. She has both academic and practical expertise in the industry and is keen to expand her technical education in the packaging industry.”
Back’s APPMA Scholarship will allow her to complete a Diploma in Packaging Technology to the value of $9,000. The Diploma in Packaging Technology, offered by the AIP, is a comprehensive and internation-ally recognised Level 5 foundation degree qualification covering the principles of
packaging, packaging materials and packaging processes. When Back gradu-ates, she will be equipped to take responsi-bility for packaging operations at any level through the supply chain.
Dingley also congratulated the other three finalists: Alexandra Brayshaw, Arthritis Australia; Mirvic Camacho, Murray Goul-burn; and Sumit Kini, Orora Glass.
ThE grade of Fellow is the highest accolade awarded to AIP members, recognising significant and sustained contribution to technology, science or application to packaging within the industry. Ralph Moyle and Craig Wellman were honoured with this award at the AIP gala dinner. Ralph Moyle is packaging development officer at Simplot Australia and national president of the AIP. He was recognised for the significant contribution he has made to the packaging industry over the last 40 years. Moyle is an experienced food and packaging consultant and has worked in many areas, including quality management and control, operational management, and packaging design and development.
His most recent work has been with the Australian Packaging Covenant and in shelf friendly packaging development currently in Australia and New Zealand stores, which was a key contributor to this recognition.
Craig Wellman is chief executive officer of Wellman Packaging, recognised for his leadership in the area of plastics technology and injection moulded closures over the last two decades. He has been engaged in the plastics and packaging industries through his family business and has led the company to become a top tier supplier of rigid packaging solutions for FMCG products, with manufacturing and distribution operations across four main business units – bottles, preforms, closures and thinwall IML. He is an ardent advocate of development in packag-ing and process technology and he holds a number of patents as an inventor.
GLOBAL VIEWPOINTamong the international speakers in the conference line-up this year was keynote presenter Rick Fox, chair-man of US and Canadian trade asso-ciation, PMMI.
Fox shared his view on factors that will have an impact on packaging go-ing forward. Retailing is top of the list. US suppliers are facing similar pressure on margins to those in Aus-tralia, he said. This pressure drives some interesting decisions. Fox relat-ed how one of the largest US beverage manufacturers has almost trebled its number of SKUs to try to maintain brand share, but of those new SKUs, only 130 make profit, 100 SKUs break even, and 462 lose money! Increasing SKUs is not feasible, especially when retailers are reducing SKUs carried, with some stores now down to six choices or less in certain categories.
But what’s going to hurt the mar-ket more, he said, is the move to on-line retailing. Wal Mart has had its fifth straight quarterly decline, and is now testing the online grocery channel and, like other retailers, is looking at converting stores to ‘ship from’ warehouses.
Another driver of change, Fox said, is the millennial generation – these shoppers are shaping the retail envi-ronment. Research that Fox cited showed that millennials believe brands are ‘suspect’. Also, close to 50 per cent use apps to aid in purchasing decisions. This increased level of mobile device usage translates into increased sensitivity at the packag-ing level, said Fox. If the pack image that comes up online is not the same as that on shelf when shoppers with mobile phones scanned a barcode la-bel, they won’t buy the brand. ■
Rick Fox: Packaging will be impacted by changes in the retailing landscape.
THIS ARTICLE WAS REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM PKN PACKAGING NEWS
AIP NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2014 7
4 TIPS TO DRIVE ABSOLUTE COLOUR (THE ‘OTHER’ UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE)
It’s often said that there are two universal languages – Mathematics and Music. Regardless of our native tongue – be it Arabic, Bengali, Chinese or English – all educated people know the shared language of
numbers. We can all stand in a queue at 7-Eleven and calculate how much the Mars bar or Coke in our hand will add up to, whether it’s in dollars, rupees or euro’s.
In the same way music offers a common set of symbols that are recognised the world over. Put a few pages of Beethoven’s 5th in front of a violinist from Moscow and a cellist from Rome and they’ll know exactly what to play.
Today, because of the advances in technology, a third universal language has evolved – Colour!
Colour defines your brand. And for any brand seeking to thrive in today’s competitive marketplace, driving absolute colour through print quality management is critical.
Here are 4 tips for nurturing your brand and protecting its visual equities with absolutely consistent colour, worldwide, from Paul Haggett MAIP, Business Development Manager, Schawk.
1. Understand that all human beings perceive colour differently, with factors like age and gender being just two of the many variables. Your brand is too valuable to leave colour management to disconnected individuals working for unrelated print vendors. To achieve the most consistent outcomes, do what you do in so many other areas of life – use science & technology!
2. Establish a defined and measureable colour target for your critical brand colours, and do it using the substrates /materials on which your packaging goes to market. Ideally, a colour target is physical sample, or swatch of the target colour, which also displays the measurable, numeric values of that colour (L.a.b. Values), as measured by an industry standard device known as a spectrophotometer. All materials reflect light differently, and to have a single, un-defined colour target for all packaged items (Bags, cartons, labels, etc.) will only set you up to fail.
3. Work closely with both your print vendors, and your brand protection agency/pre-media provider to establish realistic tolerances for colour variation. All complex production environments need a tolerance for a certain level of variation, and printing is no different. There will be colour shift throughout a run, but work with experts in printing and colour management to ensure those tolerances are tight, and push for continuous improvement.
4. Modern printing and colour reproduction should be seen as a science, not a ‘black art’. The variables are many, but they are measureable and controllable. Schawk’s ColourDrive is the only global supply chain focused tool designed specifically for brands to track, measure and report on the consistent reproduction of defined brand standards, any where, any time. Drive brand efficiency. Drive brand consistency. Drive brand value.
For more tactics on how to drive absolute colour, download Schawk’s ColourDrive brochure.
THIS ARTICLE WAS REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM SCHAWK!www.schawk.com
AIP NEWSLETTER AUGUST 20148
NEW BARRIERS ON THE HORIZON
Craig Wellman, CEO of Wellman packaging, says there are new barrier technologies on the horizon that are on the verge of becoming mainstream – and converters and brand owners should take notice.
Barrier technology extends the shelf life of food and other FCMG products by protecting them from spoilers like light, temperature, humidity, oxygen, carbon dioxide, water and flavour contamination.
While Wellman says materials like nanoclays are yet to live up to their potential, multilayer preforms and bottles, with barrier layers sandwiched between clear layers of plastic, are providing interesting opportunities for brands. He says, “Over the next couple of years twin-shot injection moulding, particularly for rigid barrier packaging, is going to become mainstream.
“Suppliers making such technology available over here includes the likes of Kortec, Mold-Masters and Husky.” Kortec, he says, is developing a retortable polypropylene can, with an Evoh barrier layer and double seam lip that can accommodate traditional metal can ends.
Evoh, he says, is a synthetic polymer with good barrier properties, and developers are working to improve the ‘wet look’
sometimes found in this material. At the right pressure, it can go through the retort process to sterilise and extend the shelf life of foods.
Kortec’s retortable plastic cans, called ‘Klear Can’, allow brand owners to show the contents of the package (as long as the product looks appetising) and could potentially replace steel cans. Wellman says, “The cans are still going through testing with a number of brand owners, particularly in the US, but it is shaping up to be an interesting solution.”
Another up-and-coming technology with potential for meats, canned fruit and fish is a transfer mould solution with an aluminium barrier – a composite structure with two polypropylene shells and the aluminium in the middle.
Wellman says the technology is receiving attention in the UK but is currently held back by capital costs, with one European system setting converters back around €2m.
He says, “Aluminium is a pretty fantastic barrier – it does not get much better. The developer has had some issues with piercing micro holes that are formed in the aluminium mandrel, but it does present as an interesting opportunity. “The upside is you use a lot less aluminium, so in the lifecycle analysis the cost is lower and in Europe it can still be reclaimed through their incineration process.”
For long life milk and similar extended shelf life (ESL) products, he says brands could follow the example of Fonterra in New Zealand, which is using a multilayer bottle with a barrier layer of black high density PET or polypropylene to block out light. The overall wall structure is still around 0.3 or 0.4mm, says Wellman, but is enough to protect the product from the required UV spectrum of 350-700nm. The layer can be achieved through simultaneous co-injection, or in two steps with the black layer over-moulded.
Additives such as an O2 scavenger can also be introduced to provide more kinds of protection, and a TiO2 (titanium dioxide) additive can extend shelf life to between 20 and 90 days. In closures, things may not be looking so good for induction liners, as high density caps with aseptic seals are now on trend, and are also able to offer the protection of an Evoh barrier layer.
Wellman says, “When we combine this closure technology with cold fill aseptic and barriers, we are getting a fairly tight solution to the overall barrier and air seal.” Functional closures, with a chamber filled with powder or liquid that can be dispensed into the bottle with the touch of a button, are also catching on, he says, championed by brands like Berocca.
He says, “I have probably seen at least six different varieties of these floating around the world. Many focus on delivering a consumer appeal, with colour, or functional benefits for nutraceutical products. “In terms of an interactive experience for the consumer, I think this will be a key area of development for the next five or ten years. At first I thought it might be a fad, but it is really taking hold.”
Craig Wellman FAIP, CEO of Wellman Packaging
Kortec’s retortable plastic ‘Klear Can’
Gourmet Garden tubes: A layer of EVOH barrier plastic protects the contents from oxygen and also prevents oils or volatiles from leaching out of the pack
The patented Gizmo closure and delivery system manufactured by RPC Bramlage of Germany used in a range of natural drinks, Tea of a Kind, launched in the US
THIS ARTICLE WAS RE-PRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM I-GRAFIXwww.i-grafix.com
AIP NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2014 9
SKIRTING THE PACKAGING LEGAL MINEFIELD
What you write in a marketing brief just may be the deciding factor in a judge’s copyright ruling, says Gwen Blake, managing director of packaging design agency Boxer & Co –
and there are other potential pitfalls at every stage of the packaging development process.
One cigarette manufacturer was caught out for plagiarism in court when it was revealed their brief instructed the packaging designer to replicate the competitor’s package ‘as close as possible,’ she says.
Blake recently teamed up with lawyer Sharon Givoni, principal solicitor at Sharon Givoni Consulting, for a presentation on packaging legalities with the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) in Melbourne.
As packaging recalls are time consuming, expensive and can hurt your brand,
Blake walked participants through the design process and the legal considerations at each point. She says a good designer will present three or four concepts to their client, and make sure they are aware of all the potential legal traps. Colour, for example, can be a challenge if the brand owner wants to use a shade that is already featured on the shelf for similar products.
Givoni says most shoppers are probably aware of Cadbury’s claim on the colour purple. The confectioner now has a monopoly on seven shades for the boxed and block chocolate markets.
She says protection can also be afforded to colour, shapes, sounds and scents, if they are distinctive markers of a brand’s goods and services. The Tiffany & Co
jewellery box and specific blue colour, and the triangular prism shape and graphics of Toblerone chocolate are registered – as is Toyota’s jump for joy. Werthers also has approval for its specific confectionery wrapping, even though other brands use gold for caramels. Fonts are also potential lawsuits – Blake says it is worth creating and registering your own.
However, products like home brands can get away with some forms of copycat packaging, if a court decides that consumers will not be tricked into mistaking it for the original brand. Givoni says trademark registrations last for ten years and can be renewed perpetually, as long as you keep meeting criteria and are still using the trademark.
She also says there is no such thing as a global trademark; brand owners, like McDonalds, must register in every jurisdiction. Packaging inventions can be protected by patents, which must be applied for before the product’s launch into the marketplace, and last eight years for an innovation patent and 20 years for a standard patent.
Brand owners also need to be aware of the text on their package. Claims, particularly for food products, must be substantiated and cannot be deceptive.
The nutritional information panel, and recently introduced thumbnail descriptors, must comply with Food Standards Australia regulations. The size and regulatory requirements of ingredients and other mandated advice can also be tricky. For example, mass cannot be shown as KG, Kg, kilos, gm, grammes, grm, MG, Mg, or Mgram but only as kg, g or mg.
In pharmacy things get more complex; the package must warn the consumer of potential hazards and how to administer the product. It also has to specify the dangerous goods classification and a detailed makeup of the material.
Blake also advises designers to look after their own interests – for
example, unless stipulated in a contract, a designer owns the draft work and the client has no right to use it without permission or payment.
If the initial design becomes a high volume product, this means the brand owner cannot produce another product using the same design without negotiating this with the design agency.
Similarly, photographs commissioned remain the property of the photographer and this, along with the exact terms of trade and codicils to future ownership, should be detailed clearly on the accounts.
There are many hurdles in design development, most legal, she says, so it is best to have ongoing legal input.
Risky business: copycat packaging
Gwen Blake
Fiercely protected: Tiffany & Co packaging
Sharon Givoni
THIS ARTICLE WAS RE-PRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM I-GRAFIXwww.i-grafix.com
AIP NEWSLETTER AUGUST 201410
FREE ENERGY ASSESSMENTS
PHILIPPINES INSTITUTE OF PACKAGINGT h e A u s t r a l i a n Fo o d and Grocery Council’s ( A F G C ) e m p o w e r program, funded by
the Department of Industry, is designed to assist SMEs- with less than 200 employees - improve energy efficiency and save costs by providing free energy
assessments. Eligible businesses can register for a free on-site energy assessments - http://afgcempower.org.au/energy-assessments/ The program also provides independent expert advice through the workshops. The workshop, hosted at a food manufacturing site, demonstrates application of the program tools on a site by identifying opportunities to improve energy efficiency and estimating the savings. The AFGC is seeking interest from businesses to host the workshop. A business hosting the workshop will receive: • 3-4 hours onsite technical investigation / support from
Energetics (a reputed energy management firm);• Up to two hours post demo support provided, after
the workshop; and• Business case study.
In addition, if a business commits to implement one of the identified opportunity, the program can provide up to 2 days of additional support (at no cost!) to assist progress the project.
As the workshops and the energy assessments are available only till April next year, we would encourage you to access them in the early stages. For more information on the program or to express interest to host the workshop contact Kartik Madhira [email protected] on (02) 6273 1466.
R alph Moyle had the opportunity recently to visit the President of the Phillipines Institute of Packaging, Edita P. Molato. The visit was a wonderful learning exercise to understand
what our neighbouring institute is doing and also how we can work together to further education and training in the region.
Ralph Moyle FAIP and Edita P. Molato
AIP PARTNERS
Untitled-1 1 19/9/11 3:47:10 PM
Find out how your company can become a partner of the AIP by emailing [email protected]
AIP NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2014 11
HOUSE WITH NO STEPS
Our Packaging division offers a wide range of packaging and assembly services. Some of our renowned clients include Avon, SC Johnson, Village Roadshow, Warner Bros, BBC TV and the QLD Guide Dogs. We are also the preferred provider for Silcar’s tagging needs in the National Broadband Network rollout for Australia.
Packaging
Key Services
Packing Services We can assemble your products into packs, presentation folders or point of sale displays as per your specifications.
We can also turn your bulk produce into small point of sale packages through packaging into jars, bottles and other containers.
Blister Forming/Sealing Package items including cosmetics, toothbrushes, garden and household tools, stationery and batteries.
Shrink Wrapping Including items such as CDs, DVDs, cosmetics, photos and other small components.
Heat Sealing Securely seal plastic bags to keep your products safe or fresh inside.
Bundle Wrapping We can wrap multiple bottles, jars, cans and cartons in clear or printed film.
Product Labelling We can apply new or replacement labels to your products or provide corrective re-working.
Printing We have specialist printing, folding and collation machines for your printing and mail out needs.
We are happy to quote on all your packaging and printing needs.
www.hwns.com.au Creating employment opportunities for people with a disability.
THIS ARTICLE WAS REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM PKN PACKAGING NEWS
For flexible materials, ask if there is the op-tion of a different melt flow index or gauge for the sealant layer to allow you to reduce the sealing temperature required and there-by the equipment running costs. Can the complexity of the material structure be re-duced to improve future recycling potential while maintaining material functionality?
Adhesives are also an area where the cor-rect amount of glue and the correct placement of the glue are critical to glue usage/unit cost and achieving the best sealing option.
5 FeaturesEach packaging material has its own
unique features to consider. Roll stock has flagged joins and there should be a speci-fied maximum number per roll to reduce your production line downtime. Roll di-ameter and weight can often be reconfig-ured to reduce changeover frequency with new machinery and the right roll handling equipment.
For flexible plastics, will the addition of a slip agent assist the material to fol-low the tensioning rollers without run-ning off centre?
Multiple colour prints on corrugated cartons increases the unit cost and the one-off stereo costs. Are multiple colours really required on what is essentially a warehouse package?
Coloured plastic packaging components are common but are they really an integral part of the branding image or needed for identification? Eliminating individually coloured components that need to be changed in manufacturing can reduce pro-duction changeover times and wastage.
The rules for identifying outer cartons are that the human readable part of the description must be legible at a distance of 1.5 metres. Providing you can meet this requirement with a good human readable section of a print-and-apply barcode label, you can do away with ink jet coding.
6 DimensionsFor any web width constrained print
medium such as corrugated, flexible plas-tics, labels or paperboard, the pack dimen-sions are matched to the supplier’s print web width with the off-cut material going
to waste, so any new supply offers the chance to re-evaluate the pack dimensions by a small amount or print orientation and possibly reduce wastage.
Adopting common label sizes reduces the numbers of cutters that suppliers need, but more importantly it reduces manufac-turing line changeover and set-up times.
For corrugated cartons, there is always an opportunity to reduce the flap width as long as carton strength is maintained and the product cannot be removed from the carton.
7 DesignThe final pack design is usually a joint ef-
fort determined by marketing, sales, packag-ing designers, suppliers and manufacturing. If you get it right, a redesign can be the chance to significantly improve all pack aspects.
8 stock holDings anD minimum orDer quantities
While these considerations are generally part of the procurement team’s responsi-bilities, the packaging technologist should have input so that any shelf life considerations and storage condition ef-fects on shelf life are taken into account, especially when a material is used at mul-tiple sites with significant variance in monthly usage quantities.
9 technical serviceIt is inevitable that there will be issues
with packaging items from time to time, most often during plant operation.
It is imperative that technical back-up is available as rapidly as possible to work through any issues and develop solu-tions and preventative measures to stop future occurrences.
A supplier’s technical expertise in deal-ing with current materials is required but it is also essential that they are able to keep up with changing technology and understand how this can affect your pack choice. Part of any long-term supply con-tract should include a formal annual re-view where improvement opportunities are discussed.
10 PriceIt is false economy to accept the
cheapest option if it is technically inferior and has the potential to cause any issues in your manufacturing plant.
There is one other key area of costing where the packaging technologist has a significant role and that is in bench-marking like-for-like products from a va-riety of sources. The first step is to en-sure that the specifications for the material are the same, and then you have to ensure that the relative material per-formance is comparable.
Once this is complete you can assist your procurement colleagues in their deci-sion-making process. ■
every effort should be made to ensure
that the principles of reduce, reuse and
recycle are considered in the
development of any new packaging sku implementation.”
BUILD YOUR PACKAGING CAREER ON FIRM FOUNDATIONS WITH THE AIP The Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) is at the forefront of packaging training and education in Australasia; helping to shape the careers of generations of packaging professionals - from packaging technologists to international packaging business leaders along with a host of people in associated disciplines - sales and marketing, purchasing, production and environment.
MAKE 2014 THE YEAR YOU INVEST IN YOUR CAREER. PH: +61 7 3278 4490 [email protected] www.aipack.com.au
Whether it’s the result of a supply tender or a new piece of equip-ment, or just because a sales person got through to present a viable alternative, the chance to challenge every aspect of your current pack format should not
be ignored. Here are some key considerations for evaluating a selection of pack formats.
1materialsFor single material packs, the choice
about alternative materials is generally easy, but when examining multi-layer plastic ad-hesive or co-extruded laminates, you have the potential to ensure that the combination of materials is the best option available.
Is an aluminium foil layer required or would metallised polyester suffice? Al-ternatively, is an upgrade to an EVOH layer more appropriate? Where should the print layer be? Surface or trap? Re-verse print or standard? Can you ‘gang up’ multiple variants and print with min-imal plate changes? Is the print format you have specified costing you money when simpler graphics may suffice and in many cases will not be noticed by your customers as flexographic print technol-ogy continually improves?
Some of these questions apply to carton-board but you can also assess if you really need waterproofing or just water resis-tance; and what strength is required for re-frigeration as opposed to frozen condi-tions. In short, what type and weight of board is best suited for the task?
For corrugated, it’s a chance to compare board grades, the potential to replace Kraft with recycled board, and possibly even adopt some of the new corrugated micro-flute options.
environment, is a label with the supplier item description and supplier code suffi-cient? Should you take the opportunity to include your own item codes and descrip-tions or potentially scannable barcodes on the pallet label and goods received docu-mentation? This might make it easier for your inwards goods and manufacturing supply team to identify the stock better.
Does the pallet label clearly identify the quantity per pallet to make cycle counts easier? Is the date of material manufacture clearly defined and does the material have storage a shelf life?
3 strengthFor flexible laminates, what gauge of
each layer is available globally and what gauge is really needed to provide the pack functionality? For rigid plastics, can curves be added in place of angles to im-prove top load or transport strength?
Can these design modifications allow for reduced weight? If the pack is not a regular footprint, can oval extrusion blow-mould-ing heads improve weight distribution? Is the use of parison control an option that al-lows you to add strength to particular ar-eas of the bottle or jar while minimising weight in other areas?
Will ribbing help? If the marketing team does not like ribbing, can you make it inter-esting enough to make the pack design unique, which may have marketing appeal?
What sort of pack strength do you need to cope with the demands of your supply chain? In Australia, we can transport test pallets of products for local or internation-al supply through road, air or sea trans-port. Prior to any final sign-off, an actual transport trial to the most remote end of the supply chain is a good idea, especially if there are well-briefed people available to inspect and record the condition in which the product arrives.
4 environmentEvery effort should be made to ensure
that the principles of reduce, reuse and re-cycle are considered in the development of any new packaging SKU implementa-tion. This shouldn’t just cover the prima-ry packaging material but should also ap-ply to any secondary packaging that the material supplier uses, be it cartons, stretch wrap or strapping.
The secondary packaging material is generally to prevent impact damage, con-tamination or excessive heat exposure while the stock is in transit and this should be taken into account when specifying the secondary pack supply options.
Corrugated cartons can be designed with chamfers on flaps to reduce the number of off-cuts you get from a suppli-er, which means they are more likely to be recycled.
in packaging, it is a material world. one of the key duties of a packaging technologist in any company is evaluating alternative packaging materials. llew stephens FaiP provides some pointers on assessing packaging formats.
the distance from an outer carton that content description should be legible for humans.
1.5 met
res
*Llewellyn Stephens has worked in the Australian food industry for leading brand owners for 40 years in QA, technical, OH&S, manufacturing, procurement and pack-aging development roles. His working life has giv-
en him exposure to a variety of packaging formats and equipment, which he says makes him a generalist rather than a spe-cialist in any one area. He has been heavily involved in the Australian Institute of Pack-aging since 2002 and was awarded the pres-tigious Founder’s Award in 2012 for his sig-nificant contribution to technology, design and innovation in the packaging industry. Contact him via [email protected]
the variety of
packaging materials
and formats continues
to grow.
A material difference
THIS ARTICLE WAS REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM PKN PACKAGING NEWS
For flexible materials, ask if there is the op-tion of a different melt flow index or gauge for the sealant layer to allow you to reduce the sealing temperature required and there-by the equipment running costs. Can the complexity of the material structure be re-duced to improve future recycling potential while maintaining material functionality?
Adhesives are also an area where the cor-rect amount of glue and the correct placement of the glue are critical to glue usage/unit cost and achieving the best sealing option.
5 FeaturesEach packaging material has its own
unique features to consider. Roll stock has flagged joins and there should be a speci-fied maximum number per roll to reduce your production line downtime. Roll di-ameter and weight can often be reconfig-ured to reduce changeover frequency with new machinery and the right roll handling equipment.
For flexible plastics, will the addition of a slip agent assist the material to fol-low the tensioning rollers without run-ning off centre?
Multiple colour prints on corrugated cartons increases the unit cost and the one-off stereo costs. Are multiple colours really required on what is essentially a warehouse package?
Coloured plastic packaging components are common but are they really an integral part of the branding image or needed for identification? Eliminating individually coloured components that need to be changed in manufacturing can reduce pro-duction changeover times and wastage.
The rules for identifying outer cartons are that the human readable part of the description must be legible at a distance of 1.5 metres. Providing you can meet this requirement with a good human readable section of a print-and-apply barcode label, you can do away with ink jet coding.
6 DimensionsFor any web width constrained print
medium such as corrugated, flexible plas-tics, labels or paperboard, the pack dimen-sions are matched to the supplier’s print web width with the off-cut material going
to waste, so any new supply offers the chance to re-evaluate the pack dimensions by a small amount or print orientation and possibly reduce wastage.
Adopting common label sizes reduces the numbers of cutters that suppliers need, but more importantly it reduces manufac-turing line changeover and set-up times.
For corrugated cartons, there is always an opportunity to reduce the flap width as long as carton strength is maintained and the product cannot be removed from the carton.
7 DesignThe final pack design is usually a joint ef-
fort determined by marketing, sales, packag-ing designers, suppliers and manufacturing. If you get it right, a redesign can be the chance to significantly improve all pack aspects.
8 stock holDings anD minimum orDer quantities
While these considerations are generally part of the procurement team’s responsi-bilities, the packaging technologist should have input so that any shelf life considerations and storage condition ef-fects on shelf life are taken into account, especially when a material is used at mul-tiple sites with significant variance in monthly usage quantities.
9 technical serviceIt is inevitable that there will be issues
with packaging items from time to time, most often during plant operation.
It is imperative that technical back-up is available as rapidly as possible to work through any issues and develop solu-tions and preventative measures to stop future occurrences.
A supplier’s technical expertise in deal-ing with current materials is required but it is also essential that they are able to keep up with changing technology and understand how this can affect your pack choice. Part of any long-term supply con-tract should include a formal annual re-view where improvement opportunities are discussed.
10 PriceIt is false economy to accept the
cheapest option if it is technically inferior and has the potential to cause any issues in your manufacturing plant.
There is one other key area of costing where the packaging technologist has a significant role and that is in bench-marking like-for-like products from a va-riety of sources. The first step is to en-sure that the specifications for the material are the same, and then you have to ensure that the relative material per-formance is comparable.
Once this is complete you can assist your procurement colleagues in their deci-sion-making process. ■
every effort should be made to ensure
that the principles of reduce, reuse and
recycle are considered in the
development of any new packaging sku implementation.”
BUILD YOUR PACKAGING CAREER ON FIRM FOUNDATIONS WITH THE AIP The Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) is at the forefront of packaging training and education in Australasia; helping to shape the careers of generations of packaging professionals - from packaging technologists to international packaging business leaders along with a host of people in associated disciplines - sales and marketing, purchasing, production and environment.
MAKE 2014 THE YEAR YOU INVEST IN YOUR CAREER. PH: +61 7 3278 4490 [email protected] www.aipack.com.au
Whether it’s the result of a supply tender or a new piece of equip-ment, or just because a sales person got through to present a viable alternative, the chance to challenge every aspect of your current pack format should not
be ignored. Here are some key considerations for evaluating a selection of pack formats.
1materialsFor single material packs, the choice
about alternative materials is generally easy, but when examining multi-layer plastic ad-hesive or co-extruded laminates, you have the potential to ensure that the combination of materials is the best option available.
Is an aluminium foil layer required or would metallised polyester suffice? Al-ternatively, is an upgrade to an EVOH layer more appropriate? Where should the print layer be? Surface or trap? Re-verse print or standard? Can you ‘gang up’ multiple variants and print with min-imal plate changes? Is the print format you have specified costing you money when simpler graphics may suffice and in many cases will not be noticed by your customers as flexographic print technol-ogy continually improves?
Some of these questions apply to carton-board but you can also assess if you really need waterproofing or just water resis-tance; and what strength is required for re-frigeration as opposed to frozen condi-tions. In short, what type and weight of board is best suited for the task?
For corrugated, it’s a chance to compare board grades, the potential to replace Kraft with recycled board, and possibly even adopt some of the new corrugated micro-flute options.
environment, is a label with the supplier item description and supplier code suffi-cient? Should you take the opportunity to include your own item codes and descrip-tions or potentially scannable barcodes on the pallet label and goods received docu-mentation? This might make it easier for your inwards goods and manufacturing supply team to identify the stock better.
Does the pallet label clearly identify the quantity per pallet to make cycle counts easier? Is the date of material manufacture clearly defined and does the material have storage a shelf life?
3 strengthFor flexible laminates, what gauge of
each layer is available globally and what gauge is really needed to provide the pack functionality? For rigid plastics, can curves be added in place of angles to im-prove top load or transport strength?
Can these design modifications allow for reduced weight? If the pack is not a regular footprint, can oval extrusion blow-mould-ing heads improve weight distribution? Is the use of parison control an option that al-lows you to add strength to particular ar-eas of the bottle or jar while minimising weight in other areas?
Will ribbing help? If the marketing team does not like ribbing, can you make it inter-esting enough to make the pack design unique, which may have marketing appeal?
What sort of pack strength do you need to cope with the demands of your supply chain? In Australia, we can transport test pallets of products for local or internation-al supply through road, air or sea trans-port. Prior to any final sign-off, an actual transport trial to the most remote end of the supply chain is a good idea, especially if there are well-briefed people available to inspect and record the condition in which the product arrives.
4 environmentEvery effort should be made to ensure
that the principles of reduce, reuse and re-cycle are considered in the development of any new packaging SKU implementa-tion. This shouldn’t just cover the prima-ry packaging material but should also ap-ply to any secondary packaging that the material supplier uses, be it cartons, stretch wrap or strapping.
The secondary packaging material is generally to prevent impact damage, con-tamination or excessive heat exposure while the stock is in transit and this should be taken into account when specifying the secondary pack supply options.
Corrugated cartons can be designed with chamfers on flaps to reduce the number of off-cuts you get from a suppli-er, which means they are more likely to be recycled.
in packaging, it is a material world. one of the key duties of a packaging technologist in any company is evaluating alternative packaging materials. llew stephens FaiP provides some pointers on assessing packaging formats.
the distance from an outer carton that content description should be legible for humans.
1.5 met
res
*Llewellyn Stephens has worked in the Australian food industry for leading brand owners for 40 years in QA, technical, OH&S, manufacturing, procurement and pack-aging development roles. His working life has giv-
en him exposure to a variety of packaging formats and equipment, which he says makes him a generalist rather than a spe-cialist in any one area. He has been heavily involved in the Australian Institute of Pack-aging since 2002 and was awarded the pres-tigious Founder’s Award in 2012 for his sig-nificant contribution to technology, design and innovation in the packaging industry. Contact him via [email protected]
the variety of
packaging materials
and formats continues
to grow.
A material difference
AIP NEWSLETTER AUGUST 201414
WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
People do not know what they do not know; and those who did not attend the July meeting of the Australian Institute of Packaging meeting in Melbourne still do not know what they do not
know. But those who attended know a lot more than they knew before. For instance they know that what you write in a marketing brief may well be the determinant in a judge’s ruling. Such was the case when one cigarette manufacturer gave a brief to ‘replicate as close as possible the competitor’s package’.
This was just one pearl of wisdom imparted when Gwen Blake Managing Director of Boxer & Co together with Sharon Givoni Principal Solicitor at Sharon Givoni Consulting engaged a sizeable audience in the legal aspects of packaging. Gwen Blake has recently published a book entitled Packaging a Punch which is a beginner’s guide to creating packaging that stands out and gets purchased. Boxer & Co specialise in development of packaging for the food industry, and that segment of marketing was Gwen’s focus.
In a first up pitch for packaging designers we were told that packaging recalls are not only time consuming and expensive but are detrimental to your brand. To give us the understanding to avoid such events a walk through the design process and the legal considerations at each point was presented.
The designer needs to sit down with the client and get to the heart of the needs. The designer will then have the basic understanding of the required outcome. It is a highly detailed process from concept to a saleable product. A good designer will determine the target market, and then look at trends in that product segment.
The placement of the product is very important for, example selling in a health food store against a shelf ready package for a supermarket. Where and what is the competition? We were advised that the shopper and the consumer are more than likely to be different people.
For instance the person shopping may select a brand that the person to whom it is served dislikes. The key strategy for a successful product launch is positioning and all of the emotive pressures that occur. Colour is one aspect of a pack that is likely to be a challenge particularly if the brand owner has a desire for a colour that is already in use for similar products. A good designer will present three or four concepts to their client and be able to debate fully issues arising.
A ‘now you know’ advice was the designer owns the draft work including the copyright and the client has no right to current or future use. For instance is the initial offering becomes a high volume product the brand owner cannot produce another product using the same design without negotiating this with the design agency.
There are many hurdles in design development, most legal, that is a veritable minefield so it is best to have ongoing legal input.
Like the ownership of the design, photographs commissioned remain the property of the photographer and this, along with the exact terms of trade and codicils to future ownership, will be detailed clearly on the accounts. Generally a licence to use the images will not be given until the account is paid in full. Experienced design houses will often be able to use images from companies that trade in such works.
Any claims made on the package, particularly in food products have to be substantiated and cannot be deceptive. Even the typeface and font used is bound up in legal precedent. Gwen advised that the intellectual property is in the typeface not the font and it is worth creating your own font which will be registered to you alone.
The size and regulatory requirements of ingredients and other mandated advice is also a high order consideration. Just a glimpse of National Measurement Institute detail was enough to send people into apoplexy. It is know that many of the requirements of that body are not being met due to some of the complexities.
For instance the description of mass cannot be shown as KG, Kg, kilos, gm, grammes, grm, MG, Mg, or Mgram but only kg, g or mg.
Some examples of brand ownership were given. A restaurant was using the word Granola on a menu and the brand owner successfully had the chef ceasing using their trademarked name.
Boxer & Co designed a package for Australian rice and was involved in debate about the use of wording and a competitor already having a similar brand on the market. But in the end was able to achieve the clients need with a simple descriptive change.
The nutritional information panel and the recently introduced thumbnail descriptors are both tied in the Food Standards Australia regulations that are legally binding and are always under focus by more than consumers.
Gwen Blake and Michael Grima MAIP
Written by Michael B Halley FAIP
AIP NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2014 15
WHAT DO YOU KNOW? Cont’d..
The requirement for pharmaceutical packages knocks food into a cocked hat due to the health aspects. The package must have words that warn the consumer of potential hazards and how to administer the product. It also has to specify the dangerous goods classification and the detailed makeup of the material. And that is before the directions for use are enunciated.
About this time we were ready for ‘a Bex and a good lie down’ but sparked back to attention when Sharon Givoni grabbed the microphone.
Sharon is a regular contributor to institute events, and made a welcome return to Box Hill and her loyal followers. Her interactive presentation with sample packages and visual aids engaged folks in decision making that would normally be in Sharon’s or another solicitor’s domain.Interestingly the person who came to discuss the five main ways to protect packing has already packaged up a trademarked statement ‘Turn your ideas into assets’ ™.
The five areas for discussion are:-1. Copyright2. Trade Mark Registration3. Reputation4. Design Registration5. Patents1. Copyright protects the visual elements on the package
(e.g. Graphics, photos, logos, diagrams)2. Trade Mark Registration are essentially brand names
and logos, but can essentially be anything that acts as a brand including, words, logos, colours and the shape of the package itself.
3. Reputation even if a trade mark is unregistered; it can be protected as a result of its reputation in the marketplace. This includes distinctive packaging and brands.
4. Design Registration protects the overall appearance or visual features of packaging.
5. Patents protect the ways things work. They protect inventors, including packaging related inventions.
So with some guidance the assembled professionals from diverse disciplines and industries settled into absorb the information that came from Sharon either by word of mouth or out of her dilly bag of samples. (Many of which reflected the self-confessed chocoholic). There would not be many people who are not aware of Cadbury chocolate and the debates about the colour purple. Since 1996, brands have become five dimensional and apart from the pack trade mark, protection can be afforded to colour, shapes, sounds and scents (so long as they are distinctive of your goods and services).
In essence a Trade Mark gives you a monopoly within the category the mark was registered for. Cadbury for example, has a monopoly on seven shades of purple over boxed chocolate and blocks. The Tiffany Box and the specific blue colour and the distinctive shape and graphics of Toblerone chocolate are registered and world renowned. But did you know that it is also possible to trade mark movement?
Yes, true, the jumping person in a motor car adverts is trade marked! (Think Toyota, of course). Not all trade mark applications are approved. Caplet was not as it was simply a combination of two generic words. On the other hand Werthers have approval for its very specific confectionery wrapping even though others use gold for caramels. If you can demonstrate that your pack is so distinctive that no mistake as to ownership will be made by consumers that will greatly assist.
You can only get protection from a trade mark if you are using it. The registration lasts for ten years and can be renewed perpetually, as long as the certain requirements are met. In other words the trade mark must be in use. Freddo Frog has had many reincarnations but all have been registered and so a stable of approved shapes and packages exist. Two or three misnomers were addressed as Sharon brought an exciting evening to a close. There is no such thing as a global trade mark and brand owners (like McDonalds) need to register in every jurisdiction.
The issue of home brands was raised with the matter of almost identical graphics and package shape up for debate. Sharon advised that ‘close can work’ as it has been deemed that consumers know that what is before them is either a long established brand or a new brand owned by the retailer.
Sharon also showed us examples of packaging designs that had been protected and stressed that the application for a design protection must be made before the design in put into the marketplace. Design registration protects the visual appearance of packaging and lasts for up to ten years. Patents, which protect packaging inventions that are totally novel and new in the marketplace must also be applied for before they are in the marketplace and last for 8 years for an innovation patent and 20 for a standard patent.
Both presenters indicated that caution is needed in all dealings with the legal aspects of packaging. Sharon’s hand out had a number of concluding tips. The poignant one would seem to be:- ‘Some aspects of packaging will be protected and some will not-always seek legal advice.’
BUILD YOUR PACKAGING CAREER ON FIRM FOUNDATIONS WITH THE AIP.
CERTIFICATE IN PACKAGINGThe Certificate in Packaging is an internationally recognised Level 3 qualification designed to meet the training needs of a wide variety of personnel in packaging, from the new entrant looking for a great start, to design, production, management, sales, marketing or purchasing staff looking to deepen their packaging knowledge.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?The Certificate in Packaging provides a level of insight and understanding of the packaging industry that adds real and measurable value to careers and businesses. Packaging is a fundamental part of modern business, and the Certificate in Packaging provides you with the ‘detailed overview’ of packaging processes that broadens your knowledge, adds value to your business and helps you to prove your worth.
