Great Northern Wins Two PPC Awards

APPLETON, Wis.—Great Northern Corporation, a designer and manufacturer of consumer packaging and in-store displays, won two National Paperboard Packaging Competition awards at the annual Paperboard Packaging Council’s (PPC) fall meeting with its StrataGraph® brand of laminated paperboard product.

In its 68th year of recognizing the best in paperboard packaging, 117 packages were submitted in the award competition’s main category. To be eligible for the National Paperboard Packaging Competition, packages must consist of 50 percent paperboard that is visible to the end user and be designed to distribute, market, and protect a product.

Entries were evaluated by seven judges based on the package’s objectives, materials used, and design, printing, and converting process; the package’s impact on production, manufacturing, distribution, storage and warehousing, economics, sustainability, brand enhancement, and marketing; and the package’s impact at the retail store shelf.

Great Northern’s package design for Well’s Dairy Enterprises’ 22-pack of Weight Watchers frozen ice cream treats earned top honors and won a Gold award. The package and tray combo featured matching graphic elements on both pieces, providing the product with strong in-store differentiation. A customized formula of high gloss/low slip UV coating was developed to enhance the visual impact of the package and keep unitized products intact on pallets throughout the supply chain. Great Northern’s laminated formula, with strong moisture holdout properties and freezer-grade glues, provides superior performance in freezer conditions and a sustainable solution with the elimination of master packaging.

Earning an Excellence award, Great Northern’s package for Matthews, Inc., allowed the grip for a compound bow to be merchandized standing on a shelf or hung from a peg. The package was an engineered recipe of 25 pt. laminated paperboard using metallized polyester (MPET). Great Northern used dry-trapping technology and specialized plastifast UV inks which allowed for high-resolution screens to reinforce a unique product shape and reflect graphics of a high-tech product. The laminate substrate’s strength protected the integrity of the product’s unique shape while the insert provided stability to keep the product in a specific orientation within the outer package and prevented the product from moving during shipping. A 10 pt. polypropylene rigid window was used for maximum product visibility, security, and protection.

The StrataGraph product is produced with an in-line web printing, laminating, and diecutting process. A wide selection of laminated substrates ensures a cost-effective solution to meeting the requirements of retail and club store supply chains. With no flute lines or false scoring, the rigidity, consistency, and print resolution give consumer brands the highest visual impact in the industry. The company’s web process is a more eco-friendly alternative, using less energy than traditional processes, producing less waste and resulting in more pieces per pallet and more pieces per truck—leading to less fuel consumption, less labor and handling, and lower freight costs.