interpack 2011: Packaging as a Sales Tool
Innovations like these are encouraging the German association of corrugated board manufacturers (VDW) to praise the benefits of their material. “Corrugated board is highly versatile. Great shopping experiences can be created with suspended ceilings, displays, and primary packagings,” says VDW President Rolf Dieter Kögler. And indeed, cardboard is eminently suitable for displays. It can be recycled, and consumers have long since accepted it as a sustainable material. But other materials such as plastic or metal are also used at the PoS. “For upmarket merchandise, companies often opt for high-quality long-term displays,” says Claudia Rivinius. One example of this is the shop-in-shop solution that the STI Group has created for the Swiss chocolate manufacturer Lindt—a structure made of plastic and metal designed for long-term use and a high impact on consumers. And though ecology is of course a prime consideration, glamour and glitz play an important role in sales packages as well. The Belgian chocolate maker Godiva, for example, offers its praline chocolates in a box finished with a novel, gold-shimmering UV coating made of tiny aluminium platelets—a more exclusive product presentation would be hard to imagine.
Critics claim that such packages are too sophisticated and expensive and ultimately drive up the product price. The food processing and packaging machinery association within the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) counters this with the argument that, by reducing the material input and constantly improving production methods, manufacturing processes are becoming more and more efficient. Cost savings, it says, can be achieved simply by implementing the latest state of the art technology. In packaging production lines, for example, it is possible to use distributed servo technology, which is more dynamic and efficient that large central drives. The VDMA states that even though the upfront investment for these machines is high, this expenditure can be easily recouped during the life cycle of modern machines by the decreased energy consumption.
Henkel, the German developer of the UV coating that it supplies to Godiva, gives similar reasons, pointing out the increases in manufacturing efficiency which make the finishing of the packages economically worthwhile. According to its producer, the UV silver coating has high storage stability, is ready to use and can be processed at the same speed as conventional UV coatings in standard printing machines.
Packaging machinery manufacturers are also investing heavily in innovations. The Swiss plant manufacturer Ilapak, for example, is currently introducing turnkey packaging lines to the market. The advantage here is that all the machines are optimally adapted to one another, which heightens overall efficiency. “With complete single-source solutions, the industry can significantly lower its costs per packaging unit,” promises Ilapak Marketing Manager Christian Romualdi.
- Places:
- Germany