Top 10 trends and innovation in packaging in 2015

Looking back at 2015, I have picked out some of the year’s compelling trends that are driving branded goods manufacturers in their choice of packaging and packaging machinery, and optimisation of their packaging operations.

Shelf appeal and eye-catching delivery

Clearly, in order to succeed in the world’s competitive playing field in both large and small retail outlets in Europe, the US, Middle East, Latin America or Asia, manufacturers must be sure to capture and retain the attention of their consumers. The news stories I have picked out illustrate just how important it is to stay ahead of other brands on the shelf and how to ensure your brand catches the eye of consumers.

Examples

• Sonoco’s new TruVue can is an innovative alternative to the traditional metal can, offering a clear and retortable plastic option.
• General Mills France deployed Dassault Systèmes’ Perfect Shelf industry solution experience to engage in new merchandising strategies for its Häagen-Dazs brand.
• What began as a collaborative project between Ardagh Group and a group of students in the Netherlands has been adopted by Emmi for its novel microwaveable cheese fondue bowl.
• Beatson Clark used a multiple embossing idea to create a new 250ml barbecue sauce bottle featuring four embossed designs for its sister company Pont Europe.
• FoodBev Media’s Jessica Gay homed in on OxySport’s dumbbell-shaped bottle, which emphasises the functionality of the company’s water, sports recovery drink, and power water product.

Personalisation and digital printing

Digital printing technology has come on leaps and bounds in the past year, with big players coming on board with technologies that have opened its use to commercial brands. Some examples of how it has been used and hints at its future potential can be found all over FoodBev.com.

Examples

• Personalised jars a reality for Marmite spread
• Sudpack has innovated in digital printing processes
• Krones invested in Till to expand its direct digital printing portfolio
• Belgian brewer Martens Brouwerij launched a new brand of beer, Dagschotel, featuring the faces of a group of Belgian television actors digitally printed onto the bottle.
• Raffaele Pace, product manager labelling Sidel, highlighted how producers can use the personalisation trend to improve their reputation while meeting demand.

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3D printing

3D printing has opened up marketing opportunities in its own right, as these news items illustrate.

Examples

• Magic Candy Factory from Katjes Fassin drew on fused deposition modelling and a special blend of ingredients, heated and then extruded, to allow sweets to be printed.
• Barilla and The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) collaborated on the development of a prototype 3D pasta printer, described as a ‘world first’.
• Hershey teamed-up with 3D Systems to create a 3D chocolate candy printing exhibit that allows consumers to personalise their own chocolate confectionery products.

Lightweighting

No conversation about trends in packaging would be complete without a look at the latest lightweighting initiatives punctuating activities, and here are just a few examples of lightweighting news stories discovered among the pages of FoodBev.com during the past year.

Examples

• KHS  picked up a World Beverage Innovation Award at BrauBeviale in October for its lightweight 1 litre PET milk bottle that weighs just 20g.
• New data showed that, between 2000 and 2014, the average weight of a 0.5 litre single-serve PET water bottle was reduced by more than 50%, saving 6.2bn lbs of PET resin.
• Glass is also losing weight; and Wenlock Spring’s new 330ml glass water bottle has lost 18% of its weight while the 750ml bottle is 17% lighter.

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Environmental issues and energy saving

Lightweighting of packaging is just one area of the sustainability debate, as manufacturers seek to reduce their energy consumption and improve their environmental credentials as these articles illustrate.

Examples

• Again, Jessica identified some interesting packs made from alternative materials such as bamboo, mushrooms, agar, seaweed algae, crustacean shells, sugar, beeswax and even food waste.
• In Germany, Aldi Süd introduced its new range of organic vegetables in eco-friendly Combisafe cartons from SIG Combibloc, offering reductions in CO2 emissions.
• Cartons were also the focus for a collaborative project between Sabic and Elopak, who have developed a new drinks carton made using certifiably renewable polyethylene (PE).
• These developments are important as more than three quarters of consumers have said that environmentally responsible packaging is an influence on the drinks brands they choose to buy, according to carton manufacturer Tetra Pak.

The Digi World/Smart Packaging

As we’re looking particularly at FoodBev.com and stories in the cyber realm, I took a closer look at the digital world of increasingly intelligent packaging and the brand employing their packs to foster consumer communication in the digital sphere.

Examples

• Squad Ink spoke about creating design for tech-savvy consumers, based on the company’s work with Archie Rose Distilling Co, who have given their consumers the ability to customise their own bottle of spirit – from flavour to design – using their smartphones.
• Iggesund Paperboard has collaborated with American crowdsourcing company Crowdspring to get a picture of how global designers as a collective group believe they can steer packaging development in a more sustainable direction.
• Danish brewer Carlsberg launched a crowdsourcing competition in partnership with Sustainia to encourage companies and individuals worldwide to submit ideas on how to make the company’s beer more sustainable.
• Champagne producer GH Mumm developed a bottle embedded with a radio-frequency identification chip that allows clubs and bars to know when the consumer has opened it – triggering a personalised, interactive sound and visual experience.

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Convenience

Whatever the novelty and environmental credentials offered by a pack, it is increasingly convenience that is driving consumer purchase. There are numerous innovations in convenience on FoodBev.com – here is a snapshot of some of the latest developments featured during the past year.

Examples

• Orkla ASA worked with LiquidGlide (who was a finalist at the World Food Innovation Awards, held at IFE in March) to perfect the slippery coating for its mayonnaise products that allows the mayonnaise to slide easily from the packaging.
• Following a European agreement with PopPack, Flextrus offered a bubble-in-the-seal technology for the easy opening of flexible packages.
• EcoTensil’s convenient on-the-go PopOut SpoonLidz spoon fits to a pot of yogurt over a layer of aluminium foil, with the bowl section of the spoon tucked underneath. When the paperboard lid is removed from the tub, the utensil cut-out can be detached from the circular lid while the tabular bowl folds out to form a spoon for on-the-go consumption.
• Yowk launched an innovative new packaging technology that claims to allows consumers to cook “a perfectly runny, pasteurised soft-boiled egg every time”.
• Ball Packaging Europe developed a new beverage can with integrated straw solution for a grapefruit flavoured-beer from Poland’s Sulimar Brewery.

Recycling

As environmental trends bite, recycling issues andopportunities continue as a trend across for packaging materials, as these news items illustrate.

Examples

• A Brazilian student invented the Re-Pack carton, bag-in-jug milk packaging concept that has been designed to help consumers recycle correctly.
• Coca-Cola Enterprises’ UK-wide Coca-Cola Christmas truck tour will again be supported by a recycling initiative developed in partnership with Every Can Counts.
• Latest industry data – published by the European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) – shows that the EU28 average recycling rate for glass packaging hit the 73% mark for the first time.
• An innovative recycling fundraising partnership between United Biscuits and recyling specialist TerraCycle saved 2.5 tonnes’ worth of biscuit wrappers from UK landfill.

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Pouches

The trend to lightweighting and environmentally sound alternative packaging materials, as well as the need for continued shelf differentiation has spawned increasing innovation in pouch packaging.

Examples

• At Fi Europe in Paris, Jean-Luc Houkes of Maer Flexibles spoke with FoodBev Media managing editor Claire Phoenix about the company’s range of packaging and pouches, and the growth areas in the industry.
• Pulse Flexible Packaging has introduced a new range of bespoke pre-made pouches that can feature print effects, such as High Resolution Gravure (HRGTM) that produces high impact, life-like, graphics with increased colour strength, depth and almost limitless colour range.
• HFactor launched its line of hydrogen-rich water in the US, in aluminium packaging pouches to help maintain the integrity of the water, as the individual hydrogen molecules are too light and small to be contained effectively by conventional materials.
• Gourmet yogurt brand The Collective has expanded its children’s offering with the introduction of a new range of Suckies flavoured yogurt pouches.

Flexibility

In order to compete effectively, companies are seeking greater flexibility, involving rapid changeover from one product to another on technology that allows them to run multiple products on the one machine at increasingly high speeds.

Examples

• Steuben Foods opted to install high-speed filling technology from SIG Combibloc capable of aspetically filling 24,000 small-format CombiblocXSlim carton packs every hour with switching between different filling volumes taking just minutes.
• Quin Systems’ Versapack machine is so compact it can be used in a wide range of packing line operations without the need for line reorganisation and incorporates the ability to pack new-style bag formats and stand-up pouches into a wide range of cases.
• Hedegaard Foods and Twinpack have founded Eggs Posure, which produces Eggyplay cartons for eggs that also as act as clickable building blocks that fit perfectly together like large duplo blocks.
• Bosch Packaging Technology has launched an innovative two-in-one biscuit packaging system, following a successful field test with United Biscuits.