Packaging

Myriad of influences shaping food packaging

By Iain MacIntyre

Food packaging in New Zealand appears to be undergoing many significant but often subtle transformations, as the industry adapts to mounting recycling, light-weighting, hygiene and overall cost-reducing pressures.

One of three Pride In Print judges interviewed for this Food Technology feature, Massey University School of Engineering and Advanced Technology senior lecturer, Tom Robertson says a “huge amount” of work is being seen in the recycling area as companies live up to the New Zealand Packaging Accord.

“The industry has targets to meet by 2009,” he says. “For example, there is an initiative to get more metal and aluminium cans recycled. We are currently at about 76 per cent of all packaging paper being recycled, which is as good as anywhere in the world. But the glass industry has some real issues. The manufacturing operation here is producing about 128,000 tonnes a year and currently New Zealanders are consuming over 208,000 tonnes a year. They are recycling about 55 per cent, of which not more than 80 per cent can be used as cullet to make more glass, so there is currently a lot of work going on in New Zealand to find other uses for the remaining glass.”

Mr Robertson says the PET industry is seeing significant innovation in this area, as evidenced by ‘closed-loop’ recycling of plastic bottles. “They can now collect the bottles and reprocess them into bottles again – although they can only go into making a coloured bottle.”

He says Visy Recycling is also about to open a large predominantly-automated recycling plant in Manukau, which will take packaging materials and paper from Manukau and Auckland cities.

Visy Board New Zealand technical manager, Martin Duffy says the industry’s food producer customers are always seeking cost-saving developments.

“The most common being light-weighting board grades combined with using the ‘shipper’ packaging as the shelf-ready display,” he says. “These aims are often in conflict with each other. For example, producing a functional tear-off point-of-sale shelf-ready pack, that will also keep its integrity as a shipper in transit, when handling is out of the packaging and customer’s control.

Products are sometimes multiple-stacked or shelved side-by-side, so the design has to lend itself to this handling. Retailer pack sizes are also becoming smaller so packaging shippers and cartons are forever reducing in size.

” Mr Duffy says these differing requirements are forging new innovation. “Technology improvements are being seen in die-cutting forms, ejection rubbers, pinch points during manufacturing and methods to test board integrity. Specialised adhesives have been introduced in some markets to achieve quality improvements in tray-erecting or carton-sealing while using less laydown. Improved quality of adhesive also means less hidden downstream costs in repair and maintenance. Machine-erected trays and shippers, and robotics in handling, are being seen in the larger volume market. Light-weight krafts are also becoming more available from the paper mills.”

Carter Holt Harvey packaging pre-press systems manager, Laurie Lark believes two major developments are about to unfold on the industry.

“Particularly in Europe now, the standards that are laid down are very high in regards to the hygiene and cleanliness of packaging plants,” he says. “I’ve seen photos of some packaging plants in the United Kingdom that look like hospitals. Hygiene in our plants is good, but standards will go up simply because that demand is being made by countries that New Zealand is trying to export to.

“I also personally believe that if food prices are not going to come down, savings are going to have to be found in another way. There’s going to have to be a complete rethink of marketing, because at the moment there is an enormous amount of money being spent just to compete. Eventually, we will see the inhouse brands of supermarket chains becoming more and more dominant. That’s when I believe packaging will become more simplified, because they’ll just be selling on price and their own reputation.

“As an extreme example, you’ll find an item packaged in a cardboard box and beautifully printed in six or eight colours will eventually end up in a brown paper bag printed in one colour. A commercial company such as Heinz-Wattie’s wouldn’t dream of doing it, but the big supermarkets will, I’m pretty sure of that.”

All three interviewees believe the current quality of food packaging produced in New Zealand is on a competitive par to that found anywhere else in the world.

Comments Visy Board’s, Mr Duffy: “Customers want instant designs, sampling, pricing and then, of course, delivery. They need this to compete in their own global markets so the demand comes back to us. Given we are competing against the big global markets, we quite often only get one chance so it has to be right as well!”

It also appears already tight margins in the industry can be expected to continue in the foreseeable future. Observes Massey University’s, Mr Robertson: “If the supermarkets are holding prices down and the food manufacturers are having to hold their prices, then they are going to make sure their suppliers are holding their prices.”

An ongoing concern to the industry is the drift of local food packaging work to such destinations as Indonesia and Singapore. Concludes Carter Holt Harvey’s, Mr Lark: “On one hand, that’s all fine, because the producer has to survive. The consequence here of course, is that if too many do that, the whole industry folds.”

ADM 4 head linear weigher

ADM Packaging Technology offer a range of linear and multihead weighers under the ADM brand of products. The quality and performance of these weighers are outstanding and represent an excellent quality finish .

The ADM-4A linear weighers are constructed in stainless steel and the panels are press fit to a tight tolerance, allowing a 100 per cent accurate assembly. The durability of the design is to withstand all feeding applications and performances. The welded joints and folds on the hopper and feed chutes prove the constant detail and the attention to a quality finish is excellent.

A load cell is used on each of the four weigh buckets to perform a continuation dump of each independent weigh bucket when it reaches its capacity. This process ensures an increase in speed for small to medium speed packaging applications. The accuracy of each drop is within one gram and the weigher can pack 100 grams, a speed of up to 50 packs per minute with a maximum single of drop of up to 1000 grams.

Together with ADM’s extensive experience in design and in-house manufacture, they can modify these units to fit and operate to suit special purpose applications.

For further information contact: ADM Packaging Technology, Email:info@admpt.com.au or visit www.admpt.com.au

Style and convenience on the move

Paris-based, Urban Foods has brought convenience and style to its new Greenshoot fresh soup range by selecting the innovative pack format for ambient soups launched by RPC Bebo Nederland and RPC Containers Halstead.

According to Urban Foods, Greenshoot Soups is the first really convenient individual fresh soup range to be launched for the French market, and the company wanted the packaging to combine practicality and ease of use for consumers with a stylish new look to create maximum shelf impact.

Designed to meet the demands of busy lifestyles, the new pack from RPC offers optimum consumer convenience, being lightweight, easy to open and microwaveable.

The container is co-extruded and thermoformed in PP/EVOH/PP by RPC Bebo Nederland.

The multi-layer construction offers significant barrier protection to ensure, in combination with processing, that the soup has a shelf life comparable to traditional packs. The cup’s rounded design delivers sufficient durability to withstand high filling temperatures and is compatible with standard in-car cup holders so that soups can be enjoyed safely and conveniently on the move.

Injection moulded in PP by RPC Halstead, the recloseable and stylish lid features a convenient drinking spout, a sip hole cover, and a complimentary design with the cup to enable easy stacking.

The cup design has a large sleeving area and attractive shape for on-shelf appeal and both cup and lid are available in a wide range of colour and decoration options to create further branding opportunities.

The new pack features a bold design with a black cup and lid and striking graphics in bright colours illustrating each product’s ingredients.