Cepac wins at UK Packaging Awards in partnership with Nestlé
Cepac, the UK’s leading independent corrugated packaging supplier, is celebrating winning the Resource Efficient Pack of the Year at the UK Packaging Awards 2016.
The award, which was announced at a ceremony at London’s Grosvenor Park Hotel on 27 October, recognised the extremely innovative pack introduced by Nestlé for their Nescafé Café Menu range which in addition to pioneering design incorporates new technology in the form of laser ablation to replace labels.
By working in partnership with Nestlé, Cepac challenged the existing pack and developed an innovative solution to remove supply-chain damage and increase recyclability.
The award was presented by David Baker Chairman of the Industry Council for research on Packaging and the Environment (INCPEN) who described the product as: “An effective solution to resolve a major distribution challenge that reduces product damage, is fit-for-purpose and uses optimal packaging. Truly resource efficient.”
Rod Ainslie, Managing Director of Cepac, said: “This is excellent news and another example of Cepac working together with our customer to challenge an existing pack and pioneer an innovative solution. The resulting pack provides an excellent solution for Nestlé, simultaneously removing primary pack damage, improving line efficiency and reducing the waste stream.”
The Cepac-designed corrugated wraparound pack was developed with Nestlé as a response to the customer’s issues with damaged product, particularly on exported packs.
The previous pack was a combination of a corrugated tray and plastic shrink film sleeve, which did not offer sufficient protection to the product, was difficult to open and generated large amounts of film waste. Cepac’s Project Team responded to the challenge by designing a highly-innovative solution that reduced damage to the product, improved the pack’s overall performance, reduced environmental impact very significantly and offered the potential for increased packing line efficiencies via removal of pack labelling.
The Cepac design team created a new pack fully encapsulating the Nestlé product, offering excellent protection against damage. The pack removed the requirement for any plastic shrink and the design also incorporated a shelf-ready feature which made the pack very easy to open and gave full visibility of the customer’s product. The pack is manufactured in 100% recycled board grades, which can be easily recycled after use.
Introduction of the new pack and removal of the plastic shrink film outer enabled information previously printed on a label to be printed directly onto the new wraparound pack. Cepac and Nestlé utilised Datalase technology where a special pigment is added to the ink and printed onto the pack surface. The pigment then reacts with a Near Infrared (NIR) laser that is integrated in-line at Nestlé‘s Dalston operation.
The laser light generates a colour-change in the pigment creating a digital print of the required information, including the complex bar code. This information is variable and is uniquely tailored for every product. The development combination of the Cepac wraparound corrugated pack and the Datalase technology has eliminated the use of applied labels in addition to the removal of the shrink film outer.
The re-designed pack reduces potential damage to the primary packs by 99%. The pack is fully recyclable and easy to open. It has resulted in over 100 tonnes of plastic shrink being removed from the supply chain along with almost 60 tonnes of label backing.
Mark North of Nestlé UK (Supply Chain, Product Supply Beverage & Food) said: “We are delighted that we have been able to develop the new pack in combination with Cepac. By working closely together we have resolved the challenge of transit damage in the supply chain, improved our potential for in-house efficiency improvements and had a very positive environmental impact. We can see significant potential for application of the laser ablation technology across other product lines.”
