Packaging

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Container lightweighting and recycled materials are all well and good, but the real action today is in squeezing more units into less space.

Artfully folded paper is the essence of origami. Inventively folded cardboard is the essence of Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.’s Meta boxes.

If the mood seemed upbeat to visitors and exhibitors at November’s PACK EXPO show in Chicago, it was for good reason: Nine in 10 end-users of packaging machinery report their purchases of additional equipment increased or remained the same in 2010’s third quarter, compared to a year earlier, with food and beverage packagers leading the way.

Graphic redesign can be a bear trap for an iconic brand. Doubters need only consider the experience of PepsiCo’s Tropicana, which briefly dropped the orange-and-straw graphic two years ago. 

Mass merchandisers aren’t the only customers putting pressure on suppliers to cut material use and shipping weights.

Functionality issues dogged plant-based plastic resins when they debuted, but product development is gradually overcoming them.

Food safety was the clear focus in August’s nationwide egg recall, but the incident also highlights the need for strict control of packaging materials.

Not too many beer drinkers approach 16 ozs. of malt in installments, though that’s certainly an option with the Silver Bullet aluminum pint bottle from MillerCoors.

Locking out oxygen is one of the primary functions of food and beverage packaging, but ongoing research suggests oxygen levels for shelf-stable foods are so high, the likelihood of delivering a quality product is remote, regardless of the package used.

It ain’t easy being natural, at least when it comes to delivering baked goods without preservatives.