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Taking paperboard to the limit

The client was Iggesund Paperboard, the maker of Invercote and normally a supplier to Amcor Rentsch.“Superficially all paperboard is the same,” comments Philippe Talon, Business Director Tobacco at Iggesund. “It’s flat and white, even if the degree of whiteness can vary. It’s only when you have to do something with it – print on it and shape it into packaging – that the differences start to become apparent.
“Our most important task is to demonstrate these differences compared to competing kinds of paperboard, and we can do that best by putting Invercote through some really difficult tests.”

In this case the test was the extreme construction design developed by AmcorRentsch after some creative sessions with Iggesund. The design has been named Diamond Pack. It looks like a cigarette box with extremely rounded corners which give the pack an hourglass shape and a visible “waist”. To achieve the extraordinary shape, the designers used considerably more creasing lines compared to a normal rounded corner box on an average carton. Not less than 112 creasing lines were used to create the Diamond Pack’s basic shape.

“It’s well in line with the current market trends for tobacco packaging,” comments Mike Lauper, CEO of Amcor-Rentsch in Switzerland, who was part of the project group. “Over the last years, almost all of the companies have been trying to reduce the weight for environmental and cost reasons. These days it seems to be more important to give the pack a strong feeling of quality when the customer holds it in his hand. As a result, the board grammage of cigarette packs tends to increase again. The Diamond Pack’s waist makes it easy to hold and gives it a quality feel.”
“It’s always stimulating to work on projects, which exceed the usual norms,” comments Patrick Peronace. “Achieving such a good end result makes it even more satisfying.”

His colleague Roger Nützi does a lot of project work at the Innovation Centre that Amcor Rentsch has set up at its premises in Rickenbach, Switzerland. Invercote from Iggesund is a favourite material in the design studio, because it causes a minimum of problems in the process of taking a prototype and making it function well in the production lines.
“Invercote’s performance and quality consistency are perfect for advanced packaging that has to work on fast packing machines,” Roger Nützi explains. “Sometimes customers want to use another paperboard quality against our recommendation. As a consequence, we usually have to make a lot of modifications and compromises in order to make it work.”

Invercote is well known for being the price leader in the market – and this is often the first comment made to Iggesund’s sales reps when they meet purchasers.
“Many large companies buy Invercote even though there are many alternatives,” Philippe Talon says. “That’s because they often do their homework in the form of calculations – they usually know down to the second or third decimal point what a production stoppage costs them. And then many of them regard Invercote’s quality consistency as an inexpensive form of insurance. That’s the sort of quality you see so clearly here in the Diamond Pack.”

Photo: The Diamond Pack proved to be a hard test for Invercote. Not less than 112 creasing lines were used to create the basic shape.