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Alufoil winners announced

Head Judge Arne Russ, purchasing director of confectionery specialist August Storck, said:
“It was interesting to see the sheer diversity of applications that are possible with alufoil and I was pleased to see that consumer convenience and customer partnerships were high on the agenda for all entrants.”
Run by the European Aluminium Foil Association the Alufoil Trophy 2008 winners will be on show at interpack 2008.
The winners underline the versatility of alufoil across a range of applications - health and beauty, fish, hot drinks, pet food, anti-smoking aids, medical and industrial applications.
Russ added: “It was particularly interesting to see the number of packs using combinations of different material something which looks set to be the future of packaging.”
About the Winners
Beauty in a purse
Alcan Packaging Pharma Europe’s stand-up recloseable Beauty Purse® is being used by Quies for its Quies Flash Frais soothing eye masks.
Arne Russ said, “This clever pack meets consumer calls for further convenience in the cosmetics and toiletries market. The attention paid to the open and close mechanism makes this a notable user-friendly concept.”
Claimed to be the first portable stand-up pack for health and personal care, the Beauty Purse® combines aesthetic appeal, and simplicity of use. It is equally suitable for the handbag, travel or the bathroom.
The patented open and reclose system ensures precise closure even after many uses. The front and rear of the gusseted pack are manufactured from BOPP 30μ/alufoil 12μ/LDPE 75μ; and the gussets from PET 12μ/alufoil 12μ/LDPE 75μ.
The pack is reverse printing in 4-colour rotogravure and is enhanced by alufoil’s natural aesthetic value. The large printing surface improves brand visibility and its communication potential.
“Winning reinforces our conviction that Beauty Purse brings real innovation and added value to the market for cosmetics impregnated wipes, masks and pads,” said Laurence Kerleroux, Product Manager Cosmetics - Flexible Packaging, Alcan
Purring with delight
Alcan Packaging Zutphen had the judges purring with delight with its eye-catching organic shape alufoil tray with easy-open lid for Sheba Essence from Mars Petcare Europe.
Designed in close co-operation with Mars, the 130μ PP laminated aluminium tray features all over printing in 7- colour rotogravure. The 360o printing is flashy and clear, providing excellent on-shelf differentiation and positions the brand clearly as a premium product.
“The shape and the technical achievement in creating the all over print for this high-valued added cat food mean this pack really stands out from the crowd. The Sheba Essence pack is very different from traditional packs for wet cat food and creates real opportunities for branding and on-pack promotion,” explained Arne Russ.
The manufacture of the tray created a number of challenges; the first was to anticipate the degree of deformation caused by stamping prior to pre-printing. The non-standard asymmetrical shape meant that extra attention had to be paid to the stamping process which causes stress, break the tray or produce wrinkles.
Finally to ensure a “smooth surface”, creating the correct dent resistance for a smooth wall tray was an added difficulty.
Ultrasonic convenience
Alupak and Alcan Packaging (Rorschach and Singen) joint development of the PeeliCan® is being used to great effect for all kinds of fish fillets and seafood.
“This is a great pack which drives alufoil packaging into a new market and replaces the ring pull lids traditionally used for fish packs. The difficulty of positioning fish into trays with 100% accuracy and the consequent problems with sealing the lids has been brilliantly overcome by the ultrasonic sealing process,” stated Arne Russ.
Offering great advantages to fillers, retailers and consumers because of its lightweight, stackability and easy opening, the PeeliCan® provides a simplified filling process using a patented ultrasonic sealing technology. This ensures safe sealing even when the rim of the container is contaminated by product during filling.
Currently being used to great effect for Système U - Filets de Macquereaux fish fillets, the multi-coloured rotogravure printed container is made from stove lacquered/ alufoil 130μ/PP and the multi-colour lidding foil from a laminate of PET/alufoil 50μ/peelable PP layer.
Two further systems are now available for anchovies and herrings. Customised packs offering shelf differentiation are also possible. This new filling/sealing technology and packaging system were developed jointly by Alupak (final pack concept), Alcan Packaging (packaging material) and Waldner (filling/sealing machine).
Hot chocolate on tap!
Constantia Teich’s portion pack for Chocomel Hot from Friesland Foods Western Europe creates a convenient dispensing cup-shaped pack for a hot chocolate drink for use in the popular Senseo® pad machines.
“Staking a claim to part of the growing market for single serve coffee pads, this combination pack for a hot chocolate drink merges plastic and alufoil technologies to create a user convenient solution for a coffee alternative for use in Senseo® pad machines,” said Arne Russ.
The packs consist of a cup with a top and a bottom foil-based die cut lidding material. The top lid is a high sophisticated double layer lid. The end user peels of the aluminium foil and sets free a plastic lid which has exactly sized and positioned holes. On the bottom of the cup there is a deep drawn special alu lid with an integrated weakening that ensures a controlled push-through in the brewing machine for the flow-off of the drink.
Friesland Foods’ system employs a simple adapter to hold the “cup” instead of the standard coffee pads used by Senseo® coffee machines.
Providing aroma-barrier, long shelf life and heat resistance for sealing, the duplex structure was critical to the packs development. To ensure all these criteria were met: the top lid is manufactured from Print (UV Flexo)/Print primer/alufoil 50μ/separation and protective lacquer/lock-film; and the Bottom Lid: 60μ alufoil/lock-film.
Winning combination
Novartis Consumer Health won an Alufoil Trophy for its user-friendly Nicotinell L-Pack for an anti-smoking aid.
“This wallet-style pack is an example of the successful combination of materials. The L Pack also represents a successful partnership between product and pack development, to produce a convenient anti-smoking aid,” said Arne Russ.
The packaging design challenge for this Nicotine Replacement Gum pack was to keep both the size of the gum and the number of gums per blister unchanged within the wallet-style pack. The solution was to fold the blister onto the foil side to provide protection from accidental perforation.
The L-Pack is manufactured from PVC: Flexo print on the outer side/pre-lacquer/alufoil 20μ/heat-seal lacquer/transparent PVC/PVdC (250μ/23μ). The blister is attached to the carton so that it self unfolds when the L-Pack is opened and returns to the folded position when closed.
Explosive development
Hydro Aluminium’s winning entry for ProTechT Solutions’ Certinite™, a passive explosion and fire protection system, proves how successful aluminium foil is across any number of market uses.
Arne Russ said: “This entry shows the amazing versatility of alufoil; it was fascinating to learn that heat can be drawn away from combustible
material by honeycombed alufoil.”
Certinite™ prevents explosions and reduces the risk of fire by up to 80% compared with a fuel tank without Certinite. It is manufactured using plain alufoil with characteristics that allow it to be stretched and formed on dedicated machines to produce a “net like” structure.
The resulting 50-80μ material is then shaped into rolls, cylinders, cubes and bricks by special roll machines or presses to create tailor-made solutions for different applications.
The mesh is designed to achieve optimaI flame resistance and minimal volume displacement when placed in gas or fuel tanks and “confined spaces” to prevent explosion and fire.
Uncompromising sterility
Protective Packaging’s laminated foil pouch with two compartments for AGMA Healthcare’s Sterile Zyceine Wipes containing a sporicidal disinfectant is designed for use in sterile environments in the healthcare sector.
“Hygiene is of critical importance in hospitals where ‘super bugs’ are a cause for concern. The pack helps meet regulations,” said Arne Russ.
The AGMA multipart chemical system allows a potent sporicide (essential to destroy pathogens) to be generated in small, useful quantities at point of use. The two compartments are essential to keep the incompatible products apart before they combine at point of use.
The compartments maintain the individual integrity of the two essential reagents during packing, gamma-ray sterilisation, delivery and storage. At point of use, the vulnerable seal is rupture and the reagents and wipes mixed together. The pack comprises PET 12μ/alufoil 8μ/PE 60μ.
The European Aluminium Foil Association is the international body representing companies engaged in the rolling and rewinding of alufoil and in the manufacture of alufoil containers and of all kind of flexible packaging. It has more than 120 members include companies in Western, Central and Eastern Europe.The European Aluminium Foil Association is the international body representing companies engaged in the rolling and rewinding of alufoil and in the manufacture of alufoil containers and of all kind of flexible packaging. It has more than 120 members include companies in Western, Central and Eastern Europe.