Ceepackaging

Sustainability and promotional effects are the innovation drivers in the packaging industry - one of the reasons why the cartonboard and folded box industries are expecting growth for next year. The first positive signs are on the horizon.

Franz Rappold, Board Member at Mayr-Melnhof Karton and President of CEPI Cartonboard (European Association of Cartonboard Manufacterers), and Per Lundeen, President and CEO at A&R Carton and President of ECMA (European Cartonmakers Association), both look confidently into the future. They claim that dynamic innovations in both the supply chain and the products, as well as superior sustainability, will continue to give carton and cartons competitive market advantages in the future.

German pre-print supplier Deuschle Druckveredelung launched Lux-Reflex on the market in April this year. Lux-Reflex is a foil-laminated cartonboard that they offer with extremely short lead-times as they have the material in stock and also have the capacity to sheet. The cartonboard is Korsnäs White. “Thanks to the partnership with Korsnäs we can offer the facilities of a big group, like their Packaging Performance Service with design expertise, says Mr Dieter Hansel, MD at Deuschle Druckveredelung.

‘We chose Frövi White for the print quality,’ says H&M packaging buyer Viveca Kleebinder. ‘The material’s properties enabled us to reduce grammage compared with FBB, which we have used in previous years. With this graphic design, we’re trying to communicate a feeling of luxury and flair, so print quality is essential. The whiter the cartonboard, the better the results.’

No design is an island – truly successful results require successful cooperation. When Korsnäs started its current design project, its central thrust was to see how the meeting of different sets of skills and experiences would result in creative ideas and innovation.

”Intelligent and creative packaging solutions with maximum selling power” was the general consideration taken into account in judging the entries from Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart in the first German Packaging Impact Design Award (PIDA). The competition for the new generation of designers was organized by the Swedish cartonboard producer Korsnäs (earlier AssiDomän Frövi), which has supported young European designer talents for more than ten years. The winning group in PIDA Germany 2006 invented a very ingenious and innovative packaging concept for muesli named ”hängbar”, designed to fit onto a key-ring.

Competition was fierce and standards high when Sweden’s most prominent packaging design schools went head-to-head in Korsnäs’ PIDA design competition. This year’s theme was the health trend and the entries demonstrated the students’ creative approaches to customer friendly packages adapted to various sales channels like the Internet and speciality stores. “The designers of the winning entry made optimal use of shape, colour, punching and hanging features that did justice to the superb designability of Frövi cartonboard. A fine example of how the package can enhance the value of a simple product,” was the jury’s assessment.