safeway will now offer their ice cream in the customshaped 48ounce container. currently, this ice cream is being offered in the grocer&rsquos stores. this custom design is the result of a partnership with desoto, kan., which is located in huhtamaki. the highly impactful package with branded graphics used the vendor&rsquos inplant forming mechanism, which also offered flexibility and production changeover speed and significant cost advantages. ed olivero is vice president of dairy manufacturing at pleasanton, which is calif.based safeway. ed mentioned that this inhouse structure and their partnership with huhtamaki enable them to act in response to market conditions with speed, ease and relatively little expense. ed further continued that right from start to finish, package design along with production, installation and tooling was accomplished in the span of six months. within a matter of week, actual adaptation of five forming units in both ice cream plants was completed. this allowed them to feed new containers straight into the filling lines. above 60 skus throughout the range of safeway ice cream product lines now apply the new container, including lucerne ice cream and the safeway select signature brand both offered across the grocer&rsquos vast market region as well as the regional jersey maid and eating right brands. safeway ice cream is created at two production facilities, one in phoenix, and the other in bellevue, wash., the first of which has four huhtamaki systems fm1400 forming machines to create the convocan mx containers. when the first request for a revamped package came from safeway&rsquos strategic sourcing group, huhtamaki&rsquos engineering department right away started creating container design options some shorter, some taller and narrower, concentrating on fulfilling safeway&rsquos aim while making the maximum optimal use of their current inhouse assets. allison vande kieft, who is huhtamaki sales account manager, mentioned that, instead of settling for a &lsquostock&rsquo package alternative, they ensured that safeway had a customtailored container. their approach enabled them to use current formers with comparatively minor adaptations. as soon as the tapered package shape was agreed upon, they could develop the specific tooling to shape it and complete all other steps required to produce it. along with the fast spin time and the considerable efficiencies and savings involved in the acceptance of an inplant system that safeway has employed for a time, the collaboration offers other advantages, as well. vande kieft noted that safeway doesn&rsquot have to develop inventories and stage them for manufacturing the inbuilt formers feed straight into filling lines. furthermore, due to the flat container sidewalls cover up so much less room as compared to a preformed option, they can keep some machinery on the floor and can switch packaging on the fly, exactly in minutes. if, for instance, there&rsquos an concern with the strawberry ice cream, they can immediately began feeding sidewalls of chocolate or another flavour in the unit, drag lids out of inventory and have new cartons moving into the filling line in almost no time. as per the information given by safeway&rsquos olivero, the huhtamaki inplant system has served up them well for many years. the cost effectiveness, ease and speed with which this new package was created epitomize their partnership at its best. for its part, safeway developed innovative graphics for the tapered containers, ensuing in a totally new appearance to the market. the packaging was then diecut, preprinted and shipped flat from huhtamaki to bellevue and phoenix for conversion on the formers. source of information httpwww.progressivegrocer.comtopstoriesheadlinesregionalsupermarketchainsid…
