The most recent innovation from Ardagh’s Nienburg plant in Germany, the GLÜCK preserve jar, has been awarded a Deutscher Verpackungspreis by the German Packaging Institute. This is the second sector award in 2017 for the preserve jar, which is exclusively manufactured by the Ardagh Group.
The Ardagh Group facility in Nienburg teamed up with a local customer, the Friedrich Göbber Company, a preserve manufacturer based in Eystrup, to develop a very special 230g preserve jar with an unusual convex design, a large opening and an extra-thick base. The preserve maker also opted for a design feature that gives the jar a distinctive visual USP by dispensing with a label and printing straight onto the glass.
The preserve jar’s design has captured the attention of the packaging industry
Every year the German Packaging Institute pays tribute to excellent packaging concepts. This year, the independent jury selected the Göbber GLÜCK jar made by the Ardagh Group as the winner of its award in the ‘design and finishing’ category. The institute commented: “The packaging communicates exclusivity and lifestyle. Its quality, plus the combination of a pure fruit product in pure glass with purist design, are the reasons for the jury’s choice.”
Manufacturers from twelve different countries entered around 200 products in total for this prestigious sector award.
“We knew that the Ardagh Group in Nienburg was an experienced, competent and creative glass packaging partner, but we genuinely weren’t expecting our jar to win the famous German Packaging Award in addition to the Innovative Glass Product award and the associated Public Choice Award,” said a delighted Marc Ebbert, Purchasing Director at Göbber.
The awards ceremony was held in Berlin on 26 September.
The GLÜCK jar: from initial design to award winner
The brief was to design a preserve jar that emphasised the special qualities of the fruit spreads, stood out on the supermarket shelves, was easy to handle and could be sustainably and cost-effectively manufactured as a standardised product. The Ardagh team in Nienburg was happy to take on that challenge because it allowed them to demonstrate their technical expertise and creativity.
“The GLÜCK fruit spreads deliver a 'pure flavour‘ experience to the consumer. When we discussed the design with Göbber, we soon realised that the glass packaging had to embody the purity, naturalness and uniqueness of the fruit spreads” says Gerd Zurawsky, Senior Sales Manager, Food, at the Ardagh plant in Nienburg.
Eight different flavours of the GLÜCK fruit spreads have been on the supermarket shelves since February 2017.
Sustainable and regional
“The German Packaging Institute presents its award as a tribute to manufacturers for innovative products that benefit both consumers and the environment, and we are fully committed to those objectives and values,” explains Jens Schaefer, Managing Director of the Ardagh Group in Germany.
“Glass is one of the greenest packaging materials in the market and sustainability is a fundamental aspect of the partnership between the Ardagh Group and Göbber. Our Nienburg facility and the Göbber Company are just 12 miles apart, so the delivery distance is short and transport-related CO2 emissions are low. This regional focus has a positive impact on our sustainability performance and another benefit of this close and innovative collaboration between the two neighbours is that it boosts the regional economy and safeguards jobs.”
About the German Packaging Award
The German Packaging Award is an international award for packaging products from all sectors and in all material. Its patron is the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Every year the German Packaging Institute (dvi) pays tribute to innovative and creative packaging concepts, some with just a tiny pioneering detail and others representing something fundamentally new. The German Packaging Award is geared to packaging and packaging machine designers, developers, manufacturers and users, and the next creative generation. Packaging Award winners are automatically nominated for the World Packaging Organisation’s WorldStar award.
About Ardagh Group and the Nienburg facility
The glassmaking facility in Nienburg is part of the international Ardagh Group – a global leader in packaging solutions. One of the Ardagh Group’s areas of expertise is glass packaging solutions. In Germany, Ardagh Group company Ardagh Glass GmbH operates a total of eight production facilities, one of which is in Nienburg. More than three million glass packaging products are manufactured there every day – from small jam jars to large spirit bottles. The Nienburg facility currently has approximately 710 employees. It is also the location of the Ardagh Glass GmbH headquarters.
