Hockenheim, 07 April 2017 – (NYSE: SON) High-quality packaging really starts to shine when consumers use it in their everyday lives. At this year’s instalment of the leading packaging trade show Interpack (Düsseldorf, 4th – 10th May 2017), Sonoco Europe will present its packaging solutions in real-world consumption situations. This brand-new, interactive concept will turn the booth in hall 9, C34.D31 into an apartment-like living space. In its “natural surrounding”, Sonoco’s portfolio of rigid paperboard containers – also known as composite cans – and plastic packaging solutions will come alive, inviting visitors to pick up products and interact with them. The booth design is based on Sonoco’s new iPS studio in Hockenheim, where packaging will be tested in a living space environment. In addition to consumer product packages, the booth will showcase a diverse range of customized cores, tubes and spools for different industries from the divisions Sonoco Alcore and Sonoco Plastics.
At this year’s event, the Sonoco booth will be all about the real-life benefits of packaging solutions. The packaging experts will present ‘Packaging Designed for Individuals’ – composite cans and plastic packaging solutions in a “natural environment”. Individually designed areas of the booth will allow visitors to get up close and personal with the packages and discover them hands-on. A living area consisting of a kitchen, a living room and a dining-room-like seating area will display packaged products in the settings where they’re normally used. A separate supermarket space will allow visitors to see how various packaging solutions appear on retail shelves. “Around the booth, trade show visitors can explore the advantages of our packaging solutions,” says Séan Cairns, Vice President and General Manager, Sonoco Consumer Products Europe. “This entirely new booth concept brings our packaging even closer to the visitor, just as this year’s motto ‘Packaging Designed for Individuals’ promises.”
Various customising options
At the booth, a wide variety of customer samples will display a key strength of Sonoco’s packages: customisation. Sonoco can individually adapt its rigid paper containers and plastic packages for each customer, allowing the premium solutions to stand out from the competition and respond to diverse consumer needs and lifestyles. Trends like on-the-go consumption call for new features – and so do new focus groups, like single households. A snap lid for example ensures that customers can reclose the package to preserve the product’s freshness, while sprinkler lids make rigid paperboard containers a convenient packaging solution for herbs and spices.
A broad range of individual solutions
In addition to examples of its customers’ packages, Sonoco will display the SquareCan – a new attractive composite can with a nearly rectangular shape and a hinged lid. This new product development demonstrates how an unusual shape can attract consumers’ attention at the POS. Eye-catching ends, membranes, and lids provide further customising options, and are available for round, oval, and rectangular rigid paperboard containers. Together with partners like Vegeplast, Sonoco designs solutions such as Vegetop®, a sprinkler lid made from biodegradable plastics. The completely compostable sprinkler lid is an ideal fit for eco-conscious consumers.
When it comes to plastic packaging, in-mould labelling (IML) provides unique opportunities for optimal brand placement, such as colourful displays and all-around branding of the container. The label is usually made from the same material as the packaging container and injected directly into the packaging’s wall during production. In this way, Sonoco can ensure that it doesn’t slip or slide during transport or in use. Bi-Colour Injection moulding additionally contributes to a premium look and allows for even more differentiation on the shelf.
Thanks to Sonoco’s Permasafe technology, IML containers can lock in their contents hermetically, ensuring a longer shelf life at ambient storage conditions. Compared to traditional glass or metal containers, Sonoco’s rigid plastic solutions offer lower weight, impressive durability and reclosability – and are microwave-safe. These features make for an attractive alternative when packaging products like fish, sausages or ready meals.
The iPS Studio – a real-life testing ground
Sonoco’s product developers are constantly improving solutions to better meet consumer needs and provide real added value. One part of Sonoco’s i6 innovation process focuses on gaining insights by simulating how actual costumers will interact with the packaging. The testing environment is essential to doing so: Later in 2017 Sonoco will open its new iPS (short for Innovative Packaging Solutions) studio in Hockenheim, a satellite to Sonoco’s innovative packaging solution studio in Hartsville, South Carolina. At both sites Sonoco subjects its packaging solutions to rigorous testing. Customers profit from the comprehensive know-how gathered in the process, through expert consulting and individually tailored packaging solutions.
Sonoco Alcore and Sonoco Plastics present high-quality industrial solutions
The Sonoco subdivisions Sonoco Alcore and Sonoco Plastics will also be represented at the Interpack booth in hall 9, C34.D31, where they will showcase packaging solutions for industrial uses. Sonoco Plastics will display its broad portfolio of plastic spools, precision winding cores and tubes – solutions that are frequently used by customers in the paper, textile, glass yarn, optical fibre yarn, fibre optic cable and medical industries. In turn, Sonoco Alcore sells its completely recyclable tube and core solutions, which are optimally suited for storing synthetic fibre yarns, foils, labels and metals, in more than 65 countries worldwide.
