You make it. We pack it. BPA loads your packaged and naked products into cases, master bags and various secondary containers including your hffs machines, wrapper chain in-feeds and indexing thermoform machines. We ASK. We LISTEN. We PARTNER.
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Why use aluminum for coffee pods?
The metal is in nitely recyclable, and consumers are highly likely to recycle it. It is also practically impervious to oxygen, moisture, and light, preserving shelf life and ensuring fresh avor and aroma.
FEATURES
30 E-COMMERCE
After the Gold Rush, E-Comm Packaging Gets Complex, Sophisticated
Survey respondents who sell via e-comm focus on what they can control, citing packaging’s sustainability, robustness, and appearance as top considerations. Still, complex carrier and seller platforms, and the costs associated with them, continue to confound CPGs.
40 DIGITALIZATION
Is Manufacturing Next for CPG Digital Transformations?
Digitalization at CPGs has proceeded in a speci c order. It began by revolutionizing supply chain optimization and demand planning via ERP, cutting costs and optimizing business practices. Digitalization is now underway on the manufacturing side, with processing seeing early bene ts and packaging primed to be next.
52
Startup Debuts First Recyclable Aluminum Coffee Pod
Purpose-driven coffee brand Cambio Roasters launches a rst-of-its-kind aluminum K-Cup-compatible pod that preserves the product’s freshness and avor while keeping spent pods out of the land ll.
58 AUTOMATION
Automation, Robotics Deliver Order from Chaos
Flexible, powerful controls underpin this slick new robotic unscrambler and orienter that gently handles high-end packaging, accommodating frequent changeovers and high volumes and speeds.
62
Duracell, Energizer Launch All-paper Packs in Walmart Displays
Some people tend to choose copper tops. Others are still going with the bunny, and others still buy store brands. Whatever your household battery preference, it will soon be available in sturdy, all-paper, curbside recyclable packs, sold via an enhanced Walmart shopping experience.
64 SMART PACKAGING
Lipton’s ‘Phygital’ Journey: ‘From Leaf to Life’
Lipton shares its vision for connected packaging to enhance consumer engagement, educate consumers on product quality and brewing techniques, and collect data for targeted marketing.
68
SMART PACKAGING
Smart Packaging Set to Transform Clinical Trial Supply Chain
Pharma giants Merck and J&J team up to replace cumbersome paper labels with digital display labels, streamlining clinical trials and speeding up drug development.
In what could be a watershed moment, investments in material recovery facility (MRF) infrastructure have finally produced real new facilities, with new capabilities, that are flickering online across the Midwest. This rapid succession of facility openings should soon start paying dividends to a consumer products marketplace starved for very high-quality, high content post-consumer and post-industrial recycled materials, especially plastics. Momentum is growing.
Our own intrepid reporter Anne Marie Mohan was on-site for two of the openings. In Indianapolis, hauler and recycler Republic Services and Blue Polymers, Republic’s joint venture with polymer compounder and recycler Ravago, built what they call North America’s first Polymer Center and Blue Polymers plastics recycling complex. The goal is to transform plastics circularity from curbside collection to consumer packaging and back again. Republic Services and Blue Polymers are developing a network of plastics recycling facilities for nationwide coverage, including a Las Vegas site that opened in 2023.
“The intent of the Polymer Center is to produce drop-in material feedstocks for consumer packaging, and it’s 100% curbside-collected, post-consumer material,” Pete Keller, VP, Recycling and Sustainability at Republic told Mohan (watch a video at pwgo.to/8687). “The investment here in Indianapolis is made to enable greater circularity; specifically, greater package circularity. Today, a lot of this material is downcycled into things like carpet, clothing, and construction materials, and what Polymer Center enables is for those materials to be returned directly to that packaging value chain and ultimately be captured over and over again.”
Secondary sortation is the secret sauce. Existing Republic MRFs across the Midwest produce bales of PET, HDPE, and polypropylene from curbside collection to the degree of homogeneity that existing and legacy technology allows. The bales are of great quality to that standard, but too often only good enough for the downcycled end markets Keller mentioned. By sorting these bales once more with the new facility’s latest sortation tech, contaminants (including high-value contaminants like aluminum cans that create their own secondary market) are removed, or better yet, restreamed to the correct polyolefin stream rather than being lost to landfill off the last-chance line.
PET is shredded and washed to produce recycled PET (rPET) flake, used to make new beverage bottles. The HDPE and polypropylene are sorted by color and type, then sent to Blue Polymers to be compounded, blended, and pelletized, creating custom drop-in solutions for PCR-starved converters, and ultimately, for brand owners. The facility will produce more than 175 million pounds annually of recycled plastics to create food-grade packaging—that’s real circularity.
Just an hour west in Connersville, Ind., Nova Chemicals opened a new mechanical recycling facility for flexible film that will produce 110 million lb of high-quality rPE when fully operational.
“At this facility, we’re going to recycle film into finished products that can be used into a whole variety of high-performing applications all the way up to and including food packaging,” Alan Schrob, director of Mechanical Recycling at Nova Circular Solutions, told Mohan.
The facility processes film that it actively collects from various sources, including distribution centers and back-of-store retail outlets. Once gathered, the material undergoes multiple steps— sorting, cleaning, and pelletizing—to prepare it for reuse. The resulting pellets are then used in a wide range of products such as broad-use food packaging, pet food applications, heavy-duty shipping sacks, and e-commerce packaging (watch a video at pwgo.to/8688).
You may remember the splash MBOLD made a couple years ago with a first of its kind in the U.S. film-to-film plant in Minnesota. After a shaky start and pause in operations, recycler GDB International relaunched a flexible film recycling plant previously owned by Myplas USA, re-setting its sights on establishing a circular economy for flexible films in the Upper Midwest.
What’s the endgame here? Brands need to incorporate PCR in packaging to meet both selfimposed sustainability goals and coming EPR legislation. There’s not enough of it to meet those goals, and scarcity inflates prices. Taken together, this archipelago of new facilities should increase supply of the highest quality food-safe grades, helping to satisfy demand and beginning to drive price toward parity with virgin plastics.
Worth noting, all facilities will certainly be job creators in their areas. But as waste management facilities go, they won’t be creating dirty jobs. Sortation and handling are all but completely automated. PW
British, Finnish Chocolate Bar Brands Join Paper-based Film Trend
Walkers Chocolates swapped its own-brand Turkish Delight and Mint Cream chocolate bar wrappers to a 100% recyclable paper, RCM (recyclable, compostable, marine-safe) from EvoPak, made with hydrophilic polymer Hydropol by Aquapak
“At Walkers Chocolates, we have a strong focus on sustainability and are committed to reducing our impact on the environment. As part of this, we will move away from plastic to paper-based materials completely over the next three to ve years where possible,” says Tom Murtagh, commercial director, Walkers Chocolates. “[This] announcement is an exciting step for the Walkers team with two of our key customers and I hope is the start of a much bigger revolution in the chocolate category, and one which will be welcomed by consumers who can recycle the wrappers and know that no harmful microplastics are being produced at end of life.”
Even more recently, Finnish brand owner Orkla Snacks began piloting a new paper wrapper by UPM Specialty Papers, replacing traditional polypropylene plastic wrappers, for its Panda Milk Chocolate brand.
“At Orkla Suomi [Finland], we want to make everyday life better with local brands that bring joy and make sustainable choices easier. Our products are a combination of tradition, innovation, and sustainability. A great example of our ongoing efforts to replace fossil-based materials with renewable alternatives is the new paper-based chocolate tablet packaging, developed in collaboration with UPM and printing house Walki Westpak We will pilot this paper-based packaging with Panda Milk Chocolate in spring 2025 to gather insights and experiences from the new solution,” says Arja Laitinen, packaging developer at Orkla Snacks.
These two moves closely follow a host of chocolate and confectionery swaps away from plastic into paper-based wrappers, including by both Nestlé and Mars in Australia, and Mars candy bars in the U.K.
This isn’t the rst commercial appearance of the lm used in the Walkers application. The British Crisp Co. launched a potato chip bag in the same material a year ago. The paper can be used in a range of applications—from snacks and confectionary to pet-care and dry foods and cereals—and costs the same as existing materials, stakeholders say.
To keep the chocolate fresh and in good condition in transit and on the shelf, the lm packaging needs to provide protection from oxygen, seal well on standard packaging equipment, and easily accept print. Aquapak’s Hydropol provides all this functionality, stakeholders say, while
offering multiple safe end-of-life disposal options for consumers and brands who want to eliminate plastic pollution.
When extrusion coated or laminated onto paper, Hydropol allows paper to remain fully recyclable and compostable and is even compatible with anaerobic digestion, the companies say. Thanks to its solubility it doesn’t interfere with the recycling process and can allow up to 100% paper ber recovery in standard mills.
The wrappers have been certi ed as recyclable in standard paper recycling mills by On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL), a British nonpro t. This means they feature the green recycle logo and can be disposed of in curbside bins along with other paper.
Panda Milk Chocolate’s new wrapper format is based on UPM Asendo Pro 75 g/m2 barrier paper, which the company says has suitable grease barrier properties for the application. A cold seal lacquer, which has been applied to sealing areas, allows the paper-based package to be sealed on Orkla’s existing ow wrapping equipment, which are normally used to pack products in polypropylene lm. UPM Asendo Pro is certi ed for food safety (BfR, FDA), and the new packaging solution has undergone extensive testing, including shelf-life tests, the company says.
Orkla Snacks wanted to nd a paper-based packaging solution to support its goal of increasing the share of renewable packaging materials without compromising recyclability. UPM says that it only sources bers from sustainably managed forests, where forest regeneration is ensured. UPM Asendo Pro has been validated as recyclable (PTS method RH 021/97, cat II) in existing ber recycling streams, which are widely available to consumers in Finland and in Europe. 83% of paper and cardboard packaging is recycled in Europe, according to Eurostat, 2021.
Traditionally, plastic or a paper-plastic laminations have been used in packaging to guarantee shelf-life, ensure food protection and to keep grease from penetrating the package material. Thanks to the in-built barrier protection provided by UPM Asendo Pro packaging paper, no additional plastic layer is required, the companies say.
The Walkers Chocolates bars began rolling out to select Asda and Premier retail stores in the UK at the end of 2024. Panda Milk Chocolate bars in this new paper-based material are now available in stores across Finland through a six-month pilot period. —Matt Reynolds
Mars MasterFoods Trials Paper-based Single-Serve Squeeze Packs
Australia’s MasterFoods, a Mars Australia brand, is finishing trials for a new paper-based pack for its MasterFoods SqueezeOn Tomato Sauce packs. Produced at Mars Food & Nutrition in Wyong, Australia, the new paper-based packs contain 58% less plastic than the original MasterFoods Squeeze-On packs and can be recycled locally via traditional curbside recycling, the company says.
This innovation is the result of five years of research and development trials with $3 million invested in the project to ensure that the new paperbased packs are as easy to use as the original. To use, consumers find the icon ‘this side up’ on the pack, pull the ends upward, fold, and squeeze.
After use, Australian consumers can now put the empty paper-based pack in a recycling bin instead of general waste, making it easy for consumers to recycle.
“Currently, over 240 million of our MasterFoods Squeeze-On packs are used each year—that’s nine packs for every Australian,” says Bill Heague, general manager of Mars Food & Nutrition Australia. “This trial will allow us to better understand how this new paper-recyclable squeeze-on performs so we can take these learnings forwards. If we transition our full portfolio to this new format over time, Mars Australia would be set to eliminate around 190 [metric] tonnes [209 U.S. tons] of plastic from our value chain a year.”
Packaging Covenant Organization (APCO) and will allow MasterFoods to collect important data on the performance of the new pack, including how to best educate consumers to recycle the product after use.
The package itself is a first in the Australian market, designed in partnership with Easysnap Technology, an Italian packaging company specializing in recyclable one-handed packaging technology and part of Gualapack, a flexible packaging supplier.
The trial was designed in partnership with the Australian
MasterFoods’ trial ran from November 2024 through April 2025 across a variety of locations, including sports stadiums, gas stations, mining sites, and pasty shops. More than a million units of this new paper-based packaging have been evaluated by consumers during this trial. —Matt Reynolds
Mars Pantry Jars Use 100% PCR
Mars, Inc. has partnered with Berry Global to transition the pantry jars for its M&M’s, Skittles, and Starburst confectionery brands to 100% recycled plastic packaging, exclusive of jar lids. Says Berry, this achievement advances the ongoing collaboration between itself and Mars to develop packaging made with recycled content, and builds on a previous launch of the pantry jars with 15% recycled plastic in 2022 (see pwgo.to/8668). The updated jars are now rolling out across the country.
The easy-grip jars, most likely made of PET (the 2022 jars were reported as using PET), are widely recyclable and come in three sizes: 60, 81, and 87 oz. This move to 100% rPET will eliminate more than 1,300 metric tons of virgin plastic annually—that’s equivalent to the weight of about 238 African elephants, Berry calculates.
The certified food-grade PCR material used for the jars is made from recycled plastics collected from consumers. “This option helps prevent plastic waste from ending in landfills, decreases virgin plastic consumption, and reduces emissions while promoting a circular economy,” says Berry. “For instance, once these pantry jars are empty of treats, a consumer can place the lid back on the container and put it in a recycling bin—the plastic can then be used to make new products.”
As part of its Sustainable Packaging Plan, Mars has been redesigning its packaging portfolio to reduce plastic packaging to ensure it can be reusable, recyclable, or compostable. Mars has been partnering with Berry since 2017 to innovate sustainable packaging.
“In the world we want tomorrow, no packaging becomes waste, but is instead reused, recycled, or composted,” says Allison Lin, global vice president of packaging sustainability at Mars. “That’s why we continue to rethink our approach to packaging and collaborate with companies like Berry. Reducing our virgin plastic usage by investing in recycled content is an important step in our strategy, alongside initiatives to remove unnecessary packaging, explore reuse models, and redesign our packaging for circularity. Using recycled content incentivizes increased collection systems and recycling infrastructure, which is essential for a circular economy.”
Through the collective effort of hundreds of Mars associates, and in partnership with suppliers and other organizations, Mars is redesigning 12,000 packaging components. —Anne Marie Mohan
SC Johnson Ocean Plastic Exhibit Illuminates the Paradox of Plastic
The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is now home to an exhibit designed to make visitors rethink their relationship with plastic. “The Blue Paradox,” presented by SC Johnson in partnership with Conservation International, is an immersive experience that takes guests beneath the ocean’s surface to confront the growing crisis of plastic pollution.
“We are at an inflection point,” says Dr. Fisk Johnson, chairman and CEO of SC Johnson. “Time is running out to turn around the damaging effects of plastic waste pollution. While the challenges we face in stopping this crisis can seem daunting, overcoming them is possible.”
According to Conservation International, about 26 billion pounds of plastic are dumped in the ocean each year, which is equal to nearly 100,000 blue whales. It adds that more than 1 million seabirds die as a result of plastic per year; by 2050, it is estimated that 99% of all seabirds will have ingested plastic waste.
“Billions of people rely on our oceans for food. Nearly a billion people have livelihoods connected to the blue economy. As plastic waste finds its way to the ocean, it impacts all of us and the vast majority of species on our planet,” says Dr. M. Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International. “’The Blue Paradox’ brings the ubiquitousness and usefulness of plastic and the permanence and scale of its pollution front-and-center, encouraging visitors and businesses alike to take meaningful action.”
The 25,000-sq-ft exhibit follows the journey of plastic from its production to its accumulation in oceans worldwide. “’The Blue Paradox’ aims to illuminate a paradox when it comes to plastic use,” SC Johnson explains. “While the widespread use of plastic in our daily lives has led to considerable advancements in modern society, it has also become one of the most pervasive pollution issues facing our ocean ecosystem and the planet.”
Originally launched in 2021 as a pop-up experience in London, the exhibit proved to be a powerful motivator for change—97% of attendees pledged to alter their behavior for good. Inspired by that reaction, SC Johnson expanded the exhibit in summer 2023 to a more permanent location in Chicago where it has already drawn nearly 300,000 visitors,
POSITIONING SYSTEMS FOR PACKAGING MACHINES
with more than 200,000 pledging to take action.
Scan the QR code or go to pwgo.to/8666 to watch a video on the exhibit
Visitors start their journey in a corridor lined with 1,278 recycled plastic fish, part of “Emergence,” a sculpture by artist Aurora Robson. They are also greeted by a gallery of photos from National Geographic photojournalist Randy Olson that help them to understand the gravity of the ocean plastic pollution problem.
A highlight of the exhibit is Room 4, where an endless conveyor belt of plastic waste moves through the space, symbolizing society’s heavy reliance on mass-produced plastic materials for convenience. At its center, a live ticker counts plastic production in real-time, with more digits added since the exhibit’s London debut.
SC Johnson shares that it has long been vocal about the need for systemic change in how plastic is produced, used, and recycled. “Plastic is a uniquely functional and cost-effective material,” the company acknowledges. “But it is also a profound emerging pollutant that is affecting planetary, animal, and human health. That’s the paradox and the challenge.”
While the exhibit highlights the problem, it also encourages action. A plastic footprint calculator helps visitors measure their impact, while a pledge wall offers steps they can take from reducing personal plastic use to advocating for policy changes. Says Johnson, “‘The Blue Paradox’ is an opportunity to capture momentum, engage the next generation, and build on our desire to impact the issue positively.”
At the exhibit’s end, visitors are left with a final message from Johnson: “What difference does a drop in the ocean make? Everything.” —Anne Marie Mohan
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Safeway Partners with Food-Waste Prevention Company
Safeway, an Albertsons company, is taking a bite out of food waste through its partnership with Divert, Inc., a company specializing in food waste prevention and renewable energy production. Over the course of three months, Safeway has increased its food donations by 20%, equating to an average of 1,252 pounds of food per store per month that is now being redirected to people in need rather than being wasted.
“Our mission is to eliminate wasted food and create a circular economy,” says Ben Kuethe Oaks, VP and GM at Divert. “By partnering with retailers like Safeway, we’re able to put our data-driven solutions into action—preventing waste at the source, recovering edible food for donation, and converting what’s left into renewable energy.”
Food waste is a growing crisis in the U.S., with an estimated 92 billion pounds of food wasted each year—nearly 40% of all food produced. At the same time, more than 47 million people, including 14 million children, struggle with food insecurity. Adding to the problem, food waste in landfills generates methane, a greenhouse gas that is more than 28 times as potent as CO2 in trapping heat in the atmosphere.
To address this issue, Divert employs a proprietary end-to-end process called Prevent, Provide, Power that integrates reverse logistics, depackaging, liquefaction, and anaerobic digestion to ensure unsold food is put to its highest use. Working with retailers, Divert tracks and analyzes waste patterns, helping stores refine their practices to minimize loss.
“Our feedback loop with customers is critical,” explains Oaks. “By analyzing what’s going into the Divert bins at each store, we help retailers like Safeway identify inefficiencies, improve inventory management, and boost donation efforts.”
Beyond donations, the unsold food that cannot be consumed is processed into carbon-negative renewable energy. At Divert’s facilities, food is separated from its packaging through a proprietary depackaging system that removes plastic containers and stickers in a way that doesn’t release microplastics.
“The depackaging solution must be sophisticated and gentle enough to not shred or crush the plastics, otherwise those microplastics can end up back in water streams and farmland, thereby causing harmful impacts to plants and microbial growth,” says Oaks. “Nobody wants their food grown in soil riddled with plastics.”
In Divert’s current process, waste packaging is sent to landfill, however the company says it is actively working on a recovery solution. Typical materials encountered by Divert include plastic clamshells, deli packaging, shrink wrap, and plastic containers holding expired dairy products.
After depackaging, the food waste is converted into a slurry and purified before entering an anaerobic digestion system, where bacteria break it down. The process results in two byproducts: carbon-negative renewable energy and a clean soil amendment that returns nutrients to farmland. The RNG is used for a variety of purposes, including the generation of power for local communities, including homes and businesses.
Divert operates 14 facilities across the U.S., with plans to expand to 30 by 2031, ensuring 80% of the U.S. population will be within 100 miles of a Divert site. One of its newest facilities in Turlock, Calif., will process 100,000 tons of unsold food annually, generating up to 237,000 MMBtus (273,000 million British thermal units) of RNG per year.
Divert is currently working with nearly 8,000 customer locations across the U.S. Since it was founded in 2007, it has processed 600 million pounds of unsold food products and facilitated the donation of more than 14 million pounds of food.
“Food waste isn’t just an environmental issue—it’s a solvable problem,” says Oaks. “With the right partnerships and the right technology, we can rethink waste and create a more sustainable food system for everyone.” —Anne
Marie Mohan
“While we have made significant progress towards our ambitious 2025 goals for recycled content, virgin plastic reduction, and packaging recyclability, we expect to fall short of achieving these goals by 2025. While we continue to work towards reducing waste, progress depends on many factors outside our control, including emergence and scalability of innovative more-recyclable materials, public policy for materials management systems, infrastructure development (especially to support recyclable and compostable materials), and societal behavior change.”
–Walmart, in an update on their corporate website, posted Feb. 28, 2025
“We’re seeing a rapid convergence of automation and sustainability. AI-powered packaging systems are reducing material waste while improving efficiency. This isn’t just a ‘nice-to-have’ anymore— regulatory pressures and consumer demand for sustainable practices are making automation a necessity for survival in the modern packaging landscape.”
–Jeff Wettersten, vice president of packaging at Keypoint Intelligence, in an article from Printweek, “The robots aren’t coming, they’re already here”
“Recent history has demonstrated that trade protectionist measures have serious impacts for the U.S. economy and domestic food security. Aluminum and steel tariffs place price pressures on Americanproduced goods by artificially and dramatically increasing the cost of critical production materials, making U.S.-made food less competitive against foreign products. Today, only three domestic production lines remain open in the United States, meaning American steel producers cannot meet U.S. demand even with the highest tinplate steel costs in the world. This opens the door for cheaper canned foods to flood the U.S. market from China and other foreign competitors.”
–Robert Budway, president of the Can Manufacturers Institute, in an article from Food Dive, “Metal tariffs could upend canned food production”
“Personally, I don’t believe humanoid robots will have much, if any, impact on manufacturing. If you’re designing a system for automation, you’ll design it in a way that standard robots can handle the tasks efficiently. You won’t need to invest in the added cost and complexity of humanoid robots unless they are required to work in environments where they must directly interact with humans and share the same space.”
–Professor Mike Wilson, chief automation officer at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in the U.K., in an article from Easyfairs, “Driving Change: Automation’s Impact on the Packaging Industry and Beyond”
The Power of ‘Chaos’ Packaging
Packaging World:
Susan Allen Augustin, co-founder and chief brand officer of female personal care products company Here We Flo, shares how challenger brands can use chaos packaging, such as Here We Flo’s ice-cream tub for its tampon product, to create the disruption needed to stop consumers in their tracks and engage with a brand.
Can you provide a bit of background on Here We Flo?
Susan Allen Augustin:
Two besties went to a unisex bathroom and came up with a business idea. I wanted to take on the toxic patriarchy and start a feminist mafia, while my partner, Tara Chandra, couldn’t find organic tampons anywhere in the U.K. and was shocked that I wasn’t aware of the benefits of using them. Together we started Here We Flo to fight the shame and stigma around life’s messiest moments and make fiercely natural care mainstream.
Here We Flo creates bloody brilliant plantpowered products for period care, sensitive bladder [issues], and sexual wellness that are better for our bodies, our communities, and our planet. We are empowering people with periods to feel crazy confident in their messiest moments with funny, feminist, and fierce vibes.
Fast forward a few years, Here We Flo is the fastest growing and biggest sustainable period care brand in the U.K., listed in most major retailers and growing rapidly in the U.S., with listings in Whole Foods, Sprouts, Amazon, and CVS.
Why did you choose a paperboard ice-cream tub to package your tampons?
From the start, I knew we needed to stand out on shelf because we wouldn’t be able to afford billboards for a long time. The ice-cream tub happened organically and started as an inside joke. Tara, my vegan, very lactose-intolerant co-founder, always craved full-fat dairy ice cream when on her period. During development, we put all our tampon samples in a repurposed ice-cream tub, and the more we looked at it, the more it felt right for us. The tampons just looked amazing in it.
How would you describe “chaos packaging”?
Chaos packaging disrupts perceptions of what is “normal” product packaging for a consumer goods category. It turns normal on its head, typically by repurposing forms and formats associated with a completely different category. Like us using an ice-cream tub in period care, or a sunscreen from Vacation [brand] in a whipped cream can. Harnessing the unexpected creates intrigue and stopping power at shelf and makes consumers pause and engage with the proposition. As a challenger brand, your packaging is your biggest billboard and most likely your only billboard for a few years, so a sprinkle of chaos is a superpower.
Finding the right tub took time and research. We wanted it to be recyclable and biodegradable to align with our sustainability values. We ended up working with the manufacturers that supply BaskinRobbins, as they were the only ones who could make us a tub without the plastic lining you typically need for ice-cream.
How has Here We Flo’s ice-cream-tub tampon packaging evolved from causing actual chaos, by accidentally being placed in freezers, to becoming a successful strategy for extending consumer engagement in a category with traditionally minimal shelf attention?
In our early Here We Flo days selling tampons to our local mom and pop independent stores, we were obsessed with feedback. We’d go as far as to help stack shelves in our retailers in exchange for advice. We were consistently advised to overinvest in point-of-sale at shelf and shelf-ready packaging to frame and support our products, which we continue to do today.
The only time we end up in the freezer these days is when people who don’t menstruate are putting away the groceries on autopilot.
Can you explain the business strategy behind using packaging as a billboard for emerging brands? Is the packaging-as-a-billboard strategy different for emerging brands versus established brands?
When you are starting out, you just don’t have the same deep pockets as established brands, which pushes you to think outside of the box in how you create brand attention and awareness. Necessity is the mother of invention, and in consumer goods, your packaging becomes your first—and possibly only—marketing asset. So, it needs to work hard. It needs to be a marketing Swiss army knife. However, it’s not enough just to have a disruptive form, every
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part of the pack counts. If our ice-cream tub makes people stop and investigate our tampons, the rest of the pack, from aesthetically adorable colors to our funny, feminist, and fierce tone of voice, is designed to make people with periods emotionally connect with the brand and convert them to Flo.
This mindset doesn’t just apply to our packaging; it applies to how we approach marketing overall. Our best-performing social content last year involved me interviewing people about their periods at a Christmas market, dressed all in pink holding a giant tampon— unexpected and engaging.
The magic happens when you figure out how to do what must be done in a way that it hasn’t been done before and have a deep understanding of your consumer and how they like to engage with things.
How did you break the stigma in feminine care through innovative design?
Traditionally, feminine care and intimate health products are designed to be discrete, easily hidden in a cupboard or handbag. This reinforces the stigma that periods are shameful and something we should hide, which is wild given they are a natural bodily process for 50% of humans and nothing to be ashamed of. We have an opportunity to educate and change the narrative.
Our tampon ice-cream pot does just that. It unashamedly celebrates a deep-rooted truth—period cravings—and does so with
bold, bright, adorable colors. It’s designed to be shown off, not hidden. And it makes people smile and feel seen.
We want to fight shame with sunshine and destigmatize messy moments with humor that invites conversation. Having a product that stands out and gets consumers to engage with it is the first step in starting that conversation.
How are you using chaos packaging to extend the typical 3-second dwell time in personal care aisles?
All three messy-moment categories we play in—period care, sensitive bladder, and sexual health—have traditionally been shy, discrete categories. Getting people to dwell for more than three seconds at shelf is definitely a challenge.
People are inherently curious, so inspiring curiosity, like putting tampons in an ice-cream tub, or using cute, unexpected copy on the front of pack, invites people to explore further and dwell longer. Unashamedly celebrating the messy moment with unexpected personality also makes them less shy and embarrassed about browsing and purchasing our categories.
What has been the impact of disruptive packaging on brand growth and retail partners?
The tub has had the same effect on retail partners as it does consumers. Being different starts a conversation and opens doors. Even though most of our sales are in period pads and liners, which
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We are successful when you are successful. That’s why we apply creativity, engineering excellence, and determined perseverance to every project to help our customers get the performance their business demands—whether measured by flavor, efficiencies, sustainability, improvement, or innovation. PROCESSING AND PACKAGING
By Sterling Anthony, CPP, Contributing Editor
Getting Real About AR Packaging
As a rule of thumb related to the degree of immersion, virtual reality (VR) replaces the real world, while augmented reality (AR) coexists with it. The former is experienced via specialized headgear and the latter is experienced via a smart device (e.g., cell phone or tablet). AR packaging is imprinted with a trigger (commonly a QR code) that, when scanned, provides consumers with a digital experience. AR packaging has a short history, yet one that’s long enough to have yielded useful insights regarding its promise and limitations.
The QR code, in the physical sense, should be consistent with the brand’s package design strategy. Retail brands strive for shelf impact, an objective pursuable by various paths. Does the brand subscribe to a less-is-more design philosophy? Or a bold, in-your-face philosophy? Or something in between? The answer affects the placement and size of the QR code, in other words, its conspicuity. But even a prominently displayed QR code might require auxiliary design components, explaining what the QR code unleashes. That’s because consumers, despite knowing that the QR code is to be scanned, might lack the incentive to do so.
The digital experience provided by AR packaging can take a variety of forms, including videos, animations, games, profiles, tours, etc., categorizable as information, entertainment, or a combination thereof. Packaging is a potent marketing tool, differentiating the branded product and serving as a visible cue of the product’s persona. The digital experience, therefore, should be consistent with that persona. As an example, it might be inconsistent for a pharmaceutical product to provide an experience meant to be entertaining and lighthearted, given the somber association between illness/discomfort and its alleviation. Consistency between the digital experience and the product’s persona should not be determined arbitrarily. Testing is warranted, focus groups being one option.
QR code is linked to the downloading of an app. A small difference in time? Yes, but timesaving is a major type of convenience.
And speaking of time, how long should the digital experience last? It depends on the nature of the experience. Entertainment-based content likely will be afforded more time than information-based content. As for the latter, it should get to the most important point early, with the remaining time devoted to support and corroboration. Think of that advice as the AR equivalent of the long-accepted notion that, within the retail environment, packaging has scant seconds to arrest the consumer’s attention.
Promoters of AR packaging tout various benefits accruing to consumers. But for the sake of brevity, they can be summed up as positive experiences that go beyond the static to the interactive. Specifics have already been mentioned.
Regarding the benefits of AR packaging that accrue to the brand owner, promoters cite increases in sales and in brand-loyalty. In analyzing such claims, one needs to distinguish between potential and fulfillment. Are we, for example, talking about new sales or repeat sales?
AR packaging has a short history, yet one that’s long enough to have yielded useful insights regarding its promise and limitations.
AR imposes requirements on the packaging’s shape and materials. QR codes are comprised of dark marks on a light background, and smart devices rely on sufficient contrast between those elements to be able to read the code and trigger the experience. And it’s not just about the quality of the printing on the label (or surface). The surface itself should not induce distortion of the QR code. Surfaces that can fold, crease, wrinkle, etc. (think flexible packaging), can pose challenges, although not necessarily insurmountable ones.
Convenience is a function of packaging and should be reflected in its AR version. Brand owners should impose upon consumers the fewest requirements feasible to obtain cooperation. An AR experience that is browser-based and accessible directly from scanning the QR code is more consumer-friendly than an AR experience wherein the
New sales imply that the AR packaging has influenced consumers in-store.
In turn, such influence implies that consumers traverse store aisles, phone in hand or at the ready, intent on scanning QR codes. Such behavior is not noted typically, not to mention that it would extend the time expended in the shopping trip (recall the earlier discussion about the convenience of time). It is a possibility, however, for packaging and AR to work in tandem. Under that scenario, the packaging’s shelf-impact first attracts the consumer’s interest to the degree that the consumer makes an in-store scan of the QR code, and the experience culminates in a purchase. Repeat sales, on the other hand, can be spurred by an in-home AR experience that influences future purchase behavior.
Traditional packaging is static but changeable with redesigns. AR packaging, in contrast, is interactive, but nonetheless, can become static. When a brand-owner adopts AR packaging, there should be consideration for whether there are maintenance requirements. The question becomes, how repeatedly will the same AR packaging entice consumers who have previously scanned that QR code? Depending on factors mentioned herein and others that are equally mention-worthy, a brand-owner might need AR packaging that’s not only interactive and immersive but repeatable, too.
As a concluding comment, AR packaging can be useful to brandowners that utilize plastic packaging. Consumers can have their sustainability-related concerns assuaged by a message that explains and justifies the choice. PW
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‘Playfully Premium’ Pet Food Bag Grabs Dogs’ Attention
By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor
In the world of freeze-dried dog food, Heckova! is making a bold entrance with branding that’s hard for pet parents—and their dogs—to miss. With the help of Favorite Child, part of Betty, a Quad agency, Heckova! was designed to balance premium appeal with an energetic, dog-loving personality, while ensuring the packaging stands out in big-box retailers like Costco.
“It all started with a branding workshop, grounded in audience research to define the vision for the brand,” says Tricia Warren, group account director at Favorite Child. “Before getting to a name, we wanted to land on the ‘brand foundation,’ understanding who the audience is, why they exist, and how they do what they do.”
Once it set the foundation, the team explored naming conventions across the pet food category. “The category names typically come from a very functional space, so we explored ways to sidestep that,” Warren explains. “After vetting various names in this crowded space, we landed on Heckova! It’s an emotive, evocative name that we knew would stand out.”
The name was also influenced by how dog owners talk about their pets. “We tuned into the social phenomenon of dog-speak known as ‘doggolingo’ and discovered that ‘heck’ is the only curse word dogs know and use,” says Warren.
John Pawlowski, VP of Marketing for Heckova!, clarifies that while Favorite Child helped the company land on the name, the insight came from the first time he took his springer spaniel, Bandit, offleash at a dog park. “As he zoomed around the other dogs, another pet parent told me that I have ‘a heck of a fast dog,’” he says. “The insight stuck that we all have a heck of a dog we know is special for one reason or another.”
When it came to the design of the packaging, from the start, Favorite Child knew it needed to create graphics that worked in both warehouse-style retail and online marketplaces. “We consider the retail environment and shopping experience in every brand and product package we create,” Warren says. “In this case, knowing we were starting out with Costco, we needed to understand what works there: Simplicity and clear, descriptive flavor cues at a great price.”
The design also needed to balance those considerations with what a start-up brand needs: “a point of differentiation that stands out with a memorable and unique message and design,” Warren explains. The solution was a vertical logo placement that maximizes brand visibility while ensuring the product’s key information is easy to read. Turning the logo vertical also helped establish a larger footprint for the brand name. Meanwhile, the flavor, benefits, and use-case descriptors are positioned top left. As a result, they are emphasized by their placement instead of their prominence.
The color choices for Heckova!’s packaging were informed by both consumer research and scientific considerations. The design team analyzed the competitive landscape to identify gaps in the market and ultimately selected yellow as the dominant brand color. Interestingly, their research also revealed that dogs have dichromatic vision—or the equivalent of red-green color blindness in humans—meaning they primarily see shades of yellow and blue while perceiving reds and greens as muted tones. Warren explains that this insight played a role in choosing yellow, black, and white as the primary brand colors, with additional hues such as green for beef and orange for chicken to differentiate flavors.
She also shares that the choice of color palette has led to unexpected feedback from pet owners: “We have had numerous comments from consumers and fans who believe their dog can identify the package and gets excited the moment they see it.”
In selecting other elements of the design, the team considered how it could convey a premium feel to match the high-end positioning of freeze-dried pet food, while still making the design feel fun and engaging. The team coined the term “Playfully Premium” to guide their design choices.
This is evidenced by the design of the logo, which uses a custom serif font with an exclamation mark. According to Warren, the customserif logo conveys a more established and confident premium brand, while the exclamation point brings it back down to earth by adding “an emphatic, dog-inspired, playful energy.”
The product photography and iconography also steer away from common pet-food visuals. “We kept away from the ‘show dogs’ on-pack as there’s plenty of that already in market and we feel like the ‘every dog’ has more Heckova! qualities,” explains Pawlowski.
Heckova! launched in the spring of 2023, with its first on-shelf experience at a regional Costco later that summer. It is now available on the Heckova! brand site and Target.com, with more retail partnerships planned. There are 14 food and treat SKUs altogether, “with more on the way!,” Pawlowski confirms. PW
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Crack Open Growth:
The Packaging Shifts Fueling RTD Success
The $13.1 billion Ready to Drink (RTD) market is expanding, with spiritsbased RTDs (19% growth), wine (12%), and flavored malt beverages (6%) leading the surge. But beyond what’s inside, packaging trends are shaping the market.
Aluminum cans hold 83% of the market share, while glass bottles are losing ground to plastic bottles and Tetra Pak-style box cartons. This shift is driven by the popularity of wine-based drinks, portability, and sustainability perceptions. According to the Aluminum Association and Can Manufacturers Institute, consumers increasingly view aluminum (43% recycling rate) as the most eco-friendly option, surpassing glass (40%) and PET plastic (20%)*. Cans dominate and cartons are trending due to easy transport, quick chill down, and acceptance in event spaces and other venues where glass is safety restricted. Consumers and buyers are prioritizing convenience, light weight, and sustainability. Those preferences are shaping the future of the RTD market and packaging.
After the Gold Rush, E-Comm Packaging Gets Complex, Sophisticated
Survey respondents who sell via e-comm focus on what they can control, citing packaging’s sustainability, robustness, and appearance as top considerations. Still, complex carrier and seller platforms, and the costs associated with them, continue to confound CPGs.
By Matt Reynolds, Chief Editor
Gone is the gold rush era of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (D2C), when customer acquisition was cheap, the channel was new, and only a few pioneering seller platforms existed. The channel today is maturing, accelerated by the pandemic, and now consists of a complex ecosystem of carriers, seller platforms, 3PLs, drop-shippers, and packaging designers and materials suppliers.
“Brands spend a lot of time working on their product, launch it, and then are surprised people don’t immediately buy it like the early days of e-comm. You have to work to get customers, and the cost of acquisition is high,” says Lynn Power, founder of D2C haircare brand Masami. “You have to be scrappy and experiment a ton, because you don’t know what’s going to work. What works today might not work tomorrow. You have to be willing to spend not just on your product, but on getting the sales right.”
METHODOLOGY
The inaugural Annual Outlook Report on E-commerce re ects 118 unique survey responses collected from brand owner, CPG, and FMCG Packaging World readers. This online survey was deployed via email, and all responses were recorded between July and September 2024. The 10-question survey was devised and pressuretested with CPG experts.
The e-comm channel might be maturing, but it’s not slowing down. While only about a third of respondents to an autumn 2024 Packaging World audience survey claim to be using e-comm channels, nearly half of those that do (46%) say business there is growing, and another half (46%) say it’s holding steady. Only 7% see it shrinking. We asked a handful of brand owners and experts what attributes de ne e-comm and D2C packaging these days.
Musts for D2C packaging
“Sustainability and robustness make the strongest impact on packaging decisions, and the two are actually often in tension with each other,” says Brent Lindberg, chief curiosity of cer at packaging design and testing agency Fuseneo
Tradeoffs between competing priorities have always been an issue in e-commerce packaging. To get a given product to a consumer intact, it could require more, or heavier, or non-recyclable packaging. And by avoiding breakage/spillage, you also avoid wasteful, unsustainable returns and reorders.
Ranking the most critical attributes of e-comm/D2C packaging
Material reduction, lightweighting, CO2 emissions, recyclability, made from recycled material, etc.
Sturdiness of package, protection from breakage and leakers
“But that heavier package is always perceived by the consumer as bad,” Lindberg says. “People don’t see the other side of it, the perception is that it’s overpackaging.”
Referring to the respondent results (see chart above), “I might change the order of sustainability, robustness, and appearance, but they’re definitely in the top three considerations,” says Samantha Greene, owner of D2C resort-wear brand The Tiger and the Monkey. Luxury brands like hers tend to lean into appearance, porch appeal, and unboxing delight.
Another brand, Simple Times, meanwhile, makes all-natural cocktail mixers and syrups in shatter-prone glass. Still, 20% of Simple Times’ business is e-commerce, which comprises a mix of self-ful lled directto-consumer, “Ful lled by Amazon” (FBA) business, and other drop-ship partners, like Etsy and other online sellers that don’t carry inventory.
PW ’s survey rankings of the most critical attributes of e-comm and D2C packaging ring true to Tinius’ experience, too. Speci c to thirdparty drop shipping and FBA channels, he says optimizing overboxing (not quite SIOC) might be even more critical to his glass product. Simple Times uses Sealed Air brand Korrvu retention and suspension packaging for FBA, suspending his glass product in lm between robust sixsided corrugated packaging.
“It was a must-have for us because we were getting beat up by consumer reviews when Amazon would break a bottle,” Tinus says. “To protect the brand, we went with a more robust packaging, but there’s a cost associated with that. Korrvu is associated with shipping expensive durable goods like computers. Ours is a less-than-$30 consumer good. It’s costly but necessary.”
Simple Times also does some B2B to boutique shops, bars, and restaurants via website Faire.com, but the volumes in these orders are similar to consumer volumes—2-packs, 6-packs, etc. rather than a 50case LTL pallet. So even though it’s B2B instead of B2C, packaging and ful llment still t neatly within Simple Times’ D2C model.
“If you ip the thinking such that it’s not just direct to consumer, but who would receive ground shipping versus freight shipping, there is this huge opportunity for us as a consumer packaged goods company to work directly with these smaller regional boutique stores and treat it the same way we would with D2C,” Tinus says.
As far as packaging format, Tinus jokes that his mixers are almost the “perfect storm for what doesn’t work well with D2C,” given the product itself is a liquid, and the bottle is heavy, breakable glass—and not the 750-mL cylindrical wine bottle shape, around which many e-comm packaging suppliers have standardized. But a big factor that Simple Times products have going for them is that they are hot- lled and shelfstable, so they don’t require refrigeration. That simple fact makes ecomm possible.
Power’s Masami is a premium, clean-label haircare brand. The company sells shampoo, conditioner, shine serum, and styling cream in package sizes that range from a 10-oz standard size for everyday consumers, to a 32-oz ceramic bottle designed to serve salons and spas. It sells re lls for both formats in lightweight spouted exible pouches.
Power says that Masami now uses every part of the omnichannel, including about a third of business from retail shelves via pop-up and specialty brand retail locations, spas, and salons. Another third of business is true D2C, wherein Masami handles order ful llment and delivery directly, in-house. And the nal spoke of the omnichannel wheel, representing the nal third of the business, is through third-party seller platforms, like Amazon on the consumer side, sustainable consumer beauty sites, or B2B e-comm sellers like SalonCentric.com for hair salons. This diversity of sales channels gives Power a good view into all elements of the omnichannel, and the best ROI is on retail shelves. Even with D2C roots, Power is now leaning on the brick-and-mortar portions retail locations since e-commerce has gotten less pro table by comparison.
“It’s tough that the cost for digital customer acquisition and digital
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advertising is high, and has gone up,” Power says. “It’s not such an easy thing to be trying to do social media ads and Google search since the ROI is tough.”
The big three aspects of D2C packaging, as reported by our respondents—sustainability, robustness, and appearance—tracks with Power and Masami’s experience, just as it does with that of Tinus, Green, and Lindberg.
“Those indeed are the three biggest considerations, those three are de nitely the top things.” she says. “In our case, I would probably ip the order. Sustainable options are limited in a shower setting (shampoo). Because we are premium, I think the appearance and the design is critical. Robustness is just table stakes.”
Heather Roberts is the founder and chief volunteer of all-natural personal care brand Mom Bomb, selling bath bombs and other bath and shower products. She agrees with Power that robustness is table stakes. “I can’t have something show up to an online seller or to a consumer that was falling apart, so packaging that’s suf ciently sturdy is the rst order of business,” she says.
Save for a thin layer of shrink around the bath bomb product that braces it and acts as a moisture barrier, Mom Bomb’s packaging is entirely printed paperboard, so it’s curbside recyclable. The same goes for a kraft corrugated overboxing used in the e-comm channel. Still, Roberts has her doubts about consumer’s actual willingness to recycle.
“The retail buyers care the most about sustainability, consumers care the most about appearance,” Roberts says. “It’s frustrating because sustainable packaging is an added cost, whether or not it’s recycled.”
Sourcing packaging is hard
Masami’s 10-oz bottles are stock packaging, but they’re tough to nd. Power sourced them from Amsterdam in a bulk order of 30,000, without closures. For most products, Masami gets bottles from one supplier and closures from another, trying to source as much as possible in the U.S. But closures often come from overseas.
“We always end up with different quantities because one manufacturer says 5000 minimum, another says 10,000, and another says 2000. You don’t want to have to order and inventory 10,000 if you don’t have to. I would love to be able to consolidate and get like one supplier who could do it all, instead of having 10 suppliers and piecing it together. And then managing all your inventory—not even your nished products, but the component pieces—that’s a nightmare.”
Simple Times is a another clean-label brand that uses upcycled ingredients, which dovetails with sustainable packaging themes. But the glass format requires extra protection, so nding the right D2C packaging was dif cult.
Balancing Carriers, Platforms, and Pro tability
“We manage shipping through Veequo, Amazon’s e-commerce service, using UPS, FedEx, and USPS,” says Lynn Power, founder of Masami. “Rising freight tariffs are a concern for beauty brands, but our main challenge is increasing shipping costs. We once offered free shipping on all orders, then set a $25 minimum, and now it’s $50—following industry trends to share costs with consumers while encouraging larger purchases.”
Most platforms integrate with Shopify, so orders are processed automatically, with only a few requiring manual handling. Amazon, however, operates differently. Since Masami uses FBA, once its products are shipped there, it doesn’t need to manage fulfillment. Some say selling through Amazon isn’t profitable, but Power keeps ad spend low, making it a valuable channel. Still, she would rather customers buy from her website for a better unboxing experience, including branded packaging and product samples. Plus, direct sales give Masami customer data, which Amazon doesn’t share.
“That said, some customers prefer Amazon for Prime benefits, and I believe in meeting them where they shop. If that’s their choice, I’m not complaining.” PW
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Ranking the biggest hurdles to implement and maintain e-comm/D2C program for packaged products
Dealing with carriers, 3PLs, and return logistics
Cost of implementing and maintaining an e-comm program
Dealing with the third-party platforms that sell your products
My product isn’t well-suited to rough, time consuming e-comm/D2C
Considering the environmental impact of shipping single products in single-use packs
Dif culty in designing packaging robust enough to prevent damage and leaks
Consumers expect in porch appeal, unboxing experience, etc.
product itself
Sustainability worries
Not major hurdles to successful D2C packaging
Packaging isn't robust enough
Hard to meet appearance expectations
Note: Percentages add up to more than 100% since respondents were asked to choose more than one option.
“There were a couple of challenges. One was nding the right cost structure for e-comm packaging, and the other one was matching our sustainability story while still getting liquid in glass to consumers’ doorsteps intact,” Tinus says. “E-comm packaging was the rst time we were misaligned from our sustainability story, because at rst, we had to use a non-curbside recyclable foam. But even with the most sustainable packaging material, if the bottle breaks, you’re doing worse for the environment. You’re both re-shipping and wasting a whole packaged product. Really, breakage prevention and robustness aren’t separate from your sustainability story, whether the consumer knows it or not.”
The company has since implemented a fully curbside recyclable corrugated packaging solution.
“Finding a corrugated supplier that would work with us, from an engineering perspective, to ensure breakage would stay under 1%, was key,” Tinus adds. “Another thing I asked was, ‘what is the desired optimal pack format we want to send, in terms of bundling, to optimize for the size and weight? And how can we incentivize consumers to order in those formats? How do we want to build our digital ad strategy and discounting strategy to make sure that orders t our packaging, and that we’re becoming as ef cient as possible in the e-comm channel?’ We spent a lot of money unnecessarily with FedEx and UPS just due to inef cient pack sizes and DIM weights, until we learned.”
Control what you can, manage what you can’t
“Hurdles to implementing e-commerce program involve both packaging components, and then there’s the non-packaging components,” Lindberg says. “Dealing with carriers, 3PLs, and logistics is dif cult. And every one of the sales platforms is different, and all the different websites and retailers are different. Getting somebody in-house who knows those platforms and can manage them is key. You’ll be constantly ght-
ing against those systems—against chargebacks, against false returns— there’s just a lot of pressure from each of those retailers. And generally, those retailers aren’t always doing a lot [of volume with your product]. It’s not like you’re selling Walmart volumes to any of those retailers, so you’re putting a lot of energy against a lot of little battles,” Lindberg says. “You’ve got to have people that are constantly ghting those battles. The ghts with your big brick and mortar retailers are big, but you’ve got a point of contact, you can go and have a conversation and solve them. These [platforms] can be a black box. It’s a lot of self-help, chat bots, and online responses. It’s much more dif cult to navigate these selling platforms and then the multiple logistics. It’s death by a thousand cuts, and they all speak a slightly different language.”
Fuseneo works with several brands who are paying nes in the multi-millions, when aggregated from different supposed transgressions. Whether they mislabeled products that went into a warehouse, so now they’re facing nes as goods that weren’t marked correctly, to damages, to returns, to chargebacks for consumer issues, these charges can spring up from a lot of places and they add up fast.
That’s why Lindberg was interested in the second most reported hurdle (see chart above), the cost of implementing and maintaining an e-comm program. The consumer expects a product to cost the same on the retail shelf or in e-comm. But a brand needs to incur a lot more cost to get the product to the consumer via e-comm channels intact, often by repacking or channel-speci c packaging.
“But you have to be there,” Lindberg says. “You’ve got consumers who have gone completely digital. For example, they only buy soap online and only go to the grocery store for fresh produce. Brands feel they have to show up, and they have to be competitive on price.”
Tinus at Simple Times agrees cost is always the greatest hurdle, both in e-comm program implementation and maintenance. Costs associ-
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It’s important to look beyond the short term, which is why Krones is working on “Solutions beyond tomorrow”. Be it beverage and food production lines, digital services or plastics recycling: Krones’ innovative solutions combine superior performance with sustainability.
ated with designing aesthetically pleasing, robust, and sustainable packaging are incurred right when a brand goes to market. After that, the packaging design phase is over—at least until the next redesign. But ongoing costs associated with platforms, sellers, drop shippers, etc. and with carriers, chargebacks, false returns, etc., don’t stop. Packaging is a nite step that has an end, but carrier and platform complexity is ongoing.
Sustainability, robustness, and appearance rank as the top three most critical attributes of D2C packaging, but compared to the complexity with carriers, complexity of platforms, and the costs associated with the carriers and platforms, those three critical attributes of packaging don’t seem to register as hurdles.
“Follow the money trail; it will show you where your priorities and challenges are,” Lindberg says. “The brands have major hurdles on the logistics side, and some of that they can x by throwing money at the problem. Where their priorities are in making those xes is where they can design packaging, or revamp their price point architecture, or restructure pack outs. They can x some of these packaging attributes [sustainability, robustness, and appearance] by throwing some money and some energy at them. They don’t see the porch appeal as their biggest hurdle, but it’s one of their biggest priorities because they can x it. They can design robustness, they can design sustainability into the packaging, and they can certainly design some of that consumer impact and porch appeal. They aren’t hurdles, but they are priorities.”
Sustainability,
robustness, and appearance rank as the top three most critical attributes of D2C packaging, but compared to the complexity with carriers, complexity of platforms, and the costs associated with the carriers and platforms, those three critical attributes of packaging don’t seem to register as hurdles.
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Notably, sustainability, robustness, and appearance of a package are all elements that a brand can control. Platforms, carriers, and the costs associated with them are outside of brands’ control.
“Combine that with the fact that management of these online sellers and delivery channels is constant. When you throw some effort and money at the package and x it for the channel, you’re nished for a while. Selling platforms and carrier complexity are ongoing; they never stop.”
Feeling uneducated the biggest hurdle
“The biggest hurdle for me, starting as a D2C, was feeling uneducated and feeling like I didn’t yet understand the landscape,” Roberts of Mom Bomb observes. “That’s mostly not understanding the carriers and how they make money, and the platforms and sellers and how they make money. Understanding all the different players, the platforms, the sellers, and how they work together in an ecosystem was our biggest hurdle.”
She remembers starting on Amazon with a DIY approach, personally using the Amazon tools to navigate a complex marketplace. It became unwieldy to manage after time, and as Lindberg suggests, she’s since had to hire a dedicated 3PL to keep constant contact with those sellers, like Amazon. Just getting on those platforms is a feat itself, Roberts says, “but then you realize you have to continuously work to sell on them.” Updating photos, removing discontinued product formats, and introducing seasonal bundles, across many different seller platforms, can be daunting. Hiring that 3PL allowed Roberts to have one single hub where all the inventory and assets reside, rather than managing them thinly across distribution, and all the different sellers’ platforms like Amazon and drop-ship partners.
More speci c to the carriers, Roberts stresses having an encyclopedic knowledge (or hiring a 3PL with knowledge) of shipping rates and dimensional (DIM) weights. “The difference of an inch can cost you a dollar per package,” she says. “Shipping is your biggest cost, so I would reverse engineer your packaging from your least expensive, but still structurally suf cient shipping dimensions, so you’re not wasting money unwittingly.”
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Is packaging channel-speci c or universal?
Does your brand have a single package that goes through ecomm, D2C, and appears on retail shelves? Or do you have a unique package for each channel?
Channel-speci c solutions are optimized for their purposes, but add SKUs and introduce more complexity. Some brands can’t manage SKU complexity; they’re already stretched too thin. For brands who don’t have a solid handle on their supply chain, their projections, their demand planning—SKU proliferation is debilitating. Also, some brands that don’t have the ability to customize their packaging, so they have to rely on stock.
“Omnichannel packaging vs. channel-speci c packaging is how we think of it, and it’s one of the hardest things to answer for most brands,” Lindberg says. “It requires a lot of digging into how they how they work and at what point it makes sense to break their packaging supply chain into two. It’s different for each brand, and it takes a lot of work to answer.
“But generally, if your product already hits the retail shelf in a relatively robust six-sided box, it’s a really good candidate for omnichannel,” he said. “The combination of the durability of the packaging, and let’s say a less-than-fragile product, makes it good for the omnichannel. Robust pouches might work, too. Also, if it’s a sixsided box, it’s a good prospect for SIOC.” Lindberg says. “Where it becomes really challenging is with fragiles and liquids. We assess and treat them very differently. They are not immediately thought of as good candidates for omnichannel packaging, they’re automatically in a category that requires more careful consideration.”
How and when consumers interact with packaging is different between channels, another variable in uencing pack design choices. Roberts built her Mom Bomb brand around a Continental aesthetic, adopting a French toile pattern in all packaging design. This design worked great when the company rst hung out its shingle as a D2Conly brand. But in D2C, consumers don’t interact much with the packaging until they’ve already made the purchase. They were able to view the product itself on the company web page and any seller pages, like Amazon, that carried Mom Bomb personal care products.
“Now that I’m so deep into retail, what I’m nding now is that the toile pattern might make the package appear busy,” Roberts says. “When it’s on the shelf, I’m getting mixed feedback, because it’s busy packaging that’s sitting with other busy packaging on a busy shelf. When it was just direct to consumer, the packaging was winning awards, it was going viral on social media, and people were loving it. But now the retail sellers don’t love it as much, so I’m having to consider toning down that design for the retail shelf.”
Small brands tend to use only one channel, or set of similar channels, so they can get really good at one niche in the omnichannel. Or, like Roberts’ Mom Bomb brand, they might turn to a 3PL manage multiple channels. After all, 3PLs know the platforms, the sellers, and the carriers, and small brands don’t have the resources or the team to manage across the omnichannel.
Meanwhile, most large brands are working across a wide variety of e-comm and retail channels and platforms. Bigger brands that sell on Amazon will also offer several products, sub-brands, or selections that they will not sell to their Amazon buyer, because it’s not pro table via that channel.
Automation pyramid
How do you design packaging for the e-comm/D2C channel?
We use the same package for both e-comm/D2C and retail
We have different, dedicated e-comm and retail packaging for the same product
Big brands use 3PLs to sell D2C, as well. Or, instead of using their own Amazon vendor account, they may use a 3PL to be their Amazon seller. In that case, the 3PL is designated to be the seller on Amazon, manage all the inventory, and ful ll directly, for products that they will not sell to a retailer. Bigger brands with a wide variety of offerings don’t make every product they offer, in every format available to every channel. The price point architecture is different for every unique SKU and package
format. Some SKUs lend themselves better to retail, others to D2C, and big brands are surgeons in optimizing their offerings across different channels. Some big brands even create entirely new brand names, using existing product formulas, to tap into the different channels.
Lindberg knows of one brand owner, a major cleaning products company, that created a D2C sub-brand, “because we want a direct connection to our consumer, versus trying to get data from the retail platform,” the brand owner reasoned. “And even though none of the rest of the businesses and brands within our organization don’t do this, we’re going to sell directly to the consumer. We’re going to ship and ful ll the products directly from our factory. And we’re going to see what we can learn doing that. We’ll then have our own rst party data on our consumer.”
Adds Lindberg of the strategy: “Those are the pros to it. The cons are you’ve got to build a consumer base that’s willing to come to your website, set up an account, and buy from your owned platform. There are hurdles that you can make things easier by offering different payment options, like Amazon pay, but the biggest hurdle is the need to bring this consumer directly to their website. I know of big brands that use all three of those [D2C, 3PL, and third-party platforms/sellers]. It’s very common for a lot of these large brands to use two of those, and it’s most common for smaller brands to just pick one of those, often the 3PL.”
The reality is that each channel in the omnichannel is its own animal entirely. The more sophisticated and resource-rich that a brand owner becomes, the more optimized that packaging and branding options become for each unique channel in the omnichannel. PW
Is Manufacturing Next for CPG Digital Transformations?
Digitalization at CPGs has proceeded in a specific order. It began by revolutionizing supply chain optimization and demand planning via ERP, cutting costs and optimizing business practices. Digitalization is now underway on the manufacturing side, with processing seeing early benefits and packaging primed to be next.
By Matt Reynolds, Chief Editor
As frequently as the term “digitalization” is trotted out these days, it’s a notoriously dif cult concept for brands and CPGs to get their arms around. Some of that’s due to the volume of disparate strategies, tactics, and technologies the term seeks to contain. That’s why, when Packaging World asked its brand and CPG audience to complete a survey on their digital transformation journeys, we wanted to level-set immediately and ensure all respondents were using the same language.
Following standard terminology lightly adapted for CPG, we dene digitalization as the use of speci c digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities; it is the process of moving to a digital business. Digital transformation, then, is the process of integrating those speci c digital technologies into some or all aspects of a business, often fundamentally changing how it operates and delivers value to customers. It involves using digital tools to streamline processes, gather data, enhance customer experiences, and adapt to market demands.
METHODOLOGY
The inaugural Annual Outlook Report on Digitalization re ects 96 unique survey responses collected from brand owner, CPG, and FMCG Packaging World readers. This online survey was deployed via email, and all responses were recorded between July and September 2024. The 10-question survey was devised and pressuretested with CPG experts.
Survey respondents were overwhelming on board with those two de nitions at the outset. What follows in text and graphics re ects the 89% of all survey respondents who told us upfront that they have a general understanding of digitalization and digital transformation as topics. Answers from the 11% of respondents who said they didn’t quite get the concept are omitted.
Does your company have a digitalization strategy?
Digital transformation strategies are the exception, not the rule
While respondents understood the concept, only a quarter of them reported that their companies had a formalized digitalization strategy. About a third (35%) of respondents didn’t know whether their companies had one, and 40% know that their companies do not have a digitalization strategy. Among respondents, those from the largest multinational brand owners all seem to be focused on enterprise-wide digital transformation—at their headquarters, at least. A common sentiment, as distilled in this comment from a major spirits brand owner in the U.S., is that “our corporate of ce has a digitalization strategy for the company, but they have not been rolled out yet to the manufacturing sites.”
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Tim Brown, principal of packaging consultancy PTIS says that this stands to reason, and tracks with his experience with brand owner clients. “Most brand owners don’t have a litany of IT people focused on the manufacturing side, focused on digitizing their manufacturing infrastructure. There are aspects of CPGs’ general businesses where they have made digital transformation progress, like in ERP systems. But there are more hurdles in manufacturing, and those parts of the business often just aren’t as far along,” says Brown.
“Within manufacturing, brand owners are typically furthest along on the processing side, versus the packaging side,” he adds. “The assets and processes used to make the product typically are ahead of the game in this area, versus the packaging side of their business. The majority of the assets, the capital, is tied up in processing, not packaging. It can be seven to one, even 10 to one in certain companies.”
Meanwhile, when it comes to food, beverage, and pharma, brands are required to be able to track and trace processes down to batch lot levels to be recall-ready. There’s a lot of incentive to place early digital transformation emphasis upstream of packaging, in processing operations within manufacturing sites.
Consider Starbucks. It’s a major retail operation, but also a major coffee roaster and packager. The company is fully digitized around retail, ne-tuned in fact. But the manufacturing [roasting, processing, packaging] side lags retail operations in digitalization. Brown also cited contract manufacturing—less so contract packaging, but along the same lines—as likely having sophisticated digital strategies, compared
to brands and CPGs. Their business tends to be more complex, with more varied SKUs and more varied tech stacks as speci ed by customers.
“I hope we bring forward the same focus on digitalization in manufacturing that we have in the customer/consumer side,” one brand owner respondent replied in the survey.
When focusing on manufacturing, though, survey responses support Brown’s assessment of processing being ahead of packaging operations when it comes to digitalization. A total of 61% of respondents say that manufacturing (processing) will incur the most change at the hands of digitalization. Packaging, sales & marketing, and supply chains trail processing at 27%, 25%, and 24% of respondents reporting, respectively, with no other operation breaking the 20% mark of responses.
“Whether processing or packaging, manufacturing is where most of a brand owners’ capital is located. That’s where the workforce is, and that’s where equipment assets are,” Brown says. After some of the lowhanging fruit on the business side, with ERP, demand planning, and supply chain planning, “I would expect to see manufacturing as high on the list of elements to digitally transform, to make it better and more ef cient.”
Where digitalization is making landfall
We asked the 25% of respondents who say their companies have a digital transformation plan, ‘what are your plans’ goals?’ Answers varied, but ‘enhanced exibility’ was a common sentiment, as were ‘incorporating AI,’ and a desire to ‘streamline information ow and reduce human
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error.’ But the most common answers revolved around data gathering ( rst), and data management (second).
The same sentiments resonated when all respondents were asked what types of operations and activities will be impacted by digital transformation in the coming year.
Data and analytics constituted the runaway favorite among all single-selection answers, with 61% expecting digitalization to impact their data and analytics practices in the coming year.
“Everyone’s trying to get as much data as they can, and clean data, but then what do you do with it? How do make decisions with it? How do you prioritize with it?” mused one brand owner respondent.
What operations will be impacted by digitalization in the coming year?
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Note: Percentages add up to more than 100% since respondents were asked to choose more than one option.
Taken together, machine learning and AI were cited as top areas of impact among 71% of respondents, though these are slightly different concepts. Arti cial intelligence can apply across an enterprise, where machine learning can be said to be at the manufacturing level, on equipment.
“That’s going to evolve over time, as people begin to replace equipment. That can take time, since it can take 15 to 20 years before people want to replace equipment,” Brown says. But speaking of time, he adds, “I’ve been seeing more brands combine AI with digital twins to compress time to market on innovation, like new product and packaging launches. This minimizes the length of time it takes to do design and testing, both in how a package will perform in retail and among consumers, and how it will perform on existing equipment, without actually having to change out the packaging equipment.”
A brand might also shorten its risk exposure by simulating validation and testing. A CPG might devote a lot of resources to a package or product, but if the package fails in a physical ship test, then the brand has to go back to the drawing board. There’s risk in innovation and new products. By simulating that ship test with AI and digital twins, headaches can be avoided.
According to respondents, this also seems to be a way to clear the hurdle of brands waiting for upgrades to their equipment installed base, thus not being able to take advantage of on-board AI.
In any case, both AI and machines that use AI to learn, adapt, and make decisions, needs data—clean data—from which to learn and begin to make decisions. Careful data collection at the manufacturing level, via sensors that may be onboard equipment, or may be added retroactively, and careful warehousing of that data into, for instance, a small language model or retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).
Cybersecurity was cited by 31% of respondents, and closely related remote access was mentioned by 28%.
“Cybersecurity is a big deal,” Brown says. “It always seems to be a big hurdle within companies to enable somebody from the outside to get in, access the machinery, and assess the line. Brand owners just face a lot of hurdles there, which slows down digital transformation for brands on the manufacturing side.”
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DIGITALIZATION
Brown and several respondents noted the cyclical nature of when digital transformation would be prioritized among different business sectors. Recently, there have been signi cant pressures, such as in ation and small margins, that have kept digital transformation focus on supply chain planning, ERP, demand planning, and similar ways to digitally streamline business segments. There hasn’t been as much focus on packaging innovation, or manufacturing innovation.
“There are cycles to all of this, and these numbers will probably look very different in about two years, as brands begin to digitally transform manufacturing and packaging R&D, now that other elements of their business have been digitalized,” Brown says.
Catch 22s among digitalization’s drivers and hurdles
Costs and labor are two major drivers of digital transformation. Counterintuitively, those factors are also hurdles that prevent brands from digitally transforming.
Digital automation stands to improve repeatability, accuracy, and precision in manufacturing and packaging, thus reducing human error signi cantly. This was the single most cited driver of digital transformation, with 45% of respondents choosing this option.
“Digitization reduces human error, improves ef ciency and reliability, and provides meaningful data,” one large food brand respondent wrote in.
But if an existing labor force doesn’t have the skill, training, or capability to operate in a digitalized environment, then 27% of respondents see that skills gap as a hurdle to adopting digital manufacturing and packaging.
What’s driving you toward, and keeping you from, digital transformation?
Note: Percentages add up to more than 100% since respondents were asked to choose more than one option.
It’s easier said than done, but the answer here is in a digital platform’s simplicity and easeof-use, such that digitalization makes operator, technician, and maintenance worker lives easier, rather than harder. Also, brands have to be careful to employ digital strategies aren’t so onerous on training as to be more trouble than they’re worth. It’s a matter of knowing your own, unique workforce.
Similarly, differing views on potential return on investment in digital transformation place the cost variable as both a commonly cited driver (33% see it as a driver, the second most commonly cited), and as a major hurdle (44% see digital transformation price tags as hurdles). As one respondent put it, digitalization “will be helpful but costly to get started before bene ts are realized,” indicating that digital transformation needs a champion or ROI explainer within an organization.
“The concept of digital transformation is so broad that it takes someone who can articulate to decision makers how different elements of it can help the business,” Tim Brown says. “Let’s pick on manufacturing—what does it mean for manufacturing? What’s the business bene t of it? You need someone who’s able to articulate that and demonstrate a real ROI.”
Related, 13% or respondents cite a lack of an internal company champion to lead a company
DIGITALIZATION
Six Factors in Favor of Digital Transformation
We distilled six major themes in favor of digital transformation from the nearly 100 responses to this question: “How do you see the onset of digitalization impacting packaging operations at your company, and why do you predict this to be the case?”
Enhanced Efficiency and Speed. Automation and digital tools can streamline packaging processes, reducing human error and increasing production speed.
Improved Quality Control. Digitalization allows for more precise quality checks. Automated systems can ensure consistent packaging standards.
Better Traceability. With digital tools like blockchain, you can achieve greater transparency in your supply chain.
Sustainability. Digitalization can support your sustainability goals by optimizing resource use, simplifying reporting, and reducing waste.
Data-Driven Decisions. The integration of digital tools provides valuable data that can be used to optimize operations. Real-time monitoring and analytics can help identify bottlenecks and improve workflow, leading to more informed decision-making.
Unlocking of Tribal Knowledge. Analog information is difficult to share across packaging operations at an enterprise, especially in an era of high turnover, an aging workforce, and a skills gap. Knowledge that is digitalized in a system can be passed through a shifting workforce without interruption. PW
through digital transformation. More generally, a third of respondents (32%) indeed report nding it very hard to prioritize where to implement digitalization, reinforcing Brown’s assertions. The sheer volume of different platforms and strategies can cause what could be termed ‘analysis paralysis,’ and hinder adoption of digital improvement strategies.
Regarding prioritization, Heather Roberts, owner of personal care and bath brand Mom Bomb, uses a rule of thumb that works for her brand, where “whatever is causing me the biggest problem is getting digitized rst. I want my digital tools to create the most impact for the smallest amount of input, and that sweet spot changes by the day, according to the day-to-day needs of the business.”
Also, with digitalization, we’re usually talking about software, and that’s a constantly changing landscape.
“You have to understand what’s the long-term implication of going down a particular path, and not another one,” Brown adds. “If you commit to a certain software as a service or platform, and another better one comes out, are you back to square one? It’s really hard, you need someone who understands that,” Brown says.
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Sustainability in data
When we asked, “How do you see the onset of digitalization impacting packaging operations at your company, if at all over the coming year, and why do you predict this to be the case?” an unexpected answer emerged among several respondents.
With Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws rolling out in different locales nationally and globally, there’s an increased onus on brands to closely track—and in fact report on—packaging material usage. Eco-modulation within this legislation seeks to provide carrots and sticks, rewards and penalties for using certain types of packaging
The onset of smart packaging, by way of on-pack QR codes, gives brand owners a direct line to their consumers in ways they hadn’t had before.
material. As a result, much like track and trace to food and beverage, or serialization for pharma, digitalization of packaging material contents is on the horizon. The concept of digital product passports, for example, have been in various stages of testing in Europe.
It might not immediately be in the cards for the U.S. nationally, but many brands have to think nationally and internationally, not regionally.
Whether it’s in service of EPR laws, or in view of their own, self-imposed sustainability commitments to organizations like Ellen MacArthur, that means brands are digitalizing to help with “tracking recycled and recyclable materials,” one brand owner said. “Digitalization can support your sustainability goals by optimizing resource use and reducing waste,” another brand owner said.
Consumer connection
Most consumer packaged goods sit on a retail shelf, and any consumer intel that can be gleaned from how consumers interact with it accrues to the retailer, not the brand owner. But the onset of smart packaging, by way of on-pack QR codes, gives brand owners a direct line to their consumers in ways they hadn’t had before. Standards around a 2D barcode, GS1’s digital link, will offer brands lots of options. Most of one respondent company’s digitalization practices in 2025 will be “primarily in QR enabled traceability and Sunrise 2027 [a title for adoption of 2D barcodes],” the brand owner respondent said.
Roberts agrees. “I have a product that sits on the shelf, so if I don’t know the demographics of the people who are buying my product on the shelf, I can’t track them. I needed to nd a way to digitally capture that information. I created a QR code with an offer that’s on all of my packaging. There’s probably about a 2% response rate to that. People who respond give me their email address, and then I’m able to get capture some information about them. They already have a proclivity to buy my products, so I’m able to monetize them even more over time.” PW
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Startup Debuts First Recyclable Aluminum Coffee Pod
Purpose-driven coffee brand Cambio Roasters launches a first-of-its-kind aluminum K-Cup-compatible pod that preserves the product’s freshness and flavor while keeping spent pods out of the landfill.
By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor
Cambio Roasters, a South Carolina-based coffee company co-founded by former Keurig Dr Pepper executive Kevin Hartley and partner Ann Hutson, is introducing the world’s first aluminum coffee pod compatible with Keurig brewers. The disruptive innovation comes at a time when consumer demand for products and packaging that offer greater sustainability are reshaping expectations in the single-serve coffee category. Cambio’s new aluminum K-Cups were developed through a multi-year project aimed at offering a scalable, recyclable alternative to plastic pods without compromising on performance or price.
“About 40 million plastic coffee pods end up in landfills and oceans daily,” says CEO Hartley. “We believed it was time to introduce a fully recyclable solution that works just as well—or better—for the consumer and for the coffee.”
Mission-driven team reimagines the K-Cup
Cambio, which means “change” in Spanish, was founded with a dual mission: to reduce the environmental impact of single-use coffee packaging and to support struggling coffee-farming families by sharing 20% of its profits with those families. Hartley, who spent more than a decade scaling Keurig from a small Vermont startup to a market-dominating brand, saw the opportunity to apply that same disruptive spirit to fix the singleuse plastic problem the original K-Cup helped create.
Hartley and Hutson founded the company in 2018. “When we started Cambio, we pulled together a dream team of former Keurig executives and packaging engineers,” says Hartley. “We
wanted to redesign the K-Cup for the next 25 years—but this time with a triple-bottom-line focus: people, planet, and profit.”
Among those former Keurig staff recruited by Hartley were Rick Estabrook, Cambio’s “genius packaging engineer,” and Lindsey Bolger, who led Keurig’s global coffee sourcing and now oversees Cambio’s 100% organic, small-farm supply chain.
According to Hartley, Cambio was the one of the first K-Cup coffee brands to use 100% polypropylene, but the company’s end goal was a more transformative package—one that could be recycled at scale. The journey began in 2023 in what Hartley jokingly calls “garage lab” conditions in Shelburne, Vt. There, Estabrook and the team experimented with a range of prototypes.
Over the next couple of years, the company invested millions of dollars into R&D, working closely with a proprietary packaging supplier on pod design and materials and with its proprietary equipment manufacturer to develop a custom filling line. “Every K-Cup Cambio sells has been designed from the ground up with sustainability and usability in mind,” Hartley says. “This wasn’t a retrofit. It was a reimagination.”
And all of this had to be done without raising the retail price. “Our intent was to stay price-competitive with major brands like Green Mountain and Dunkin’,” Hartley says. “That’s how we make the biggest impact—by making better coffee pods accessible to millions.”
Replacing plastic while preserving quality
Switching to aluminum wasn’t just a sustainability play, though. Hartley also wanted to make a better cup of coffee. “If I hold up a plastic pod, you can almost see through it, they’ve been so lightweighted,” he says. “It’s too porous vis-à-vis oxygen. We say the oxygen transfer rate is too high, and so the coffee starts to degrade soon after it’s packed.
Many coffee pods stay in the supply chain for a year on average. It’s not a sin, but the coffee just never again has the taste the roast master intended.”
He adds that aluminum is often referred to as the “magic metal,” both because it’s infinitely recyclable and because “coffee loves it,” he says. “The oxygen transfer rate is effectively zero. It’s impervious to oxygen, moisture, and light. So when you brew it, the coffee tastes exactly as the roast master intended.”
Cambio’s aluminum pod is a proprietary material structure that provides requisite brew-ability, barrier performance, shelf life, and recyclability for Cambio’s consumers.
A carryover from Cambio’s plastic pod design are the “flavor ridges” in the walls of the pod that help extract maximum flavor from the coffee. “When water hits the coffee bed, the filter can press up against the pod wall, limiting extraction,” Hartley explains. “The flavor ridges hold the coffee filter away from the edge, so we get full extraction across the coffee bed.
“‘Coffee goodness’ is measured in total dissolved solids. We experience a significant average increase in TDS with the flavor ridges.”
Also transferred from Cambio’s original pod design is its Easy Peel tab lid, an aluminum lidding film with a tab that enables the consumer to easily remove the lid from the pod for recycling.
A new machine for a new pod
For decades, Cambio’s equipment supplier has been producing custom packaging solutions. But when it came to the booming K-Cup market in the U.S., the company had remained on the sidelines, until the Cambio aluminum pods project opened the door.
When Cambio approached the supplier in early 2023, the pieces just fell into place. Cambio’s supplier had familiarity with small aluminum containers and understood the unique requirements for successful modified atmosphere filling, sealing, and handling.
While many consumers don’t realize it, virtually all coffee pods contain a paper filter inside. During brewing with a Keurig machine, a needle punctures the bottom of the pod; without a paper filter, the grinds would end up in the cup. The Cambio equipment places this filter into each pod as part of the process.
For the Cambio design, the team selected a coffee filter paper from among several supplier options, choosing one that best worked with Cambio aluminum pod and delivered the TDS and coffee flavor desired.
The first machine has gone through FAT and will begin production at a proprietary co-packer this spring.
Educating the market on recycling
When it comes to recycling, small-format packaging can be tricky to sort because it can slip through screens at the beginning of the sorting process at a material recovery facility (MRF). One way Cambio has tackled this issue is by designing the pods to nest or press together into larger units.
“We’ve worked with a recycling lab, and if you leave the K-Cup alone and drop it in, you can assume that somewhere between 60% and 90% will go through, according to the data,” explains Hartley. “And we say, if you press two together, then you are over the size constraints, and then
the recyclability percentage is incredibly high. If you press three together, it’s even more so.
“So the pods are designed to press together and grow. And you could say, ‘Well, every con sumer’s not going to do that.’ I get it. All we can do is say, ‘For best results and to help our planet goals, this is what you should do.’”
Cambio’s secondary packaging includes step-by-step recycling instructions, and the Easy Peel tab makes disassembly intuitive—something Hartley says was lacking in traditional K-Cups. “Our research showed consumers hate digging into the puncture hole to remove the lid. It’s messy and unpleasant,” he notes. “We’re trying to remove barriers for consumers to recycle the pods.”
Another recycling option just announced in March is the Cambio Roasters Free Recycling Pro gram, in partnership with recycler TerraCycle. Through the program, consumers can drop their spent Cambio pods in a box, download a prepaid shipping label, and send the pods to TerraCycle. The collected materials are cleaned, melted, and recycled into aluminum ingots that can be used to make new products, while the coffee grounds are industrially composted.
Hartley hopes these strategies are merely stopgap solutions until use of the aluminum pods reaches a scale that drives recyclers to develop a foolproof system to recover them.
An intentional, impactful packaging design
Cambio’s design approach has evolved along with its packaging. Originally, the company used molded fiber cartons, which were award-winning but costly and difficult to scale. Today, the sec ondary packaging is a sleek paperboard box that heroes the aluminum pod and communicates Cambio’s triple-bottom-line mission.
In designing the carton for the aluminum pods, Hartley shares that the goal was to make the packaging as intentional and impactful as the pod itself. “The brief to the packaging designer was, in the sea of greens and browns and oranges that dominate the coffee aisle, we wanted to do visually a mashup between Apple and Blue Bottle,” explains Hartley. “Apple with a passion for technology and sophisticated design, and Blue Bottle with a sophisticated design and the passion for coffee.”
The resulting carton design, led by Greg DiNoto and his studio in Brooklyn, leans into clean lines, minimalism, and a bold showcase of the aluminum pod. This is achieved through a largerthan-life image of the pod on the front panel, as well as a die-cut window that provides a view of one of the pods inside the carton.
S S
“We wanted to hero aluminum on the front,” Hartley explains. “The communication objectives or the hierarchy we tried to do on the pack was first to the consumer—like, “Wow, check inside. That’s aluminum, are you kidding me?”
From there, the design invites the consumer deeper into the brand story. On the back of the pack is copy that details Cambio’s passion for coffee, which it calls “the worlds better cup.”
“So first, the consumer sees that the pod is aluminum—that’s kind of cool,” says Hartley. “And then we talk about the best coffees in the world and the best coffees for the world.”
Inside the box, that storytelling continues, with a picture of Hartley and Hutson on the inside flap, along with the story of Cambio.
The design also includes unexpected touches to deepen the consumer’s experi ence, from inspirational quotes to custom insert cards that highlight the aroma of or ganic, specialty coffee brewing in what they call a Zero Compromise Pod.
“We just try to do as beautiful a thing as we physically can do with the constraints of reality,” Hartley says. “We literally think of it as business art—that each component could be gallery-able in MoMA.”
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Despite the premium materials and engineering behind the pod, Cambio is positioning it at price parity with mainstream brands. “We expose ourselves to a higher cost of goods than any other K-Cup brand, but we do that intentionally,” says Hartley. “We didn’t want this to be a
$10-per-pod product. We wanted scale. We wanted to make a real impact.”
As Hartley explains, Cambio’s target market is the environmentally conscious coffee pod lover— a mainstream Keurig user who values sustainability but also convenience and affordability. “According to Cambio’s proprietary research, about one-quarter of all Keurig households are just waiting for something like this,” he says. “They don’t want to compromise on taste or price, but they’ll switch if you give them a reason.”
Cambio coffee is available in eight blends, in 10-, 22- and 32-ct multipacks. The aluminum pods can be found in Walmart, Harris Teeter, Kroger, and Target. Consumers can also purchase the coffee from Cambio’s website and on Amazon, where sales have “blown up,” according to Hartley. “We haven’t been able to stay in stock for the last 90 days since we launched on Amazon,” he says. “It’s been crazy.”
Cambio’s intent is to scale up to 100 million pods as soon as possible, and the company is already speccing its second filling line.
“We’re not saying we’ve solved everything,” Hartley concludes. “But if we can shift even 10% of the market away from plastic, that’s billions of pods that won’t go to landfills or oceans. That’s worth doing.” PW
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Automation, Robotics Deliver Order from Chaos
Flexible, powerful controls underpin this slick new robotic unscrambler and orienter that gently handles high-end packaging, accommodating frequent changeovers and high volumes and speeds.
By Matt Reynolds, Chief Editor
Always aiming to bring order to the chaos of plastic bottle filling line infeeds, unscrambling equipment has struggled to simultaneously offer ultra-high throughput, flexible format changeovers, and softtouch handling, all in one system. That didn’t stop Pace Packaging, a ProMach company, from setting out to solve for all three factors at once when designing the VersaSort robotic unscrambler and BAO-IR orienter.
“The VersaSort linear unscrambler improves maintenance access, reduces complexity, and offers a more competitive price point with enhanced performance,” says Michael DiGregorio, VP and general manager at Pace. “This is a win-win-win for our end users.”
The VersaSort targets customers with high SKU counts and frequent format changes, particularly in personal care, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical applications. Given the target market covers a range of health and beaty products with luxury packaging formats, the system also aims to support operations that need to gently handle delicate materials and special finishes.
So instead of relying on traditional tactics, the VersaSort system deploys up to three pick-and-place robots. It also harnesses innovative vacuum transfer and integrated orienter systems designed in-house by engineers at the ProMach Innovation Center (PMIC) in Montreal. It delivers a uniform outfeed via precision conveyance, with the option to add puck-based handling as needed in different packaging applications.
Visit pwgo.to/8667 or scan the QR to read an unabridged version of this OEM Appliciation Note, and watch a brief video of the equipment in action, and hear from the machine’s designers and controls engineers.
The VersaSort features an integrated hopper, with a series of infeed conveyors to begin the unscrambling process. Next, a rotary bumper gently presorts bottles into a single, flat layer. A vision system identifies the bottle types and how they’re oriented, so pick-and-place delta robots can grab each bottle with vacuum grippers and place it on the paired patent-pending in-motion vacuum transfer system.
“We can run a higher containers-per-minute rate per robotic unit
than other descramblers on the market because of our vacuum transfer system,” DiGregorio says. “This technology ensures that the system can handle a wide variety of container types without causing damage, including delicate products with soft-touch finishes.”
The vacuum transfer system places each bottle onto a narrow conveyor or integrated pucking solution. The ProMach-developed orienter then spins the bottles to ensure a uniform outfeed as they proceed into further stations down the line for filling, capping, cartoning, and so on.
Controls under the hood
The VersaSort relies on a C6025 ultra-compact industrial PC (IPC) from Beckhoff as the primary machine controller.
“Real-time EtherCAT communication and high processing speeds of the industrial PC with dual-core Intel Celeron processors made this possible,” says Anthony Ferraro, director of engineering at Pace. “Unlike traditional PLC technologies, PC-based automation allows us to handle all automation and control on one device, with the seamless integration across the Beckhoff platform, the robot controller, and vision system.”
Beyond sheer speed, the companies say that EtherCAT provides numerous advantages through its functional principles. EtherCAT’s automatic addressing with no IP addresses, free selection of wiring topology, and up to 65,635 devices on one network ensures a flexible and scalable network for the future.
“For Pace, the advanced diagnostics in EtherCAT provided clear ad-
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vantages for commissioning and operation,” says Greg Marsh, Packaging Industry manager at Beckhoff USA. “In addition, they could leverage a wide range of EtherCAT I/O modules from Beckhoff, both in the DIN rail-mounted terminal and IP67-rated EtherCAT Box form factors, to achieve incredible design flexibility inside and outside of electrical cabinets.”
Beyond standard I/O functionality, Pace leveraged TwinSAFE I/O terminals for functional safety deployed in safety doors, e-stops, etc.
TwinSAFE relies on [Fail] Safety over EtherCAT (FSoE) technology to provide “black channel” communication on the standard network, without the hardwiring required in legacy standalone safety systems.
The ProMach engineers also used the EP7211 single-channel servomotor box for compact motion control in an I/O format. Along with these EtherCAT Box modules, the AX8000 multiaxis servo system from Beckhoff provides high-precision control for various AM8000 servomotors equipped with AG series gearboxes. The AX8000 drives feature Beckhoff’s AX-Bridge technology to directly connect drive modules without additional cabling or tools. This reduces power supply requirements, simplifies wiring, and accelerates installation times.
“We increased speed and throughput on the VersaSort by eliminating the mechanical grippers with our vacuum transfer system but also through the Beckhoff motion technologies,” Ferraro says.
TwinCAT 3 automation software supplies an end-to-end engineering and runtime platform for packaging machines and fully supports the PackML standard. Integrated into Microsoft Visual Studio, TwinCAT 3 gives engineers the power to program in whichever languages best serve the application, including IEC 61131-3 languages with object-oriented extensions, predefined or custom function blocks, and computer science standards. This also greatly expands the pool of available engineering talent that can work on packaging machines beyond traditional PLC programmers.
A ProMach-branded CP2916 custom Control Panel delivers smartphone-style operation through its multi-finger touchscreen capabilities. The industrial hardened, 15.6-in display hardware mounts directly into the Plexiglas enclosure so operators can see everything that’s happening as they control the machine. The control panel also features CP-Link 4—the One Cable Display Link—which combines USB, DVI, and power supply via a single cable. This further reduces wiring and installation time.
“The Beckhoff display for the HMI is large and easy to read, and it offers enhanced design and maintenance features,” Ferraro says. “So, plant staff can clearly see trending production data, alarms, and other operational information right on the HMI screen, which ensures user friendliness.”
Debuting the equipment at PACK EXPO International in Chicago, Pace Packaging says the VersaSort system represents a major technological leap. The versatile, efficient solution unscrambles a wide range of container types, including market standard materials and soft-touch variants. It also accommodates container sizes from 10 mL to 9.5 L without tooling changes and shrinks changeover frequency by up to 25% compared to systems with mechanical grippers. Finally, the EtherCAT-enabled, high-speed motion control, in-motion vacuum transfer system, and scalable robotics integration deliver top-tier throughput. VersaSort provides speeds of 120 containers per minute (CPM) with one robot, 230 CPM with two robots, or 340 CPM with three robots. PW
SILGAN DISPENSING GROWS STRONGER WITH WEENER PLASTICS ACQUISITION
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Duracell, Energizer Launch All-paper Packs in Walmart Displays
Some people tend to choose copper tops. Others are still going with the bunny, and others still buy store brands. Whatever your household battery preference, it will soon be available in sturdy, all-paper, curbside recyclable packs, sold via an enhanced Walmart shopping experience.
By Matt Reynolds, Chief Editor
The paperization trend continues in several different vertical CPG markets, including confectionery moving toward paper film wrappers, and beverage multipacks moving toward cartons. Now, household battery stalwarts Duracell and Energizer—both leading private label battery manufacturers, as well—are throwing their hats in the paper-based packaging ring with two slightly different approaches. But each unique pack style is soon to make a splash in Walmart displays, if they’re not there already.
Duracell’s iconic copper-topped batteries were first to hit Walmart shelves in the new format. Individual packs of batteries are now packaged in curbside recyclable, all-cartonboard, paper-based blisters that replace the legacy format that consisted of thermoformed plastic blisters affixed to cardstock backing.
“The packaging plays a key role in helping the shopper navigate the shelf. We reinforce the key decision-tree points—like variant or package size—on both the front if looking straight on, and now the top of the packages if looking down. This helps the shoppers quickly and easily find what they are looking for. The packages will always be merchandised on shelving,” says Brandon Barr, general manager, Retail Innovation, Duracell North America.
The paper-based blister packs are die-perforated for easy removal from the package.
four-color with coatings. They are formed from flat blanks with pressure, then heat sealed.
Paper-based packaging is set to reduce Duracell’s plastic use by up to 100% from the traditional plastic packaging found on store shelves today, the company says. In Walmart alone, the overall packaging material will be reduced by approximately 855,000 lb per year, while also eliminating more than 170 metric tonnes [187 tons] of carbon dioxide from landfills annually. The redesigned display and new packaging are major steps toward reducing the use of plastic and waste and, Duracell says, represents an important sustainability milestone in the battery industry.
While the precise details were sparse, the company revealed that Algus, Proseal (JBT), and Koch Pac-Systeme GmbH packaging equipment features in the new automated primary packaging lines. Rohrer is the material supplier, and the packs are printed offset, two-sided,
Duracell’s new paper blister packs will be presented in a new, at-shelf retail experience that the company says will streamline the way consumers buy batteries. Each pack will be arranged/placed on the display—the company calls this the fixture—at retail. According to Duracell, the new shelves are designed with a roller mat and pusher system that allows inventory to always be front-faced and consistent for the shopper. The new category fixtures are designed to maximize speed of navigation for the shopper, while also reducing labor and complexity for retail employees and instore merchandisers. The fixtures are set up in a vertical brand block, with the brands arranged from left to right as best, better, and good brands within the Duracell family.
Since we at Packaging World often wear packaging-centric blinders, we asked Duracell a foundational question: What is a retail shelf experience?
“The retail shelf experience is the process of the shopper finding, navigating, and selecting their product in stores. The new retail at-shelf experience is designed to address key shopper pain points with the combination of the new package, graphics, and fixture. These changes enhance category find-ability and increase the speed of navigating the category (23% faster now) to improve overall shopper satisfaction,” says Barr. “This [project] is a simplification of the category by re-designing the shelf to flow with the shopper decision tree in combination with key data such as variant, pack size, etc., now communicated on both the fixture and package. All with a focus on speed of navigation.”
And how does the package feature into this experience?
“At its core, the new package is what unlocks a lot of the new merchandising experience,” Barr says. “[The new pack] is significantly more space efficient, allowing us to simplify the number of facings for shoppers but still maintain the appropriate inventory/holding power to maintain sales. They have flat bottoms which allow for them to be merchandised on the roller mat/pusher solutions always keeping the packages front faced. And they have simple, clear reinforcement of key information that the consumer needs. For example, while looking down at the shelf, they can see the variant and pack count on the top of packages now too.”
The new approach, scheduled to roll out in retail stores across the nation starting at Walmart in early 2025, will enhance product visibility and set a new standard for retail solutions, the company says.
The new shopping experience, stakeholders say, will allow consumers to compare battery options between brands in a cleaner, more organized display that is positioned in an easy-to-find, permanent location in the store, providing a more efficient and pleasurable shopping experience. Additionally, all battery brands will be displayed side by side in new packaging, so consumers can easily compare ingredients, efficacy, and cost before purchase.
“We’re leading the transformation of the battery shopping experience for consumers. By working with our retail partners like Walmart, we’re helping to reduce point of purchase confusion, streamlining operations in-store, and making our packaging more sustainable than ever before, resulting in the removal of actual tons of plastic from the category,” says Roberto Mendez, president of North America, Duracell. “The product packaging and permanent display location in stores allow consumers to easily find and compare brands so they can choose the batteries they need with confidence.”
In addition to its consumer benefits, Duracell says it is bringing operational advantages to retailers. The displays will provide expanded shelf space to increase stockholding so less backroom space is needed. This will reduce the quantity of overall materials required for pallets, storage, and transportation.
Energizer rolls out fiber-based packs
Energizer, another American icon and one of the world’s largest manufacturers and distributors of household batteries, also launched a 100% recyclable plastic-free packaging (save for seal/adhesive) for its portfolio of Energizer batteries.
Energizer says its new paper-based packaging offers a sleek, userfriendly design that simplifies the shopping, opening, and storage experience for consumers. It also elevates in-store displays, creating a visually appealing presence on retail shelves and making it easier for retail
partners to merchandise. Billing itself as a leader in sustainability and innovation, the company says the redesign marks an exciting milestone for Energizer in advancing its commitment to environmental stewardship while also addressing a major consumer desire for more renewable solutions. Starting in March, the plastic-free packaging has rolled out at Walmart stores nationwide and online, with additional North American retailers following later in 2025.
“With a legacy of pioneering innovative solutions that benefit consumers globally, advancing the sustainability of our packaging was a natural next step on our responsibility journey,” says Lori Shambro, EVP and chief marketing officer at Energizer. “We set out to create a more intuitive design tailored to meet the needs and expectations of our shoppers and retail partners. Our end result is a forward-thinking design that enhances the product experience and helps pave the way for a plastic-free future at Energizer Holdings.”
Energizer says that it invested in extensive research to inform the structure of the new, fully recyclable packaging. Its user-friendly design enables consumers to effortlessly peel open the battery pack, which now includes easy-to-store boxes, ensuring more convenient and organized storage for unused batteries. For retailers, key design fundamentals were incorporated throughout to help streamline store operations and maximize merchandising capabilities, such as a slim design for increased shelf capacity for each facing, shelf-ready display trays save on restocking time, and visual stopping power with a larger visual footprint.
The new 100% recyclable plastic-free packaging builds on the ongoing success of the Energizer brand’s commitment to responsibility and sustainability, the company says. Once all retail partners complete this transition, over 90% of the brand’s North America portfolio will have plastic-free packaging.
Walmart weighs in
Tyler Lehr, SVP, general merchandising manager, Chilled Beverage & Convenience, Walmart, says he’s excited to simplify and enhance the battery shopping experience for his customers and store operators alike with this innovative packaging. According to Lehr, these types of new formats help provide his customers more convenient and visually appealing ways to purchase batteries.
“Furthermore, the removal of plastic from the packaging is aligned with our mission as we continue on our path to becoming a regenerative company,” Lehr says. “Working closely with suppliers like [Duracell and Energizer] on this project has been a step change in how we can drive excellence, deliver quality products to consumers, and enhance the shopping experience together.” PW
SMART PACKAGING
Lipton’s ‘Phygital’ Journey: ‘From Leaf to Life’
Lipton shares its vision for connected packaging to enhance consumer engagement, educate consumers on product quality and brewing techniques, and collect data for targeted marketing.
By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor
With advancements in technology such QR codes, AI, and the metaverse, the line between the physical and digital worlds is becoming less distinct, resulting in more integrated, or “phygital,” experiences. In the brand world, smart packaging is the vehicle for these experiences, offering CPGs unprecedented opportunities for consumer engagement, data collection, and supply chain transparency. However, there are still technological and behavioral challenges to overcome before smart packaging can reach its full potential.
A prime example of this is the journey Lipton Tea & Infusions has embarked upon with its tea packaging, a journey that was shared with attendees at the AIPIA & AWA Smart Packaging World Congress held in Amsterdam in late 2024.
Alix Courdier, global head of marketing, technology, and data for Lipton Tea & Infusions, shares Lipton’s phygital journey with attendees at the AIPIA & AWA Smart Packaging World Congress.
As Alix Courdier, global head of marketing, technology, and data for Lipton Tea & Infusions, explained, Lipton has some tough challenges to tackle around its product offerings, the most pressing of which is a negative consumer perception. “In a few markets, Lipton is seen as a bad quality product,” he told the audience. “We see this as unfair. We apply the highest standards to our whole supply chain, and we want to make this visible to our consumers.”
In his presentation, “From Leaf to Life: Lipton’s Vison for a Connected, Consumer-Centric Packaging Future,” Courdier shared how Lipton is in the early stages of leveraging smart packaging technology with three goals in mind: to elevate the perceived value of its products, educate consumers on the nuances of tea brewing, and gather data for more effective, targeted media campaigns.
“The common point for these three initiatives is that they can easily be solved online, but we needed to find a way to link offline and online,” said Courdier. “For us, the solution was an on-pack QR code. The QR code allows us to build trust through transparency, so we can really go over the tea journey, from the moment it was collected to the moment it is consumed.”
Lipton’s vision for connected packaging
The “leaf to cup” capability is not enabled yet, but Courdier explained Lipton’s vision for the feature, using hypothetical 35-year-old female consumer Sarah as an example. “When Sarah picks up a pack of Lipton tea and scans the QR code, she’s instantly transported into the journey from leaf to cup,” he said. “This beautifully designed landing page welcomes her, and she then traces the origins of her tea and meets the farmers who cultivated the tea. She can also watch short videos of the tea fields, maybe in real life see the meticulous process of tea picking and understand the steps we take to obtain the highest quality [product].”
This transparency will also include information on Lipton’s commitment to sustainable farming practices, reducing water usage, and minimizing carbon emissions, empowering “Sarah” to make informed choices. Currently, the QR code leads consumers to a landing page that provides generic information on where their tea variety is sourced.
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Key Considerations for Design Professionals in Connected Packaging
Paul Simonet and Ryan Crossland, Experience is Everything
• What is connected packaging? Connected packaging allows direct consumer engagement via technologies like QR codes, enhancing brand loyalty.
Paul Simonet, founder, Experience is Everything
• Design for engagement. QR codes should seamlessly integrate into packaging design to strengthen brand identity.
• Creativity through technology. Connected packaging can be creatively interactive, e.g., augmented reality packaging, offering unique consumer experiences.
• Balancing complexity and function. Multiple codes can serve distinct purposes (info, interaction) without overwhelming the consumer, as long as they add value.
• Sustainability integration. Packaging can communicate sustainability efforts, building brand loyalty through transparency (e.g., supply chain initiatives).
• Cross-department collaboration. Effective connected packaging requires collaboration across teams (design, supply chain) for a unified strategy and seamless integration.
• Data for improvement. Analyzing data from consumer interactions (e.g., scan rates) helps refine packaging strategies and increase brand engagement.
• Future trends. Staying updated on emerging tech and consumer preferences is vital for maintaining innovation in packaging design. PW
When fully enabled, the digital link will also enhance the consumer experience by educating consumers on different brewing techniques, “for example, green teas should be boiled at 80 degrees Celsius, black teas should be boiled at 100 degrees Celsius,” explained Courdier. “Otherwise, you’re not enjoying the product to its fullest. We really want to be able to explain that to our consumers.”
For Lipton’s internal use, the QR code will enable it to unlock valuable data on its consumers to create a “lookalike” audience—people who have similar characteristics online but that haven’t consumed Lipton’s products yet—and target them along with existing customers.
‘A virtual circle of data’
The end goal is “a virtual circle of data,” whereby the consumer scans the QR code and links offline and online, the consumer is directed to the landing page, which provides details on the tea journey, Lipton collects consumer data (both anonymous and personally identifiable information [PII]), and the data is used for media (re)targeting (audience creation) and email campaigns, leading to purchase.
As Courdier explained, Lipton’s expectations for the connected experience go beyond transparency and education. It also plans to add features such as personalization and gamification, as well as make the QR code accessible (AQR) so that 2.2 billion blind, partially sighted, and “long-arm brigade” consumers can also use it.
“This is the vision, but while there are a few initiatives going on at Lipton, we are not there yet,” said Courdier.
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To conclude his session, Courdier invited attendees—and the industry at large—to collaborate with Lipton to address four challenges. The first, he explained, is related to supply chain integration to bring tea-specific information to consumers. “Ensuring product authenticity and traceability demands innovation,” Courdier said. “We are right now exploring technologies like blockchain to create a transparent supply chain, and we need technology partners to help us develop scalable and secure solutions.”
The second challenge is making the connected packaging accessible to all consumers, through tools such as dynamic text. “We need support in making content accessible to everyone, even those with visual impairments,” Courdier said.
Lipton’s third challenge, he noted, deals with integrating advanced technology without compromising sustainability. “We need innovation, eco-friendly materials, and energy-efficient solutions to ensure every scan supports our sustainability mission,” he said.
And, finally, the last challenge outlined by Courdier was around how to get consumers to engage in repeat scans. “Creating long-term engagement requires a creative approach to keep consumers returning,” he said. “Loyalty programs, dynamic content, and fresh incentives are areas where Lipton can shine.”
In conclusion, Courdier told audience members, some of whom he hoped will be potential partners, “Our vision is ambitious, so we want to innovate together, and we are ready to take some risks to pursue this vision.” PW
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Smart Packaging Set to Transform Clinical Trial Supply Chain
Pharma giants Merck and J&J team up to replace cumbersome paper labels with digital display labels, streamlining clinical trials and speeding up drug development.
By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor
At the AIPIA & AWA Smart Packaging World Congress held late last year in Amsterdam, the message could not have been clearer: The technology for smart packaging is available today, what’s needed are industry partnerships to connect that technology for real-world applications.
One strategic collaboration around connected packaging that’s bearing fruit is a digital display label (DDL) being developed by Merck (known as Merck, Sharp & Dohme outside the U.S.) and Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, formerly Johnson Pharmaceuticals, to modernize the clinical supply chain.
As Pieter Piron, manufacturing, science, and technology engineer for J&J explained to attendees of the Congress, while the pharmaceutical industry is traditionally very competitive, in the case of labeling for clinical trial drugs, “there is a platform, there is a shared need, and there is a willingness to collaborate.”
A unique, complex supply chain
Setting the stage, Piron outlined those factors that make clinical supply chains unique. Among them, they are patient-focused, which means they need to deliver to the patient every time, without disruptions. Hence, the clinical supply chain requires resilience, not only to handle circumstances like transit strikes or technical breakdowns, but also the constant evolution of the products, especially with new pharmaceuticals. “If you talk about biologics or more recently, radiopharmaceuticals or cell and gene therapies, they have very specific supply chains, and we need to innovate to make them work,” he said.
Whereas efficiency is the focus of commercial pharmaceutical supply chains, speed is the goal of clinical supply chains. Said co-presenter Matt Bolton, director of global clinical supply technology innovation for Merck, “The faster you can move a product through your supply chain
Pieter Piron of J&J holds up a prototype of a carton for clinical trial capsules or pills affixed with a digital display label.
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• Product authenticity. NFC-RFID ensures product genuineness by embedding unique identifiers, allowing consumers to verify authenticity via smartphones, crucial in preventing counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
• Supply chain management. RFID enables real-time inventory tracking, reducing errors and improving efficiency.
• Consumer engagement. NFC technology fosters interaction by allowing patients to access product info, receive reminders, and reorder prescriptions via smartphone, enhancing their treatment experience.
• Patient safety. RFID ensures medication traceability from manufacturing to care, preventing expired or compromised products, and reducing administrative tasks in healthcare settings.
• Data-driven decisions. RFID data helps identify supply chain inefficiencies and optimize operations, supporting better decision-making and resource allocation.
• Sustainability. RFID minimizes waste through accurate inventory management and supports sustainable practices by reducing packaging waste and improving material tracking. PW
and conduct those clinical trials, the more you can compress the drug development time. And that’s very advantageous, because you’re getting product to approval much faster.”
Not specific to clinical trial products, but especially onerous in this market are regulations. The legal requirements around clinical trial drugs are highly controlled, with strict rules guiding labeling. According to Piron, up to 20 different regulatory elements must be on the product label. Consequently, the labels are multi-page, booklet-style formats that contain static information and are cumbersome for the patient to navigate. The biggest downside though is that paper labels cause delays due to the lead time required for their development and production and in situations where relabeling is required.
DDLs’ potential to transform the supply chain
Replacing the paper label with smart, connected packaging is where Merck and J&J see the potential to transform the clinical trial supply chain. But any digital alternative to the paper label has to meet two requirements: It must be human readable and located on the package, and it must provide uninterrupted patient dosing.
With these needs in mind, they selected e-paper display technology, similar to what’s used for Electronic Shelf Labels. However, to get from a digital display to a digital display label meant the technology had to be able to update the label content, as well as enable consumers to “flip through pages.”
At the Congress, Piron and Bolton shared prototypes of a DDL on a vial for a liquid product
Benjamin Read of Avery Dennison (l.) and Frederic Vicentini of NXP Semiconductors
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Sanitary Solutions
Product Orientation
and on a flat paperboard envelope such as those used to hold blister-packed pills or capsules. Components of the DDL include the e-paper display, a battery, a microprocessor, and an NFC antenna. The label itself includes a navigation bar and a button that advances pages, sets the home screen, and accesses test mode. For the vial application, the label is secured to the package with a clear film label.
Merck and J&J are developing two methods patients will be able to use to update the labels. The first is through a stationery reader that will connect by USB to a PC. The second is via a mobile device. “So an authorized user could update the label contents anywhere throughout the supply chain by tapping on the NFC antenna with the reader,” explained Bolton.
Accumulation
Modular, pre-engineered solutions, built-to-last using in-stock components for a quick turn-around.
While test participants weren’t as happy with the rigid DDL on the vial form factor, with repeated use, they found there weren’t any issues with using the format.
Compare the low entry cost of updating DDL labels using everyday electronics with updating paper labels for pharmaceutical products. According to Piron, these physical labels can only be printed by highly specialized facilities with pharmaceutical-grade, GMP licenses, of which there are only a few in every country.
Benefits of DDLs outweigh high price tag
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While the cost of a DDL is significantly higher than a paper label, the improvements in clinical trial efficiency, quality, speed, and flexibility are substantial. Said Piron, the impact of pharma companies being able to update the expiry date of a drug after it has left their control is huge. “That means you’ve avoided a rework or avoided splitting your production into multiple different smaller batches, because expiry for pharmaceutical products in development is dynamic,” he explained.
As noted, DDLs eliminate the time required to design and produce paper labels. They also cut out the time required to have the physical product shipped to a packager for labeling. “There are quality processes, there are release processes, that all takes a long time, and all of that is prior to you applying the label,” said Piron. “It’s a very dynamic environment. The label is changing right up to the moment you have to apply it to reach the patient. If we use a DDL process, and we cut out all of these physical aspects of the label, it cuts off several weeks in your cycle, and that’s huge.”
“Agile speed is in many regards the most important benefit that this affords us, but the costs can’t be understated. It is undeniable,” said Bolton. “E-paper labels and all the electronics that it requires to surround that and the software to run it is more expensive than a paper label by orders of magnitude today. But with the speed improvements and some of the other opportunities that we see possible, it gets much closer.”
Bolton advised that Merck, J&J, and other pharma companies are in the process of doing technical qualifications of the DDL systems now and plan to roll out these technologies in their clinical trials “in about a year’s time.” PW
Conveyor Designed by Nercon
More Easily Recyclable Bag-in-Box
Smurfit Westrock’s EasySplit Bagin-Box ensures the separation of bag and box components, enabling higher recycling rates and ensuring compliance with upcoming European PPWR packaging regulations.
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Stainless-steel Gear Unit
SEW-EURODRIVE’s WES Series, featuring SPIROPLAN rightangle gearing, offers a compact, hygienic, and cool-running drive solution for demanding washdown environments, outperforming traditional worm gear units.
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Multi-head Leak Tester
ALPS Inspection’s BottleStop, designed for angled neck, choked neck-prone, and large containers, provides efficient and reliable leak detection for blow-molded HDPE bottle filling lines.
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EXPERIENCE A BREAKTHROUGH
in packaging & processing
Break out of the ordinary and discover your next big idea at PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2025. Explore the eye-opening show foor, go hands-on with new tech, collaborate with experts and uncover exciting new solutions that can transform your operations.
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Biodegradable PLA Biopolymer
NatureWorks’ Ingeo Extend 4950D is designed to accelerate biodegradation, improve BOPLA lm production ef ciency, and offer a cost-effective, compostable alternative to traditional plastics for food packaging.
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Cap-free Solution for Gable-top Cartons
Carton Service CSI’s fully recyclable, nocap paperboard gable carton is designed speci cally for wet environments, like soaps and lubricants, and features a perforated opening for dispensing and customizable pourability.
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High-shrink Polyolefin Sleeves
Innovia Films’ next-generation RayoFloat polyole n sleeves offer shrinkage up to 73% and compatibility with various packaging formats while facilitating ef cient PET recycling due to the oatable design.
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Reliable Product Inspection for Bulk Items
The SC-WD-B is the ideal solution if you want to ensure the quality of your raw materials or unpackaged products. The hygenic design combined with X-ray technology is used to examine all kinds of foreign body detection.
Horizontal Flow Wrapper for Fresh Foods
Harpak-ULMA’s FM400, designed with a long-dwell sealing head and stainless-steel frame for enhanced sanitation, produces up to 150 packs per minute utilizing MAP technology that extends product freshness and shelf life.
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Virtual Factory Validation Platform
Rockwell Automation’s Emulate3D Factory Test, leveraging NVIDIA Omniverse and OpenUSD, enables manufacturers to perform factoryscale virtual controls testing to validate complex automation systems before physical deployment.
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Electric Steam Replacement Tunnel
American Film & Machinery’s SRT-2500 is an electric shrink labeling tunnel that eliminates the need for steam, offering precise control and enhanced flexibility for a wide range of shrink film types.
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Fiber-based Transparent Tape Backing
Ahlstrom’s MasterTape Cristal is made from renewable materials, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional plastic packaging tape while maintaining comparable strength and transparency.
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Inc.
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T.H.E.M/Sanko North America
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TopTier Palletizers 21 www.robopacusa.com
Package Machinery Co.
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VDG (Van der Graaf)
www.vandergraaf.com
www.wipotec.com
By Brian Wagner, Cofounder and Partner, PTIS Global, LLC
Holistic Design is No Longer Optional
By 2035, holistic packaging design is the industry standard. Companies that haven’t embraced user-friendly, accessible, and sustainable packaging are struggling to compete. Why? Because consumers demand it. Today, over 60 million Americans live with arthritis, and that number is expected to grow. These individuals, along with a broader group of consumers with disabilities, control over $64 billion in spending power, a figure projected to double in the next decade.
Beyond disabilities, the general population has made one thing clear: frustration with packaging leads to brand abandonment. 83% of consumers with arthritis and 62% of general consumers experience frustration with packages, leading many to switch brands entirely. One study showed more than half of arthritis consumers and over a third of general consumers avoid repurchasing products due to packaging challenges. Packaging that isn’t intuitive or easy to use is now seen as an oversight—one that directly impacts market share.
A Look Back: The Evolution of Holistic Packaging
Industry leaders have been sounding the alarm for years. As early as 2011 (pwgo.to/8669), discussions on holistic design emerged, emphasizing the need for packaging that considers not just aesthetics but also ease of use and accessibility. By 2023 (pwgo.to/8670), longterm packaging trends pointed to the importance of planning for holistic design from the outset rather than making last-minute adjustments.
We’ve been talking about the importance of ease-of-use and inclusive design for years. What we’re seeing now is a shift— companies can no longer afford to ignore it.
Despite these conversations, many brands continued to treat packaging design as an afterthought. Late-stage adjustments, particularly in response to consumer complaints, proved costly and inefficient. The industry needed a proactive, strategic approach. Holistic means interconnected, whole, or full-picture. To be successful and inclusive, packaging design can’t be done independently.
The present: A shift towards inclusion and accessibility
Fast forward to today, and companies are finally making significant strides. Target, in collaboration with The Arthritis Foundation, has developed comprehensive Ease of Use Design Guides (visit pwgo.to/8671 to find them) aimed at making packaging more accessible. The Arthritis Foundation Ease of Use program inspires accessible design, offering critical resources for engineers and designers in the requirements definition and design development stage. These guidelines provide engineers with actionable insights to create packaging that is both functional and easy to use.
Stephanie Hsin, PTIS senior associate, MS Packaging Human Factors, Michigan State University, highlights an ongoing challenge:
“Functionality is complex,” she says. “A design might look good on paper, but if users don’t immediately understand how to use it, it fails. Ease of use has to be intuitive.”
Deb Gokie of the Arthritis Foundation, and lead on the Ease of Use Design Guides, reinforces the need for early integration:
“Companies often say they prioritize sustainability and innovation, but they recognize the gap when it comes to ease of use,” she says. “Addressing this early in the design process is crucial. Investing in the design of easier-to-use products and packages is extremely important in meeting both today’s consumer needs and tomorrow’s consumer needs.”
The impact of these guidelines is already being felt across industries, with brands recognizing that usability isn’t just an ethical consideration—it’s a financial one. Redesigning packaging postlaunch is expensive, while small adjustments at the design stage can make a significant difference.
The role of technology in future packaging design
Advancements in AI and machine learning will continue to shape the packaging industry. Experts predict that within the next five years, AI could help standardize ease-of-use design across industries, ensuring consistency and improving user experience.
Gokie predicts a future where 3D human modeling plays a key role:
“Simulating real-world dexterity and movement before finalizing designs will be a game-changer. It will allow us to create packaging that works for everyone—without costly revisions,” she says.
Adds Hsin: “As production methods advance, incorporating unique opening and closing mechanisms will become more affordable. This will eliminate cost as a barrier to better design.”
The bottom line: Packaging design must be intentional
The days of treating packaging as a secondary concern are over. Moving forward, brands must integrate usability, accessibility, and sustainability into the design process from the very beginning.
Brands that proactively consider usability from the start—bringing together marketing, finance, and production teams—will lead the market. Those that don’t will struggle to keep up.
Consumers have spoken, and the numbers back it up. Holistic packaging design isn’t just a trend—it’s the future. Brands that fail to adapt will find themselves left on the shelf. Brand owners shouldn’t wait to integrate the new Design Guides in their organization’s design standards. PW
VDG Drum Motors
Maintenance-Free Conveyor Belt Drives
Engineered for reliability and longevity, VDG Drum Motors are designed for 80,000 hours of continuous operation before maintenance, reducing operational and maintenance costs and increasing throughput.
Premium-Efficiency Electric Motor
With all drive components enclosed and protected inside the drive drum, VDG Drum Motors provide a safe, efficient, and space-optimized conveyor belt drive solution for material handling applications while minimizing downtime.
No Routine Maintenance
Lower Cost of Ownership
Increase Conveyor Hygiene
Eliminate Drive Sprockets
Reduce Water Usage & Time for Washdown
For sanitary processing, the SSV Series Drum Motors are manufactured in 316-stainless steel, feature an IP69K-rated sealing system, withstand pressure up to 3,000 psi, and drive modular, wire mesh, and monolithic thermoplastic conveyor belts without using sprockets.
