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WHY HASN’T THE FOOD MARKET EXPERIENCED THE
CHANGE THAT HAS ALREADY OCCURED IN THE BEVERAGES
MARKET: THE SUBSTITUTION OF THE GLASS JARS WITH
THE PET JARS?
Until today, these were the main problems blocking this
evolution:
1. Insufficient oxigen to guarantee a shelf life of the product for longer than 12
months
2. Insufficient resistance to the Hot Filling process
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Socoplas, with its newSOCO-JARS prodution line has solved both
problems with a solution that involves raw materials, a new
production process and a perfect packaging design.
Let’s have a look at the numbers:
Oxigen barrier of about 0,1 PPM/Year
Hot filling resistance of up to 90° C (194° F) depending on the
technology chosen (we can provide the precise technology to
suit the customers needs)
High vaccum resistance
Great clearance/transparency
Low ecological impact and great recyclable packaging (we can achieve
the oxygen barrier with only one layer)
The cost is very competitive
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Glass packaging
Advantages:
1. Great clarity
2. Great heat resistance
3. Great vaccum resistance
Disadvantages:
1. Heavy weight
2. Fragile
3. High risk of micro splinters
4. Low resistance to “termic jumps”
5. Glass suppliers price policy not always very “transparent”
6. High logistic costs
7. Low possibility to play with various shapes and colors
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Tetrapack Packaging
Advantages:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Low weight
Unbreakable Sufficent oxygen barrier
Great Opportunity for graphic decorations
Well known technology
Disadvantages:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Few shapes
Low commercial appeal (low ability to personalize)
Not an ergonomic packaging
Not a clear packaging
Low recyclability (layers are made with different materials)
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Packaging Coestruded Polypropilene (COEX)
Advantages:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Good heat resistance
Unbreakable
Allows to have both jar/bottle and cap in plastic (mono-packaging)
Low weight
Allows to play with shapes and decorations
Disadvantages:
1. Low clarity
2. Low recyclability due to the different layers in the Coex (for example
Polypropylene with EVOH or NYLON)
3. The cost is normally higher than glass
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Packaging in CO-INJECTED PET
Advantages:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Sufficient clarity
Good oxygen barrier
Allows to play with shapes and colors
Unbreakable
Allows to have both jar/bottle and cap in plastic (mono-packaging)
Low weight
Possibility of “in-house” production with the relative logistic cost savings (less
used storage space of the incoming preform compared with the other empty
packaging) and better hot filling performance.
Disadvantages:
1. Low heat resistance
2. High cost (normally higher than glass)
3. Problems during an industrial production with the costant distribution of
the oxigen barrier along the jar/bottle profile (since it is a stretched
multi-layer, the thickness of the nylon layer can not be constant along the
shape of the bottle/jar and this could bring an unexpected oxigen input
with a reflection on the products shelf life)
4. Low clarity
5. High cost of production machines
6. Low recyclability due to the different layer in the Coex (for example
Polypropylene with EVOH or NYLON)
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Packaging in Monolayer PET BARRIER (SOCO-JARS)
Advantages:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Good clarity
Great oxygen barrier
Monolayer product (good recyclability)
Low cost
Allows to play with shapes and colors
Unbreakable
Possibility to have both jar/bottle and cap in plastic (mono-packaging)
Low weight
Possibility of “in-house” production with the relative logistic cost savings (less
used storage space of the incoming preform compared with the other empty
packaging) and better hot filling performance.
10. Possibility to create Marketing campaing based on the good “environmental
friendly” aspect of this packaging compared with the others (good LCA, good
“carbon foodprint”..etc..etc)
Disadvantages:
1. Low heat resistance
2. Possible shelf life problems with the products that want more than 24
months (to be verified with the product contained)
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After all the considerations highlighted above, we have concentrated our
development on the single-stage PET mono-layer oxygen barrier bottle/jars.
In fact, comparing all the reasons underlined in the previous pages, this is
the best compromise in terms of cost, performance, commercial appeal, and
innovation amongst all the current possible packaging types/styles.
We have therefore developed a complete know how on this kind of packaging
solution with special attention on:
1. Oxygen barrier and shelf life performance
2. Interaction on the product-packaging
3. Integration with the existing filling line by the customer with the aim of
minimizing the necessary adaptive modifications going from the glass jar to
the SOCO-JAR (also thinking about those lines when we design the
jar/bottle)
4. Hot filling and its implications during and after the filling process
5. Exploiting all the possible alternatives between the old and the new
packaging in order to realize additional cost savings and functional
implementations.
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Performance of the Socoplas barrier PET compared with the other barrier PET on
the current market
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Performance of the Socoplas’ barrier PET at 489 days
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Our project is not just limited to this.
During the creation of the new packaging, we considered, all the
possible oxygen sources in order to adapt the new packaging to
the REAL needs of the customer, and on the other hand to avoid
useless costs. We have therefore developed specific forms in
order to collect all the necessary information from the customer
and create the “perfect fit” packaging.
Exploitting all the possibilities offered by the plastic
packaging, we are able to study together with the
customer, the best solution in terms of respect for the
function that the package has to accomplish and in terms
of obtaining the best logistical cost savings.
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After verifing our ideas with the first projects, we can affirm without any doubt,
that the substitution of the glass packaging with our PET packaging need very few
adjustments on the existing filling line by the customer. Of course this also depends
on the type of product. In detail:
1. Cold filling line: in this case the line doesn’t need any change. The only point that
needs to be verified is the closing belt of the capping machine in case of twist off
cap.
2. Hot filling line: the main modification here could be in putting two “twisters” to
put the jar upside down just after the filling and to bring it again in the original
position at the end of the line (this is in case that the customer chooses this
system to avoid pasteurization. Of course what we specify in point 1 regarding the
capping machine is also valid here).
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This part of the project, together with the oxygen barrier, has been the most
challenging part for our R&D.
Today we have reached a good standard enough so that we can guarantee an industrial
production. Nevertheless we haven’t stopped our research and we are still developing and
testing ways and new solutions in order to reach an even higher termal resistance for our
packaging.
This is in fact a very complex matter.
The resistance to the heat and the vacuum come as a consequence of the hot filling, it
depends not only on the material but also on the packaging design, packaging wall
thickness and the production process.
If we want to give an ideal standard value, we can try to create 2 macro families based
on the production process:
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In this process the same machine creates the PET PREFORM and blows it. So
the customer receives a jar/bottle already formed. This technology is
specially indicated for medium-small production (ideally under 8-10 milion
pieces/year). An advantage linked to this technology is represented by the
fact that it’s possible to create different versions of the same bottle/jar
with a very low cost (just maintaining the same mouth and weight).
The maximun hot filling temperature reachable with this technology is about
85° C (185 °F). Of course this is just an indication, because it can depend on
the kind of product, filling line, time of permanence at that temperature,
bottle/jar dimension…etc…etc)
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In this process the production of the PET PREFORM and the Blowing station (that
trasform the preform in the final bottle/jar) happen in two different machines.
Generally the preform is produced by the supplier factory, while the blowing
station is attached at the customers filling line. This is the same technology (with
some special modification of course) used in the mineral water, sodas and juice
market and is particularly indicated in the big production (let’s say over 8-10 milion
pieces/year) and for the high speed filling line.
This process also creates a great saving in logistic costs in terms of empty
packaging storage. In this case the customer can store only the preform and not
the already formed bottle/jar with and save space. Our technology moreover has
been created in a way that the oxygen barrier will be activated only when the
preform is blown, so the customer can store the preform for the period that he
needs without any problems in terms of packaging performance.
This is why we call this process IN-HOUSE PRODUCTION. We will in this case
install a blowing machine linked at the customers filling line (with a very small
modification of the filling line). Our company will take care of everything that
comes before the customers filling line! This means that we will provide not only
the machines but also the people to run the machines and we will relocate the
bottle/jars output with your filling line speed.
This technology is also well indicated for all those products that need a hot filling
temperature higher than 85° C (185° F). In fact with this process we can reach the
90° C (194° F). Moreover with this technology we the jar/bottle arrives to the
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filling line pratically sterile.
Last but not least, we have the possibility to create additional savings in this field by working
togheter with the customer already in the packaging design phase. In detail:
1.“Stackbility”: starting with a new project we have the possibility to interact with the
customer analysing his actual logistic and starage system in order to find the best solution in
terms of “lateral combining” (for example at the level of every single pallet to maximize the
number of pieces per pallet) and “vertical combining” (for example studing the necessary
vertical charge in order to exloiting all the vertical space in the warehouse).
2. Weight: our PET barrier packaging weights less then all the other packaging! In particular
compared with the glass packaging we can consider it an average weight of the PET packaging
of 1/6 of the glass packaging weight! This is particularly important for the transportation of
the filled packaging because with the glass jars/bottles often the weight limit of the truck is
reached before the volume limit. This means that with a single truck I can transport much
more product with a positive impact on the transportation cost (in the same case we verified
savings between 20 and 30%).
3.Unbreakable: the typical characteristics of the plastic packaging was one of the first
reason for the change in the past from the glass packaging to the plastic packaging. It’s easy
to consider all the savings of having no-broken packages in the warehouse throughout the
year.
4.Portability: in case of the above mentioned two-stage process, we also added an other
transportation advantage because instead of transporting a heavy already formed glass
bottle/jar we trasport only a PET preform. So with the same truck you can transport 30.00040.000 bottles of 1 liter or 700.000 – 800.000 preform.
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For the above explained reasons, our company and our Team is now ready to offer all
the advantages and cost savings that pushed the beverage market to move from glass
to PET in the past to the food market.
This project started in 2006 with the aim of solving those technical problems that
were blocking the entry to the food market.
Today we can proudly say that we did it.
Our Team is able to create a PET packaging mono-layer that can substitute the glass
in the solid food market.
We interact with the customers in order to create the best possible packaging
solution for THEIR NEEDS. We don’t treat this matter as a standard packaging, but
we “model” the creation of the packaging on the REAL NEEDS of the customer in all
the phases: from the packaging drawing until the possible modification of the filling
line of the customer or the In-House production.
We also have with an exclusivity contract, one of the most experienced Food
Specialist of Italy. He comes from with a long record of experience in the R&D
department of two of the biggest italian Food Companies. With his experience and
know-how we are able to work together with the customer on the interaction between
packaging and product so we can also solve the Microbacterial issue.
In simple terms: we take care of everything!
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We think that this packaging innovation is not only offers new savings, but also
increases the always important Marketing opportunities. You will be able to
propose to the market a packaging solution that is responding on all the most
actualneeds of the customers, specially in term of SAFETY (unbreakable
packaging, absence of splinters in the food…etc..etc) and in term of ECOSUSTAINABILITY (inferior LCA, less Carbon Footprint, complete and easy
recyclability of the entire packaging..etc…etc).
Like with all innovations, we also believe that the first Food Company that uses
this new packaging will obtain an important competitive advantage!
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PRELIMINARY VERIFICATION:
Collect all the information from the customer
CREATION OF THE PILOT MOLD:
45 days
CREATION OF THE DEFINITIVE MOLD:
90 days for approval of the Pilot
Mold samples
PRODUCTION:
One week from arrival of the definitive mold
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PROJECT LEADER
Dott. Marco Petrini
Socoplas S.p.a.
Strada Savonesa, 8
15057 Tortona – AL
Tel. +39 0131879555 r.a.
Fax. +39 0131879565
Mail: marco@socoplas.it
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