Shaping the future

At the Starpack Award ceremony held on May 15 th at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, U.K., a uniquely shaped can, designed by Impress was awarded the Silver Star in the category Technical Innovation: The Best Creative Pack Using Metal.

The Starpack Awards, now in its 48 th year, is organised by The Packaging Society to recognise innovation in packaging design and technology. These prestigious awards help to raise packaging standards in the UK by encouraging and rewarding creativity.

The Ambi Pur ‘Puresse’ shaped can Air Freshener developed for Sara Lee created a strong shelf impact for a successful launch onto the Italian market in 2005. A launch in the French market in April 2006 is now being followed by a roll out across Europe.

The can differs from other shaped cans by its high level of expansion. The shaping is achieved by using pneumatic blow forming of a distortion printed 52 x 161mm standard shape can. Whilst its expansion of 30% opened up a wide range of design possibilities, it also created a range of technical challenges to be resolved.

The first challenge was to identify tinplate having two key characteristics: a high percentage of elongation and a controlled anisotropic coefficient (the ratio of elongation in both horizontal and vertical directions). The second challenge was to develop a special overvarnish to avoid cracking found using standard varnishes at this level of elongation. The next hurdle to overcome was in the printing – in particular to keep the logo on the front of the can perfectly square despite the high level of distortion. Over 5 years of experience of distortion printing within Impress enabled the graphics studio to produce a high quality end product which met the customer’s requirements. The final challenge came in ensuring that the product could be shipped over 2,000 km from canmaker to filler to consumer. Special thermoformed trays were developed to avoid scratching or scuffing and which are, for economic and environmental reasons, returnable and reusable.

The resultant products with their exceptional levels of expansion, deliver a significant market opportunity for the customer with strong differentiation and eyecatching shelf presence to attract the consumer – as well as the judges of the Starpack Awards!

For further Information, please contact:

Talents et Compagnie : Ysabel Noël
t: +33 1 56 89 56 52
f: +33 1 56 89 56 50
e: noel@talents-compagnie.com

Mary Chapman Communications : Mary Chapman
t: +44(0)1452 720208
f: +44(0)1452 723724
e: marychpm@aol.com

Impress is a global market leader in the consumer metal packaging industry. It is the second largest European supplier of heat processed food cans, worldwide leader in the seafood can market, European leader in cans for paints and coatings, European leader in cans for dry foods and European leader for aerosol cans.

Impress is based in Deventer, the Netherlands and had worldwide sales of approximately €1.5 billion in 2006. It employs approximately 7,800 people in 52 facilities in 19 countries in Europe, North America, Japan, North Africa and the Seychelles.

Discover Impress on: www.impressgroup.com