Curvy pouch speaks for itself as top FPA Achievement winner

As a quick perusal of the winners of the Flexible Packaging Association's 2008 Packaging Achievement Awards will show, flex packs are flourishing with lots of innovation taking place. Judged on four categories (packaging excellence; technical innovation; environmental achievement; and printing achievement), the winners feature new material combinations, inventive structural designs and applications that amplify the use of flexible packaging in retail, institutional, and industrial markets.

Announced last night in Orlando, FL, during the group's annual meeting, 26 overall winners received a total of 29 Achievement Awards. The top winners, which include nine gold awards and two Highest Achievement winners in two categories and two gold winners in the Environmental and Sustainability Achievement category, are described here. 

Top achievements

A curvy pouch that conveys to consumers what's inside and how it's used, the Royco Sauce Pouch, submitted by CLP Packaging Solutions, Inc. (www.clppackaging solutions.com), took the Highest Achievement Award in Packaging Excellence. A microwaveable package with a secure-grip, “no-heat” handle that performs well in a retort chamber, on the shelf and in the kitchen, the shapely pouch holds 200 mL of Royco heat-and-serve sauces and gravies, a new product entry from Master Foods South Africa, Ltd. (Cape Town, South Africa). The Royco heat-and-pour sauce pouch is Master Foods' first departure from dry food packaging and protects the contents with outstanding barrier properties.

The second Highest Achievement Award winner—this one in Technical Innovation, is the Ultra Peel retortable membrane end, entered by Watson Standard Adhesives (401/225-5260) for Campbell Soup Co.'s Soup at Hand containers for Tomato and Creamy Chicken varieties. Also a gold winner in Technical Innovation, the membrane end is said to be the first retortable, peelable membrane end in the US market and represents significant advancements over existing retortable end technology in an economical, easy-to-use, safe-to-open format.

For tea with no strings or loose leaves floating in your cup, the Sugart iTea Wand is a new “designer” tea product that offers a unique way to brew tea. Functioning as a tea infuser, the wand-like stick-pack has a built-in mechanical filter system that restricts the bitter components within a tea “pod,” while releasing a liquor, resulting in a perfectly brewed tea serving. Converted by Alcan Packaging (www.alcanpackaging.com), the package won a gold award for Packaging Excellence.

Value-added features such as an easy-to-open device and a strong repeat closure are found in Delizia Presidents Prosciutto package. Using less packaging material than comparably sized rigid tubs or deli clamshells, the space-efficient package fills the bill as an environmentally friendly package. Incorporating Re-Seal It technology, the Daniele package's header space is reduced by as much as 1 ¾ in. versus a slider and a zipper package because it reduces the size of the stockkeeping units that can be put into the same store shelf space. Printed to indicate that it's resealable, the package is dubbed the Re-Seal-It™ by Printpack, Inc. (www.printpack.com), which won a gold award for Packaging Excellence.

The Drop 'n Go Deep Cleaning Tablets carpet cleaner pouch marketed by Milliken Chemical (Spartanburg, SC) won a gold award for Environmental & Sustainability Achievement for North State Flexibles LLC (www.nsflexibles.com). Representing an environmentally friendly move through the use of nonvolatile water-based adhesives, the package, which holds 60 gm of concentrated cleaner tablets, packed in what North State Flexibles says is a metallized polyester sealant material, was designed by Milliken. Designed to dissolve in the water reservoir of most steam cleaners, each cleaning tablet makes the equivalent of 1 gal of cleaning solution. A reduction of energy, water and material waste, along with an improved product formulation and a user-friendly press-to-close resealable feature made by North State Flexibles, are all bonuses for Drop 'n Go.

And speaking of environmentally-friendly, the Hot N Handy Rotisserie Pouch is also consumer-friendly, with its built-in handle and a resealable zipper. The windowed pouch claims to use “92 percent less fossil fuels, produce 84 percent less CO2 emissions” and represent a “66-percent reduction in solid waste, compared with rigid containers.” Significant environmental and sustainable features built in by Robbie Mfg., Inc. (www.robbiemfg.com), earned the package a gold award in Environmental & Sustainability Achievement and a silver award in Packaging Excellence.

A handsome standup bag called the FlexBox was selected by Nestle Purina Pet Care (St. Louis) for its Fancy Feast Gourmet Gold dry cat food. Converted by Nordenia USA (www.nordeniausa.com), the FlexBox earned a gold award for Printing Achievement. Nestle achieved an upgraded brand image and minimized flex cracking by moving from a paper sack to the side-gusseted glossy film bag, which offers convenience features such as a proprietary, resealable tape closure and protection from infestation.

A stand-up film pouch perks up Perdue's Bourbon Chicken with its large billboard that readily displays the contents. A gold winner in Printing Achievement for Alcan Packaging, the pouch represents unusual use of a 10-color ink sequence (process and PMS colors) to reproduce photography and a vignette that achieves amazingly realistic graphic imagery and captivates consumers by focusing on the compelling product visual of glazed chicken pieces.

SteamQuick™ Packaging won a gold award in Technical Innovation for Pliant Corp. (www.pliantcorp.com). The freezable/microwaveable technology allows frozen foods to steam-cook in a microwave oven right in the bag. As the pillow-style bag builds steam when heated in the microwave, it helps cook the food and vents near the end of the cooking cycle. The technology gives consumers both a quick and easy way to have tasty, uniformly heated foods that are ready for mealtime in an easy-to-handle package.