How to Design Creative Product Caps in Food and Beverage Industry

In this extraordinary period, how should food and beverage companies respond to consumers'demand for light, strong and eye-catching packaging?

Sealing is a problem, although it seems to be only a small part of the whole product packaging, but in terms of preservation, it is as important as the container itself. When the unstable economic situation prompts consumers to think twice about any purchase, enterprises are trying to meet any needs of consumers, from reducing the use of raw materials, to achieving good sealing effect, to improving shelf display effect.

Easy to open, reliable support

The weight of the cap is reduced and the heat resistance is improved, but it must also be easy to open. This is particularly important for the elderly and children, two specific target groups of functional and healthy beverages, such as fruit juice.

Pepsi Cola has introduced several tropical orange juice products using redesigned packaging and lightweight caps produced by Bapoo. This seal adds functionality to the product. New product packaging bottle mouth is a layer of aluminium foil sealing film, on which there is a molded pop-up screw cap, consumers gently press the cap, and then rotate, you can open the packaging, pour out drinks. As a cap, it is important to open it easily, while re-sealing is more important, especially for carbonated beverage packaging.

In the combination of caps and containers, thread engagement of less than 360 degrees is the reason for poor sealing, "said Tiothy Ferrel, vice president of sales at Phoenix Capping." In order to achieve good sealing, cap manufacturers must design a cap with more than 360 degrees of thread.

Despite catching up with extraordinary times and tight budgets, consumers tend to choose products with sustainable packaging if prices are close. That's why even though oil costs have been falling, companies still use lighter caps. As part of the packaging, the sealing makes the packaging environmental appeal.

Obviously, when the size is reduced from 43 mm to 38 mm, or even 33 mm, the weight of the seal will be reduced and reflected in the whole container. Bill Thomas, director of technology commercialization at Silgan White Cap Americas, said. This is particularly important for hot-filled PET packaging. If the sealing weight is similar to that of plastic packaging, its performance will be greatly discounted, and the packaging may be affected by the product temperature. Silgan is currently changing the shape of the cap and adding side threads to make this lightweight product strong and durable. According to Thomas, the technology is still in the stage of promotion, but in 2009 it will be applied to the packaging of several products.