Maureen said her farewells in last month’s editor’s comment so, this month, I say hello. I expect many of you will remember me from when I was editor of Packaging News, which was for almost 10 years. I left there five years ago, since when I have been editing publications for the wine and spirits sector.
Now I am back in the world of packaging and very much looking forward to progressing the editorial coverage of Packaging Today and its sister titles, Contract Packing and Converting Today, and to hearing your news and views.
August, although traditionally a relatively quiet time for the manufacturing sector, is, nevertheless, an important time for planning ahead in preparation for the busy period to follow. In September, for example, we have the PPMA machinery exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham, which Packaging Today will be previewing in the next issue and where I hope I will have the chance to meet many of you. Meanwhile in this month’s magazine, we feature an exclusive taste of a major new report produced by Canadean and entitled Innovation in Beverage Closures 2011 (p25). Although the report provides an overview of closure innovation in the context of the global markets for beer, soft drinks and dairy drinks, it also touches on the wine and spirits sectors where we have recently seen some truly ground breaking solutions.
While tamper-resistance is important to spirits producers and oxygen control for wine makers, the beer and champagne sectors have been seeing differentiation through consumer convenience.
Take, for example, SAB Miller’s Event Can with a full aperture end developed by Crown Bevcan, which allows the entire can lid to be removed, turning the can into a drinking vessel. And the can end from Ball Corporation that answers the demand for re-sealability with an integrated flat, plastic turn opening/closing mechanism.
But most intriguing are two alternatives to wired corks for sparkling wines – one has a lever and the other a simple peel and pull mechanism. Both provide the essential celebratory ‘pop’, which you don’t get with a screw cap.
Alcan’s Maestro, which basically comprises a dome cap covering a crown closure and a lever that, when lifted, puts pressure on the top of the crown forcing it to ‘pop’ open, has not been put into commercial production. The resealable, peel and ‘pop off, pop on’ Zork closure, on the other hand, has been a huge success with consumers of Yellow Tail sparking wines in the USA and UK. However, adopting such radical new, consumer-friendly, all-inclusive packaging (see also our inclusive packaging report) can hit the buffers when confronted by centuries old tradition and regulation, as represented by, in this instance, the Champagne houses.
Felicity Murray,
Editor
Felicity Murray
