Dispensing with tradition

28 January 2014



Across the packaging spectrum, brand owners are flexing their influential muscle to ensure that they have access to the latest developments. Dispensing is no different, and from the budget lines to premium brands, innovation in this field is resulting in an improved experience for the customer.


"The dispensing pumps field is changing all of the time," is the concise summary of Andrew Paterson, managing director at Raepak, of this burgeoning market. However, the development of the dispensing sector is a far more complex animal than Paterson initially lets on. Growth in packaging dispensing is being driven from all corners of the market, from budget brands demanding functionality as
paramount, to premium toiletries where cost is no object in the pursuit of elegant, embossed pump detailing.

"We deal with a broad range of customers, with these falling into a number of distinct brackets, from premium, to standard and onto cost efficient brands," he explains. "At the premium end of the spectrum, we are seeing companies move into acrylic and airless containers. For premium brand companies that don't wish to make the jump to acrylic or airless, they are lifting their product image by using metal sheaths and maybe employing logo embossing to add value to the packaging and create brand differentiation."

Competitive market
Dispensing packaging exists within an incredibly competitive market in which there is a strong need for brand owners to employ packaging that can deliver more to the customer than the rival competitor can. Central to this theme is the issue of creating a brand identity, as well as ensuring that the product does the job: there is little point spending more on each unit cost if it fails to dispense the product within, every time.

Raepak was founded in 1994 and distributes high-quality packaging components for the personal care, healthcare, pharmaceutical, pet care, automotive and household products markets. According to Paterson, the higher end brands often have issues with
companies copying their products. They are doing their best to avoid counterfeiters by making their products harder to copy and this is why they employ embossing techniques or by using double anodisation to add their name or logo to metal collars to provide a unique look.

"Processes that are becoming more common include the use of double anodisation, as well as the use of metallic colours on the pump. Everyone wants to differentiate," he says.

"We're also seeing companies move to spring-less chamber pumps. Most standard lotion pumps have a spring in them and when this comes into contact with the product it can end up degrading it."

By moving this spring out of the product chamber and placing it around the actuator a metal free path is created. Spring-less
chamber pumps have the added benefit of providing an aesthetically pleasing look when used with a clear bottle that holds a
translucent liquid.

For Spain-based packaging firm Quadpack, in partnership with Korean cosmetics packaging manufacturer Yonwoo, its latest focus has been on converting the functionality available on standard size cosmetic containers to smaller sizes.

The firm has just introduced a new variant of its compact Duo Airless, a double-ended airless bottle that is designed to hold two separate treatment formulas in a single bottle, suitable for face cream, primer and other cosmetic applications.

This latest variant has two 5ml capacities and is pumpoperated, but also offers the brand owner the option to employ various decorations on the container to differentiate it from rival products.

Product development
One such example of brand owners embracing the latest dispensing technology is global beauty products company Elizabeth Arden, which last year opted for Airopack for its Ceramide Self-Foaming Cleanser formulation.

Airopack N.V. is a joint-venture between I.P.S. Innovative Packaging Solutions and PET packaging firm Resilux. The company's trademarked Airopack system is pitched as a clean alternative to the more traditional aerosol-dispensing products on the market.

Airopack employs compressed air to promote a continuous flow of the product while emitting nearly three quarters (74%) less CO2 than other methods.

Within dispensing, contact with the product within is also an issue to consider for pump manufacturers, as not all companies are migrating to spring-less chambers. According to Raepak's Paterson, most standard pumps are provided with a standard 304 steel spring, but if this degrades under compatibility testing then you lift that to a 316 steel spring, which is considered a first line of defence. If compatibility is still an issue, the brand may move to spring-less chamber. "There is often no cost increase; a couple
of pounds per thousand extra maybe," Paterson explains.

Continuing its record of innovation in cleaning products, in November last year Global Closure Systems celebrated becoming the first European company ever to receive the Cradle to Cradle Certified Gold Award for a cleaning product, for its trigger pump packaging
for Werner & Mertz's Frosch Shower and Bath Cleaner.

Available as Frosch in Germany, and under the brand names Rainett and Froggy elsewhere in Europe, Frosch employs GCS's well-established All Plastic Trigger Pump (APTP). Made in Germany, the trigger pump is described by the company as "minimal weight" and "truly recyclable", with different design options providing "aesthetic flexibility" on the shelf.

GCS chief executive Reinhard Schneider says: "Nowadays it is technically possible to develop highly effective products - in our case that means strong cleaning products - that also meet the highest environmental standards along the entire value chain."

Quality over quantity
For a company such as Raepak, China is an important part of the dispensing equation, especially in the field of manufacturing. In
Paterson's opinion, China may present around 1000 companies that make pumps, but out of these there are only around five to 10 that a reputable company would want to deal with.

"They can copy but not innovate, so it's a great collaboration between UK innovation and design, and Chinese cost-efficient
manufacturing," he says.

At the cost-efficient end of the market, companies understandably want the product as cheap as possible. These are normally high volume lines for sale in the ever-increasing budget retail chains. Companies such as Raepak source these pumps from manufacturers that specialise in keeping costs low. Even though the quality is inevitably not on a par with higher-end equivalents, they perform the required function well every time.

For a company such as Rieke Dispensing, which specialises in a broad range of packaging dispensing products, there is a middle ground between premium products and the budget lines.

The company was recently employed by Derma UK to help repackage its emollient cream brand Ultrabase with a 500g AVDS
pump dispenser.

According to Rieke, the key benefit of this dispenser is that the AVDS form helps ensure that nearly all of the product can be
emptied from the container using the pump action. Traditional tube containers across the packaging spectrum would generally require regular squeezing or even cutting in two in order to reach the remaining product within.

Rieke's proposition is achieved with a pump that provides controlled dispensing of the product, while the company's special suckback feature helps pulls product back into the nozzle following the dispensing process. Incorporating airless technology, a one-piece piston pushes the product up from the bottom of the container, ensuring that "at least 98%" of the product is dispensed. The Rieke AVDS range comprises 14 pack sizes from 15g to 1kg, with dose options from 0.25ml to 4ml.

www.airopack.com
www.gcs.com
www.ips-grp.com
www.quadpack.com
www.raepak.co.uk
www.riekepackaging.com
www.yonwookorea.com



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