Naber Plastics developed Hot and Cold packaging for Plukon and Albert Heijn. It won the title ‘product of the year 2018’ and was nominated twice for an NL Packaging Award.
In early January of 2018, the customer wrote a pitch for three manufacturers and the pitch presentation day was held on January 17th. We – Naber Plastics – were one of those three parties. The requirements were not exactly a piece of cake: design a 2 in-1 wrapper for a ready meal in such a way that the section that is to be heated can be easily separated from the cold section but the two sections are made from a single mono-material. Mono-material, in other words, without any paper binder but still firmly attached to each other. The product should be able to be filled in-line, and sealed at one sealing. Exactly 6 packets should be able to fit into one metre’s length of shelf room. There were some marketing requirements too: it should be eye-catching on the shelf and have a technical shape. Last but not least, the deadline: the product must be on the shelf within 14 weeks after the list of requirements had been sent to us. Naber Plastics was awarded the contract. ‘They were the only manufacturer who had translated the entire list of requirements to 4 suggestions for wrapping and the only ones who had come up with something that could be produced in-line,’ our customer explained.
One of the four suggestions was chosen and we worked out the details for it. We decided that the base of the wrapper should have a slant so that the package could be sealed at one go. We made a few other versions and made adjustments to solve a whole series of problems, such as stacking. The IML versions we presented were turned down for marketing reasons. 1.5 weeks after the pitch presentation day, we had a definite design and managed to meet Albert Heijn’s deadline (which was partly due to the incredibly fast work by our die maker).
Over the years, we have already produced lots of patented product improvements. Those innovations were created by our own product development department, who can achieve great improvements for your packaging too, or shape your own specific wishes.
