(August 04, 2016) With the HERO tray, an innovative display tray for tall, slim beverage cartons such as the carton bottle combidome, SIG Combibloc has produced an industry first. For the first time, the market now has a secondary packaging solution that is not the same height as the carton packs. The clever design of the new HERO tray ensures carton packs are evenly stacked and safely protected during transport — and can later be attractively presented on the sales shelf and removed from the secondary packaging easily.
Trays for beverage cartons need to meet two basic requirements. First of all, they serve to protect the carton packs during transport on pallets, and secondly they can be used to present the products on the shelf. Georg Schulte, Project Manager Downstream/Secondary Packaging at SIG Combibloc: “Sometimes it’s difficult to accommodate both of these requirements. While a completely enclosed type of secondary packaging is ideally used for transport to protect the carton packs, a very shallow tray offers the best solution for presenting the cartons and makes them easier to remove from the packaging. With our new HERO tray, we’ve developed a solution that meets both requirements. At the same time, using the new tray lowers costs for beverage manufacturers, because less corrugated board is used than in trays that are the same height as the carton packs. The bottom line: these savings don’t have to be offset by higher logistics costs”.
With the HERO tray, SIG Combibloc offers a solution that provides the ultimate in transport protection and at the same time ensures the carton packs can be flawlessly presented and smoothly removed from the shelf at POS. The trays are so shallow at the front that virtually the entire front communication panel of the carton pack is visible, and the carton packs can be lifted out of the tray effortlessly even from higher shelves. The tray back, which is the same height as the carton packs, ensures the carton packs are not crushed during transport, and pallets can be loaded with the maximum number of layers. In the tray formation of 2 by 4 carton packs (stacked in 5 layers), 800 1-litre carton packs fit on a Euro pallet without overhang. For slim carton packs, this is a unique solution in the market.
Georg Schulte: “For beverage manufacturers, the HERO tray means lower costs for secondary packaging material, while logistics costs remain unchanged. For the retail market, handling costs go down, because the carton packs can be sold straight from the tray, and even straight from the pallet. There’s also less packaging to dispose of. And the consumer also benefits from the new SIG HERO tray, thanks to attractive product presentation and effortless removal of the products from the tray”.
The HERO trays from SIG Combibloc are already in use nation-wide in German convenience stores. Further market launches will be following soon.
SIG Combibloc is one of the world’s leading system suppliers of carton packaging and filling machines for beverages and food. In 2015 the company achieved a turnover of 1,720 million Euro with around 5,000 employees. (Source: press release)
Image courtesy SIG Combibloc