PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2018

42 PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 03/18 www.petpla.net PET products “Snap” in new PET bottle for Snapple Snapple single-serve premium teas and juice drinks are now available in a PET bottle designed in a collaborative effort between Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS) and R&D/Leverage. A key driver behind the conversion to plastic was to provide consumers with a convenient, lighter weight container to enjoy on-the-go. But the glass Snapple bottle is iconic, so an absolute requirement for this project was to maintain both the look and the feel of the original glass bottle. According to Patrick George, senior director of packaging engineering for DPS, a successful conversion had to have all the things a glass bottle had. “We decided that success would mean that when the bottles were put side-by-side - we couldn’t tell the difference between glass and plastic,” said George. That also meant including the famous metal cap that produced the iconic “snap” when the bottle was opened. “As far as we know, it’s the first metal cap on a plastic beverage bottle - a hot-fill bottle,” said George. This created several challenges for the engineering team. First, when hot-filling the PET bottle it shrinks, then pulls a vacuum. George explained that they needed to pull the vacuum on the top without distorting the bottle in any way. Secondly, the PET bottle had to work with existing manufacturing equipment. And last, the Snapple team had to ensure the plastic bottle would make the same “snap” with the metal closure as the iconic glass bottle. R&D/Leverage was able to accomplish the “look” that Snapple wanted and maintain the attributes of the iconic shape, as well as the “snap” feature of the metal cap on a PET bottle. The manufacturing process was developed in R&D/Leverage’s lab under its product development program. “A lot of things about this project were very technically challenging,” said DPS’s George. “R&D/Leverage are truly good at packaging design and structure. We’ve dealt with R&D/Leverage for a number of years and I’ve person- ally dealt with the company for over a decade. It was natural to integrate them into this project to achieve the success outcome we anticipated.” www.rdleverage.com A strategic partnership Multi-Color Corporation announces a strategic partnership with Talkin’ Things, a smart packaging system. This system enables brands to communicate with consumers, protect against counterfeiting, track products throughout the supply chain, and much more. #RethinkPackaging – With this agree- ment, MCC and Talkin’ Things have established a strategic partnership to raise awareness among brand owners about the rapidly growing trend of connecting products to the Internet of Things (IoT) through packaging. A long-term agreement has been signed to provide joint smart packaging solutions, i.e. NFC/RFID, Augmented Reality, IoT sensors and anti-theft protection based on EAS technology. As a result of this cooperation, MCC and Talkin’ Things are strategically focused on connectivity and joining the new world of smart packaging. The new world based on smart packaging, offers digitally extended labels protected against counterfeiting and refilling, real-time promotions management, direct communication with end-customers, personalised mobile promotions and rewarding real customers directly through the product which increases loyalty to the brand. Talkin’ Things and MCC become a one-stop-shop for making products connected, secured, interactive and traceable through the entire distribution chain. MCC and Talkin’ Things offer a dedicated implementation technology to all kinds of labelling solutions such as pressure sensitive, shrink sleeves and roll fed labels. Connected products are beneficial for a number of markets including Wine & Spirits, Healthcare, Food & Beverage, Home & Personal Care, Automotive and Consumer Durables. www.mcclabel.com .com 100815dmyL