CONTEXT
Driven by the beverage industry’s constant need to improve efficiency, a private label juice pouch manufacturer enlisted the help of MWV to identify ways to lower costs and maintain the company’s brand image. The company also sought ways to increase the sustainability profile of their juice pouch retail multi-packs.                               

CHALLENGE
The manufacturer needed an efficient replacement for its existing multi-pack packaging, which was made from reinforced paperboard.

SOLUTION
Working closely with the juice pouch manufacturer, MWV explored a number of scenarios for reducing system costs. The team recommended replacing the reinforced paperboard with CNK® (Coated Natural Kraft®), a paperboard substrate that could be converted using MWV’s proprietary FlexiTECH™ machine.                     

FlexiTECH is an innovative packaging solution featuring an internal I-Beam support structure that provides the vertical stacking strength needed to survive the most rigorous distribution and retail environments. MWV developed this solution in conjunction with the state-of-the-art FlexiTECH machine to create an extremely fast and efficient packaging system that runs up to 600 pouches per minute.

RESULTS
The combination of switching to CNK paperboard and FlexiTECH technology resulted in over 20 percent savings in total cost by allowing the company to go from using two packing machines to just one.

The new packaging solution also improved the company’s sustainability profile through significant source reductions.        

An in-depth study of how the new packaging performed in transit to the store shelf proved that the new CNK packaging provided a lightweight solution that met stability requirements, performed well at all levels and provided reduced distribution costs.       

The customer is now looking for additional opportunities to apply the resources of MWV’s Engineered Packaging solutions to other parts of their business.