New Year, New Press

For over 40 years, Unipak has been bringing your brand to life through premium printing and press craftsmanship. We are proud to continue that tradition with a new, state-of-the-art Komori LS640, 6-color printing press.

The best just got better. The transformative LS series from Komori has found a home at Unipak.

A panoramic view of the Komori LS640 printing at Unipak Inc.

The transformative LS series from Komori offers an on-board, 6-color management system with Spectrophotometer for unmatched print quality and color consistency. It prints a range of aqueous and UV coatings, including gloss, matte, dull, and soft touch.

New Komori LS640 Press at Unipak

Featuring an Interdeck UV, the LS640 prints on foil substrates and applies spot UV coatings to give your brand high-impact, high-value packaging. Even better, the LS640 is versatile, printing on both paper and board. We’re excited to announce that Unipak can now print your rigid box wraps right here, in house.

Raise the bar on your brand’s packaging performance with Unipak’s array of world-class printing presses.

Three Things To Consider When Choosing Your Confectionery Packaging

CandyFolding5

Asher’s Candy Packaging

The packaging of confectionery should always be so beautifully designed that it evokes the expectations of what’s inside – a yummy and delectable delight. At the same time, the package must be designed with function as a priority since it’s essential that the packaging preserves the product inside and protects the freshness, flavor, and aroma.

So when choosing the right package design and materials for confectionery products, there are three main primary considerations.

  1. What does the package need to do? Meaning, how does it need to function? Does the package need special consideration based on the contents? Does it require specific dimensions for shipping, storing, and display? Start here since these initial questions will cover the basics that can be forgotten when a beautiful design is presented.
  2. What does the package need to look like? This is where some basic considerations must revolve around the customer and their attitudes. Does the customer need to see the product inside and if so, is that a possibility? What will excite the customer and entice them to pick this up off the shelf? Will the outside expectations meet the inside expectations? Also, consider your company’s brand standards and maybe even take a peak at the competition to see what they look like and the materials they are using for their packaging.
  3. How will the product ship, store, and be displayed? These questions will determine how the product will move through the process and what needs to happen at each stage. For instance, is the product very delicate? If so, be sure that the outer packaging can handle the transport from location-to-location with minimal effect. Also, if you choose specific dimensions, how will that affect how they are stored and displayed on the shelf (and of course, which shelves will be displaying the product)?

These initial considerations will get the wheels turning and put you in the mindset for candyfolding17collaborating with packaging experts to choose the best design and materials for a confectionery package.

In the end, a great confectionery package will provide:

  • High visual impact to create brand value
  • Strength to protect the product
  • Preservation of the product flavor

Don’t settle for anything less.

Environmental Impact: Should It Be a Consideration?

Credit: http://www.nestle.com/csv/case-studies/allcasestudies/easter_eg_-packaging_uk

Credit: http://www.nestle.com/csv/case-studies/allcasestudies/easter_eg_-packaging_uk

In 2012, Nestle UK & Ireland became the first major confectioner to announce that its entire Easter egg packaging would become 100 percent recyclable. Nestle made this move in an effort to reduce waste and did it by transforming their existing rigid plastic packaging with a more environmentally-friendly option, paperboard packaging.

Nestle’s goal was two fold:

  1. To provide value to society by using fewer resources and energy from nature and producing less waste to contribute to a cleaner environment.
  2. To provide value to Nestle by lowering costs and becoming more environmentally sustainable.

With Nestle’s focus on reducing their carbon footprint and providing value for the community and environment, it got many companies asking this: Is sustainable packaging something we should consider?

Because there are sustainable options and ways to transform quality packaging into sustainable packaging without compromising the end product, it might be a viable option for companies looking to make the move – or it may not.

A great way to determine if this strategy might make sense is to revisit the core values and mission of your company – does sustainable packaging fit into your values and within your bottom line goals? Is your community and environmental impact something that matters to the company and the internal/external culture? If that is the case, then go ahead and explore the options. Get quotes and compare the cost impact and also very clearly understand the environmental impacts and how you can communicate that to your stakeholders.

On the other side, if sustainability isn’t a concern that is at the forefront of your business model and isn’t inherent in the company’s mission, sustainability might be a backburner consideration and could be tabled…at least for now. While this consideration should not completely vanish (we guarantee this subject will come up in the near future as retailers and government agencies try to reform standards), just be clear as to why it isn’t a priority for the company at this point in time.

For more on sustainable packaging, visit The Sustainable Packaging Coalition

Paperboard Packaging Retail Trends

Retailers are always looking for a more cost effective way to package products to ship and sell in stores, and one of the methods of packaging products that is not new, but has recently seen a dramatic incline in popularity is paperboard packaging. Paperboard packaging is a way that retailers have been able to take products that would normally be difficult to package, or would waste a lot of plastic or other materials when attempting to package the item, and package the item in a much more space effective container at a much lower price. Paperboard packaging is used most often to make cartons or other forms of packages for materials and products, and recent trends have shown that the packaging itself, rather than the wide variety of graphics on the packing, has been developing into a more innovative shape.

Paperboard is usually a folded package that starts as a flat surface and is folded into a carton to house a product or item, but recently retailers have begun using the smallest paperboard cartons that they possibly can for more than one reason. The first reason is that the smaller packages are much more space effective and allow retailers to keep more items on the shelves, rather than having large paperboard packing for products that takes up a lot of space. Recently, many manufacturers and retailers of a variety of other products have begun using recycled cardboard that is completely uncoated. This is not only a cost effective way that retailers have found to use paperboard packaging, but this also limits environmental impact. The movement that brought this about this change was gradual, but in 2014, there is an influx of companies taking this approach.

As for the most common companies and services to use paperboard, there are a wide variety. The top six types of manufacturers and retailers that use paperboard packaging are retailers who sell the following: medical supplies, milk cartons, juice cartons, cosmetic/perfume supplies, frozen food, and candy boxes. Most of these types of retailers are using solid bleached sulfate paperboard boxes – the paperboard that is coated and bleached is best for these materials – but the manufacturers of paperboard boxes are always looking to make paperboard packaging more cost effective and eco-friendly.

Trees into Cartons and Cartons into Trees

TREES INTO CARTONS AND CARTONS INTO TREES
Packaging company, Unipak, teams up with the Paperboard Packaging Council
to celebrate Earth Day and educate fourth graders about recycling and sustainability

TICCIT Teaching

(WEST CHESTER, PA – May 1, 2014) – To celebrate Earth Day and empower Uwchlan HillsElementary School students to become more environmentally conscious and aware of the

positive impact of recycling and sustainability, Teddy Frain, VP of Sales and Marketing at the West Chester-based packaging company, Unipak, in partnership with the Paperboard Packaging Council, presented the Trees Into Cartons, Cartons Into Trees (TICCIT) educational program on April 25th, 2014.

TICCIT WateringThe Downingtown, Pennsylvania, school welcomed Unipak’s annual presentation with excitement and Frain introduced the program to a new group of fourth graders. The 93 students who participated in this year’s event learned through an interactive presentation, which provided information and statistics on recycling and sustainability, and stressed the importance of planting and preserving trees. After learning about the lifecycle of cereal boxes and paperboard, Frain took the students outside where they planted saplings in milk cartons (which they saved from lunch) and were encouraged to take the saplings home to be planted.

Frain is eager support this program each year and is honored to give back to the community. In reference to Unipak’s ongoing participation (this is their fifth year), Frain said, “I think it is important for Unipak to help promote the sustainability of paperboard packaging, and the TICCIT program provides a grass roots effort to accomplish this while making it fun for the kids.”

For more information contact Teddy Frain at tfrain4@unipakinc.com. For more information about the Paperboard Packaging Council, please visit http://www.ppcnet.org/

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About Unipak
Unipak Inc. is a leading folding carton and rigid box manufacturer located in West Chester, PA and serving the immediate region. Unipak uses the finest technologies to ensure every package meets quality standards. The company has earned us a reputation for excellence and value in some of the most brand-conscious packaging markets: food and confections, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, cosmetics, entertainment and media and specialty consumer goods such as crystal, glassware, apparel and board games.

About the Paperboard Packing Council
Now in its 84th year, PPC is the leading industry association serving suppliers and converters of all forms of paperboard packaging. PPC works to grow, promote, and protect the paperboard packaging industry while providing its members with resources and tools to compete effectively and successfully in the marketplace. For more information, call 413.686.9191 or visit www.paperbox.org.