Welch's juices up consumer interest with a new plastic frozen juice can

Food & Drug Packaging, Sept, 1999

The convenience of frozen juice concentrates was a milestone in food preservation when it was introduced, first freeing consumers from the drudgery of squeezing oranges, then making available for every kitchen juices that consumers simply couldn't make, from grape juice to exotic flavors like watermelon-mango blends. Packaging improvements, like Welch's introduction of easy-opening cans with the invention of the peel-strip 20 years ago, have come slowly with the evolution of the industry.

"But until this package appeared, there hadn't been a new frozen juice packaging development in years," says Welch's senior vice president of technology Marion Williams. Welch's had market-tested a plastic can with metal ends 15 years ago, but consumers had rejected it.

"The category needed some news to liven up sales," Williams says. "So we began exploring the possibility of an all-plastic container, one that would offer consumers easy opening, easy recyclability and the ability to thaw a can of juice in a microwave in minutes, rather than in the sink in hours. It was a move to add value and interest to our frozen juices."

That was seven years ago. Welch's, working closely with plastic container blow-molder Graham Packaging, explored the possibility from every angle. Cost was a factor early on, since plastic costs were much higher at the time. Material performance was another, as the two partners learned in the process.

"We had to design the best container for the consumer," Williams points out, "but then we had to design a cap that would work with it. What we found out is that, once you close that container, the internal environment of that container is more important than the external in preventing leaks."

Critical Cap Sealing

The patented new blow-molded high-density polyethylene (HDPE) barrel is topped by an HDPE lid also provided by Graham Packaging. The cap includes a tear strip to release the pressure-fitted cap from the barrel and a small thumb tab to enable the consumer to conveniently push the cap off the frozen container. For microwave thawing, the cap is opened, lifted, then placed loosely on the can.

The new Welch's can is filled on a new line made and installed by Elmar Worldwide. Welch's worked closely with Graham and capper equipment maker Fowler Products Co. to develop capping technology that worked efficiently with the new cap.

Finally, a quality control unit was needed. Since the one-piece barrel eliminates the possibility of leaking in the body of the container, quality control concentrates on the cap position and seal. Equipment of the kind commonly used in baby food processing plants to detect lid deflection was provided by the TapTone Div. of Benthos Inc. and is used to check lids on the Welch's capping line.

Recycling Award Winner

Since June, the new can has been rolled out across the country, beginning in the Eastern states, where virtually all Welch's juices are available in the new package. In the Midwest and elsewhere, the company's popular grape juices are already in stores in the new packaging, and other flavors are being phased in.

Welch's new can received the "Design for Recyclability" award from the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers, a group of 40 companies which acquire, reprocess and sell postconsumer plastics. The award recognized Welch's for its decision to convert its juice products from a non-recyclable package to a recyclable one.

As to the success of the new packaging, Williams says that sales of the new can had been "extremely positive," and has given Welch's "a volume bump." The company has met its sales projections for the new packaging, and consumer feedback on the new packaging has been positive.

For more information from Elmar Worldwide, call (800) 433-3562 or mark Item 583. For information from Fowler Products Co., call (706) 549-3300 or mark Item 584. For information from Graham Packaging call (717) 849-8547 or mark Item 585. For information from TapTone, call (800) 4234044 or mark Item 586.

In a nutshell

Goal: Rekindle consumer interest in the frozen juice category

How: Develop an all-plastic microwaveable, recyclable container

Result: Widespread consumer leads to reinvigorated sales

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