Bending to Pressure

Dairy Field, Nov 2004 by Petrak, Lynn

In an increasingly competitive climate, flexible-packaging innovations span dairy categories and formats.

The dairy industry has demonstrated greater flexibility in recent years, in approaches to processing, new product development and marketing. Flexibility also applies, in a more literal sense, to packaging, as more dairy manufacturers embrace flexible-packaging solutions.

The definition of flexible packaging can vary. In general, as opposed to rigid materials like plastic and polyethylene (PET), flexible packaging includes traditional paperboard containers as well as more contemporary dairy packages like pouches, films, stand-up bags and multi-layered brick cartons. Sometimes, the notion of flexible packaging can cross into proverbial gray areas, such as shrink sleeves; although used on rigid plastic bottles, sleeve labels themselves are considered flexible.

Whatever the format, the growth of dairy flexible packaging can be tied to a surge in new and innovative dairy products as well as to the development of high-tech materials and features from suppliers. Today's supermarkets, in fact, are full of new flexible formats for an array of goods, from sleevewrapped mayonnaise jars to upsidedown plastic ketchup bottles. As more dairy manufacturers team up with packaging companies to truly think out of the box, the result has been products like zip-to-close cheese pouches, aseptic single serve cartons of milk and bag-in-a-box beverages and liquid bases for institutional and foodservice use, among other items.

Indeed, in the frenzy to catch the consumer's increasingly wandering eye, flexible packaging is often used to garner attention. 'One factor is more competition - the increase in graband-go products that are available on the market," notes Tim Kenny, vice president of marketing for Londonderry, N.H.-based Stonyfield Farm Inc., which developed its line of Squeezers tube yogurt three years ago. "Flexible packaging also allows manufacturers to take a product like yogurt - something that has not traditionally been seen as a convenience item - and market it to a new audience by increasing its portability."

To be sure, flexible formats are a growing part of the packaging business. According to the Linthicum, Pa.based Flexible Packaging Association (FPA), flexible packaging is a $20 billion industry in the United States and is now the second-largest packaging type. Food products comprise the greatest market for flexible packaging, accounting for more than 50 percent of supply shipments, FPA reports.

Dairy processors have pursued flexible packaging for products ranging from yogurt to ice cream to cheese, but also are balancing their packaging priorities with other aspects of production and promotion. "One of the things people are very focused on, by the virtue of their packaging selection, is how to eliminate cost from their operations," reports Chuck Dunlap, dairy business marketing director for the Cryovac division of Sealed Air Corp., Duncan, S.C. "That is the holy grail, if you will - to continue to offer increasingly good products and to be able to do it with high merchandising appeal and in a more cost effective environment."

Indeed, the need for cost-effective solutions and consumer-friendly features continues to impact the decisionmaking process among dairies. "Dairy processors have done an excellent job of taking cost out of their systems. They are great at managing economies of scale and at consolidating, but they are under pressure to provide solutions to the marketplace," notes Gary Allanson, president and chief executive officer of Hanover, Md.-based International Dispensing Corp. (IDC), an aseptic packaging and dispensing supplier. "We've joined forces with leading dairy processors to address the dual demands for improved barrier properties and aseptic dispensing capabilities at a cost-effective price."

In the package development process, collaboration does become key, notes Dunlap, who cites the many cheese companies with whom Cryovac works. "The cheesemakers focus a lot on the products they are making and how to present them and move them through a number of distribution, chains. They look to packaging partners to help come up with creative merchandising aspects/' he observes. "It is a partnership, in which both bring ideas to the table."

Film Fest

While bags and pouches represent a common type of flexible dairy packaging, especially for cheeses and powdered dairy products, many innovations have occurred on the film side of the business. Films are becoming more advanced and are increasingly developed with food processors' needs in mind.

Cryovac, for instance, offers a variety of materials for dairy companies, including shrink bags, thermoform films and films for block cheeses, among other items. In 2003, the supplier introduced two new films, HFP 1000 and HFP 1050, suitable for horizontal form-fill-seal machines used for cheese packaging. "It broadens our participation in the dairy business," explains Dunlap, who underscores the primary benefits of the new materials. "The clarity of the film is outstanding and the gauge tends to be a less heavy gauge product with practical implications for the customer, in terms of the amount of footage that can be put on a roll and the increased productivity. It has a wide utility."