New look - Riverwood International Corp.'s new secondary package designs

Riverwood International isn't content to leave packaging ideas sitting on the shelf.

In the realm of secondary packaging, new ideas sometimes seem few and far between. As Gary Pichon, senior vice president for Riverwood International points out, "There haven't been any fundamentally new packages in the brewing industry since the enclosed 12-pack--and that was introduced 18 years ago."

Atlanta-based Riverwood International hopes to change all that. To that end, the company has introduced a spate of new secondary package designs in the U.S. and abroad. These include the Twin-Stackpack and Eclipse multi-pack, both introduced at Interbev '92, and the Light-Tite light-free package.

According to Gordon Wilkinson, Riverwood's vice president of sales, these new packages are part of an aggressive strategy to become more responsive to their customers. "Brewers are looking to primary suppliers to offer more service and new ideas," he points out, "and we are working to provide that."

Twin-Stack Pack

Wilkinson says brewers have responded enthusiastically to the new packages, particularly the Twin-Stackpack. "The word we keep hearing is that this could revolutionize the closed paper package," he says.

According to Wilkinson, there is good reason for the enthusiasm. "First, the Twin-Stack makes a great billboard, and it will give a brand a lot of visibility," he says. "The top and bottom orientation of the package keeps the billboard surfaces featured prominently when stacked on the shelf, unlike traditional multi-packs."

Wilkinson says this "top and bottom" design also helps prevent can chiming. "In a traditional slab pack," he points out, "the largest graphic display panel on it will likely have 'elephant tracks' all over it. With the cube," he says, "the bottom of the package is truly the bottom, and the chime marks go into the interior of the case."

On top of that, Wilkinson says that the package promotes better space utilization in retail displays. "Some of our customers have done in-store testing," he says, "and they find that the Twin-Stack allows 20 percent more cartons in a given space."

Design parameters also make the package unusually strong, Wilkinson asserts. "The structure of the case acts more like a bag than a box," he says. "A race-track handle deploys through the package and gives it greater integrity. The physics of the design make it similar to a heavy, rolled-up paper sack. This allows potential cost savings because you can bring down the paper content to lower calipers."

The inherent strength of the design will also allow larger packages, Gary Pichon states-. "Nobody has a good 36-pack out there," he says, "and the Twin-Stack gives the packager an option to do those larger multiples. That's the kind of package the price-clubs are looking for."

Another attractive feature for price clubs, Pichon says, is the package's dual-brand capability. "You can put light on top and regular on the bottom of a 24-pack," Pichon points out, "giving you a dual-layer package."

Minimalist package

A second package to emerge from the Riverwood design center is the Eclipse six-pack carrier. "We think this will be a really terrific system," Pichon says. "It's a minimalist package compared to older paperboard packages, and it will also answer perceived environmental concerns about the plastic ring packs. It will also protect the top of the can from getting dirty.

"Interest in the package has been strong in Europe," Pichon says. "Allied Breweries in the U.K. is using it now, and several other companies are looking at it."

Lite-Tite

The third recent Riverwood package is the Lite-Tite premium package basket, designed to protect beer packaged in clear bottles. "It's much like a completely-enclosed glued container," Wilkinson says, "but you can open it, take out a bottle and reclose it.

"There is no other package like this," Wilkinson reports. "There are some that you can rip the top out, but nothing with a friction closure that is this flexible."

Wilkinson calls Light-Tite a premium package. "It's more expensive than comparable packages," he says, "because it's got more board in it. As a result, the customer gets added value for the added cost. It's more secure, and there is a larger display panel."

The package, which is already in use by Anheuser-Busch, is deployed using a high-speed basket machine, also designed by Riverwood International. "There are currently two lines in operation at Anheuser-Busch," Wilkinson notes.

Culture of innovation

According to Gary Pichon, Riverwood's latest package introductions are the result of its customer-oriented approach. "We listen to what the customer wants," he says, "but we also try to look beyond what the customer can articulate. As a result, I think that innovation comes out of the way we do business day-to-day."-

Pichon also reports a conscious effort to stimulate creativity. "We try to figure out how to generate new ideas," he says, "and we try to look at how people innovate, taking companies like 3M as our model. We wanted to be able to do everything, from carton creation to packaging machinery.

"For example, we now have our entire design operation under one roof," Pichon says, "so we can really speed the process. We can develop an idea, and then take it down the hall to the graphics people. They can take that idea and move it around on their computer screens, and generate new ideas. Then we take that down the hall to the structures design group, where we have a room full of electrical and mechanical engineers set up with CAD systems to design and create new packages. They can work out the mechanics of new designs, and in the next room, we have a prototype shop, where we can assemble the first machine design. After that, we blow the design out to assembly and the packaging out to our shops.

"This is different than a normal everyday design group," Pichon says, "because we've got all our people right here in one place. They can do the graphics, design the machine and build the prototype right here. Creativity breeds creativity, and that will enable us to release packages like the Eclipse and cube on a regular basis."

With plenty of new ideas in the pipeline, Riverwood is looking farther afield to market them. "Our focus has been on how to make specialty packaging for the beverage industry," Pichon says. "Now, we want to approach it from a global basis, becoming a full-line supplier to multi-national corporations."

To achieve that goal, Riverwood has pursued an aggressive expansion and acquisition plan. This has given it plants around the world, and new global capabilities to match.

Riverwood currently has three shops in the U.S. and one each in Brazil, Spain and Germany. In the last two years, the company has purchased DRG Cartons in the U.K.; Jorba, a large carton company in Spain; Fiscabee, a recycling mill in Sweden; and Busy-Pack, a company with five carton plants in Australia.

In the course of its expansion, Riverwood has seen annual sales climb from $585 million to $1 billion.

"Although previously we have not been a really strong player in the global marketplace," Pichon says, "our vision is to become a world leader, and I think we are on our way to becoming just that."

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