Arcwise is a business unit of SCA Forest Products and it has partnered with Vasa Brewery in Sweden to create the curved shaped packaging for its Trocadero apple and orange soft drink, where consumers can use the bottle lid as a puck to play games.
Ice Hockey World Championships
Rickard Hägglund, business manager, Arcwise, told Beverage Daily, it manufactures different types of packaging technology such as round shapes, Bag-in-Box and wrap-around, but this is the first tray it has produced.
“It’s a new technology but it has been in development for some time. The ice hockey tray is the first type of corrugated board tray that has been produced in Sweden, but we have licensees throughout Europe working with us and we plan to partner with other companies with more announcements next month,” he said.
“We are currently offering this tray on a license basis. The ice hockey championships are a big thing in Sweden right now so the timing was perfect in terms of our campaign linked to the world championships.
“The tray can pack a variety of products in an attractive way, such as beverage cans, snacks or bread. Besides an attractive design, the rounded corners provide stability.”
Rickard Hägglund, business manager, Arcwise, added consumers generally prefer rounded shapes to angular ones because they are more eye-catching with added shelf-appeal.
30% savings on on material costs
He said thanks to the design and rigidity of the product the curved shaped tray can save up to 30% on material costs.
Niclas Nilsson, CEO, Vasa Brewery, said it already uses an Arcwise wrap around shape that works on existing filling machines.
“A great thing about Arcwise is we can introduce a breakthrough packaging design and still use our existing erecting and filling machine, with no specific investment costs,” he said.
“Since the material can be manufactured on a conventional corrugated machine we see that sourcing is not an issue.”