New Aluminum Packs from Silgan, Sonoco Add Color, Convenience

Food marketers looking for innovative ways to lure potential customers have two new aluminum packages at their disposal. Silgan Containers has launched a new line of colored cans designed to stand out on the grocery store shelf, while Sonoco has unveiled the UltraPeel retort membrane end, geared for heat-and-eat food applications.

Silgan Colored Food Cans
Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Silgan Containers is offering a new line of colored aluminum cans to food companies looking for a new way to grab potential customers’ attention.

Silgan says that two-piece, aluminum draw-redraw cans now can be manufactured in a wide variety of translucent color choices for maximum shelf appeal and differentiation. The capability can also be extended to can ends and tabs, providing a platform for a multi-colored marketing statement.

A 2006 packaging study conducted by Perception Research Services found that one factor driving results for "top performers" was that roughly half introduced a new structure or color. According to the study, since 68 percent of all purchase decisions are made at the shelf, color options are a critical weapon in the marketer’s strategic arsenal.

Although silver and gold alternatives have been available in the marketplace for years, Silgan Containers' new color options create a wider palette from which food marketers can choose. Packers also benefit from the added capability of being able to color-match or contrast both ends and tabs. This extends marketing/differentiation color combinations to a significant extent.

According to Silgan, the ability to work backward in the supply chain was critical to its development of the new containers. The pigment is added to the coating, which is applied by the aluminum company with its coil coater. The aluminum coils are then delivered to Silgan's plant ready to be drawn and redrawn into cans.

A coil of rolled aluminum is fed into a cupping press that first cuts a round disc, then draws or “'punches” the disc into a cup. The cup is then drawn a second time to achieve its final shape and bottom before being trimmed to become a finished container.

Silgan says the new color capability complements its Quick Top line of easy-opening, full-panel ends. Potential applications include a wide variety of human and pet food products where product differentiation is frequently a critical component of brand marketing strategy.

Sonoco UltraPeel
Sonoco has launched its UltraPeel retort membrane end, a robust, peelable membrane closure designed specifically for heat-and-eat food applications. According to the company, the UltraPeel retort membrane end is the first such closure manufactured in the Americas, delivering enhanced convenience to consumers while accommodating the rigors of thermal processing.

Sonoco Phoenix, the company’s technology ends and closure manufacturing division, is producing the retort membrane end in a 211-diameter size, with plans for 307- and 401-diameter ends using proprietary technology.

The UltraPeel retort membrane end is a membrane structure heat sealed to an aluminum ring. The closure has a lower opening force than conventional scored convenience ends, has no sharp edges, and utilizes current double-seam technology requiring minimal seamer modifications.

According to Howard Coker, Sonoco Phoenix division vice president and general manager, UltraPeel gives consumer product companies and food processors a new high-performance, peelable closure option for the fast-growing heat-and-eat food category. “This category is defined by convenience, making it easy for people to safely enjoy their favorite soups, pasta entrees, meats, and seafood in packages that double as serving containers,” Coker commented.

“Our challenge was to deliver a membrane end capable of withstanding the rigors of a retort process that has over-pressure,” he added. “The robustness of our offering survives the challenge of pressure fluctuations typical of many over-pressure controlled retort processes.”

Coker said that an advantage of UltraPeel is that it allows food companies to deliver an innovative closure without sacrificing manufacturing efficiencies. It can be seamed at high speeds and on existing equipment with only minor modifications and processed in conventional retorts utilizing overpressure.

From the customer’s standpoint, UltraPeel requires a low opening force. The membrane requires less force to remove than ring-pull ends, making it simpler for children, older adults, and those with physical conditions like arthritis to remove the end from the container. Additionally, the folded rim and pliable membrane offer cut protection.

Sonoco Phoenix says that it can print random and registered graphics on the UltraPeel retort membrane end using up to eight colors. The company says that this can help marketers create opportunities for branding, promotional messages, or instructions.

Color: Its Use in Packaging
Most people are familiar with the supposed “meaning” and connotations associated with different colors. Blue is frequently used to connote trustworthiness and dependability, while white is deemed to project purity and cleanliness.

Unsurprisingly, color sends powerful signals to shoppers. According to Scott Young, president of Perception Research Services, these signals come in the form of direct associations (often with other brands), rather than as abstract qualities. What’s more, such associations (and therefore the “meaning” of a particular color) vary across categories.

Take the color green, for example. In the abstract, the color is associated with growth and sometimes envy. In practice, Young says, green sends very different signals across various product categories:

• It can indicate any of a variety of flavors (including spearmint, apple, and menthol);
• It may signal "allergy" in the world of over-the-counter medications;
• It is associated with “healthy" and “organic” in the realm of food products.

Young says this last association is perhaps the most interesting. Years ago, green had been used rarely in food packaging due to concerns over potential associations with fungus and mold. Healthy Choice, which markets pre-prepared, low-calorie foods, took a chance and ended up “owning” the color green—in the process forming a new color association in shoppers’ minds.

Its color is now an important and valuable part of Healthy Choice’s brand identity.