New Packaging System
A major ice cream manufacturer was experiencing problems with a new packaging system. They had redesigned their plastic ice cream tubs as part of a cost-saving measure but had not tested the changes made prior to market distribution.
As a result, the company was experiencing problems at the retail end of the business. Lids were coming off tubs in the freezer and Customers were not purchasing the lidless units, leading to the recall of large quantities of product.
After consulting with STERIS engineers, the company was first advised to use STERIS’s environmental test chambers to recreate the circumstances inside the ice cream manufacturer’s chilled transport trucks. The freezing product was then subjected to a range of random vibration levels that recreated the problems encountered in transit.
After a relatively short period of time, most of the lids of the tubs began to pop off during the test. STERIS had successfully recreated the effects recorded at retail level and, following recommendations from STERIS, the company’s in-house design teams moved forward with changes to their new packaging.
Once the new design had been completed, the company returned to STERIS and again put their product through the same extensive testing. STERIS’s team observed no change in the ice cream tubs with lids staying firmly in place.
This resulted in no more recalls and a significant saving for the company.
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