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A small difference with a big effect: combifit now available in the single-serve format July 2004. With the goal of differentiating products successfully from those of the competition and giving consumers added value, the Swiss company Bischofszell Nahrunsmittel AG is the first supplier in Europe to use the new small-format pack combifitSmall from SIG Combibloc. The Actilife Breakfast Drink and the GOLD products, Multivitamin, Red Grape Juice and Hawaii are now on the shelves in the eye-catching, aseptic, small-format comibfit carton with drinking straw. With combifitSmall (volumes of 250, 300, 330 and 350 ml possible) SIG Combibloc is adding a practical small carton for on-the-go use to the combifit range with its typical slanted top. Extensive market analyses have shown that this packaging innovation will establish itself in the same way as the larger variants combifitPremium (available in 500, 750 and 1,000 ml) and combifitMagnum (1,500 ml) which have already convinced well-known international suppliers of premium drinks. "Consumers immediately recognise at a glance that combifit is a special premium pack. And this impression is reinforced once they take it into their hand. The ergonomic design makes the carton easy to hold and easy to handle", explains Axel Meier, Head of Product Management at SIG Combibloc GmbH. "Current market research findings document that the new single-serve format is seen by consumers as a modern, unusual and premium-quality carton that motivates them to buy the product", says Meier. Flexible and versatile In all format sizes, combifit is a stable, slim pack which is curved outwards at the front and inwards at the back. This makes the carton easy to handle and means that the cartons can be stacked one behind the other in a space-saving way both on the shelves and during transportation. Conceived as a convenient packaging solution for out-of-home consumption, combifitSmall is designed for the target group of dynamic adults as well as for children. The carton is fitted with a U-straw with a diameter of up to 6 mm. As such, it has a far larger opening than a conventional straw. For direct consumption, the straw is pushed through the straw penetration which is integrated into the middle of the slanted combifit top. All components of the aseptic composite carton can be recycled in an environment-friendly way after use. A decisive advantage for the beverage industry is that drinks can be filled into combifitSmall on a tried-and-tested combibloc machine. Only a forming station, which gives the pack its typical appearance, has to be added to complete the equipment for filling. Since the carton is shaped after the product has been filled into it, the filling machine can be used to fill both combifitSmall and combiblocSmall. A format conversion at the filling machine and forming station takes only about five minutes, as long as the filling volume is the same. The combifit carton is produced from so-called combifit sleeves which are printed and sealed with a longitudinal seam before being delivered to the customer. They are pre-creased to give the typical combifit slanted top. The filling machine at the customer's plant initially opens up the composite material into a block shape and seals the base. Then the product is filled in aseptically. Immediately after filling, the beverage carton is sealed ultrasonically in the aseptic zone and the top seam is folded over. After this, the forming station gives the combifit carton its typical shape and the drinking straw is attached. Tried-and-tested cooperation The combifit success story in the shops started at the end of 2001. At that time, Bischofszell Nahrungsmittel AG also acted as pilot customer and launched products from its strategic private label range "Actilife" in combifitPremium (1,000 ml) through Migros, the leading Swiss retail trading chain. According to Migros, the relaunch and changeover to combifit gave new life to the success story of the Actilife juices. For Bischofszell Nahrunsmittel AG and Migros this was good enough reason to relaunch the GOLD brand juice range in combifit in February 2004 and to launch combifitSmall on the market now. "We've had a lot of good experience with combifit on the market. Customer acceptance is high: Drinks in this pack are seen as premium products with valuable added benefits. We want to follow on from this success with combifitSmall in the small-format range", explains Remo Manz, Head of Marketing/Sales at Bischofszell Nahrungsmittel AG. This is also the declared goal of the well-known drinks producer Tai Hwa in Taiwan where the small-format pack combifitSmall from SIG Combibloc has been taking over the shelves since June. Download Media Release 010704 Your contact: Heike Thevis – Press Officer SIG Combibloc GmbH Rurstrasse 58, D-52441 Linnich, Germany Tel: +49 2462 79 2608 Fax: +49 2462 79 17 2608 E-mail: heike.thevis@sig.biz SIG Combibloc is one of the world's leading systems suppliers of aseptic beverage cartons and filling machines. Employing approx. 3,900 people, the company recorded a turnover of EUR 1.058 million in 2003. SIG Combibloc is a division of SIG Holding AG, Neuhausen am Rheinfall. ;)
The Actilife Breakfast Drink as well as the GOLD products Multivitamin, Red Grape Juice and Hawaii are now available on the shelves in the eye-catching, aseptic combifitSmall carton with straw. News overview >> |
