Amcor PET Packaging helped launch Reily Foods Company’s first new ready-to-drink (RTD) iced tea line nearly a year ago. The great response the custom pedestal-based, PowerFlex™ Luzianne Tea brand bottle received in the marketplace is now paying off in another way for Amcor. The company’s 16-ounce bottle has won the beverage category of the Ameristar Package Competition and will be recognized with an Ameristar Award at the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) Packaging Summit ’09 reception, to be held May 19th at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois.
In their examination of the beverage category, the Ameristar Package Competition committee determined the brand’s first RTD line features a PET bottle first. With a slightly tapered shape on a pedestal and enhanced hand-feel, it has a patented panel-less design for wrinkle-free labeling.
“The RTD category has greatly expanded in the last few years so developing a unique, turnkey product was both an engineering challenge and a necessity in order to make an impact,” said Chris Burt, Amcor’s project engineer. “What we did with this bottle was something never done before in PET. We discovered that by adding a rib around the top of the pedestal base, we could achieve structural stability.”
The yearly competition is based on six criteria where Amcor either matched or exceeded expectations. These include Innovation of the product, Protection in meeting biological, chemical and distribution requirements, Economics with cost reduction factors and life cycle issues, Performance in how the package fills, opens, recloses, stores and runs on machinery, Marketing with image and shelf impact, and the Environmental Impact.
The PowerFlex bottle Amcor provided to Reily incorporates technology which relies on a revolutionary, patented panel-less design that took hot-fill (185° degrees Fahrenheit) requirements to a new level. Unlike conventional hot-fill PET alternatives, PowerFlex bottles do not have sidewall vacuum panels so labeling is easier. The structural design eliminates the panels but unlike competitive containers, it has a large, completely smooth label panel that is free of any kind of ribbing.
Amcor’s technical staff, through a combination of design and manufacturing innovations, created a patented bottle that absorbs vacuum via a specially designed base. A unique diaphragm within the base draws upward as the liquid cools, forming an inverted, cone-shaped diaphragm as the vacuum is created.
The location of the rib prevents ovalization during cooling, as well as keeping the entire label panel smooth. The four-color process label graphics look outstanding and stop at the bottom rib. However, the polyvinyl chloride shrink sleeve continues transparently to the bottom of the base. This facilitates the application of the shrink label and allows consumers the opportunity to look into the bottom of the bottle to see that the tea is sediment-free.
Luzianne RTD authentic Southern Iced Tea was launched last May with five flavors reaching retail outlets in southern states. Reily Foods Company is planning wider distribution of more southern states beyond the original outlets established in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Tennessee. The line is sold in individual bottles and in four-packs.
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