Mondi scores a hattrick at Czech packaging competition Obal Roku 2018
The global packaging and paper manufacturer Mondi has received three Obal Roku awards for its corrugated solutions. The international packaging competition recognises the best ideas, innovations and technologies in the Czech packaging market and beyond. This year, the jury gave awards to three packaging concepts designed by the Mondi Group subsidiary in Bupak, Czech Republic, that enhance convenience, reduce material waste and meet the global trend of customers aiming for more sustainability in packaging.
“We are honoured to win three awards at this year’s Obal Roku competition since it recognises Mondi Bupak’s innovations and technical expertise. We are proud to be able to launch such innovative packaging solutions on the Czech market that combine sustainability with real time savings in material use and production efficiency,” commented Jiri Holik, sales director at Mondi Bupak.
The first award went to Mondi’s dividable corrugated tray for yoghurt, which was developed for the Hollandia brand and submitted in the “food” category. Its unique tear tape application impressed the jury, since it is a brand-new concept on the Czech market. Mondi experts integrated the tear tape into the tray in such a way that the two tray halves can easily be separated if needed. As a result, once filled the tray size can be adjusted based on the distribution channel – either twenty cups on one tray or two trays comprising 10 cups on each. Most notably, using the tear tape does not affect the tray’s performance during the assembly, gluing or filling process. This simple yet smart solution not only enhances logistics and handling, it also has a positive impact on the environment by maximising material efficiency: no additional trays are needed.
The Obal Roku judges also recognised Mondi’s enhanced bottom closure solution in the “transport and industrial packaging” category. Initially designed to avoid plastic adhesive tape for closing the bottom flaps, this solution’s main benefit lies in the elimination of a two-step production process - as the bottom can be produced inline and thus much faster now. As a consequence, this semi-automatic bottom solution and its benefit of instant, tapeless closure is now also interesting for high volume runs. In the version presented the top of the box is now also re-closable, which further simplifies the overall packaging process. Mondi´s customer ES Plastic, for whom this solution was developed, claims that the innovative design allows a faster packaging process and saves 1440 mm of plastic adhesive tape per box, which has a significant economic and environmental impact: In fact, it helped the customer save approximately 320km of tape in total, which equals the distance of Prague to Berlin. The improvement of Bupak´s bottom enhancement and its benefits did not go unnoticed in the industry and has now already been implemented by two further e-commerce players.
Last, but not least, Mondi received an award in the “other” category for its pallet utilisation system, developed to ship DVDs at Sony DADC. Uneven top layers on the pallet stack resulting from individual order amounts of DVDs hindered further pallet stacking and therefore full truck space utilisation. Mondi developed an easy- to-fold system that fills the voids in the top layer to support further pallet stacking. Despite its light weight, the pallet utilisation system has a robust structure which can withstand a top load of at least 746 kg, enabling higher and secure stacking to fully utilise available transport space.
The awards ceremony was held in Prague, Czech Republic, on 4 October 2018 during the PackSummit conference.