Looking to the future

Jun 04, 2013

Tags

A future which relies on a (singularly plentiful) variety of plastic packaging with high innovation and service contents, made using all possible combinations of the three converting techniques: injection-moulding, blow-moulding and thermoforming. An overview of RPC’production.

Specialists for food. Today food remains the main outlet sector for RPC containers, which are available standard or tailor-made, with ample variety to satisfy the myriad needs of an increasingly sophisticated and sensitive market. As a matter of fact, the group has developed a wide range of sterilizable, microwavable, stackable containers with protective barrier for refrigerated and non-refrigerated products. These containers are progressively lighter and more resistant over time, with high image and service contents. Pictured are some emblematic examples: a tub for Plasmon baby food, thermoformed and filled in an aseptic environment, which won the 2012 Italian Packaging Oscar; a microwave-safe casserole with PP/EVOH/PP and a PP lid, for William Saurin; the PP/EVOH/PP thermoformed capsules for Nescafè; the fun Easy Wine Glass, in 18.7 cl format, with peelable lid, for spill-free drinking, made for the Swedish Cefour Wine & Beverage AB.

Non-food, practical, sustainable. In the non-food area, the group’s marketing and design divisions are dedicated mainly to the chemical and industrial sectors, which also include lubricants, surface coatings, gardening products and craft goods. RPC offers standard container lines but also develops ad hoc solutions with all the service expertise of a business well-rooted in local communities. The practical use of the group’s packaging solutions, particularly in dispensing and opening functions, along with their sustainability and the economies offered by plastic materials, guide the group’s designers in their work, which, combining the different production technologies, offer a creativity that leaves its mark on each and every product.
The guiding principle of compatibility - environmental and economic - has proven particularly fruitful. A line of thin wall containers, lighter and more economical, made through a co-injection process. The multilayer structure incorporates, in the inner layer, up to 30% post-consumer regrind (PCR), produced in two dedicated sites, in France and in the UK.

One stop shop for cosmetics. The RPC Bramlage-Wiko technology center (Lohne, D) is a one-stop shop where users, in particular those of the cosmetics sector, can find all services necessary to the production of a container, from design to logistics, including moulds, engineering, assembly, superficial finishing, quality management and control. Here RPC creates packaging for every kind of cosmetics product and executes silkscreen decorations, as well as those using lasers, pad printing, hot printing, electroplating, overmoulding, IML…
Recent examples include a practical airless dispenser developed for Lancôme using twist up technology; a stick for Labello made possible by the development of a new mechanical process that enabled reducing the number of components from four to three; a tub for creams with an innovative opening; a twist-off tube with reduced number of components; the Gizmo closure system, created to make it possible to add things to beverages and currently in the early phases of introduction to the cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors.

New proposals for pharmaceuticals. RPC’s creative pool has generated an array of containers, and most importantly, of dispensers that accommodate the peculiarities of each type of contents. Thus were born new models of dry powder inhalers (DPIs), which can be re-loaded with pharmaceuticals in blisters or capsules, pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDIs), diagnostic containers and nasal sprays.

The recently patented RPC Dose Indicator is combined with pressurized inhalers in order to enable the patient to keep track of the number of doses administered; this FDA-approved system can be easily integrated into an aerosol dispenser with a small adjustment to the actuator. It’s also new Twist’n Hale multi-dose inhaler for pharmaceuticals in blisterpacks.