New packaging solutions for life sciences, all at PACK EXPO in Chicago
Discover new packaging solutions from hundreds of suppliers specializing in life sciences, all under one roof at PACK EXPO International in Chicago.

Beauties and the bests

Holographic substrates were among the big winners in the annual competition of the Association of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters, and Laminators.

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Packages displaying holograms won a number of awards in the annual competition of the Assn. of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters, and Laminators (Ft. Mill, SC). But not all of the holograms were used specifically for their eye-catching beauty. One also contributed insulation value for frozen food shipments. Other winners showed unusual applications or converter skills.

The Peter Rigney Product of the Year Award went to Unifoil (Fairfield, NJ) for its part in producing a heart-shaped set-up box (1) for Forever Elizabeth fragrance, marketed by Elizabeth Arden, Miami Lakes, FL. It especially impressed the judges for its beautiful execution through many converting steps.

Using a metallized polyester from CFC Intl. (Chicago, IL), Unifoil embosses a custom-designed, “shimless” (i.e., seamless) 45° diagonal double-rainbow holographic pattern. The film is then laminated to 24-pt SBS board from International Paper (Memphis, TN) to form the top and base of the container. Custom repeats and custom diagonal patterns were used to eliminate any shim lines or seams. The film is also laminated to 12-pt board to form the rims for the container and lid. The rims are folded over to achieve a seamless rim with a duplex effect.

Another substrate, a 50-ga polyester film, is also metallized by CFC and converted by Unifoil in gold color. It’s applied to the inside of the box and lid to hide glue seams and serve as a background for the transparent thermoformed polyvinyl chloride tray that holds the container of the fragrance. The mirror-like appearance of the gold interior added an extra level of elegance to the package, judges said.

Hub Folding Box (Mansfield, MA) assisted with the package design and was the fabricator of the complex container. Hub also served as the contract packager for the product.

Hologram for fish shipper

Although newspapers have long been regarded as “fish wrap,” the Honolulu Fish Co., Honolulu, HI, has definitely ratcheted up its fish packaging (2). This processor of high-quality fish for premium restaurants around the world now ships its expensive products inside a corrugated container fully wrapped in a hologram.

Although it may not be the largest hologram application, this package may be the first time a corrugated box has been totally wrapped with holographic paper. The package won the marketing award in the food category for Proma Technologies (Franklin, MA). However, like the fragrance package, several other suppliers were involved in the execution of this container.

In fact, the hologram design began with Intl. Holographic Paper, which became ITW Holographics and is now known as ITW Foilmark (Newburyport, MA), says Phil Maniscalco, who shepherded the project through the first two companies and now is business development manager for Proma Technologies. He worked with the Honolulu plant of Weyerhaeuser (Tacoma, WA), the company that eventually produced the box.

“I had been trying to gain Honolulu Fish’s corrugated business for years when they showed me a corrugated box covered with aluminum foil and asked us if we could make that type of container,” recalls Jack Crowther of Weyerhaeuser on the island. “We knew we couldn’t work with aluminum foil but thought we might find other options.” Earlier, a sister company had made by hand some corrugated boxes for Ben & Jerry’s to ship ice cream, and that led Crowther to Proma.

In the end, the ITW company developed the master hologram with its in-house creative team. It was produced in its iSCAN large-format, dot-matrix laser process. Once approved, the master went to Proma for embossing and metallizing onto its 70# HoloPRISM paper in sheet form.

Explore new technology from hundreds of life sciences suppliers.
At PACK EXPO International, you’ll find innovations from hundreds of exhibitors that specialize in pharmaceuticals, biologics, nutraceuticals, medical devices and more. No other show delivers as many solutions to keep your products safe and effective.
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Explore new technology from hundreds of life sciences suppliers.