Our company, as part of ongoing research to develop new innovative solutions in the flexible packaging industry, participated in the “Packaging Innovation Awards 2016” organized by the business publications Marketing Week, Plant Management and Self-Service in collaboration with the Association of the Greek Manufacturers of Packaging & Materials (AGMPM) and the Association of Hellenic Plastics Industries (AHPI). The Packaging Innovation Awards 2016 committee sought to highlight and reward innovation in packaging design, materials, technologies and processes that add value throughout the packaging supply chain. Our company participated in this contest for the first time and won 2 Awards in the Food section and the category of flexible packaging:
·Silver Award for the “Kellogg’s Cereal Bars” product: new, innovative packaging materials for cereal bars with OPP/PET and cold seal in registration, instead of the classic OPP/metallised OPP/cold seal structure. That represented a novel foil-free material design that comprises simultaneously high barriers to oxygen, moisture and flavour; it is also characterised by excellent transparency, which makes the product visible to the consumer; additionally, the aforementioned combination of materials ensures adequate shelf life. Lastly, the overall structural rationalisation (base-material downgauging/lightweighting by 17.7%, removal of metallised layer) significantly ameliorated environmental indicators.
·Bronze Award for the “Caricol 20ml Fruit Puree Stick” product: the material structure (PET/OPA/CPP) had high barriers to moisture, oxygen and aroma; it protects a mixture of naturally occurring anti-oxidants in an excellent manner and is designed so as to withstand hot-filling conditions required in the production process of the product. Furthermore, the overall thickness of the material confers high levels of rigidity and easy-opening capability to the end product. The correct choice of base materials and the laminating technology, serves, along with the stick slot, at the correct tearing of the packaging before use.
These awards add to the prestige and credibility of A. Hatzopoulos SA, strengthening our overall image and highlighting our technical expertise and our superior production-quality results.