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Please answer me the following questions in your own words based on the study case
illustrates the role of innovation and product develop than a single sheet would allow.' These layers are ment within a process industry and how, in such then agitated at a higher rate than standard paper- industries, innovation occurs on the production line board, creating a unique orientation of the fibres rather than in laboratories. within the material and a texture that is more corru- gated. The second difference lies in the final stage of Introduction the production process: the forming of the material Chester Packaging is a leading supplier of cartons, using roller machines. The same machines are used labels, leaflets and specialist paper packaging. The as those with traditional paperboard; however, the company currently produces packaging for a range roller is engaged using differential speed pattems. of fast-moving consumer goods brands, as well as This process alters the structure and orientation of for many pharmaceutical firms. Part of Chester the fibres further, resulting in a malleable material Packaging's pharmaceutical packaging range is blis- with up to 15 per cent more movement than the ter packs for tablets and pills. Currently, the packag- average 2 per cent found in standard paperboard. ing of almost all tablets/pills consists of packs made The first firm interested in the malleable paper- from board, plastics and foil. For the pharmaceutical board was Swedish paper producer Billerud who industry, this method of packaging has become the invested €10 million in gaining intellectual property dominant design, due to the assurance of the integ- rights for the material. These rights granted Billerud rity provided to each tablet by the combination of access to know-how regarding the development of these materials and the ability to print dates on the the material in terms of pulping, ingredients and pro- foil seal. However, with growing customer concerns duction processes. This allowed the company the about environmental issues, some firms are starting ability to produce flat sheets of the material and pre- to question their reliance upon non-recyclable plas- vented other firms gaining access to this know-how. tics. This, then, formed the basis for the development The firm also invested a further €2 million to alter the of Chester Packaging's Paperboard Blister Pack structure of the fibres, further giving the material up In 2012, a paper mill located in northern Italy to 20 per cent more movement than traditional began developing an innovative paperboard mate- paperboard. However, despite these investments, rial. Whilst the material offered the same robustness Billerud lacked market and product knowledge. After and protection as traditional paperboard, it also fea- all, Billerud was a material supplier, it was unsure of tured a unique characteristic: it was malleable. product applications for the material. Moreover, with Compared to the restrictive rigidity of its traditional no specific target customer or application in mind, counterpart, the new formable paperboard could be the material was, effectively, being developed blind. manipulated into a variety of dynamic shapes (see the photo) and offered the ability of increased indentations (with heights of 5 mm possible com- pared to 0.2 mm indention with traditional paper- board). These qualities offered a number of packaging improvements across a wide range of product categories and allowed brand owners the opportunity to make their packaging (and their brand) stand out from the competition. The develop- ment process for the formable material is much the same as those for traditional paperboard, but with two distinct differences. The first difference is the use of several thin layers of laminated paper forming the basis for the paperboard, unlike traditional paperboard that features a thicker single layer. Product applications of the formable paperboard According to the production manager: 'These layers material of paper allow for the material to be manipulated during the production process to a far greater extent Source: Andrei Mayatni/Shutterstock.com
Applying the technology to possible allowing Chester Packaging exclusive rights to the products use of the material, but only for pharmaceuticals Chester Packaging first received a sample of the packaging. According to the marketing manager: paperboard in 2013. The possible applications for the 'The licensing agreement we arranged allowed us to formable board for Chester Packaging transcended use the paperboard in the packaging for our phar- product and industry boundaries and included: maceuticals, and also to adjust and add to the origi- replacing existing packaging materials (i.e., envi- sensitive products.' nal ingredients so the material would be suitable for ronmentally unfriendly plastics); differentiating products from their competitors by Product development process using unique packaging in terms of materials and The product development process for a new blister decoration (an eye-catching highly indented pack soon ran into difficulty. The initial relatively shal- brand logo): low indentations created as part of the early experi- improving the functionality of new or existing mental development stages were produced using the packaging (better shaped mouldings for chocolate existing machine tools; more significant indentations boxes); and (including deeper and larger areas), however, use in areas outside of packaging (improving the required new machinery with the capability to pro- quality of Braille texts). duce a much larger force to compress the board. Clearly, additional machinery costs would raise Such was the extent of its application, that Chester adoption barriers for potential customers. Chester Packaging felt as though it could replace almost any Packaging's tooling partner initially was sceptical packaging with this new material, and considered it about the concept and the likelihood of success. This to be one of the most significant packaging innova- was because the firm had over 40 years' experience tions in the history of the paperboard packaging of producing polymer-based blister packs. It was industry'. wedded to the idea that only polymers could be Chester Packaging initially discovered, through moulded with its tooling. It was, therefore, reluctant experimentation, that it was possible to use the to become involved in what it saw as a crazy idea material for small items of packaging, such as the that was unlikely to be commercially useful. It argued blister pack. During these experiments, they also that the development costs were likely to be too high, discovered that the production of small items was especially given the unique nature of the material and possible using existing production line machinery the changes required to the production processes. with only minor changes to the manufacturing pro- The production manager explained: 'Margins are cess. This provided a considerable advantage: that tight in this industry and any cost increase is usually the company could avoid the costs of investing in met with derision.' new production machinery. In July of 2013, Chester Despite these concerns, the development team at Packaging approached Billerud with an offer to pur- Chester Packaging was confident that the benefits the chase intellectual property rights to the formable new packaging brought were so great that firms would paperboard to gain exclusivity for its packaging. be willing to incur these cost increases. For example, This offer initially was declined, along with alterna- in the toothpaste market, recently the firm noticed that tive proposals from other companies hoping to gain one of its customers had been willing to double its an exclusivity deal. Chester Packaging faced fierce packaging costs in order to achieve an elaborate gloss competition in gaining rights to the material: gaining finish to the box. After several months of codevelop- exclusivity for a material or technology that has so ment, new tooling eventually was developed to many uses was, inevitably, going to be a difficult accommodate the formable paperboard at a cost of task. Understandably, Billerud recognised the value £25,000. The increased pressure required to create of the material and the interest it had gained, so it the larger indentations in the material demanded steel wanted to take advantage of every opportunity tooling to replace existing brass tooling. available to it. Following 12 months of intense Finally, the blister pack went into production. With negotiations, the two parties reached an agreement, the many benefits this innovative packaging brings,
Questions 1 Given that this is one of the most significant packaging innovations in the history of the paperboard packaging industry', what are the main problems? 2 Discuss whether the technology has benefits and what the advantages are over existing products.