ITS brings home innovative packaging with the help of the Benelux Impact Centre

Apeldoorn is a small city of 150,000 in the middle of the Netherlands and it is home to one of Europe’s leaders in household packaging, ITS, a family business. The company is the European leader in the field of aluminium foil, cling film and microwave film and also supplies baking paper, cooking bags, sandwich paper and coffee filters to the big names in European retail industry.

Innovation can be difficult in products that are used so widely regularly but still, General Manager Michiel Hogeveen is looking for that "wow" factor.

That 'wow' factor will arrive in 2017 with a new, innovative packaging film that ITS is currently developing for the catering and hospitality industry. The aim is to facilitate machine processing of the film in the factory and to increase the ease of use for consumers.

For inspiration Hogeveen visited DS Smith’s Benelux Impact Centre in historic Ghent, Belgium.

Benelux Impact Centre

"With DS Smith, we at ITS have had a really good collaboration. In the Benelux Impact Centre, we looked with DS Smith’s Packaging Strategists at how to improve the performance of our packaging in the market, and throughout our Supply Cycle.

In Ghent, our eyes were really opened. DS Smith showed us that there were plenty of opportunities in the field of mechanical processing and logistics. But perhaps even more surprising; in its own internal practice environment, with real examples you can see, touch, hold and study, they showed that the brand experience communicated by the packaging of our film could be a lot better in the supermarket. "

Pack Right Centre

Fresh insights from the Impact Centre were then used during a workshop in the Pack Right Centre. Product specialists and packaging designers from both DS Smith and ITS worked closely together to achieve the best possible packaging solution.

"The beauty of the Pack Right Centre is that a sketch there can immediately be converted into models. So you can see in no time what it will look like and the impact of the package. For us, the focus was on automatic setting up and filling the box and optimal printing on behalf of the brand experience. It is extremely well done," beams Hogeveen. "Anyone with packaging will see a difference, I recommend a visit to the Impact Centre and a Pack Right workshop to improve outcomes."

Save on cardboard

"The new box that we have developed together with DS Smith is smaller than our current package. The roll of film inside has a diameter of 6.5 cm instead of 8.5 cm now. Thus we save directly on board and we gain some important improvements in our logistics. There are some clever elements such as a so-called roller lock system, whereby the foil is in the outer packaging and the unwinding resistance is improved. As a result, the tearing goes more smoothly. Also, the plastic small saw has been upgraded and glued has been used on the top and bottom along the perforation line ensuring the printed parts are perfectly aligned. The identification of the package, or the brand perception, is therefore taken even further," said Hogeveen.

Efficiency drive

Hogeveen defines the new foil packaging of ITS as "a compact dispenser with an ergonomic handle. "We will improve our efficiency with this innovative package. That's better for us and for the people who work with the product. We are now working hard on the design of the set-up equipment.

The new packaging is due out in the second quarter of 2017 and we’re confident about how the market will react: wow! "