The Whale and the Flat-Packed PET

Munster Simms Engineering, of Bangor Northern Ireland, is better known by its brand name Whale. They are the UK’s leading manufacturer of pumps, valves and faucets for Caravans, Motor Homes and Boats sold to manufacturers, distributors and through retail merchandising display – globally.

For them, packaging must not only be robust to protect the items from damage and contamination in transit and store, but the design and presentation must support their brand integrity throughout.

Until speaking to Sinclair & Rush about their Visipak http://www.visipak.co.uk/ brand range of clear plastic packaging, card had been the Whale’s pack and display medium.

Well, plastic is really a generic because PET provides the robust and visually stimulating solution, part of it at least.

PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate, a mouthful but an invaluable product. It’s a plastic resin and a form of polyester. For you techies out there, polyethylene terephthalate is a polymer that is formed by combining two monomers: modified ethylene glycol and purified terephthalic acid.

Manufacturers use PET plastic to package products because of its strength, thermo-stability and transparency. And customers choose PET because it is inexpensive, lightweight, re-sealable, shatter-resistant and recyclable. Viable and ecologically sound.

The boxes are manufactured, overprinted and supplied flat. Die-cut tongues fold into place as the package is literally and simply squeezed together. The product is enclosed and the top pressed to. The protruding ‘euro-slot’ is ready to hang on euro hooks at the point of display supporting smart, simple merchandising.

The strength beats its poorer card relation on durability and the recently soaring price of card is beaten on cost. Branding is confidently sustained and all on-pack instructions, warnings and fine print terms are clearly visible with no danger of water-marking and other deformation problems.

As you see, the clear ‘window’ area is part of one sheet of PET, so clarity in no way prejudices strength. Clear packaging allows high visibility enabling the purchaser to check the printed on-pack spec as well as to actually see the item to be sure it matches the old pump being replaced.

We suggested earlier that switching to PET from Sinclair & Rush was just part of the solution provided for Whale Pumps.

You see, Whale wanted to cut costs further by increasing production runs and benefiting from the economies of scale therein. However, the volumes (even flat packed) would cause logistical headaches in their manufacturing and distribution facilities.

Ever flexible, Sinclair & Rush solved both problems by increasing the run, but managing the volume by holding stock in Kent, called off to a 48 Hour JIT programme, scheduled to suit the client’s own production flows.

For more information on the Visipak range of clear plastic tubing, clamshells and boxes, visit http://www.visipak.co.uk/ ;

call 01622 693 200 or e-mail sales@sinclair-rush.co.uk today.