Dear all

The one time I’ve decided to move away from discussing general market trends, and to talking about individual companies instead, I promptly got myself into trouble…. It seems I was caught sleeping on the job , and have missed some vital updates on the Tetra Pak front at Gulfood 2013. So please find below some details of systems updates that I should have apprised you of in the previous blogpost. Now that I’ve been properly informed, the four most important of them are as follows….

Dairy and beverage end users usually think long and hard about additional lines or, heaven forbid, line replacements. The more filling machines are installed in the region, the harder it, therefore, gets to sell those additional ones. So, in a novel move, Tetra Pak has now launched a process of retrofitability (if there’s such a word) – a way to upgrade TBA-19 machines to be able to produce TBA Edge portion packs, first with pre-laminated straw openings only, later on also with a screw closure.

“This allows existing customers to bring in packaging innovation at low investment and with considerably less lead time than the installation of new machinery. Should be good news for our increasingly investment-averse colleagues suffering from squeezed margins syndrome.” 

Canadian juice brand, Rougemont, in Tetra Pak’s Tetra Gemina Aseptic Crystal

In order to promote high-speed portion line solution to the Middle East market at Gulfood. Previously only available at a filling speed of up to 9,000 packs per hour, a new version is now available at 24,000 packs per hour. Just a slight improvement of 166%  then….:)

There has, indeed, been a new format launch by Tetra Pak as well, or more thoroughly a new version of an existing format – Tetra Gemina Aseptic Crystal. Canadian juice producer A. Lassonde is so far the only company in the world filling in this format, the ROUGEMONT brand in a one-litre carton. The USPs of this new variant of TGA appear to be the increased pourability (I’m sure we’re making words up now….) and robustness of the pack, in addition to a new, more multi-faceted shape. The format was introduced to a MENA clientele at Gulfood 2013. Seeing that Lassonde are already active in the region (through a joint venture in Tunisia, Phytoflora Lassonde) perhaps we might be able to see this format amongst us sooner rather than later?

And finally, continuing the theme that SIG Combibloc have already trumpeted with their launch of combiblocXslim, Tetra Pak don’t want to be outdone in the mini-packs department. Relevant probably mostly to countries with an existing filling base for Tetra Fino Aseptic carton pouches – Egypt, Yemen, Pakistan come to mind – there is now a version available that allows filling of 100 ml TFA pouches, and with what is termed an ‘Opti-Size’ option this can be downsized even further to a size of 70 ml. An amusing sideline is that this size is advertised as Tetra Pak’s ‘Value Friend’.  I can already see those price points tumbling……

So, I hope I have put the record straight on these innovations. I promise my readers to be more thorough in the future….

With my best wishes for the Gulfood aftermath. I hope the follow-up is as successful as the show itself was for you…

Thorsten