Tubes: Multidimensional Future
More brands such as Too Faced Cosmetics are requesting smaller-sized tubes—leading suppliers such as HCT Packaging to expand their offerings.
Industry welcomes new printing technology, grapples with Asian cost pressures, and sees smaller sizes on the horizon.
By John ConroyThe science museum isn’t the only place you’ll see holograms in the next few years. Check your evening handbag. The three-dimensional images join the use of computer-to-plate technology, smaller sizes, and further Asian manufacturing inroads as growing trends in the tube industry, according to some industry suppliers.
Decoration
Tube graphics and computer-to-plate (CTP) technology give manufacturers two golden opportunities to create packages that beckon customers, says Michael Hoard, director of marketing and business development for Alcan Packaging Beauty (Washington, NJ). “Producing unique surface effects, such as hologram effects, is one emerging area and an opportunity for tube users to clearly differentiate their products from competing ones on the shelf,” he says. The best design “is either what’s going to catch the consumer’s eye or what tube-package feature will offer consumers a real value.”
Relatively new to tube manufacturing, CTP offers the advantage of eliminating the use of film, Hoard says. “With CTP, the graphics in a DTP (desktop publishing) computer file are output to the printing plate rather than to a film which is then used to make a printing plate. CTP ensures better registration and image-to-edge repeatability.”
William Schwartz, owner of Vista Packaging (Brooklyn, NY), calls CTP “very sophisticated” and says he likes the technology because it allows “unlimited colors.” His company combines CTP with shoulder printing, “meaning that we can print the whole sleeve. It used to be that if the sleeve color was white, you could print blue or yellow, for example, but had to leave 3⁄16 in. on each side because the printer couldn’t cover the whole thing.”
The technology is used on tubes made for body lotions, shower gels, skin creams, and similar products. CTP saves money, Schwartz says, “especially for people who used to use labels.” Vista has been using CTP “for a couple of months,” and Schwartz says combining the two methods eliminates the need for labels. Hoard notes that use of the technology is “increasing globally.”
Smaller Sizes, Custom Designs
Global travel at a time of heightened airline security is affecting client product requests at HCT Packaging (Bridgewater, NJ), according to Rebecca Goswell, group creative director. “We are now seeing an increase in demand for smaller-sized tubes, not only for lip glosses,” she points out, “but also for skin care products and foundations because of the limitations regarding sizes of containers at most airports.”
Goswell says tubes “have not historically been a major part of our business, but we are currently seeing a big increase in customers asking for them.” HCT recently manufactured small gloss and eye shadow tubes for Urban Decay Cosmetics, Too Faced, MAC, Estée Lauder, and others. Client demand for smaller tubes has led to requests for additional benefits and distinctive design features, she says.
“We have been looking at multilayered tubes where there are improved barrier properties to protect the contents from both UV light and the loss of moisture,” Goswell notes. “We are combining this with the idea of a coextruded visistrip as an indicator of levels of product in traditionally opaque packaging.” The executive says HCT’s design team has developed specially designed closures and tips, an area she says has “much potential for adding value.”
For Urban Decay’s Ultraglide lip gloss, HCT Packaging fashioned a flexible TPE applicator tip that feels comfortable during application.
The company recently made a slim gloss tube with a specially designed TPE tip for Urban Decay and has begun manufacturing snap-in and screw-in tips using different material combinations, Goswell says. The combinations “add luxury and an added customer benefit when applying the product to face and body.”
Goswell says that tubes “have long been poor relatives to the pump and the jar. Sizes and shapes are limited and tend to be stock, and the live hinged polypropylene caps tend to give a poor quality perception.”
World Wide Packaging (Florham Park, NJ) is trying to change that perception with customized offerings. Jeffrey Hayet, executive vice president of global sales, asserts that World Wide’s “unique closure head systems” is the reason his company has thrived in the last two years. “Everything is thriving by 300% per year,” he boasts. “In the tube industry, that’s not the norm.”
Generally speaking, industry sales are usually flat, Hayet claims, but World Wide is doing “tremendous business on the custom side” with its patented system. Avon is using the one-piece technology globally for its spider vein product called Anew, while Mary Kay is using it for TimeWise, an antiaging microdermabrasion facial cream.
“The tube head for Avon was produced with no threads,” Hayet says. “The cap snaps on and the cap snaps off. That’s not been done in a plastic tube before.” Mary Kay’s product uses the same head.
Overseas Sourcing
To keep up with demand, early in 2007 World Wide opened a second tube factory in China. The company’s first plant is in Shenzhen. The new factory is in Guangzhou. The Chinese facilities enable World Wide to take advantage of faster product turnaround rates in the country, Hayet says.
U.S. tube manufacturers will continue to feel pressure from China and other “lower-cost” Asian countries, Alcan’s Hoard asserts. More custom-made products are made in China than in the United States and Europe, he adds. Lower labor costs offer an advantage, according to the executive. Hayet differs in his assessment, saying that it’s tool costs that are lower than other regions. That’s not the case with labor costs, he asserts.
Using China and other Asian producers does have its disadvantages, Hoard says. These include high freight costs for large tubes in particular, ocean transit time, and inventory requirements. Hoard maintains that Asian suppliers also have trouble responding to surges in product orders.
The key to competing with offshore suppliers is to improve manufacturing efficiency while maintaining the service and quality that customers have come to expect. Because of its global presence, Alcan is well positioned to match the right manufacturing location and clients’ requirements for laminate and plastic tubes, Hoard says.
Producing custom products is indeed uncommon, he adds. “It’s not the preferred practice because it adds investment cost in tooling, and the manufacture of those custom tubes requires special setups in production,” adding even more costs. Using a “common-head platform is a better approach,” Hoard insists. Alcan differentiates the tube package with several different closure styles, all with the same thread profile. The concept allows the supplier to offer a similar platform across several geographic regions.
Alcan’s most exacting clients are the Japanese, Hoard notes. Quality requirements in the Japanese market are “very strict,” he says. To meet the requirements, the supplier has installed vision systems to maintain quality standards. Optical imaging is also used “to produce more-precise graphics for the Japanese customer.”
Rexam Dispensing Systems partnered with two European tube manufacturers to supply dispenser tubes, such as the ones pictured above.
Satisfying clients’ exacting standards can result in good news for component manufacturers as well. The partnership of Rexam Dispensing Systems (Purchase, NY) and two top European tube manufacturers recently resulted in sales of Rexam’s dispensers to four personal care product manufacturers. Unique Yanbal was the first brand to launch a product featuring Rexam's tube dispenser for its Sentiva product. In July, Clarins, Ducray Laboratories, and Victoria’s Secret Beauty selected Rexam’s dispenser tube for their latest offerings. Tuboplast Hispania and Linhardt collaborated with Rexam to develop the airless dispenser tube for viscous formulas.
Virginie Lemeunier, Rexam’s technical support manager, says in order to function properly, the SP343 pump must provide a high suction force that will make the tube collapse. “You do not want any air reentering the package,” she says. “The tube becomes completely flat with a very high evacuation rate, thanks to the pump.”
Technical constraints mean Rexam must find the proper balance between form and function, Lemeunier says. “The pump is really an engine, and for it to function correctly it needs to be a certain height. In terms of diameter, that all depends on the bottle or the tube it will be attached to.”
In addition to standing out, dispenser tubes such as this one for Clarins offer ease of dispensing.
The SP343 pump comes in both plastic and metal with an overcap. Clarins selected the all-metal 25-mm dispenser for a new skin care product, while the three other manufacturers selected the all-plastic 35-mm model for their skin care launches.
Alcan Packaging Beauty added a sponge-top applicator to this all-plastic laminate tube for Chattem’s Icy Hot brand.
Alcan Packaging Beauty plans to launch all-plastic laminate tubes in North America in the fourth quarter of 2007, Hoard says. Several European clients, including Beiersdorf, are using the tubes with great success, he adds. Alcan Packaging’s most recent development is the sponge top applicator tube for Chattem’s Icy Hot brand. Hoard says the sponge top allows users to apply products easily and directly onto the skin. The top reduces product waste by eliminating the need to apply the product by hand.
In fact, the tube and closure industry faces a growing challenge to reduce material use, Hoard says. He adds that sustainability involves social, environmental, and economic elements as suppliers focus their materials research on replacing fossil-based polymers with renewable resources.
As for fashion cycles, shapes are the industry’s current fascination, according to Hoard. This latest fancy encompasses tube design, shape of the closure, and end seals.
Getting to the Point
The new Pinpoint silicone tip on a tube.
Dispensing precise product doses has been a challenge for tubes. Special rigid tips have been employed to control product stream, but some users have found their use a bit hard on certain areas of the skin, such as around the eye.
Seaquist Closures (Mukwonago, WI) has devised an alternative to the rigid tip. The closure manufacturer has fashioned a silicone valve for use in a conically shaped tube head. Drawn from the company’s SimpliSqueeze line of silicone valves currently used for a number of closures, Pinpoint features a pointed silicone valve that releases and cuts off a precise stream of product. “Users will be able to dispense a narrow or thick product stream, depending upon the pressure, but it is controlled and precise,” reports Brenda Chamulak, director of strategic innovation for Seaquist Closures. “The silicone makes the pointed tip soft to the touch.”
Seaquist has been developing and marketing SimpliSqueeze closures since 1992 for many different markets. By designing the Pinpoint valve to protrude out of the package, Seaquist found that it was able to promote an entirely new benefit to consumers with the silicone valve. Consumers can now touch and feel the valve, enabling them to use the valve to interact more with the package.
Seaquist chose to put the SimpliSqueeze technology into a more obvious, more accessible location such as a dispensing tip. The pointed tip is designed to remain closed when no pressure is applied to the tube, effectively sealing the tube.
Such a seal suits Pinpoint for fluid-like products that typically flow freely out of traditional tube orifices, reports Doug Jackson, plastic tube marketing and product development manager for Alcan Packaging Beauty (Washington, NJ). “The silicone valve controls the flow of fluids, more so than normal tubes,” he says.
Seaquist collaborated with Alcan Packaging Beauty to develop Pinpoint for small-diameter tubes. The two companies have worked together historically, Jackson says. After seeing Seaquist’s concept for Pinpoint, the company invested in tooling to make tubes that could accept the valve. Seaquist molds and assembles four components and supplies Pinpoint preassembled to Alcan. “We just snap them into our tubes,” says Jackson.
Alcan offers Pinpoint on monolayer tubes as well as on coextruded tubes made with EVOH. It is also considering Pinpoint for laminate tubes.
Pinpoint can be used on conventional tube-filling systems, with customers receiving finished tubes. Currently available are 0.750-in.-diam tubes, with 0.875- and 1-in.-diam tubes to follow. Standard push-on overcaps protect the tips from pressure, and metal shells from Anomatic are available. “The cap is more for purity than anything,” says Jackson. “For the most part, the valve is a leakproof closure.”
Chamulak says that Pinpoint is targeted toward cosmeceuticals and other sophisticated formulas. “Pinpoint can be used to apply products directly to the skin,” she says. “Its softness should appeal to a wide range of consumers, especially those that like to interact with packaging. Our research shows that consumers like the way it feels.”
Alcan’s customers, too, have welcomed Pinpoint. “There are no burrs, so Pinpoint doesn’t scratch the skin,” adds Jackson. “It is not suitable for all products, such as highly viscous products, but it is an excellent solution for products that don’t work well with standard tubes.”
Seaquist plans to develop other types of silicone dispensing valves, such as rounded and flat tips for lip application and spatula-like tips for skin care. Pinpoint can be provided in a range of colors, and it is also being developed using materials other than silicone for products now formulated with silicone.