Cup Redesign Brings Extra Appeal to FreshSeal

A total of nine brands of hot drinks have been launched in the new cup, including Kenco Sustainable Development, Kenco Cappio, Carte Noire, Suchard and PG Tips tea.

27/04/07 An ingenious redesign of the cup for Kraft’s Kenco FreshSeal range, manufactured by RPC Containers Hereford, provides improved practicality, an enhanced drinking experience and more effective branding.

Kenco FreshSeal is Kraft’s system for ready-to-serve hot drinks, ideal for travel, leisure and sports environments.  Ingredients are contained within the cup and sealed for freshness; when required, the seal is broken and hot water added to make the drink.

Kraft wanted to reinvigorate Kenco FreshSeal with an improved cup design that retained all the functionality of the original but with a more modern image and enhanced consumer experience.  The solution was to switch from the existing dry offset printed injection moulded PP version to a new ribbed design with a full wraparound board shroud.  This offers a number of advantages for consumers and for the brand, while retaining the internal pod in the cup base that enables integral sealing of the beverage powder.

The ribs and shroud combine to provide improved insulation to protect the consumer from the hot contents, a wide base diameter provides improved stability, while the rim has been redesigned for better sip characteristics.  In addition, the shroud offers the opportunity for full-length decoration and high-quality graphics for more effective branding.

From their initial design concept, Kraft foods worked with Cambridgeshire-based 42 Technology to create cup technical drawings, then RPC Hereford recommended minor modifications to translate this into a working pack. RPC Hereford manufactured samples using a single cavity pilot mould before full tooling was commissioned, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the design.

RPC Hereford developed some key design features on the cup, such as the cup rim rolling design for effective lid fit and drink enjoyment, as well as a device which allowed zero tolerance of the cup wrap with the base of the cup. The site has invested in new moulding machines and automatic handling and packaging equipment to manufacture the cups.

Close co-operation between Kraft, RPC and shroud supplier CPC ensured that the project was successfully completed within a tight timescale, with initial production commencing in December 2006. A total of nine brands of hot drinks have been launched in the new cup, including Kenco Sustainable Development, Kenco Cappio, Carte Noire, Suchard and PG Tips tea.

“RPC Hereford has provided real focus and demonstrated its strong design capabilities on Kenco FreshSeal , which has meant that through working as a close team, we have been able to bring the new cup to market at pace,” comments Rachel Cranston, Brand Manager at Kraft.  “Feedback from customers has already been extremely positive and we are very excited about our new look Kenco FreshSeal range.”

Keith Ormrod, General Manager at RPC Hereford, adds, “This is an exciting project for RPC Hereford and involves us in a technology which is new to the site. Our Project Team, led by Technical Manager Richard Ormerod, provided excellent support to Kraft and I believe that this is a good example of what can be done when customers and suppliers work closely together.”