Faller Packaging delivers inclusive drinking cup carton in fast-paced collaboration

30 Jul 2020 --- Germany-based Faller Packaging has assisted start-up iuvas with the packaging design of its new sippa drinking aid for elderly and physically disabled people. Providing comfortable and safe help for those requiring drinking assistance, the sippa cup consists of many different components that have to be combined and inserted into one package. The collaboration involved four companies and 20 coordinated sales teams to ensure the packaging was constructed with safe, durable and eco-conscious materials. PackagingInsights examines the nature of established packaging companies partnering with start-ups on complex projects.

“Challenges, such as packaging for sippa, allow us to use new techniques and processes and to develop clever solutions. Our R&D department is specialized in customized solutions and happy to solve tricky tasks. We were able to support iuvas [along] all of the process steps with only one contact person – easily and structured,” Kerstin Löffler, Vice President Marketing & Communications, tells PackagingInsights.

The carton has different compartments for individual product components, including on-pack usage directions and an instructions leaflet.

This process proved to be “extremely complex,” the company highlights. The user instruction booklet had to fit perfectly into each folding carton and inlay to achieve the best possible product positioning. Other priorities included transport safety, delivery times and supply chains for all the packaging components.

Faller Packaging took its ecological responsibility “very seriously,” continues Löffler. “For [the sippa packaging], we only use recyclable cardboard. This renewable raw material comes from [environmentally] sustainable forestry and can be completely returned to the raw material cycle at the end of its product life.”

Moreover, the content of the folding carton differs slightly for different countries. This means that the folding carton has to be very flexible to safely and practically accommodate the adapted sets. “Thanks to a perfectly coordinated process, we were able to supply everything from a single source as a one-stop-shop supplier and minimize the time, effort and cost of packaging,” Löffler notes.

There’s no “i” in team
Faller Packaging calls the practical implementation “a real joint success.” The large folding carton with its automatic base was produced at the company headquarters in Waldkirch. Since only small quantities were required for the project, the subsidiary PackEx in Worms manufactured the two small internal folding boxes, plus the integrated insert as a special design. The factory in Binzen contributed the package leaflets, which are placed as outserts in the small folding cartons.

The sippa cup facilitates drinking for those with swallowing difficulties.Meanwhile, the artwork for the sippa packaging was carried out by the Global Centre of Packaging Excellence, which Faller Packaging set up together with the Irish company Perigord Premedia. Overall, 20 different sales teams coordinated throughout the individual packaging steps.

Löffler indicates that cooperation with a start-up is “no better or worse” than with more established companies. “It is just different. Due to their structures, start-ups are often more agile and open to unusual or new ideas and work with shorter decision-making paths. This is a great advantage for sippa in a project like the packaging.” Despite the entire project being “a big challenge,” creating “one or two complex situations,” Löffler ultimately highlights that the collaboration was “worth it.”

“We left our comfort zone, remained curious and have been able to expand our knowledge and experience,” she concludes.

By Anni Schleicher