In Pursuit of the Perfect Tear

The result of the study will lead to a service that is unique on the market and that shall be a part of the service pack that Korsnäs offer their customers – Packaging Performance Service.

30/04/07 A tear-strip as a means of opening a pack is an ingenious function. When it works. Far too often it doesn’t. The consumer gets annoyed and the brand-owner pays the penalty. The explanation is lack of knowledge. At Korsnäs there is now research going on where we study what effect the different parameters have on the function.

There is no real research done in this area, so the method used by the packaging designers is simply trial and error for a certain material. If the converter then changes material the problems start. Today at Korsnäs we can give hints based on our experience of our board, but in this study we will systematically investigate how and why it works, says Karsten Thüring, Technische Universität Dresden and responsible for the tear-strip project. Anna Jansson, laboratory engineer at PackLab, gets many questions from customers regarding packaging design and tear-strips are a frequent subject. Together they have now designed the study that will make it clear what happens in the opening moment with the different cartonboard materials.

The strength and advantage

It is not only the moment of opening that is important when it comes to tear-strips. The tear-strip is a deformation in the pack that makes it less durable for stacking and transport. In this respect the well known strength of Korsnäs material really does justice to itself and is, therefore, a marketing argument. However, this study is general and the focus is on how the tear-strips react in the opening moment on different board materials with different amount of layers, and which construction is suitable to the respective material. Speed and angle are other parameters that are tested. When the study is completed we will know more about this area, says Anna Jansson.

Unique service for customers

The result of the study will lead to a service that is unique on the market and that shall be a part of the service pack that Korsnäs offer their customers – Packaging Performance Service. The service for tear-strips will include recommendations, tests and improvement suggestions and will be launched during 2007.