Category:
October 19, 2022
Our service: From the idea to the shelf
At Elopak, our customers find high-quality packaging solutions from a single source. From sustainable beverage cartons to state-of-the-art filling technology and tailor-made secondary packaging – all elements are perfectly coordinated with each other and with our customers’ products. How do we ensure this? This is where our service and knowledge centre comes into play: the Elopak Technology Centre. This is where we research, test and develop so that innovations are quickly brought to market maturity and our packaging systems ultimately meet the highest demands.
Test Centre
The Test Centre has a wide range of filling machines that we use to test and develop our packaging systems. Here is what we do on site:
Field tests of new filling machines and machine upgrades as well as product developments such as new board grades and closures
Integrity tests: Verifying the compatibility of product, filling machine and packaging
Optimising filling processes
Laboratories
In our laboratories, we can perform microbiological, chemical, material and sensory investigations of food, packaging, filling machines and environmental samples. This provides the ideal basis for bringing product innovations to market maturity as well as for comprehensive and well-founded consultation. This allows us to recommend the best packaging option to our customers and give a realistic forecast of the stability, shelf life and storability of their products.
Sensory laboratory
All sensory tests take place under strictly controlled conditions and are designed according to ISO guidelines.
Qualification of packaging materials through a strict series of sensory testing
Assessment of new board or closure categories, modified coatings, new polymers and new inks
Performance of regular quality checks
Troubleshooting
“Sometimes our work is like that of a detective. We have to consider a wide variety of potential factors and test the interaction between them. That’s how we identify the causes of sensory problems.”
Liv Bente Strandos, Manager Sensory Services at Elopak
Food and material laboratory
Here we carry out tests on various types of packaging and filling materials to ensure safe products of the highest quality.
Portfolio of around 160 analytical methods
Microbiological investigation of food, packages and filling machines to identify microorganisms, detect contamination sources, control hygiene of food containers, conduct microbial challenge testing
Food chemical evaluations, e.g. general migration analyses, shelf-life studies for juice and milk, filling suitability of food products, product packaging interaction
Packaging material analysis and performance testing: Oxygen barrier properties, identification of foreign bodies, determination of material properties, evaluation of polymers
“We ensure that a wide variety of products arrive at the customer's door safely packaged, with maximum freshness and a long shelf life. As product diversity increases, and with it the challenges for packaging systems, our role becomes increasingly important.”
Erlend Sveva, Director System Performance at Elopak
Packaging laboratory
We also support our customers in making the right decision in terms of packaging design, secondary packaging or palletizing scheme. We offer these services, among others:
Support in the visualisation of designs and concept ideas
Production of generic or customised mock-ups: from 3D pack shots to physical samples
Creating shelf animations
Development, sample production and testing of secondary packaging: From the classic tray to multi-packs and secondary placement
Simulation of a transport distance for filled packaging
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