Beyond the package: Collaboration unlocks new possibilities

Leading the Charge – Reflections from Senior Product Development Engineer Hugues Blanco dela Torre

I joined Amcor’s research and development team back in 2014. Since then, most of my time has been devoted to developing yogurt packaging solutions. In a way, this product encapsulates many of my objectives as a product development engineer — to bring value, like sustainability and utility, to packaging, while also advancing a refined form of technology.

To me, the yogurt product development process is a lot like a triathlon – you must be strong in three key areas, or you’ll fall short. First, the product needs to meet essential food safety expectations. Yogurt needs to stay fresh and protected by the packaging, which is a combination of a rigid cup, a banderol and a flexible lid. Second, the product needs to work seamlessly with the customer’s production technology, which is often a form-fill-seal (FFS) machine that creates the form for the rigid cup with the banderol, then fills it with yogurt, and then applies the lid that seals it on top. Lastly, the product must meet the end consumer’s expectations – it should be pleasing to the eye, easy to open and, ideally, easy to recycle. As an engineer, my challenge is to balance both the customer’s needs and the product requirements with sustainability considerations.

These considerations were combined with other unique requirements presented by a customer last fiscal year: to create a yogurt cup that uses as few different materials as possible, and to make the end product easier to recycle. To be successful, the project required close coordination with our customer and raw materials providers. The Amcor team brought a deep technical expertise in the machinery and knowledge of how the packaging components would work together. I think what made us successful in delivering a 98.5% polystyrene yogurt cup was our ability to not only meet the essential functionality requirements, but to truly lead the collaboration between the suppliers, us, and the customer. We understood the technical details, but we also saw the big picture and brought together the right experts at the right times.

As a packaging company, we operate in a unique space between customers, raw materials providers, industry associations and regulators, and we have a responsibility to leverage this role. I am often reminded that the truth of today is not the truth of tomorrow. In other words, we need to be agile to be able to understand future challenges and advocate for subsequent solutions. Products like our yogurt cup are more than just packaging; they can encourage our industry to stay a step ahead of trends and consistently develop standardized, recyclable products.