Explanation key to Snap Pack success

“We are really going to have to communicate with consumers on how to open Snap Pack,”​ Carlsberg Group sustainability director Simon Boas Hoffmeyer told Food Manufacture.​

“The temptation is to try to pull one can off the side of the six-pack while it is still intact.”​ However, unless the consumer first divides the collation into two rows of three, the force required to prise the cans apart is likely to be excessive, Hoffmeyer warned.

Sustainability drive​

Snap Pack, which was developed by KHS subsidiary Nature MultiPack (NMP) Systems, is a key component in Carlsberg’s ‘Together Towards Zero’ sustainability drive. It took three years, and some 4,000 iterations of the adhesive, to pinpoint the right can-specific glue-dot formula.

“The composition of the glue was the biggest challenge​,” Hoffmeyer said. “It had to hold the cans together securely through the supply chain, but had to avoid being too strong for consumers to pull apart.” ​

When rolled out globally, the system could save more than 1,200t of plastics a year by avoiding hi-cone-type collation systems in the UK and shrinkwrap elsewhere, Carlsberg claimed. 

Launch market​

The brewer chose the UK as the launch market for Snap Pack in September, initially supplying 600 Tesco Extra stores with six-packs of Carlsberg Export. Launches in Nordic markets, including Denmark, will follow. 

The 20-metre long NMP machine includes vision systems capable of capturing 300 frames a second, to align the cans and ensure that they spelled out the brand name in a billboard effect, Hoffmeyer said. A reinforced carry-handle is also applied.

“We’re still working on optimising the logistics part of the system,”​ he admitted. Carlsberg is investing in free-standing quarter-pallets in Tesco Extra to promote the packs – but also to explain to consumers how to access them, Hoffmeyer added.