WO2009010795A1

WO2009010795A1 - Improvements in and relating to packaging

Info

Publication number: WO2009010795A1
Application number: PCT/GB2008/050573
Authority: WO
Inventors: Paul Boulger
Original assignee: T-BLUE Ltd
Current assignee: T-BLUE Ltd
Priority date: 2007-07-16
Filing date: 2008-07-15
Publication date: 2009-01-22
Anticipated expiration: 2010-01-16
Also published as: GB0713655D0

Abstract

The present invention relates to packaging, in particular to material sheets for use in packaging, and to packaging methods using said material sheets. By providing an opaque, printable portion (22) on an otherwise transparent material sheet (20) an efficient packaging process can be brought about. The packaging process is particularly beneficial in relation to packaging of collation packs (111).

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO PACKAGING

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to packaging, in particular but not exclusively to packaging of consumer products.

Background to the Invention

A high proportion of consumer products are sold as a single item unit, however in certain retail environments goods are sold as collation packs or multipacks. The outer packaging used to pack or collate these items are usually formed of paper, fibreboard or plastics materials such as biaxial orientated polypropylene, coated biaxial orientated polypropylene, cellophane or a combination of said materials. These collation packs are either sold directly to the final consumer, or they are used to transport product to retailers as a stock keeping unit (SKU). The retailer breaks down the collation packs into single item units for sale to consumers. Figure 1 shows an example collation pack 10 including a number of single item units 11.

Packaging used for the collation packs typically carries product information, instructions, barcoding and branding, which are applied using standard printing methods.

For example, it is possible to directly print the packaging used for collation. Alternatively, a supplementary piece of packing can be added to the collation pack. The supplementary piece of packing is pre-printed separately, and may comprise a pressure sensitive label, a sleeve, a band or the like. The addition of a supplementary piece of packing allows the collations pack to carry an additional barcode, instructions, price offers, promotions etc.

In a typical example, single item units are collated by placing them into a printed fibreboard carton, then overwrapped. The overwrap is provided for tamper evidence, and/or to extend shelf life. A label can be additionally attached to the outer surface of the overwrap to act as a supplementary piece of packing to carry promotional data or information relating to the product inside, or a combination of the above.

The collation methods described above can be wasteful of printed packaging materials, and are also expensive due to the number of processes involved in producing the collation packs. Summary of the Invention

In a first aspect, the present invention provides a material sheet comprising a transparent portion and an opaque portion, the opaque portion forming a print-receptive area.

Suitably, the opaque portion comprises a minority of the area of the material sheet.

Suitably, the opaque portion is provided at an edge of the material sheet. Suitably, the material sheet comprises a pair of opposed parallel edges, and the opaque portion is provided at each of the opposed parallel edges. Suitably the opaque portion comprises a strip provided at one or more of the edges of the material sheet.

Suitably, the opaque portion is carried on a surface of the material sheet. Suitably, the opaque portion comprises an ink. Suitably the ink comprises a polyvinyl butyral resin or polyester resin. Suitably, the opaque portion is a printed portion. Suitably, the opaque position carries one or more security print features selected from a group comprising: microtext, guilloche designs, printers marks, hidden security images used for product authentication purposes printed by the same print process as the opaque portion.

Suitably, the opaque portion is of greater thickness than the transparent portion. Suitably, the material sheet further comprises a thickness-balancing portion to even out the overall thickness of the material sheet. Suitably, the thickness-balancing portion is printed. Suitably, the thickness balancing portion evens out the overall thickness such that the overall thickness is uniform. Suitably, the thickness-balancing portion is provided between opaque portions. Suitably the thickness-balancing portion comprises an ink.

Suitably, the opaque portion is white in colour. Suitably, the transparent portion is colourless.

Suitably, the thickness-balancing portion is translucent. Suitably, the material sheet comprises a plurality of thickness-balancing portions. Suitably, the thickness-balancing portions are distributed over the majority of the area of the transparent portion, preferably in a regular distribution pattern. Suitably, the thickness-balancing portion covers the whole of the transparent portion of the material sheet.

Suitably, the opaque portion has heat sealable properties to enable the opaque portion to bond to itself and/or to the transparent portion on the application of a suitable heat treatment process. Suitably, the opaque portion comprises a heat sealable ink. Suitably, the ink has a sealing temperature in the range 120^°C - 150^°C.

Suitably, the opaque portion comprises a receptive surface for ink-jet printing. Suitably, the opaque portion comprises a laser markable pigment. Suitably the opaque portion comprises UV, IR or rare earth phosphor pigments or other security markers used for product authentication purposes.

Suitably, the opaque portion is provided in a plurality of areas. The opaque portion may be provided in one or more areas running along the length of the material sheet. Suitably, wrapping the material sheet around a three dimensional item to be packaged brings the plurality of areas together. Suitably, bringing the plurality of areas together comprises bring the plurality of areas into a single contiguous area. Suitably, bringing the plurality of areas together comprises bringing one or more edges of the areas into alignment with or into overlap with one another.

Suitably, the material sheet comprises a rollable and/or a foldable sheet. Suitably, the material sheet comprises a coated biaxially oriented polypropylene film. Suitably, the material sheet comprises film of the material supplied under the trade name Propafilm by Innovia Films of Wigton, UK, and of Atlanta, GA, USA.

In a second aspect, the present invention provides a packaging method comprising the steps of providing a material sheet according to the first aspect of the invention; wrapping the sheet around a three dimensional item to be packaged; and printing on the print-receptive area.

Suitably, the opaque portion is carried on a surface of the material sheet, and wrapping the sheet around the three dimensional item to be packaged leaves the surface of the material sheet carrying the opaque portion in contact with the item.

Suitably, printing on the print-receptive area comprises ink-jet printing, or laser marking. The jetting ink may be a security ink, carrying a rare earth phosphor pigment of a suitable particle size for product authentication purposes.

Suitably, the method further comprises applying a heat sealing process to bond the opaque portion to itself or to the transparent portion.

Suitably, wrapping the sheet around the item to be packaged comprises bringing together two or more areas making up the opaque portion. Suitably, wrapping the material sheet around a three dimensional package brings the plurality of areas together. Suitably, bringing the plurality of areas together comprises bring the plurality of areas into a single contiguous area. Suitably, bringing the plurality of areas together comprises bringing one or more edges of the areas into alignment with or into overlap with one another. Suitably, wrapping the material sheet around a three dimension package comprises folding the material sheet.

Suitably, the method further comprises an initial step of unrolling the material sheet from a roll, or unfolding the material sheet from a folded arrangement. Suitably, the printing on the print-receptive surface area is the final step in the packaging method.

Brief Introduction to the Drawings

For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how embodiments of the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows an example collation pack including a number of single item units;

Figure 2 shows a material sheet according to a first example embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 shows a collation pack illustrative of a problem appreciated by the inventors;

Figures 4a, 4b and 4c show material sheets according to a second, third and fourth embodiment of the present invention respectively;

Figure 5 shows a rectangular collation pack wrapped with the material sheet of Figure 4a or 4b;

Figure 6 shows step in a packaging method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 7 shows further steps in a packaging method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 8 shows a material sheet according to an example embodiment of the present invention in a folded configuration;

Figures 9 and 10 show material sheets according to example embodiments of the present invention, with the material sheets rolled;

Figures 11 -14 show material sheets according to example embodiments of the invention having thickness-balancing portions applied thereto; and

Figure 15 shows another material sheet according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

Description of Preferred Embodiments

Figures 2 shows a material sheet 20 comprising a transparent portion 21 and an opaque portion 22. The opaque portion 22 is an area of white, ink printed in a block on the material sheet 20. The opaque portion 22 is print-receptive, in the sense that it provides an area onto which print may be directly applied. In other embodiments, e.g. where the opaque portion is carried on a surface of the material sheet and the material sheet is transparent, the opaque portion is print-receptive in the sense that it provides an area which contrasts with print applied to the transparent material sheet on the side on which the opaque portion is not carried. The material sheet 20 comprises a transparent film of plastics material, in this example embodiment polypropylene. When used to package an item the material sheet 20 is wrapped around the item, and secured in place using an adhesive, heat-sealing or another suitable method. As will now be described, the material sheet 20 is particularly useful when packaging a collation pack.

The inventors have however appreciated that in directly wrapping a collation pack with the material sheet 20, it becomes possible to do away with a carton board carton or the like normally used to contain the single item units in a collation pack. The inventors have recognised that in doing away with a carton board carton or the like to contain single item units in a collation pack one difficulty arises in that an identifier such as an European Article Number 13 (EAN 13) individual barcode of the single item units may be exposed. This could lead to accidental scanning the collation pack as a single item unit, resulting in a customer paying for one single item unit instead of the cost of the collation as a whole. Figure 3 shows an example collation pack 100 as contemplated by the inventors, and suffering from this problem. The example collation pack 100 of Figure 3 shows an EAN 13 collation pack barcode 101 , and two EAN 13 single item unit barcodes 110 applied to single item units 11. The EAN 13 single item unit barcodes 1 10 which are visible through the wrapping of the collation pack and which are located in close proximity to the EAN 13 collation pack barcode.

The inventors have further appreciated a second difficulty in printing an EAN 13 collation barcode on the collation pack, when the individual single item units are packaged without a carton board carton or the like. Sufficient opacity is provided by the opaque portion in order to block out the EAN 13 barcode of the single item while providing enough contrast for the EAN 13 collation barcode to be read at an electronic point of sale (epos).

By arranging the material sheet 20 with the opaque portion 22 in a predetermined position such that when the single item units are collated and wrapped the opaque portion 22 blocks and prevents the reading of the EAN 13 single item unit barcodes.

Furthermore, since the opaque portions 22 of the material sheet 20 comprises a print receptive portion, the opaque portion 22 provides an area where the EAN 13 collation pack barcode and other information can be printed, for example using a digital printing technique. In example embodiments of the invention the opaque portion 22 is either receptive to ink-jet printing ink, or comprises a laser-sensitive pigment. Figure 4a shows a second embodiment of material sheet 20, wherein the material sheet 20 is rectangular, and in which the opaque portion 22 is provided as a strip along one edge of the material sheet 20. Figure 4b shows a third embodiment in which the opaque portion is provided as two strips, one along each of two opposed parallel edges of the material sheet. These embodiments are particularly useful in wrapping rectangular items, such as collation packs made up from a plurality of rectangular single item units arranged with one another to form a rectangular collation. By providing the opaque portion 22 as a strip along an edge of the material sheet 20, when a rectangular item is wrapped the opaque portion 22 suitably covers one face of the wrapped item. This is shown in Figure 5, wherein a rectangular collation pack 111 made up from a plurality of single item units 11 is wrapped with the material sheet 20 of Figure 4a. The opaque portion 22 of the material sheet 20 covers an end face of the collation pack 111. In Figure 5 an EAN 13 collation pack barcode 101 has been printed on the opaque portion 22. The sheet of Figure 4b allows two end faces to be covered. In a fourth embodiment as shown in Figure 4c, the opaque portion is provided in areas running across the sheet, with the separation of the areas chosen as the length of an item to be wrapped. In this embodiment the material sheet may conveniently be provided on a roll, and then cut into separate sheets for wrapping. Cutting along the dashed line 23 to split an opaque portion provides material sheets with suitable opaque portions across their width.

Figure 6 shows a step in a packaging method, wherein EAN 13 collation pack barcodes 101 are applied to collation packs 111 using a printer 600. In certain embodiments, the ink which provides the opaque portion of the material sheet is wrapped in contact with the item being wrapped. In such embodiments the printer 600 prints onto the sheet on the other side to that carrying the opaque portion, with the opaque portion providing the required contrast against the item.

Figure 7 shows the further upstream steps of Figure 6, for example wrapping step and preparatory steps to wrapping. A material sheet 20 is provided in roll form, along with a roll of tear-strip tape 700. The material sheet and tear-strip tape are cut into sections using a cutter 701. A collation pack 111 is placed on the cut sections, and then wrapped as indicated by the arrows labelled A. After wrapping, the material sheet 20 is secured in place as will now be described, before passing by the printer 600.

In example embodiments the opaque portion 22 is useful in securing the material sheet around a wrapped item. In this respect, the opaque portion 22 comprises a heat sealable material to enable the opaque portion 22 to bond to itself and/or to the transparent portion 21 on the application of a suitable heat treatment process. Heat sealing is indicated at region B in Figure 7. In developing the present invention, the inventors have realised that adding the opaque portion 22 to an otherwise transparent material sheet 20 will produce a small increase in the thickness of the material sheet 20 in the regions of the sheet which make up the opaque portion 22. This small increase may be significant when the material sheet 20 is rolled or folded in a configuration ready for use in a packaging process. The effect of an increase in thickness due to the opaque portion 22 is schematically shown in Figures 8-10, for a folded sheet, a roll with an opaque portion along one edge, and a roll with an opaque portion along two opposed edges respectively.

The inventors have realised that variations in thickness across the material sheet may cause problems in wrapping items using automated packaging machinery. Therefore, example embodiments of the present invention as now described comprise a thickness-balancing portion to increase the effective thickness of the thinner parts of the sheet, typically the transparent portion. In the example embodiments the thickness-balancing portion increases the thickness of all or part of the transparent portion to equal the thickness of the opaque portion.

Figure 11 shows a material sheet 20 having an opaque portion 22 and a thickness-balancing portion 23 applied thereto. In the embodiment of Figure 11 the entirety of the surface of the material sheet is covered with either the opaque portion 22 or the thickness balancing portion 23. In this embodiment the thickness-balancing portion is printed onto the material sheet 20 as a transparent layer.

Figure 12 is similar to Figure 11 , except in that the material sheet 20 comprises an opaque portion 22 in the form of a strip along two opposite sides of the sheet.

Figures 13 and 14 show further embodiments, in which the thickness-balancing portions 23 are not transparent, but cover only a minority of the area of the material sheet 20. In Figure 13 the thickness-balancing portions 23 comprise textual information printed onto the material sheet 20, and in Figure 14 the thickness-balancing portions 23 comprise graphics. In other embodiments the thickness-balancing portions 23 comprise translucent print on the material sheet, distributed across a majority of the transparent portion 21 , but overlying only a minority of the area of the transparent portion 21.

Figure 15 shows an example embodiment of a material sheet 20 in which the opaque portion 22 is formed with a plurality number of windows 24 therein, so that the transparent portion 21 is accessible through the windows 24. The plurality of windows 24 are position such that when the material sheet 20 shown in Figure 15 is wrapped around an item, for example by folding, the opaque portion 22 does not overlap itself in the folded regions. This reduces the amount of opaque material needed to give a desired printable area. Suitably, the opaque 22 may be provided as a plurality of separate shapes on the material sheet, such that when wrapped around an item the shapes do not overlap one another.

The material sheets and packaging methods described herein have a number of advantages.

In particular, by eliminating one or more elements from a collation pack packaging costs and waste are significantly reduced. This is because a carton board sleeve or box normally used in collation packs is not needed, and neither is a pressure sensitive label or other item applied in a separate physical processing step. In embodiments of the present invention, graphics and printed information on the individual item packaging can be seen through the transparent portions, which maintains flexibility and ease of identification of the product in the collation pack. Furthermore, the material sheets described are easy to handle in automatic packaging apparatus.

Although a few preferred embodiments have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications might be made without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

Attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

Claims

1. A material sheet comprising a transparent portion and an opaque portion, the opaque portion forming a print-receptive area.

2. The material sheet of claim 1 , wherein the opaque portion comprises a minority of the area of the material sheet.

3. The material sheet of claim 1 or 2, wherein the opaque portion is provided at an edge of the material sheet.

4. The material sheet of any preceding claim, wherein the opaque portion comprises a strip provided at one or more of the edges of the material sheet.

5. The material sheet of any preceding claim, wherein the material sheet comprises a pair of opposed parallel edges, and the opaque portion is provided at each of the opposed parallel edges.

6. The material sheet of any preceding claim, wherein the opaque portion is a printed portion.

7. The material sheet of claim 6, wherein the opaque portion comprises an ink.

8. The material sheet of claim 7, wherein the ink comprises a polyvinyl butyral resin or a polyester resin.

9. The material sheet of any preceding claim, wherein the opaque position carries one or more security print features selected from a group comprising: microtext, guilloche designs, printers marks, hidden security images used for product authentication purposes printed by the same print process as the opaque portion.

10. The material sheet of any preceding claim, wherein the opaque portion is of greater thickness than the transparent portion.

11. The material sheet of claim 10, further comprising a thickness-balancing portion to even out the overall thickness of the material sheet.

12. The material sheet of claim 11 , wherein the thickness-balancing portion is printed.

13. The material sheet of claim 12, wherein the thickness-balancing portion comprises an ink.

14. The material sheet of any one of claims 11 , 12 or 13, wherein the thickness balancing portion evens out the overall thickness of the material sheet such that the overall thickness is uniform.

15. The material sheet of any one of claims 11 , 12, 13 or 14, wherein the thickness- balancing portion is provided between opaque portions.

16. The material sheet of any one of claims 11 -15, wherein the thickness-balancing portion is translucent.

17. The material sheet of any one of claims 11 -16, wherein the material sheet comprises a plurality of thickness-balancing portions.

18. The material sheet of claim 17, wherein the thickness-balancing portions are distributed over the majority of the area of the transparent portion

19. The material sheet of claim 17 or 18, wherein the thickness balancing portions are distributed in a regular distribution pattern.

20. The material sheet of any one of claims 11 -16, wherein the thickness-balancing portion covers the whole of the transparent portion of the material sheet.

21. The material sheet of any preceding claim, wherein the opaque portion has heat- sealable properties which enable the opaque portion to bond to itself and/or to the transparent portion on the application of a suitable heat treatment process.

22. The material sheet of claim 21 , wherein the opaque portion comprises a heat sealable ink.

23. The material sheet of 22, wherein the heat sealable ink has a sealing temperature in the range 120^°C - 150^°C.

24. The material sheet of any preceding claim, wherein the opaque portion is white in colour.

25. The material sheet of any preceding claim, wherein the transparent portion is colourless.

26. The material sheet of any preceding claim, wherein the opaque portion comprises a receptive surface for ink-jet printing.

27. The material sheet of any one of claims 1 -25, wherein the opaque portion comprises a laser markable pigment.

28. The material sheet of any preceding claim, wherein the opaque portion comprises UV, IR or rare earth phosphor pigments or other security markers used for product authentication purposes.

29. The material sheet of any preceding claim, wherein the opaque portion is provided in a plurality of areas on the material sheet.

30. The material sheet of claim 29, wherein the opaque portion is provided such that wrapping the material sheet around a three dimensional item to be packaged brings the plurality of areas together.

31. The material sheet of claim 30, wherein the opaque portion is provided such that bringing the plurality of areas together comprises bring the plurality of areas into a single contiguous area.

32. The material sheet of claim 29 or 30, wherein the opaque portion is provided such that bringing the plurality of areas together comprises bringing one or more edges of the areas into alignment with or into overlap with one another.

33. The material sheet of any preceding claim, comprising a rollable and/or a foldable sheet.

34. The material sheet of any preceding claim, comprising a coated biaxially oriented polypropylene film.

35. A material sheet substantially as herein-described, with particular reference to the accompanying drawings.

36. A packaging method comprising the steps of: providing a material sheet according any preceding claim; wrapping the sheet around a three dimensional item to be packaged; and printing on the print-receptive area.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein printing on the print-receptive area comprises ink-jet printing, or laser marking.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein printing on the print-receptive area comprises ink-jet printing using a security ink, carrying a rare earth phosphor pigment of a suitable particle size for product authentication purposes.

39. The method of any one of claim 36, 37 or 38, further comprising the step of applying a heat sealing process to bond the opaque portion to itself or to the transparent portion.

40. The method of any one of claims 36, 37, 38 or 39, wherein wrapping the sheet around the item to be packaged comprises bringing together two or more areas making up the opaque portion.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein bringing the plurality of areas together comprises bring the plurality of areas into a single contiguous area.

42. The method of claim 40 or 41 , wherein bringing the plurality of areas together comprises bringing one or more edges of the areas into alignment with or into overlap with one another.

43. The method of any one of claims 36-42, wherein wrapping the material sheet around a three dimension package comprises folding the material sheet.

44. The method of any one of claims 36-43, wherein the method further comprises an initial step of unrolling the material sheet from a roll, or unfolding the material sheet from a folded arrangement.

45. The method of any one of claims 36-44, wherein the printing on the print-receptive area is the final step in the claimed packaging method.

46. A packaging method substantially as herein-described, with particular reference to the accompanying drawings.