Page 40 - Packaging News Magazine Jan-Feb 2019

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FRESH FOOD PACKAGING
Fresh off the line from OjiFS:
www.packagingnews.com.au
January-February 2019
Fresh produce is being transported from as far as North Queensland and the Northern Territory and arriving at Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane produce markets as if it was just
Ppicked, thanks to a breakthrough box design. PKN reports.
RIMARY producers along Aus- “It’s not every day merchants at tralia’s east coast have been the Melbourne Fruit and Vegetable quick to benefit from Oji Fibre Market are impressed by a carton,” Solutions’ leading edge Yatala Cairns-Lawrence says.
plant – and packaging devel- “The innovation behind our three- oped by the company in col- piece box has provided a solution to laboration with agri-business- boxes previously damaged during
es and growers is setting new transportation that has been long
In the old days people didn’t care what box it was in as long as they got the fruit they wanted. Now it’s about mar- keting along with brand perception and recognition. If you have really good fruit quality in a poorly designed, poorly illustrated box, it deters poten- tial buyers from that product.
“Our customers have all benefited from both the advanced technolo- gies and improved operating sys-
industry standards.
Oji Fibre Solutions (OjiFS), one of
Australasia’s largest pulp paper and packaging companies, opened the South East Queensland factory in February 2018, creating increased competition in the $2 billion horti- cultural packaging sector.
OjiFS state sales manager (QLD) Jason Cairns-Lawrence says the plant was built with state of the art print- ing and manufacturing capabilities that is already reaping results.
sought by the industry but there had never been the real drive to do it.
“The two-piece boxes used by most producers allow for too much movement, so when the goods ar- rived in Sydney or Melbourne – or direct to retail – they didn’t present well or represent the growers’ pro- duce. It was very difficult and time consuming to re-stack those pallets.
“The box is critical in today’s highly competitive and changing market. It’s not just about fruit quality.
Paul Walters of Northern AgriServices (left) and Josh Crow of United Wholesalers & Growers show off the new boxes used for tomatoes.
I think they will tell everybody this is an industry standard. I don’t see other box manufacturers being able to compete.”