Page 45 - Packaging News Magazine Nov-Dec2020

DECADES IN REVIEW | PKN 60 YEARS SPECIAL
45
1964
◆ Pigs are flying these days – thousands of miles in a few hours. They haven’t sprouted wings. The animals are flying in the pres- surised comfort of Qantas V-Jets between Sydney and Singapore. To make sure they travel in comfort, Qantas cargo specialists have designed special containers called Porker Paks.
◆ Manufacturers are encouraged to use the boomerang and Southern Cross emblem of the Australian-made Campaign (first intro- duced in 1961) in their advertising and on packaging. They are slow on the uptake.
◆ A major aluminium breakthrough in the convenience packaging of heat-processed foods has been announced by Armour Grocery Products Chicago and Aluminium Company of America, a partner in Alcoa of Australia. The first all-aluminium easy- open can introduced by Armour as the new package for its Vienna sausage product, is a drawn, seamless shell equipped with a tear- off end for ‘instant’ opening.
1965
◆ PVC bottles are predicted to replace con- tainers made from glass or steel for the pack- aging of certain materials. In France, 40 per cent of the bottles used for salad oil are made from rigid PVC.
◆ At an industry meeting, Australian goods are chided for being badly packaged and pro- moted abroad. The speaker says: “It is ridicu- lous to call our butter brand Kangaroo... I heard an American say to his wife ‘Well honey, look at that butter, those Aussies are sure clever making butter out of kangaroos’”. ◆ Convenience is driving innovation in soft drink packaging, including the ‘Flavorlok’ aluminium resealable lid by Australian Glass Manufacturers and the ‘pop-top’, a can fitted with an aluminium top which has a small lift-up tab riveted to a tearaway key- hole for drinking and pouring.
◆ The first form of multipack arrives: Mead Packaging Australia introduces the new Pepsi 4-can Cluster Pak which holds cans securely in their place until the card – board sleeve is broken by the consumer.
◆ Aerosol container production achieves the 30 million mark, having tripled over the ten years prior to 1965.
1966
◆ Pakit reports on the opening of a $200,000 potato crisp plant in Melbourne by Smith’s. Interesting employment criteria are noted: “The girl operators in the plant are hand- picked for their appearance and grooming, and each is supplied with white dust coats and nurse style hats.”
◆ Canned wine is introduced to NSW and is described as “unpretentious” with the taste being a “pleasant surprise”.
◆ The packaging industry joins the war on litter. The National Packaging Association (NPA) launches an anti-litter campaign.
1967
◆ The soft drinks industry makes its first major penetration of chain stores and super- markets, spearheaded by the one-way, no deposit bottle introduced by Australian Glass Manufacturers. Coca-Cola is at the forefront of this development.
◆ Meanwhile, the Retail, Confectionery and Mixed Business Association of Victoria urges shopkeepers to refuse to stock and sell soft drinks in non-returnable bottles. It says the unsightliness and danger arising from discarded bottles will undoubtedly con- tinue to bring condemnation from munici- pal authorities.
◆ Flexcan, an aluminium foil pouch for low temperature processed vegetables and fruit is launched, which for the first time eliminates the need for cans, jars, refrig-
eration, additives or freeze drying.
◆ Aluminium zip-top cans are pre-
dicted to overtake steel cans.
◆ Figures released by the Commonwealth Statistician indicate that cans have fast been catching up with bot- tles in the soft drinks industry. Although there’s little difference in cost, supermarkets have been using cans as loss leaders in order to
attract customers.
◆ TetraPakAustraliaisformedinVictoria to handle sales and servicing of the well- known Tetra filling machines. Also, Tetra Pak packaging for UHT milk is taking off, opening up export opportunities.
◆ Containers Ltd announces the introduc- tion of a quite significant technological development – the beaded can. The Ripple Bead treatment greatly enhances the strength of the container and thus allows the use of lighter tin plate.
1968
◆ “Good things come in glass” continues to be easily the best-known advertising slogan in the packaging industry, accord- ing to Australian Glass Manufacturers.
◆ A new tamper-proof plastic closure, trade named Catocap, is now available to Australian packers. The closure is injec- tion moulded from a special grade of ICI’s Alkathene low-density polyethylene.
◆ Plastics bags are reported as a new threat to traditional brown kraft wrapping paper. Benefits include its faster delivery to customers and lower susceptibility to dam- age by weather and rough handling.
◆ In the bulk packaging sec- tor, polypropylene is challeng- ing jute and hessian.
1969
◆ Paper maintains its lead as packaging material of choice due to its versatility and low cost.
◆ Chain store spokesman warns: “Produce packs with the supermarket in mind or else.” He says: “Make packs that don’t hog space or fall apart in the warehouse.”
◆ The packaging market is forecast to dou- ble over the next ten years, from A$1 bil- lion to A$2 billion. Paperboard/paper, the leading sector, will hold 42.5 per cent of the market.
UP AND AWAY
The Space Age is also upon us: “This blow moulded bottle in the shape of a rocket has recently been developed by Plaspak of Adelaide. The Anchor Space Rocket bottle is obviously a step ahead of similar products now being developed in the United Kingdom.” (Pakit, May 1963)
SIXTIES SPEED LIMIT
Two operators, 30 packs a minute...
is the promise
of JL Lennard of
Sydney in its promotion
of this overwrapper
with twin
sleeve-
wrapping sections.
HOUSEWIFE HAS HER SAY
The Housewife features quite
prominently in early ‘60s
advertising and Pakit gives ‘her’ a
voice in a feature article, in which ‘she’
tells why some products drive her to frenzy because their packages are designed to catch the eye but are not easy to use.
www.packagingnews.com.au | November–December 2020