Page 48 - Packaging News Magazine Nov-Dec2020

48 DECADES IN REVIEW | PKN 60 YEARS SPECIAL
The age of convenience
Consolidation is the key economic trend, while consumer convenience continues to drive packaging innovation. The house-brand rears its competitive head, and the increased market penetration of microwave ovens pushes technology advances.
1980
◆ Combibloc aseptic carton technology is intro- duced to the market by Gadsden, which opens a new aseptic packaging division in Melbourne. ◆ Gadsden is forced to close a $4m steel can plant in South Australia because of anti-can laws. The MD described the situation as a “tragedy brought about entirely by the repres- sive effect of the SA Beverage Container Act”. ◆ Form, fill, seal technology comes to the fore and there’s a shift towards OPP film versus cellulose films.
◆ Fasson, a division of Avery International, announces a $4 million expansion program that will treble its capacity and make it the largest manufacturer of pressure-sensitive paper in the southern hemisphere.
◆ Barcode scanning hits the first check-outs in Melbourne.
1981
◆ APM offers $180 million in a surprise bid to take over Containers Limited, as part of its plan to expand packaging operations. (APM later becomes Amcor).
◆ TheAustralianInstituteof Packaging launches an overseas study grant as an incentive to students under- taking the UKIP correspon- dence course in modern packaging.
1982
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MICROWAVE MOVES
Australians accept microwave ovens into their lives with such enthusiasm that it spawns a new group of products designed and packaged for microwave cooking. Uncle Toby’s launches Microwave Popcorn, and Pak Pacific announces the launch of its Qwik-Krisp film which allows food cooked in microwave ovens to be ‘browned’ effectively.
◆ Impresstik installs the
first Gallus Rotary UV press
in Australia, setting higher
quality standards for the self-
adhesive label industry. This fol-
lows installation in 1979 of the first and ◆ Manufacture of the first Australian-made largest Gallus press in Australia with UV orientated polypropylene (PP) film gets drying technology. underway at Shorko’s new BOPP plant. The
80s
1983
major long-term advertis- ing campaign to improve consumer perceptions of steel cans and the foods in them.
out of cans (via shareholding in Gadsden, which it sells to Carlton United Breweries for $25 million). It also sells its WA and NT fibreboard operations to Visy Board.
◆ APMA (today APPMA) is formed and first AUSPACK show is staged.
◆ Marketing seminars are dominated by talk of house-brands (private label).
1984
◆ Tamper-evident packaging is on the rise, driven by impending new guidelines for non-prescription pharmaceuticals, an extortion threat made to an Australian supermarket chain, and a general desire to reduce pilferage.
◆ Tooheys sets a world record of 2000 cans of beer a minute at its new $10 million can- ning plant in Auburn, Sydney – 14 per cent faster than comparable lines in the US.
◆ Bag-in-box technology permits aseptic packaging of fruit juices and other high- acid liquids.
◆ Beverage multi packing continues to grow, with 80 per cent of fruit juice and soft drink sales in multipacks. Shrink film and carton packs dominate.
◆ 20 years since the aluminium beverage can was invented, it holds over 90 per cent of the Australian market.
1985
◆ ICI invests in PET plant expansion to the tune of $24 million. PET is hailed as the star polymer, set to outperform all other poly- mers in the rigid and semi-rigid packaging sector over the next four years.
◆ A new system for controlled atmosphere packaging of perishables including meat,
◆ Growth of the frozen foods sector increases demand for ovenable containers.
FACTORIES ARE BEAUTIFUL
In 1987, ACI gets the go-ahead to establish an $85m glass plant at Ingleburn in Sydney’s western suburbs. Bob Carr, NSW Minister for Planning at the time, says: “There are concerns over the aesthetic impact of the factory and its chimney stack... But in the current economic climate, Australians should regard a modern factory which produces goods for exports as the most beautiful sight in the world.”
◆ A revolutionary can welding operation in packaged in OPP. WesternAustraliacouldheraldanewerain ◆ Waterlesslithographicinksaredeveloped Australian beer and beverage packaging for the graphics industry, a technological market. The new Soudronic can welding breakthrough by Croda Inks.
line in the J Gadsden & Co plant in Perth is ◆ Recycling war erupts between Alcan and installed at a cost in excess of $3 million and Alcoa raising and matching prices respec- will introduce the first steel beer and bever- tively for their cash-for-can schemes.
age cans with welded side seam. ◆ ACI divests itself of major segments of its ◆ In response to recent concern about lead packaging empire. ACI retains 80 per cent packaging, BHP’s Steel Division launches a of its share of the glass bottle market, but it’s
use of PP for packaging is increasing more than any other packaging film worldwide, and by 1984 all Arnott’s snack foods are