Silver went to Pilatus IML+ PE Tubes and Bronze to FUJI 1.2 gram HDPE Flip Top Cap.
Every year, the Tube Council of North America awards the tubes of the year in the categories "Best Personal Care Tube", "Best Pharma Tube", "Best Oral Care Tube", "Best Household and Industrial Tube", "Best Sustainable Tube" and "Best Process/Component for Tubes".
This year, we competed in the "Best Process/Component for Tubes" category with our Pilatus IML+ PE Tubes (In-Mold-Labeled Tube Bodies made of PE) and FUJI 1.2 gram HDPE Flip Top Cap projects and were awarded Silver and Bronze.
We are very pleased to receive these awards and would like to thank our innovative employees who made these technology solutions possible.
Pilatus IML+ PE Tubes
IML+ is the term given to In Mold Labeled tubes made from Polyethylene (PE). IML tubes have been on the market for some years but made from PP. PP results in tubes which are stiffer than PE and so more likely to result in product remaining in the tube.
The achievement is in the use of PE for the body and label. This is enabled due to advances in materials in the last few years. Consumers prefer the haptics of PE over PP (in tubes) and PE is also the predominant resin used in flexible tubes, thus allowing IML+ tubes to be more readily adopted as it could allow the use of existing technology for making shoulders and capping tubes.
The biggest benefit of IML+ tubes is that they fit into PE recycling streams. PE is far more widely recycled globally than PP so mono-material IML+ tubes are well suited for the future. The IML process, regardless of resin, is extremely well suited for e-commerce due to the rapid design changeover times. The underling injection molding process allow for consistent, repeatable process quality with far less operator training than most existing tube making technologies.
FUJI 1.2 gram HDPE Flip Top Cap
The Fuji concept replaces multiple caps with a single cap. This innovation is designed to save time, cost and material. Read more
