Capri-Sonne: an award-winning classic

Not many products manage to achieve the balancing act of remaining a very popular product worldwide with a packaging design almost unchanged for 40 years – becoming an absolute classic in the process. It was not until 2007 that the famous Capri-Sonne beverage pouch underwent its first new development since 1969.

In 1969 the first Capri-Sonne appeared on the market. In the meantime it has become one of the most popular children’s drinks internationally and is drunk in around 100 countries. When a product is internationally well-known, popular and famous - not least due to its striking packaging – then it takes a lot of courage, following decades of the same design, to go to the store shelves with a change. Capri Sonne took this step and was rewarded: the “Packaging of the Year” Award, presented for the first time this year by the Deutsches Verpackungs-Museum (German Museum of Packaging), went to the re-sealable 0.33-litre drink carton from Capri-Sonne.

Appreciation of the beverage carton

With immediate effect the newly introduced award aims to annually reward packaging in outstanding design with sustainable brand management and make it the focus of public attention. “The Award aims to honour the beverage carton as a classic in the packaging world and at the same time serves as recognition of the courage for further development shown by Capri-Sonne”, said Director and Chief Executive Officer of the German Museum of Packaging, Hans-Georg Böcher. The resealable beverage carton was introduced in 2007 and in the first half of 2009 registered a sales increase of 77% compared to the previous year's figures. The large drink pack is now available in 18 European countries.

Spouted pouch

For 40 years now INDAG, the Engineering Center of WILD, has been building the high-performance facilities to produce the unmistakable Capri-Sonne packaging. In 1972 the company built the first manufacturing, filling and packaging machines for the world-famous Capri-Sonne free-standing carton, the so-called pouch. Since then over 75 billion pouches have been produced and filled, mainly for Capri-Sonne. The Pouch Systems business division markets the technology associated with the spouted pouches but also for products in the foodstuff and pet food industry. In the meantime the company produces around six billion spouted pouches each year as tailor-made solutions for manufacturing, filling and packaging. This corresponds to half of all units produced worldwide. Pouch Systems offers efficient full-service solutions ranging from pouch manufacturing through to the filling process up to packaging in retail-ready containers – coupled with flexible packaging formats.

Concept confirmed

“The large Capri-Sonne is only one example of how successful the further development of the well-known pouch has been. The 0.33-litre version is aimed at young people who require the perfect beverage to take out and about with them. This is where the so-called “Spouted Pouch” comes in as the ideal packaging”, states Carsten Kaisig, Managing Director Deutsche SiSi-Werke GmbH & Co. Betriebs KG. The re-sealable film pouch is very versatile and in particular extremely light – a major advantage compared to PET or carton, Kaisig believes. With its tapered form, the spouted pouch is particularly handy, weighs only a few grams when empty and, correspondingly, has only a low waste volume. In addition to the large Capri-Sonne version, the packaging has in the meantime also been used for the “CAPS” sports drink and “ANGEL” energy drink.

20 million Euros for packaging

The Deutsche SiSi-Werke (Capri-Sonne) and INDAG have now underlined their cooperation by agreeing an investment programme in packaging development and technology worth 20 million Euro over a period of five years. The filling machine for the re-sealable standing pouch is regarded as the fastest in the world. By separating the manufacturing side from the filling process higher speeds can be achieved for both processes. According to INDAG, at 500 pouches per minute, the performance of the Pouch System is in the medium to high range.

Source: interpack