Club stores applaud multipack

When club store managers told Del Monte Foods that they wanted canned fruits and vegetables in multipacks more elegant than the ring carrier arrangement they’d been receiving&#44 Del Monte responded.

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The San Francisco-based firm installed in its Rochelle IL distribution center a Marksman paperboard wrap machine from Riverwood (Atlanta GA). In place of plastic ring carriers club stores now receive six- and eight-count multipacks of canned fruits and vegetables overwrapped by paperboard carriers with rich consumer-grabbing graphics.

Gone are the corrugated trays that used to hold the cans in their ring carriers. “The store no longer has to dispose of that corrugated” says Susan Chamberlin packaging purchasing manager at Del Monte.

At Del Monte’s Rochelle plant a palletizer forms layers of individual packs and a cohesive spray is used to unitize the layers. Corrugated corner posts are added and the pallet is stretch-wrapped.

Converting the paperboard carriers for Del Monte is Rock-Tenn (Norcross GA). That firm prints the Riverwood SUS Pearlkote board on an offset press in five colors plus coating. A 24-pt board is used for six-packs 26-pt for eight-packs.

The new packaging carries only a slight upcharge says Chamberlin.

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