Armed with its lengthy list of packaging specifications, Pennzoil’s Team Rescue spent four months last spring trying to find packaging partners. All of Pennzoil’s regular suppliers told the Team: “It can’t be done. [No one can] produce a bottle with the criteria needed.”
Eventually, Pennzoil’s Michael Howe brought in Ed Campbell of G.E. Campbell & Associates (Alameda, CA). Together, they realized they needed to quickly find partners outside the normal Pennzoil suppliers. Campbell knew that Marpac Industries had a patented flexible spout, so he got Pennzoil in touch with that company.
Then, serendipitously, Marpac’s Brian Williams asked Pennzoil what the spout would be used with and suggested to them that sister company Airopak might be helpful in providing a fluorinated barrier bottle. Intrigued, Ed Campbell actually reached Ken Kallish, vice president and general manager of the Specialty Products Div. of PVC Container at its exhibit at Southpack in Atlanta last May.
