
Packaging designed and produced by Display Pack (www.displaypack.com) for the Minn Kota AutoPilot from Johnson Family Products has won the Institute of Packaging Professionals' (www.iopp.org) AmeriStar Award for packaging design.
The package is more than a design and storage element for the product and actually serves double-duty as a parts applicator. The package includes a tray thermoformed from 20-mil recycled PET (rPET) sheet that holds the AutoPilot, a device that snaps onto a trolling boat motor to assist with GPS navigation. The device is packaged in a way that the actual tray package is the applicator the user holds onto when installing the sensitive device. The tray then secures into the boat motor to protect the accessory from the transfer of static charges to electrical components.