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Innovation rolls on

New packaging equipment and puck handling system help Diversified Brands launch Scratch Fix 2in1 automotive touch-up paint in a new plastic ‘tube’.

Three different product/package combinations run on Diversified Brands' new line thanks to pucks manufactured with one external
Three different product/package combinations run on Diversified Brands' new line thanks to pucks manufactured with one external

In this year’s fourth quarter, Diversified Brands introduced Scratch Fix 2in1, an innovative automotive touch-up paint that includes two applicators in one base cap, enabling consumers to repair car scratches with either a pen-like roller ball tip or a tapered brush.

To roll out the Dupli-Color-brand Scratch Fix 2in1 paint, Diversified Brands added a customized packaging line early this year at its Elk Grove Village, IL, home. Integrated by Advantage Puck, the line reduces container handling and labor costs compared to a previous line used for Scratch Fix paint, which included only a brush applicator.

Scratch Fix was sold only in an aluminum container. Scratch Fix 2in1 replaces Scratch Fix. And while the aluminum tube will still be produced for certain customers, it will be sold at retail primarily in plastic containers blow-molded in Southeast Asia and supplied by Eversharp Products.

Diversified Brands refers to the cylindrical containers as tubes, but these are not of the crimped variety. Instead, they stand on a virtually flat base. They measure about ¾” in diameter and stand nearly 4½” H.

The container is made of Barex® resin from BP Chemicals, an acrylonitrile co-monomer that offers chemical resistance. It was selected by Diversified Brands after company research determined that it was the most compatible material for the automotive paint.

Why the change to plastic? “It makes it easier for the paint to flow to the pen tip applicator,” explains John Dubots, site manager at Diversified Brand’s Elk Grove Village, IL, facility. He admits, “plastic is a lot more costly than aluminum, but our marketing research indicated it was the right package for this product.”

The new container will be marketed at a higher price point than the aluminum tube, but again, the company’s marketing research indicated that consumers would be willing to pay for the ability to apply paint with either the pen tip or traditional brush in one package.

Line efficiency

The new paint filling line, seen during a recent PW visit, provides considerable flexibility for Diversified Brands in that it handles plastic and metal tubes, as well as 25/8” H x 13/8”-diameter glass jars.

The line also delivers greater efficiency than its predecessor. “Packaging line changes were necessary,” says Dubots. “We needed material flow improvements because we had been handling the previous product multiple times before it was shipped out the door. There’s a cost each time you touch it.”

In the past, relates Chuck Guy, the company’s process engineering manager, the aluminum tube was made of six pieces that were put together mechanically in a separate operation. “Then the tubes were put in a tote and transported to another department, labeled automatically, packed off again, transported to a packaging department into a blister-pack, or put into a shipping case.”

Now, Diversified Brands benefits from a streamlined process in which the aluminum tubes are purchased preassembled into two components, by Team Packaging. Eversharp Pen supplies the plastic tube in two pieces, a brush/cap assembly and the tube or bottle assembly.

Asked about the economics of that change, Guy says, “it doesn’t add to our costs. It actually saves us a lot of time. Also, we would have needed to buy additional machinery on this line to assemble these components.”

Besides wanting to reduce line handling, Diversified Brands, a division of the Sherwin-Williams Consumer Group, sought to rev up the line speed from its former 70 pack/min rate so that the 131꼊 sq’ plant could improve its capacity.

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