View news and innovations from PACK EXPO 2024
View all the latest news and innovations from PACK EXPO International 2024

Counting Down the Top Three AmeriStar Awards: #1 Gorilla Super Glue Micro Precise Structural Design

This top 2020 AmeriStar Award winner makes the packaging industry proud by giving consumers great interactions and experiences with creative pack designs.

Gorilla Glue 5f998f6b2924c

Coming out on top of this year’s AmeriStar Awards as Best in Show was the Gorilla Glue Micro Precise, a new entry into The Gorilla Glue Company’s portfolio of adhesives. The pack contains an aluminum tube of cyanoacrylate glue inside a black plastic shroud with orange-winged “buttons” that deliver an easy-to-use, precisely controlled-dispensing tool that fits comfortably in a consumer’s hand.

The team at Gorilla Glue engaged Product Ventures to design and develop the packaging for the project. Through category audits, consumer research, and iterative prototyping, Product Ventures’ industrial design team delivered—it’s engineering team worked with Gorilla Glue to bring the design through pilot tooling to a commercialized product.

Io Pp Ameri Star2020 Logo Web“The Micro Precise design hit on all our key objectives,” says Aaron Fromm, Marketing Director at the Gorilla Glue Company. “The ergonomic design allows for precise, comfortable use even for the most challenging applications, the internal design allows for maximum evacuation of the adhesive, and the visual appeal of the design perfectly fits what our consumers expect when they see a Gorilla product.”

Breaking the seal
One technical concern Product Ventures wanted to address was to ensure the tube of glue inside the packaging was secure. When removing the cap, the internal cyanoacrylate tube of glue needed to stay secure in the pack without rotating, otherwise the glue would not be able to fully dispense. A ratchet-toothed design within the neck of the outer shroud was engineered to allow the cap to screw down to puncture the tube. After puncturing the tube, glue can flow out of the tube through the nozzle. The ratchet teeth will hold the nozzle in place when unscrewing the cap. The nozzle is thus captured by the ratchet mechanism allowing just the cap to open and close without unthreading the nozzle from the inner tube. This allows consumers to safely apply Gorilla Glue to surfaces with precision, and with the cap on, the package can be stored in any orientation.

“Since Super Glues need to remain sealed before use to prevent hardening, we keep our cap mechanism separate in the package,” Fromm adds. “The package holds the tube in place while the consumer screws the cap on, puncturing the seal. Once screwed in, the “toothed” [ratchet] feature keeps the cap in place, keeping a tight seal between the internal tube nozzle and the cap.”

New e-book on Multipacking and Case Packing
Read how to extend the life of your case packing equipment and best practices for efficient shrink bundling operation. Plus, learn the differences between wraparound & regular slotted containers.
Read More
New e-book on Multipacking and Case Packing