The Butterfly® tube top closure, from Seaquist Closures (Mukwonago, WI), is supplied to Pfizer in two outside diameters, 1 3/8" and 1 1/2". All the closures have a 0.375" orifice. Coextruded plastic tubes in 2-, 4- and 6-oz sizes are from Thatcher Tubes (Florence, KY). Thatcher forms the tubes from a multilayer coextrusion whose layers Thatcher doesn't identify. The plastic tubes replace aluminum tubes that have been in use for nearly a century. Acording to Pfizer's Paul Knieriemen, the aluminum tubes fell out of favor primarily because of their tendency to crack and because too many consumers had trouble getting all of the product out of the tube. Knieriemen declines to comment on the cost of the old package compared to the new, which was launched last May.
