Citing the need for a “self-selling” package, Danbury, CT-based Honeywell Consumer Products Group broke with tradition and selected what it calls a first-for-the-category composite can to package its FRAM® X2™ Extended Guard Oil Filters. Launched in August, the filters are shaking up the automotive aftermarket because they’re said to extend the interval between oil changes from 3ꯠ to 7ꯠ miles.
“We feel our pack reflects how unique the product inside is and clearly communicates that message to consumers,” says Jim Brown, senior product manager at Honeywell. The can costs about 6 or 7¢ more than a typical folding carton, says Brown.
Supplied by Sonoco (Hartsville, SC), the canister is spiral-wound of two plies of recycled paperboard plus an HDPE/kraft liner for enhanced strength. The paper label from Castle Pierce (Oshkosh, WI) is flexo-printed in six colors plus aqueous coating. An orange overcap accentuates the label graphics.
FRAM makes the new filter in a variety of sizes, so Sonoco provides nine can sizes in three diameters (300, 307 and 401), ranging from a 300x310 for small filters to a 401x512 for larger filters.
FRAM outsources the packaging of the filters to a contract packager. That firm seams on an aluminum ring-pull top to keep unscrupulous consumers from moving the $9.99 filter into a carton bearing a lower price tag.
