Plastics sitting pretty in cosmetics packaging

Recent material developments could help processors push plastics further up the value chain in the market.

Glass still rules the roost for expensive products, but plastics are making in-roads as material suppliers either develop new grades or reposition ones they already have. Plastics also play a central role in cosmetics firms'' targeting of the ''masstige'' sector of the market—mass-market products priced and marketed to lend them some prestige.

Thickwalled (6-mm and up) cosmetics jars are no stranger to plastics and are considered their best entry point for packaging of high-cost products. Supplier Eastman Chemical (Kingsport, TN) late last year began using the motto ''Glass Polymer'' to draw attention to the near-glass look and feel of packaging made in its Eastar AN001 (for injection blow-molding) and AN004 (for injection molding) copolyester grades, both targeted at thickwalled packaging.

Market Manager Vincent Gugumus says few plastics suppliers offer transparent polymers with the chemical resistance required for these applications. PET has the necessary resistance but usually loses some transparency in thicker parts, he says, so PET packaging is usually thinner and therefore squeezable—and not really a direct substitute for glass. (Sister firm Voridian does supply a PET grade suitable for packaging in thicknesses of 6 to 7 mm with no hazing, says a Voridian spokesman). In January, Eastman announced it would also offer a grade suitable for extrusion blowmolding.

"Tooling costs and machine costs are lower [than for injection or injection blow lines], so we hope to generate interest for even more applications," Gugumus explains.

Eastman is still working on cost comparisons with glass packaging, but Gugumus says that in general, "the more complex the part, the more reasons to use plastics. Even when we''re more expensive, we see some applications where consumers are willing to pay a little more."

An example he cites are applications intended for frequent travelers, since the cost of a broken glass bottle filled with lotion often extends beyond the lost lotion to include any clothing in a suitcase. "These are applications we target as there is an obvious benefit to the consumer," he says.

The Eastar materials are best used for lotions and creams, says Gugumus, but he does not recommend them for perfumes, as a reaction with chemicals used in some perfumes could cause packaging to haze.

Amy Plancon, marketing manager in BP Chemicals'' Barex division (Naperville, IL), says she already sees solid demand in cosmetics packaging, medical packaging, and other high-end applications owing to Barex''s good chemical resistance, gas barrier performance, and inert nature. She expects demand to jump this year as the firm introduces a grade specifically for cosmetics, which addresses issues about the material''s transparency. By nature, Barex has a straw-colored tint, and the supplier also makes a dark blue tinted grade available, but the cosmetics grade is near colorless, she says.

Current Barex cosmetics packaging includes nail polish for Avon and Revlon; P&G is one of the largest users for a Max Factor lip gloss container. Barex also sees frequent use in sample packaging, Plancon says, since its potent gas barrier is important for these small packages with relatively high surface area. Barex cosmetics packaging is both injection and injection stretch blowmolded.

Old materials being taught new markets

Also being repositioned to target the cosmetics packaging market are Zeonor cyclic olefinic copolymers (COCs). Supplied by Zeon Chemicals (Louisville, KY) and commercial since 1990, Zeonor was first used in optical devices, then in medical, semiconductor and electrical applications.

Toshiro Katayama, Zeonor business manager, says the material is not yet in commercial use in cosmetics packaging, but adds that "several key cosmetic companies are currently testing them" in applications including perfume bottles, nail polish bottles, and mascara tubes.

He awaits positive feedback and points to the material''s chemical resistance and light transparency of more than 92% at 3-mm thickness, better than PC and PET and comparable to PMMA, he says. Light transparency of the Eastar materials is up to 92%, says Gugumus.

Zeon says its material resists polar solvents better than PET and copolyesters; PET tends to haze, whiten, and crack when exposed to these. Price could prove a drawback as COCs are more expensive than even PC, but Zeon expects the benefits to outweigh cost concerns for some applications.

Two materials already marketed to extruders by acrylics supplier Atoglas, a subsidiary of Atofina (Paris, France), are now also drawing interest from the molded cosmetics packaging market. Anne Rouviere, market manager cosmetics, says the firm is seeing solid interest for its Frosted grades of Altuglas, commercial since 2002 but used primarily for lighting, bathroom fixtures, or point-of-sale racks. It processes similar to standard PMMA, she says, but parts have a translucent frosted appearance, with no need for secondary embossing nor

changes to the mold. As demand grows, particularly among French molders supplying the cosmetics market, Atoglas is developing new grades, she says.

The supplier is also seeing interest from cosmetics packaging molders in another acrylic-based material which imitates granite. Commercial already for lighting and for swimming pool steps, Rouviere says packaging molders are also keen to use the material.

"The granules are in different colors," explains Rouviere, among them white, brown, black, green and blue, "and the molder makes his own mixture using the different colored granulate." Properties of the material are similar to PMMA, but injection molding parameters are very different, so most molders likely will require some technical assistance, she points out.

Altuglas is very suitable for thick walled molded applications even to 5-cm, says Rouviere. It can show a lack of resistance to some specific alcohols but would then often be coinjection molded over PP to provide a glass-like exterior.

Looks aren''t everything, but almost

Processors are challenged to develop packaging that not only adds shelf presence, but individuality to a personal care products line.

The U.S. cosmetic and toiletry container markets are projected to climb 2.6%/yr to 23 billion units in 2007, according to market research Freedonia Group (Cleveland, OH). The market encompasses hundreds of items, such as hair and skin care, oral hygiene, cosmetics, deodorants and antiperspirants, fragrance, shaving, and liquid soaps. Hair care, oral hygiene and skin care were the three largest categories in 2002, Freedonia says, accounting for nearly two-thirds of unit demand.

Fighting it out at eye level

Looking beyond the numbers, the real battle for market share is taking place at the retail level, where shelf space is at a premium. "I think you''ll see design becoming a key element differentiating product presentation on the shelf," says Peter Hargraves, global beauty care package development, Proctor & Gamble (P&G; Cincinnati, OH). "Most decisions made in the store are at the shelf, shelves that are becoming increasingly crowded with different offerings."

Consequently, pouches are supplanting tubes and canisters for shampoo, creams, and conditioners, and transparent packaging for personal hygiene products is increasingly popular.

"You can see the color of the product, and copy on the [inside] back label," Hargraves says. "It communicates something about the purity of the product and what benefits consumers can expect."

Plastic continues to replace glass in personal care containers, which require safeguards against oxidation, evaporation, and chemical "attacks" from essential oils. Aesthetics are important, too, as premium products are typically packaged in elegant and upscale containers.

Masstige in masterbatches

A key element driving the latest packaging designs is upscaled offerings from mass-market skin care and cosmetic brands that compete head on with prestigious counterparts. "The trend that is really impacting plastics is being able to color and label in such a fashion that you grab eye attention on the shelf," Nitardy says, reinforcing a premium image.

To that end, marketers are specifying special-effect masterbatches that include pearlescents, iridescents, multichromatics, high-gloss, and opaque blacks. Single-pigment concentrates are ideal for small-lot injection molded components such as caps and closures. "Some color houses have built simple bottle molds to run color samples," observes Mitzi Sorenson, VP sales for Plastic Bottle Corp. (Libertyville, IL).

"However, the ever-demanding market wants those colors in the exact bottle they will be purchasing, and they want those samples at no cost to them. That''s because the large retailers require that from anyone trying to gain shelf space," she says. Plastic Bottle recently introduced a new bottle style called Genie Round, available in PETG and PVC materials, to add shelf presence and individuality to a personal care products line.

Innovation at all levels

At the same time, marketers are paying close attention to convenience and functionality. For instance, Precise Technology Inc. (North Versailles, PA) recently custom designed an injection molded plastic combination air freshener/toilet-paper holder for Dial Corp. (Scottsdale, AZ). The Renuzit Roller Scents bathroom air freshener is comprised of three injection molded pieces—the cage vial, body, and end cap—and .34 oz of liquid air freshener. The three components come together on one end with a spring. At the opposite end, a wick absorbs the liquid air freshener.

Processors, for their part, could go a long way towards helping suppliers develop large closures cost effectively. A case in point is gas-assisted injection molding, a process said to provide parts with increased functionality and performance. "You gain strength improvement by essentially having a thicker section of materials using less plastics," Hargraves says. "So you can build stronger parts more cost effectively."

There''s obviously constant pressure on molders because of competitive situations on profit margins and increased service demands from suppliers. Providing value-added products and services are considered par for the course, not 10 under.

"Suppliers don''t want to pay a value-added price," CCL''s Hayet says. "They want to enhance their value and maintain a marginal cost in the marketplace."

Greg Valero [email protected]

Caps off to closures

Complex tooling and wafer-thin margins pose challenges, but caps-and-closures promises steady demand

As cash-strapped consumers scrutinize their budgets, there are logical places to make cuts—and cost-conscious perks to help folks cope, according to Crown Zeller''s Nancy Kane.

"People need to eat, people need to wash their hair, and in times of an economic downturn," Kane says, "those are things where they can afford to buy a little higher-end brand or a little more in terms of quantity. They can afford to buy a $3 bottle of shampoo to make themselves feel better if they can''t afford that $3000 flat-screen TV."

Personal care and consumer products, as much, if not more so than medical items, truly are recession proof, and virtually all of them feature caps and closures of some variety. This ubiquity is evident in sector sales, where global caps and closures are an $18.7-billion market, with U.S. sales reaching $4.6 billion, according to consulting firm Piper Jaffray & Co., based in Minneapolis, MN).

In the U.S., sales are expected to increase by 5.1% annually through 2007, with global revenues rising 4% per year. This is largely to the benefit of an exclusive club, according to Piper Jaffray, with the top five players cornering 33% of the U.S. market, and the next five taking 16%—giving 10 firms 49% of the caps-and-closures pie.

Closure coronation

Crown Zeller (Libertyville, IL), formerly Zeller Plastik, was purchased by the global packaging conglomerate Crown Cork & Seal Inc. (Philadelphia, PA) in 1996, and splits its business 50/50 between custom work and the stock offerings it sells on a proprietary basis. For those with the design expertise and the capital, the ability sell a line of in-house closures is a beneficial one, and is relatively unique to the market.

"If we feel there''s a strong enough need in the market," Kane says, "we may go ahead and build a tool ourselves, lay out the capital, and in turn, it will become a stock product."

But like any shop servicing the packaging sector, it knows pricing pressures are ever-present. "Our customers know our business sometimes better than we do," Kane laments. "They know what our costs should be, and they try to keep us to those costs."

Cap consistency

Making life somewhat easier for cap-and-closure manufacturers like Crown Zeller, the Plastic Container Manufacturers Assn. is pushing forward with its efforts to create industry-wide finish standards, allowing for a consistent dimensional platform for closures. Bill Thomas, director of product development at Silgan Closures (Downers Grove, IL), says the finish standards for 43-, 48-, and 63-mm containers, although voluntary, will likely be adhered to.

"You can''t officially force [the standards] on anyone," Thomas says, "but with the membership of this committee being the major plastic container manufacturers, they''ve pretty much agreed that as old tooling wears out, they will replace it with the new industry-standard tooling." Ultimately, Thomas says this effort will simplify design for manufacturers.

"It''s going to eliminate a lot of headaches and confusion about what finish do I have to make for what closure company," Thomas says.

Tony Deligio [email protected]

IM machinery makers eyeing market, too

Injection blowmolding has long been one of the top choices for thickwall packages, as it offers a good balance of output, cost, and performance. But injection molding machine makers also are pursuing opportunities in this market. Last spring, Husky Injection Molding Systems (Bolton, ON) began marketing its Index Dual machines for such applications, says Bruce Catoen, VP automated systems.

"We think it''s an extremely interesting market," he says, and one that is rapidly turning global for his firm. "Most of the machines placed so far for thick-walled cosmetics packaging have been in North America, but we have 19 active leads and these come from all over—China, Asia, Europe, as well as the Americas," says Catoen.

He says sales have been to trade molders, not to cosmetics firms'' captive molding operations, though representatives from many cosmetics suppliers have been to Bolton to see their packaging made on the two-cavity prototyping system there.

The manufacturer claims its Index Dual technology allows it to realize cycle times about half that of competing injection molding units, Catoen says. Cycle time reductions help processors "compete favorably with glass on parts costs now," he says. "(Our customers) come within a penny or two of glass costs," and then the non-breakage and designability of plastics often wins out.

Many processors and material suppliers have in the past claimed that cost is not a huge factor in applications where a 2-oz bottle of perfume can easily sell for $50 or more, but Catoen says that''s nonsense.

"A $.10 differential in price on 10 million parts/yr adds up to big costs quickly," he observes.

Matt Defosse

New drugs package replacing glass

Developments in cosmetics packaging often are linked to those in rigid medical packaging, since both require many of the same properties, such as clarity, chemical resistance, and gas and/or moisture impermeability. In December, processor Owens-Illinois Plastics Group (Toledo, OH) and engineering thermoplastics supplier Ticona (Summit, NJ) announced the use of the latter''s Topas COC in multilayer injection blowmolded bottles and vials; O-I claims these are the only transparent, multilayer plastics alternative to Type 1 pharmaceutical glass. The bottles have been commercial since early last year when first shipments went to BioMerieux Inc., which is transitioning from glass to plastics packaging.

The bottles are made using the processor''s SurShot multi-layer preform molding technology, with the barrier layer coinjected between layers of PC, PET, or COCs, depending on the application. Wall thickness is .5 to 1.5 mm. This year O-I also will add as-yet unidentified anti-counterfeiting measures into the packaging.

Ticona notes that COC can be a center layer between PET or PC inner and outer layers for bottles requiring mechanical strength. The COC can also be an external layer with barrier material (nylon, for example) in the middle to improve water and gas barrier.

Matt Defosse

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