IoPP announces 2013 AmeriStar award winners

The Institute of Packaging Professional’s AmeriStar Package Awards Competition is considered North America's most prestigious packaging awards competition.  Judges evaluated and analyzed packages from 15 categories at IoPP Headquarters in Naperville, Illinois, on April 23, 2013. For the first time, Student AmeriStar entries were judged virtually by another panel of judges from across the country.
 
Top AmeriStar winners included the Best of Show Award, the Sustainability Award and, the Design Excellence Award for high quality structural & graphic design. Judging was based on package innovation, sustainability, protection, economics, performance, and marketing.
 
Winning packages will be honored at the AmeriStar and Visionary Awards Ceremony, taking place Wednesday, June 19, 2013, at EastPack in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
 
Click here to view our winners gallery. To request photos of each package, please e-mail dgriffin@iopp.org.
 
AmeriStar winners: For duplicate awards and/or certificate orders, click here
 
BEST OF SHOW AWARD ~ 
 
CATEGORY: Household Products
 
Package: Clorox SmartTube Technology
Company: The Clorox Company
Clorox has recently launched the largest innovation to spray technology in the last 20 years with the introduction of SmartTubeTM technology. This new package features a blown in dip tube in the bottle that couples with a bayonet style trigger so that the consumer can spray out all of the liquid product.
 
SUSTAINABILITY AWARD ~
 
CATEGORY: Food, Shelf Stable
 
Package: LittleFoot 100% Compostable Packaging Barrier Product
Company: NewPage Specialty
LittleFoot™ is an environmentally-sensitive 100% compostable packaging laminate made in the USA from renewable resources targeted at making the smallest possible impact on the environment as possible – therefore the name. The product features paper, laminated to metalized PLA or metalized cellophane, offering oxygen and moisture barrier levels with a sealable layer for easy processing into barrier packaging.  The substrate is easily integrated into the existing converting equipment and offers exceptional surface for printing.
 
DESIGN EXCELLENCE AWARD ~
 
CATEGORY: Electronics
 
Package: Microsoft PC Accessory Landscape
Company: Microsoft
An expressive yet refined approach to consumer electronics packaging. Designed to the details; built as a system. Designed with consumer focus in the forefront, every step of the way. Landscape provides a delightful out of box experience, presenting the product in an elegant and novel way.
 
AmeriStar winners by Category:
 
CATEGORY: Beverages, Alcoholic
 
Package: KeyKeg 20 Slimline with Double Wall Technology
Company: Lightweight Containers
The new one-way keg, KeyKeg 20 Slimline, owes its unique characteristics to an invention called the Double Wall™ technology. This technology, combined with KeyKeg’s high tech bag-in-ball™ principle and it’s new cylindrical shape, offers the total supply chain many new extra advantages.
 
CATEGORY: Beverages, Non-Alcoholic
 
Package: Pure Leaf Square HF PET Container
Company: PepsiCo
A breakthrough hot fill PET container utilizes a square footprint, which is new to consumers and significantly reduces grams of packaging/mL of product vs. previous glass package.
 
Package: Flexis One Way Degassing Valve for Coffee Packaging
Company: Avery Dennison
The Flexis® one way valve is the first new coffee degassing valve on the market in 10+ years. The valve’s unique cost effective, environmentally friendly, easy to apply three layer construction provides a structure that allows coffee degassing while providing a barrier to atmospheric oxygen ingress.
 
CATEGORY: Drug & Pharmaceutical
 
Package: Ecoslide-RX
Company: Keystone Folding Box Co.
Ecoslide-RX was designed with the intent of being both a sustainable and affordable solution that delivers prescription pharmaceuticals to patient's in a format that improves patient compliance/adherence to prescribed dosing  The pack is not only recyclable;  100% compostable and biodegradable.  It has been test to a Child-Resistant level of F=1.  Ease of automation/fulfillment is also an important aspect of this new package.
 
Package: Syringe Carton for Flu Vaccine
Company: Sanofi Pasteur
The 10 count syringe carton was designed in collaboration with Dividella AG to meet the growing demands in Sanofi Pasteur's flu vaccine franchise for increased output, higher equipment efficiency, as well as lower package material costs and cold-chain distribution costs. The top-load carton is made from 100% recyclable paperboard material, and eliminated pre-made plastic trays and lid material, resulting in a savings in excess of $1,000,000 annually. A reduction in pack volume of 50% cut the expensive cold-chain shipping & storage costs in half. Lastly, the NeoTOP 804 syringe cartoning system from Dividella provided 4 times the throughput of the previous system, with a capacity of 800 syringes per minute. The OEE doubled from 35% to over 70%. The machine is also configured to package vials, needles, and combination packs for other products
 
CATEGORY: Electronics
 
Package: Microsoft PC Accessory Landscape
Company: Microsoft
An expressive yet refined approach to consumer electronics packaging. Designed to the details; built as a system. Designed with consumer focus in the forefront, every step of the way. Landscape provides a delightful out of box experience, presenting the product in an elegant and novel way.
 
CATEGORY: Food, Refrigerated
 
Package: Hormel™ "Project REV® Wraps"
Company: PROGRESSIVE PACKAGING INC.
The Hormel™ REV® Wraps package was designed to feel good and be easy to carry in someone's hand, similar to a mobile device.  It is a uniquely-shaped, rigid M.A.P. package that is lid sealed for adequate shelf-life and is microwavable.
 
CATEGORY: Food, Shelf Stable
 
Package: Kashi Post Consumer HDPE Bag
Company: Kellogg Company
Industry-first flexible stand-up bag for dry goods using film that contains FDA-approved direct food contact post-consumer recycled material (HDPE). By using post consumer HDPE we reduce the amount of virgin resin that would have been required to deliver this product. The process in which the post consumer HDPE resin is made requires less energy then it would to create virgin resin. This material allows for another use for post-consumer HDPE that in the past was only intended for non-food uses. This bag was developed to retail historically bag-in-box product into a bag. The bag provides more food per pound of packaging. The bag also features a zipper to help maintain freshness.
 
Package: Flat Bottom Pillow Bag
Company: Frito-Lay
New Flat Bottom bag that is produced on Vertical Form Fill Seal Equipment that has no gussets a wide mouth at the top for the consumer to access yet has folds on the bottom for the package to stand up.
 
Package: Mixed Media Retail Ready Display Case
Company: The Hershey Company
The mixed media retail ready case delivers superior branding while not sacrificing on performance. The case features two easy to remove perforated tabs that releases the outer protective case from the inner display tray. The case also features two kickers which serves to secure the bars for protection in transport as well as tilting the bars back for display at retail.
 
CATEGORY: Health & Beauty Aids
 
Package: Aquiesse Candle Tin
Company: Planet Canit, LLC
Aquiesse's product extension into the candle "tin" category addresses the need for a lower price point respectful of their luxury brand. The new packaging provides a strong price/value relationship, promoting elegance and substance at a competitive price. The tin positions the fragrant candle as a beautiful accessory. In addition to its visual elegance,  its structural design protects surfaces from heat and a hidden compartment stores branded matches- a consumer convenience.
 
Package: Big sexy hair
Company: Viva Healthcare Packaging
This plastic tube offers outstanding shelf impact thanks to the use of an Injection Molded Tube with an In Mold Label where a foil label is sandwich laminated . Results : Outstanding metallic and gloss that enabled the brand to replace a metal can by a plastic tube; full coverage from top to bottom, no seam look.
 
Package: AVEDA 100% Post Consumer Recycled HDPE Bottles
Company: Aveda
The Aveda Invati and Stress Fix bottles are made from 100% post consumer recycled content HDPE. These bottles utilize a post consumer recycled content color carrier allowing Aveda to achieve a long standing goal to eliminate virgin petro-chemical content in our HDPE line image bottles.
 
Package: Gillette® Venus & Olay - a Groundbreaking Package Design with a Protective, "Cocooning" Effect
Company: Placon Corporation
The package’s finger access slot with formed feature concentrates the opening force area allowing consumers to easily bend the top formed part backwards 180°. This allows consumers to easily slide the inner tray out without ever touching the perforations. The inner carrier tray is a unique, thin-gauge rigid thermoform where both sides of the inner “caddy” are utilized to retain the razor’s components on multiple planes in multiple-sized cavities.
 
CATEGORY: Household Products
 
Package: Source Reduced UN/CRC Rectangular Line with Hinged Lid
Company: Ropak Packaging, A Bway Company
Breakthrough rectangular plastic container line with a hinged lid that is UN/CRC certified. Containers are source reduced and offer space-efficiency. Easy opening without the use of a tool and can be easily resealed.
 
Package: 3M LED Advanced Lighbulb
Company: 3M
A unique frame style package emphasizing the nostalgic shape of the traditional light bulb by utilizing a mixture of recycled paperboard and recycled plastic bottles to emulate the environmental advantages of the 3M LED Advanced Light. This package communicates premium through its simplicity, black color, and reflective spot varnish. The angled panels reflect the in store light and the bulb itself strategically communicating lighting to the consumer.
 
Package: Clorox SmartTube Technology
Company: The Clorox Company
Clorox has recently launched the largest innovation to spray technology in the last 20 years with the introduction of SmartTubeTM technology. This new package features a blown in dip tube in the bottle that couples with a bayonet style trigger so that the consumer can spray out all of the liquid product.
 
Package: Sherwin-Williams'™ Dupli-Color Automotive Scratch Fix "All in 1" Package
Company: Sherwin-Williams
This convenient, ergonomic package is redesigned to combine both exact match automotive paint and a clear protective top coat in a single package with all the tools and applicators required to restore a nick, chip or scratch back to the vehicles original factory finish.
 
CATEGORY: Industrial / Commercial
 
Package: Modular Intermodal Container Series
Company: NSWC Indian Head Division Detachment Picatinny
Modular Intermodal Container is to standardize package that optimize movement within commercial and government logistics system.
 
Package: Cooper® Lighting Lightboard Assembly Handling Tray
Company: Transparent Container Co., Inc.
Universal, repeated use tray for internal manufacturing process.
 
Package: Keystone Trial Kit
Company: Ecolab/Ampac
The Ecolab Keystone Trial Kit utilizes a recloseable, stand up pouch that is made from a laminated film structure replacing traditional cardboard packaging and reducing the number of required sku’s. The design focuses on versatility, utility, convenience, material reduction and safety.
 
CATEGORY: Medical Device
 
Package: Beacon /CardioFocus® Balloon Catheter Die Cut Tray
Company: Beacon Converters, Inc.
Recyclable flexible packaging solution uses less energy to manufacture ship and warehouse and allows large, complex devices to be packaged in a reduced footprint. The packaging remains flat until 3-dimentional sidewalls and 360 degree protective fasteners are raised into place on product load. The tray is rigid enough to perform as a catheter prep tabletop at point of use, and later knocked down into its original flat format.
 
Package: Wright Medical Extremities Clamshell: A Universal Packaging System Design
Company: Placon Corporation
At 2 ½” long and 1 ½” wide, the compact, universal packaging clamshell, used in both sterile and non-sterile presentations, securely holds over 350 SKUs. With a coined hinge and two “wings” designed on either side, contact with potentially sharp hinge corners when the clamshell is closed was eliminated. Engineered to be easy to open, “large” ribbed thumb notches are molded onto two sides of the user-friendly rigid thermoform.At 2 ½” long and 1 ½” wide, the compact, universal packaging clamshell, used in both sterile and non-sterile presentations, securely holds over 350 SKUs. With a coined hinge and two “wings” designed on either side, contact with potentially sharp hinge corners when the clamshell is closed was eliminated. Engineered to be easy to open, “large” ribbed thumb notches are molded onto two sides of the user-friendly rigid thermoform.
 
Package: 47" Catheter Delivery System Tray
Company: Plastic Ingenuity
This 47” thermoformed package secures a portion of an implantable device used in connection with a percutaneous catheter delivery system. The package not only protects the device, but is unique because of its length, perforated hinges, snap features, and overall innovative roll-fed technologies.
 
Package: TKA Femoral Packaging System
Company: Perfecseal
The “TKA Femoral Packaging System” incorporates a new PU/PETG material. The innovative material eliminates packaging components, reduces manufacturer costs, increases product visibility and opens the window of design creativity. The package design accommodates a total of 80 different products based on four base product designs and their multiple sizes. Instead of having multiple tray designs for multiple sized products, one tray design was developed to accommodate all products.
 
CATEGORY: Other
 
Package: Mr Lid Containers
Company: Sussex IM
Mr Lid Containers were developed to solve every consumer’s problem with existing containers, “matching the lid to the container”.  Mr Lid has an attached lid so “you never lose the lid”.   The patented package has a pre-curved lid and living hinge that provides best-in-class seal performance to “lock in the flavor” or “lock out the environment”.  The long-life product is co-injection molded providing color/material flexibility in lid and base.
 
Package: Club Glove Packaging
Company: DISPLAY PACK INC.
Display Pack’s Club Glove® Packaging: Unique package redesign results in eye-catching high-end packaging that reduces plastic by 50% and costs by 35%, while providing increased space for promotion, brand image enhancement and shelf impact.
 
Package: Staples' Smart-size Packaging
Company: Staples
Staples’ Smart-size packaging improves the customer experience, reduces carbon footprint, and delivers supply chain efficiencies, all while accomplishing a 20% reduction in corrugated cube. Staples, in collaboration with Packsize International and its On Demand Packaging technology produces customized packaging tailored to each order directly at the pack line. Positive customer satisfaction scores with the receipt of products shows that Staples is meeting customer needs and expectations in receiving the perfect order.
 
CATEGORY: Promotional / Display
 
Package: Gatorade G Series Perform Sideline Carrier Promotional Pack
Company: PepsiCo
This promotional pack recreates the ‘iconic’ Gatorade sideline squeeze bottle carrier, in a format for the typical ‘soccer mom’ to purchase. The pack includes 6 squeeze bottles, along with G Series Perform powder sticks in a multi-serve offering, for the Club channels. Using carton board created several challenges, having to be easily erected and assembled, without glue or tape. The result is an auto erect carrier, with friction locked tabs at the ends. The entire unit had to be secured as a singular selling unit, and easily shopped from an in store display pallet that complied with ISTA 6.
 
Student AmeriStar Winners
 
Student AmeriStar Winner- 1st Place
 
CATEGORY: Drug & Pharmaceutical
Package: Easy Roll Band-Aids
School: Cal Poly State University
 
Student AmeriStar Winner – 2nd Place
 
CATEGORY: Cosmetics
Package: Innovative Powdered Makeup Container
School: Cal Poly State University
 
Student AmeriStar Winner - 3rd Place
 
CATEGORY: Health & Beauty Aids
Package: CHAPBOSS - Lip Balm
School: University of Wisconsin – Stout
 
Student AmeriStar Winner Honorable Mentions
 
CATEGORY: Drug & Pharmaceutical
Package: Diabetic Test Strip Solutions
School: University of Wisconsin – Stout
 
CATEGORY: Household Products
Package: Divide, Open, Pour and Store: Iams Dog Food Packaging
School: University of Cincinnati
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