New players
It’s no surprise, such a dynamic market is attracting new players. Latest to date, the Toly company that produces this kind of packaging in a joint venture with a Korean company which led to the creation of Toly Korea.
The drive is the same with the company Cinqpats that uses the technology developed by German Megaplast to design a new range of standard bottles.
Key players
Among the current leaders on this segment, the Airlesssystems company, which is owned by the Aptar Group, recently presented band new lines:
– The Auriga range, available in sizes of 15, 20, 30 et 50 ml, which offers a combination of material (PP, PP frosted, SAN). Auriga allows a variety of finishes through the use of different techniques: coloration, silk-screening, hot stamping, offset, heat transfer. The collars can be coloured with one or two shades using the dual-injection process, anodized silver or gold, shiny or mat. This high end airless system with a piston is convenient for face care formulations, necklines eyes contours, in the form of gels, creams or serum.
– Aura’s prestige Airless packaging designed for cosmetics using highest technology is currently available in 50 ml, 30 and 15 ml variants. This pack is recommended for selective cosmetics: anti-aging care products, concentrates of bioactive natural substances, real alternatives to cosmetic surgery.
Concerning Quadpack/Yonwoo, the company has developed Visoanska’s latest model which combines in the same pack a cream and capsules for internal and external treatment. This new concept is a three chamber single bottle. The upper part containing the cream is an airless system ensuring maximum protection for optimal use. The bottom part is closed by a turning base which allows the consumer to extract one by one the food supplements.
At Rexam, the group has had encountered big successes recently, particularly with its airless Prodigio. For instance Oriflame, one of the world’s fastest growing direct sales beauty product companies, has selected Prodigo – the lotion dispenser equipped with the patented system CleanPoint Technology - for its anti-aging cream day / night North For Men.
For Oriflame, the product was customized with a silver actuator and a matching tank. “Through elimination of drips, clogs and product contamination, Prodigio offers true consumer benefits”, said Virginie Lemeunier, Product Manager - Lotion, Rexam Personal Care.
The neutrality of this 100 percent recyclable lotion pump is ensured by the use of polypropylene and polyethylene components. There is no elastomer or metal in contact with the lotion. Further, the Prodigio is designed to dispense precise dosages of fragile, viscous formulations, such as those used in anti-aging creams, thanks to wider internal channels, the pack can also withstand high-speed atmospheric filling and other processes.
Concerning Megaplast, the German firm adds new sizes to its top-fill lines in time to be shown at this year’s Luxe Pack show in Monaco. Megaplast has introduced 20ml and 40ml sizes to its Micro line of dispensers which has a dosing of 0.3ml. This brings the number of sizes in the range up to five, including the already existing 15ml, 30ml and 50ml containers. A new container of 100ml has also been added to the Mezzo line of dispensers, the older sister of the Micro, which has a larger diameter and a dosing of 0.8ml.
“This larger Mezzo size helps skin care customers looking to bottle body care products and is also a good choice for hair care applications,” says Lucyna Silberstein, President of Megaplast.
Growing product variety
Adding the new sizes, therefore, creates greater variety for existing personal care customers as well as widening the potential client base for the company.
The airless packaging market continues to grow as manufacturers release improved formulas that require better packaging. Although the economic conditions are challenging, mass-tige products are faring well. People can treat themselves to better products easier than a new car or vacation. Small pleasures help people cope with the current economic conditions.
With the French company Lablabo, the EasyFoil pouch used for its pouch Airless system for cosmetics and pharmaceutical products has won an Alufoil Trophy 2009. A major advantage of the pouch is the protection of the product against Oxygen and UV lights. And the viscosity of the product has no negative effect on the ability of the pump to dispense precise dosages. The EasyFoil pouch consists of an aluminum multilayer film PET/ALU 12 microns/PP or PE (depending on application) rolled and welded around a superior ring and an inferior plastic cup.
The pouch, is suitable for both highly viscous and highly fluid alcohol based-products. It is equipped with a precise airless metering mechanism (+/- 5%) even when it is actuated upside down. The dispensing system with no spiracle insures product protection when the pouch is not in use.
The most common products for which it is used are alcoholic gels used for pharmaceutical products, particularly for transdermal applications. The use of alufoil is critical in these circumstances as it provides an absolute barrier to alcohol and prevents evaporation of pharmaceutical products, which often have a shelf life of two years.
Another major contribution of the EasyFoil pouch to pharmaceutical and cosmetic packers is that filling is undertaken by gravity feed on any standard machinery.
Another important operator, RPC Bramlage-Wiko. Among the products launched recently by the firm, one can note, the decorative versatility Magic SL dispensing system which has been underlined by its selection by Clarins in a stylish pack that incorporates a translucent plastic cap and an eye-catching aluminum band.
Eye contour skin care products (designed to lift, firm and renew facial skin) are new in the Clarins Men range. Clarins required a dispenser that would ensure accurate dosing as well as complementing the classy appearance of the Clarins Men brand.
RPC Bramlage-Wiko’s Magic SL is designed to ensure the controlled dosing and hygienic application of creams, gels and lotions across a range of viscosities. The ingenious and easy-to-use airless dispensing system provides the required amount of product in one measure, avoiding the inconvenience of multiple dispenses, while its unique design is optimized for consistent performance.
The container body is manufactured in transparent PCTG and then decorated with multi-color silk screen printing to achieve a glossy, luxurious effect. The cap uses translucent PCTG, allowing the dosing head to be seen within.
The dispenser’s eye-catching aesthetic is completed by an aluminum band – laser-inscribed with the Clarins Men logo - that connects the cap to the container.
For ClarinsMen Eye contour skin care products, the Magic SL is supplied in 20 and 50 ml variants in light blue and dark blue colors.
AirFree
AirFree is a concept patented by Promens to obtain packages with no air intake. AirFree is based on a simple idea: no need to insert a pouch in a bottle (unlike a conventional airless system), just manufacture it directly in co-extrusion in a single operation.
"With a restitution rate of 95% to 97%, AirFree allows exceptionally high evacuation rates. A traditional (non-airless) bottle with pump will evacuate only 86% of a high viscosity cream". said Promens R&D director Pascal Hennemann. This represents substantial economic gains for brands.
AirFree allows high viscosity products to deliver a regular dose. The purpose of AirFree is to provide users of packaging comfort and security. With AirFree any form of bottle is possible. “The user can easily locates the visual codes developed by each brand, which restrains the risks of confusion,” says Isabelle Orhan, Innovation, Marketing & Research Director at Promens.
AirFree is suitable for containers from 15 ml to 500 ml with transparent or opaque bottles.
Airfree can be used in any position, very useful for the various applications to be performed by users of packaging: a direct and hygienic application with the packaging upside down becomes possible.
Eventually, “AirFree is a honest packaging” says Isabelle Orhan. “The packed quantity equals the evacuated quantity”. No over-filling, no empty volume, AirFree is concerned by requirements on environment and eco-design.
Reckitt Benckiser’s specific bottle for the Veet brand uses Promens AirFree system.
MWV strengthens its position
Finally, one might remember that MWV Calmar has reinforced its presence in the primary packaging markets thanks to the acquisition two years ago of the Dutch company Keltec Dispensing Systems.
Today MWV Calmar Netherlands contributes to the enhancement of MWV Calmar’s personal care product assortment with its know-how and expertise in foamers and airless systems. Its range is composed of two foamers, Ocean™ H and Ocean™ T. Foamers, previously named HH and TT Foamers, as well as two airless ranges, Pearl™ and Luna™ Airless formerly known and Star and Light Series.
Based on MWV Calmar’s Rolling Bellow Technology™, Pearl™ Airless is a dispensing system for creams, gels and lotions. Offering a complete range of options with different closure diameters, bottle sizes and outputs, Pearl™ Airless is completely metal-free, extremely easy to actuate.
Luna™ Airless is a way to dispense creams, gels and lotion products. Compatible with the most sophisticated formulas, Luna™ Airless is MWV Calmar’s bottom-filled dispensing system.
