CASE STUDY No. 9632
KEY WORDS P.E.T. PLASTIC
BOTTLES--LIGHTWEIGHTING, REDESIGN
Procter & Gamble
2 Procter & Gamble Plaza
Cincinnati, OH 45202-3314
Contact: Tom Rattray, Associate Director Environmental Quality. Tel: 513-983-2301.
James L. Bono, Packaging Development Manager. Tel: 513-634-7568.
Summary
P&G redesigns its Crisco bottle, reducing P.E.T. plastic 30% and gaining other
benefits.
Action
When P&G sought a design change in the 32- and 48-ounce Crisco bottles, it found
that a rectang-ular shape had more advantages than the old cylindrical shape. Thinner
walls of polyethylene terephthalate (P.E.T.) were permissible, and the design passed the
P&G "Total System" test:
- Material--no breakage (P.E.T. was flexible enough to withstand drop test failure)
- Bottle supplier--able to manufacture the new design
- Design criteria--no dents (unappealing to customer)
- Process--top-loading requirement (no bottle collapse during filling)
- Trade standards--pallet and shipping (bottle shippers must fit pallet and be space
efficient)
- Consumer acceptance--appearance, rigidity, shelf life, recyclability
During four years of development and test marketing and careful analysis of cost,
P&G partnered with their bottle supplier, Continental PET Technologies (606-282-6025),
and started producing the new "E-Pack" bottle--efficiency, economics,
ergonomics, ease of use, environmentally sound). The company summarizes benefits as
follows:
- Raw material requirements reduced 30% (a reduction of 2.5 million pounds of P.E.T. a
year) from previous bottle and 48% less than competitors.
- Weight reduced to 39 grams from 57g in the 48-ounce bottle; to 30g from 44g in the
32-ounce bottle. (P&G tried to reduce the weight of the smaller Crisco bottle to 26g,
but the prototype did not pass the Total System test.)
- Rectangular design permits more bottles to be shipped per cubic foot and per truck,
saving shipping space and material.
- Better space utilization with rectangular bottom, which reduces unused space to 12%
v. 22% for cylindrical bottom.
- 10% reduction in corrugated cardboard--1.3 million pounds per year; reduced storage
space.
- Disposal benefits--bottle crushes flat; label glued in one spot only, easing removal;
tamper-proof inner seal eliminated with introduction of tamper-proof outer cap, made of
polypropylene, which is easily separated by density.
Payback
P&G saw a 25%-30% rate of return on the investment and completely recovered its
costs in about 3 years.
Other benefits
E-Pack also permits:
- Faster label assembly since one label has replaced two.
- Faster packing line changover (reduced from hours to minutes) since the footprint of
the larger Crisco bottle is identical to footprint of the smaller bottle, and case
footprints are the same. Cylindrical bottles differed in width.
- Better customer acceptance since the grip is ergonomically optimal (less than 1-1/2
inches wide v. 2- to 2-1/2 inches on competing brands--and on the old Crisco bottle.
"When the competition copies you, you know you've got a winner," a P&G
staff member said.
IIR
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