For a short opening times: "Easy to Open"

New to Coop: Easy and convenient to open packaging

Packaging must fulfill a number of important functions. And yet easy to be open. This provides packaging engineers often considerable challenges. Now Coop in Dresden started together with the Schulthess Clinic Zurich and the Fraunhofer Institute AVV the project "Easy to Open". And thus created a true innovation: packaging can be optimized with the aim to facilitate the opening and thus to make it more customer friendly.

The offer wealth of portioned and attractively packaged foods in supermarkets is large. The packaging will play a central role: to protect the product from environmental influences, damage or contamination by germs. They simplify handling when shopping, transportation and storage of food. And they ultimately inform customers about the preparation of the food.

The challenge

However, packaging has another important task: it should be as easy to open as possible. And yet they have to meet all the important quality assurance criteria. Many peelable packaging (which can be torn open without tools) are therefore not always easy to open. Often the pull tab is badly marked, tabs that are too small and therefore difficult to grasp, excessive force required to tear open and the like.

"Easy to Open"

Coop has now responded as the first Swiss retailer. Coop launched the “Easy to Open” project together with the Schulthess Clinic Zurich and Bell's own production company and had customer-friendly packaging for charcuterie products developed by the Fraunhofer Institute in Dresden, which specializes in packaging technology. These are called “Easy to Open” and, as the name suggests, are particularly easy to open. They thus offer real added value for customers. Quality assurance is of course still guaranteed and is in no way impaired by “Easy to open”.

The certainty

The new packaging has been tested both technically and by test persons and bears the green “Easy to Open” logo from Coop. They can already be found in the refrigerated shelves of various Coop own-brand charcuterie items. For example with the Naturafarm oven roast fine, with the Naturafarm shoulder ham cubes or with the Naturafarm salami Nostrano. The conversion of further private label packaging is ongoing.

More info: www.coop.ch/easytoopen  

Source: Basel [Coop]