RPC Group has enjoyed a clean sweep at this year's Worshipful Company of Horners Bottlemakers coveted national awards. The Horners Bottlemakers award went to M&H Plastics Braille Tubes while RPC Blackburn and Superfos, and RPC UKSC were both highly commended for the Ragú SuperLock pack and Tetrosyl CarPlan Demon Foam container respectively.
The Braille tubes and bottles offer a 0.3mm high build braille dot which allows those people with visual impairments to identify products both at the retail environment and also in practical use in the home. The braille tubes are manufactured to the BS 15823 quality standard. A high-build varnish is used to print the Braille dots, using extremely accurate control measures to ensure the height of the Braille alphabet remains uniform throughout the packaging run.
The use of the SuperLock® plastic pot has delivered an ambient shelf life of up to two years for Ragú Italian-American pasta sauces. The 400ml pack offers glass-like transparency but with the added in-home safety of a non-shatter container. Further consumer benefits include easy re-closability thanks to the twist-off/screw-on lid and the pot is microwave, dishwasher and freezer safe.
The Demon Foam pack was designed to be able to hold the special Foam Gun without making the bottle too big for retail shelves and, at the same time, effectively communicate the product's USP. The container features a profiled recess at the rear, which is deep enough to retain the gun flush with the container surface. A second recess on the front provides pack strength and allows the gun's operating switch to be accommodated, while a clear section on the label enables the gun to be visible on-shelf.
RPC's successes at these awards demonstrate the company's extensive design and technical skills and its ability to devise packaging solutions across a wide range of end markets. The company is the only plastics packaging manufacturer to produce packs using all three main processing technologies – injection moulding, blow moulding and thermoforming.