Packages and closures for packaging

A day in the life of a trader…

From time to time we lift the veil of secrecy surrounding our company’s internal affairs. We write about our cool team of well-tuned members who love their jobs. This year we shared a few honest thoughts on our business branch which suffered many turmoils and swirls.

Now we’d like to tell you a bit about our traders’ everyday struggles and challenges.
Traders’ life is quite tough. If they had to deal with one product, it would be a lot easier. They would only take care of orders, invoices and deliveries…
But not here!
Our offer includes ca. 200 products! Each can come in nearly all different colourings and extra options which altogether gives as many possible matchings as combinations of winning numbers in a lottery!
We should emphasise that 99% of our customers are experts in their fields. Their knowledge and experience enable not only a swift cooperation, but also help us improve our own expertise. However, it does not relieve us from the responsibility and alertness during conversations and the sales decision making process. Our traders have to know which of our products would be best for specific mediums and why. They have to know answers to all questions and sometimes make suggestions or advise against some of the solutions.

Bottle vs. Bottle

Let’s take an everyday situation – we had a customer with a window cleaner and a 750 ml with a 28/410 thread. The customer knows his product may be used as a fluid or foam. For us it’s bread and butter, the process should go smoothly. The customer wants his sprayer to be white and the trigger to be „three fingers long”.
Classic with a touch of elegance.
Our trader sent the sprayer samples with the additional foam function so that the customer could have a look at the product, put it on a bottle and run stability and compatibility tests. The customer, on the other hand, sent us the bottle to select the proper length of the tube.
And then, to our mutual surprise, it turned out something was not right!
The customer’s bottle was not as we expected. When we think of a typical window cleaner bottle, we imagine a flat bottle with a narrow neck. However, the customer’s bottle was round like a cylinder with equal height. Such shape prevents the long trigger to be pushed all the way, consequently blocking application of a full dosage.
We have to go back to square one…
Dear Customers, when we ask you to check the compatibility of our closures with your bottles, we just want to make sure everything will be 100% functional when your product reaches the end-consumer.

Foaming… is not that easy
Foam pump is a fantastic solution. We already covered its wide range of great applications here. One of our customers surrendered to its visual and practical advantages and contacted us. He wanted to put a face wash foam on the market. Everything was ready – the bottle, the closure with a foam pump, the tube and the label project. However, during the final testing, it turned out that instead of a charming dose of foam, the dispenser spewed out liquid with few bubbles. The test batch of the finished product landed in our quality control department.  The first exam confirmed the defect description. Our experienced quality control expert asked the basic question: does the medium contain the foaming agent? The question surprised our customer who was not aware of the fact the agent has to be added, while we were surprised we could quickly solve the problem.
What did our traders learn from this lesson? Every time our customers order foaming pumps, we have to remind them that in order to form the foam, the substance has to contain the foaming agent. Our closures are magnificent, but they don’t make miracles…

When millimetres save the project!
Sometimes, despite the best intentions and efforts of all  people in the production chain – the customer, trader, producer and the bottle manufacturer, something can go wrong. Once we had a situation when the bottle manufacturer assured us the thread was 28/410, while in the reality it was a little lower.
Bottles delivered, detergent is in production, the closures have not been ordered yet. However, none of the standard closures could solve the problem. Closing the bottle with a high cap would not only ruin the overall look of the product, but could also cause leaking.
Who saved the day? Our experienced and imaginative trader who knows the sprayer construction like the back of his hand!
At first glance, our sprayers are small and simple elements. Its complexity can be appreciated only when closely inspected. One of the sprayer’s elements is a gasket. It’s hidden under the cap and remains in direct contact with the bottle. It may seem its only function is to seal the product and prevent leaking. However, there are different gaskets which come in different thicknesses. So, since the thread was too low, the solution was to use a thicker gasket!
Standard sprayer with a non-standard gasket made a perfect match for the undersized bottle neck.

To be continued.

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