Uflex provides functional packaging to Veetee Rice

Uflex has supplied the UK’s Veetee Rice with packaging engineered to increase its brand value.

Uflex provides functional packaging to Veetee Rice

Veetee – one of the largest rice suppliers in the UK – had been facing four obstacles with diminished shelf appeal of big bags at the point of sale, discomfort to consumers while carrying bags, restricted openabilty and poor stackability.

In response to these, Uflex has developed packaging including a number of features to overcome these issues. The packaging has front openability through a slide-to-close (STC) zipper, while the front, back and bottom panels of the pack are a 3-ply structure comprising stackable polyester to prevent the bags from slipping during stacking, metallized polyester and polyethylene as a sealant layer. The side panels, or gussets, are made of polyester and polyethylene to have a provision for transparent windows on either side. A reclose feature allows consumers to use only the required amount of product at a time.

Anup Sachdeva, joint president packaging, global exports at Uflex, added: ‘One of the major pain points that Veetee had been facing was the stiff punch handle. In the new packaging, we have offered a handle that’s on the side gusset. It is baby soft and is made of a special proprietary polymeric composition. No other convertor across the world has been able to offer such a soft side handle. When consumers hold the rice pack through side handle the centre of gravity of the load shifts downwards. This reduces the potential energy of the pack concomitantly lessening the strain in the hands of the consumers.’

The pack has five panels that offer 360-degree decoration. Uflex modified the artwork of the rice pack and printed it with a high definition reversed rotogravure process. The rotogravure cylinder for this job was manufactured at Uflex’s automatic robotic laser engraving line that offers high definition image reproduction capability of 6,400 DPI. ‘We used the extended gamut printing process on the rotogravure press to infuse standardization of printing. The press was standardized on CMYK, orange, green and blue,’ added Sachdeva.

Ashok Chaturvedi, chairman and managing director, Uflex, added: ‘The converting/packaging experts at Uflex systematically looked into each of the four pain points of the brand and came up with appropriate solutions as an antidote.

‘Now this is what I call real value addition that is helping our client in the UK to unleash its brand potential to the fullest.’