Located in the heart of famous French dairy farming region, Valframbert demonstrates ongoing UNITED CAPS Close to You strategy.
UNITED CAPS, an international manufacturer of caps and closures, recently held a special customer day at its new manufacturing plant located in Valframbert, France, in the heart of a region of France famous for its dairy farming.
This plant bolsters UNITED CAPS’ position as a global player with continuing growth, opening new opportunities in the infant nutrition and dairy markets with its ‘Close to You’ strategy and focus on innovation and sustainability.
During the event, UNITED CAPS demonstrated a brand-new product designed specifically to meet the needs of the infant nutrition and dairy markets. The Biostime bespoke closure for Health & Happiness Group reflects the dedication of UNITED CAPS’ R&D team in bringing differentiation to clients through a collaborative effort that enables a differentiated total packaging solution. Such is UNITED CAPS’ expertise in this area that more than 50% of UNITED CAPS products are bespoke closures tuned to specific customer requirements.
“At Biostime Nutrition, part of the Health and Happiness Group, we strive for excellence,” said Health & Happiness Group. “It’s in our DNA. So, to develop a closure that could represent that excellence and meet the demands of next generation nutrition, we looked for a partner that shared our passion for innovation that pushes boundaries. That search led us to UNITED CAPS and resulted in a development with an uncompromising commitment to quality and safety.”
An Expert in Infant Nutrition Packaging
UNITED CAPS has been recognised as the market reference for snap caps and scoops for tins of infant milk powder. Its expertise extends beyond the product itself to encompass how brands and fillers can best optimise their on-shelf standout. The Biostime closure developed for Health & Happiness Group is an example of the company’s superior bi-injection capability.
In addition to the new bespoke Biostime closure, UNITED CAPS offers a large portfolio of standard closures for dairy and infant nutrition, including:
127 SAFE-TE, a flip-top hinged closure whose innovative design is optimized for use in Asia, placing emphasis on product security and hygiene. 127 SAFE-TE’s tamper-evident band presents highly visible evidence of any tampering with a unique ‘drop down’ lock that makes it incredibly obvious if the product has been opened. Thanks to its flex band, it is literally impossible for a malevolent actor to remove the closure, tamper with the contents, and return the closure to its original condition. UNITED CAPS produces these closures in Asia, but also in Europe for fillers that ship product to Asia.
127 PROTECSCOOP, a premium one-handed, hinged closure with a built-in scoop. A contamination-free, foil-sealed chamber protects the scoop until use; and throughout the product life, scoop hygiene is optimized. An integrated hook keeps the scoop handy. PROTECSCOOP is used for both Asian and European products.
KINDCAP, a pioneering, light-weight snap cap technology that is kinder to the environment and kinder to budgets offering up to double the capping speeds on existing lines without modifications.
A Focus on Sustainability
“As has been the case for many years, a key focus for UNITED CAPS is sustainability,” said Benoit Henckes UNITED CAPS CEO. “We consider the impact of our operations and our products on the environment in everything we do. This most recent joint development with Health & Happiness Group along with our off-the-shelf portfolios offer are good examples of how we are able to optimise functionality and sustainability. Our caps are engineered to perform in the hand, on the line, on the shelf and for the planet.”
In addition, UNITED CAPS has been an industry leader in the development of Tethered Closures to comply with the EU’s Single Use Plastic Directive, which also impacts some Dairy producers. To that end, UNITED CAPS is rolling out an exciting new range of tethered closures as part of its UCTC Range which promise to deliver Maximum Compliance with Minimum Disruption for our Dairy customers.
And furthermore, UNITED CAPS recently launched at its Sustainability Week: Every Cap Matters Webinar series an opportunity to enable brands to pilot and road-test packaging concepts that include caps made from ISCC+ Certified materials. ISCC Plus (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) is a certification system that offers solutions for the implementation and certification of sustainable supply chains of raw materials and products, and also shows savings in greenhouse gas emissions.
“Along with MECHANICALLY RECYCLED resin, we offer both BIOBASED and CHEMICALLY RECYCLED feedstock,” Henckes noted. “This is certified material, and our extensive R&D has demonstrated that a closure made with ISCC+ certified resin looks and performs in exactly the same way as a traditionally made closure.”
As consumers increasingly expect brands to be more sustainable, they are also prepared both pay for more sustainable packaging and will penalise brands that don’t meet this expectation.
Henckes concluded, “Companies need to act now. They will find it helpful to take an experimental approach to developing solutions with partners and then perfecting the packaging along the way. Attempts to second-guess consumer preferences in packaging-design labs are likely to increase the risk of market failure. UNITED CAPS are well positioned to help with that process, and we look forward to collaborating with brands in this space to help move their sustainability initiatives forward”
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