New standard: Sustainable packaging for dispensers & co.

Regional partner is new supplier for high-quality outer cartons.

An incredible 40 pallets with an estimated 20,000 outer cartons have recently been stored at preeflow® - the end of a journey with which the company has actively advanced its previously-set sustainability goals for packaging materials in recent years. "Due to the COVID pandemic, we were not able to implement many things as quickly as planned. But now we have reached our goal," says a delighted Thomas Schmid, Business Unit Manager of preeflow®.

As a brand of the ViscoTec company, preeflow® has continuously developed over the past decade; the demand for technologies for precise, purely volumetric dispensing of liquids in small and very small quantities grew. Thousands of preeflow® products have therefore been produced over the years according to customer requirements. Ever-present: Packaging that protects the sensitive technology such as eco-PEN or eco-DUO during shipping or in which control units and evaluation devices are waiting to be used.

Looking back, Mr. Schmid says: "We used to think less about the type of packaging. All that mattered was that our products reached the customer undamaged." That has now changed. In addition, those responsible are focusing increasingly on standardizing the product portfolio. "It was a logical and entrepreneurially sensible decision to standardize the packaging solutions too and to use sustainably produced ones," as Schmid explains. Back in 2019, the team had already come up with the idea to use sustainable preeflow® packaging.

The company decided to hand over the search for a solution to packaging experts and, after a selection process - unfortunately interrupted by the COVID pandemic - chose a Bavarian company. "The cardboard boxes are one thing. But it was also important to us that we find a regional partner and that the delivery doesn't turn into a world trip." In the end, two cardboard variants were developed that can accommodate a total of ten dispenser types using a wide variety of inlays. The entire material is made of recycled corrugated cardboard.

The environmentally harmful foam mats, used for padding the units, are long gone. The corrugated cardboard inlays are folded and punched depending on the type of dispenser. The same applies to the outer cartons for the control unit. For this, the packaging experts created a variant that is designed to accommodate three different types of control unit. The Business Unit Manager is pleased to add: "With these standards and the new boxes, we can now cover the shipping of all products." Reason enough to fill up the warehouse with a large delivery and therefore reduce transport distances to a bare minimum.

It is not only with regard to packaging that preeflow® is taking a contemporary approach. Environmentally friendly cardboard is also gradually being used for the warranty cards. "As with the packaging materials, we are using the remaining old stock for the warranty cards and will then switch completely to sustainable ones. Similarly with marketing give-aways: Soon everything reasonably possible will be made of recycled materials," Schmid explains with a view to the coming months. The change to sustainable packaging solutions at preeflow® is also a pilot project for the ViscoTec umbrella brand - here the agenda for sustainability will include environmentally-friendly packaging in the near future.