Taps 3M to streamline new product introduction, standardize packaging process
St. Paul, MN — July 21, 2004 — Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., a manufacturer of canned and bottled juice drinks in the United States, said it has chosen to use the 3M Integrated Packaging Tool to streamline its corporate packaging system across all operations. Project kick-off was early June.
The 3M Integrated Packaging Tool is a Web-based, centralized database that enables integration and management of packaging data, according to the provider. The system will be used to manage packaging specifications by corporate package engineering and manufacturing for all Ocean Spray products.
With 2003 sales of $1 billion, Ocean Spray leads the industry in providing new and unique juices and juice drinks and innovative packaging for its products to the consumer and food service markets. 3M said the Integrated Packaging Tool will enable Ocean Spray to be faster and more flexible in introducing new products and standardizing the entire packaging process.
"Time to market and brand management are primary considerations in the development and distribution of our products," explained Ken Zaval, packaging manager at Ocean Spray. "3M has proven that they are able to help us increase efficiencies and collaboration in our packaging system along with reducing costs, ultimately helping us better serve our customers."
Ocean Spray's selection of the 3M Integrated Packaging Tool is part of the company's ongoing commitment to best manufacturing practices. According to Zaval, "This will bring us to a new level of packaging systems management."
"Packaging is a frontier in IT and supply chain business processes where there are clear opportunities for improvement," said John Pohl, division vice president, 3M Industrial Services and Solutions. "The 3M Integrated Packaging Tool specifically addresses this challenge. This is particularly relevant to the food and beverage industry, where getting products to market late can cost millions of dollars in lost revenue."
Based on its own history of packaging expertise, 3M developed the 3M Integrated Packaging Tool to more efficiently integrate and manage its packaging information. The system is designed to help companies in packaging-intensive industries, such as food and beverage, consumer packaged goods and life sciences, effectively address such issues as compliance, product surety, time-to-market, and reduction of packaging costs at an enterprise-level.
For food and beverage companies like Ocean Spray where time-to-market is critical, the 3M Integrated Packaging Tool can accelerate and streamline the process of packaging development for new product launches or promotions by centralizing packaging specifications, labeling data and artwork, according to 3M. In addition, the data-enabled solution supports customer and industry initiatives like UCCnet and radio frequency identification (RFID).
