Originally Published PMPN December
2004
Tubes
Tracking Today’s Tube Trends
Manufacturers are designing their products with safety, security, and convenience in mind.
 |
| Alcan Packaging Cebal’s new Cebalcap tube contains a tamper-evident printed shrink band built into the cap. |
The themes of tamper evidence and child resistance, traditional rallying cries
of bottle and blister packagers, are becoming bellwethers for tube manufacturers
as well. More and more tube companies are working to weave safety and security
into their products, whether that means caps and closures or the tubes themselves.
In addition, companies continue to develop tubes that are designed for ease-of-use
and general convenience. To that end, they are producing tubes that contain
flexible materials, unit-dose formats, or new and different shapes to facilitate
their goals.
Safe, Secure Tubes
Safety and security are common buzzwords for today’s tube manufacturers.
One area in which companies are employing such features is in tube closures.
“Tamper-evident, child-resistant (CR) closures are a big trend right now
in tubes,” confirms Kris Christensen, product manager for Alcan Packaging
Cebal (Norwalk, CT). Alcan Cebal recently launched the CRC, a child-resistant
cap and tube combination. The tube is approved for CR packaging guidelines,
says Christensen, and contains a squeeze and turn closure that is designed to
be simple for adults to use while being difficult for children to open. The
CRC tube is available in 3¼4-, 7¼8-, and 1-in. laminate tube diameters.
Alcan Cebal also recently introduced the Cebalcap, a tube cap manufactured with
a printed shrink band. “We market that cap with the ‘Sealed for Protection’
line,” says Christensen. The Cebalcap can be sealed with a tamper-evident
shrink band, she says, which helps better communicate safety features. It is
currently available in 30-, 35-, 40-, and 50-mm diameters. The product is a
soft-contoured snap-on cap that is oriented toward the front panel graphics.
“That increases package aesthetics and brand recognition,” she says.
Amcor Plastube (Montreal) is another tube company designing products
with safety in mind. “Tamper-evidence is a big area of focus for us,”
says Jennifer Hackett, marketing manager. “The safety element of tubes
is very important.” Amcor makes a variety of caps containing tamper-evident
and child-resistant features. “We don’t feel it’s necessary to
shrink-wrap over an entire tube,” she says. “If a security feature
is located inside a cap and not on the actual tube, it presents more opportunities
for graphics and design elements on the tube itself.”
Hackett also points out that adding CR closures to a tube can help companies
market their products better. “It can help you stand out, especially on
the shelf,” she says. “It can be a key design element as well as a
safety feature.”
IntraPac (Don Mills, ON, Canada) is also committed to tubes with security
features. The company’s collapsible metal tubes are designed to flatten
as a pharmaceutical product is removed. The tube then changes shape to match
the volume of the contents still inside, a feature that minimizes contaminants,
such as air and moisture, from getting into the container. “That’s
definitely a security feature,” says John Miller, IntraPac’s vice
president of marketing. “And the closure on the tube provides a fast, secure
seal.” The closure fits all sizes and styles of tubes, he adds.
 |
| The new CRC tube from Alcan Cebal is designed to be both tamper evident and child resistant. |
Similarly, Tubed Products (Easthampton, MA) manufactures a series of
tamper-evident tubes that do not require separate caps and can be provided with
resealable tips for multiple use. For example, the company’s Twist-Off
and Snip-Tip tubes contain the special tubes. The tubes themselves are designed
to meet the needs for single and/or multiple use tubes in sampling, unit dose,
and special promotions, according to Jim Farley, the company’s vice president
of sales and marketing.
Other companies that are designing CR and tamper-evident features into their
tubes are O. Berk (Union, NJ) and Montebello Packaging (Oak Park,
IL). O. Berk currently offers a wide variety of CR tubes. Montebello recently
won an award for 2003 Innovative Tube of the Year from The Tube Council for
the EpiQuin Micro tube, used to dispense a pharmaceutical cream from SkinMedica.
This laminate tube contains a tamper-evident foil seal and a ribbed, white,
reverse-tapered puncture tip.
Convenience is key
Ease-of-use is the other big trend in today’s tubes. Companies like James
Alexander Corp. (Blairstown, NJ), for instance, recently unveiled a new
unit-dose plastic ampule dispenser. Although it was created several years ago,
the product is now being marketed more to the pharmaceutical industry.
The tube-like package was designed to eliminate the inconvenience of tearing
or cutting the tube’s top to get at the contents of the product, according
to a company representative. When a user squeezes the ampule, the product inside
is easily dispensed via a rupture in the tube’s inner membrane. It comes
in 2- or 5-ml polyethylene swab or dropper tip configurations.
IntraPac is also focusing on tube convenience. The company currently manufactures
collapsible metal tubes in various sizes for the pharmaceutical market. “They’re
designed to be easy to dispense from,” says Miller. “The user removes
the cap and squeezes lightly on the tube, which controls the product amount.”
He says the company’s laminate and plastic laminate tubes, specifically
designed for the pharmaceutical market, have multiple applications and come
in many size diameters and lengths.
The tubes can be manufactured with short lead times and are also designed to
simulate the feel of plastic with a barrier material. “These tubes are
also quite low cost and easily disposable,” says Miller. “We see that
as an advantage for companies wanting to use them.”
Barrier protection is an important factor in today’s tubes. “Clean
packaging is very important now,” says Christensen of Alcan Cebal. “Can
it resist bacteria? That’s a question most tube manufacturers are asking
these days.” Alcan Cebal’s Dual Tube product attempts to address that
question, she says, as well as the challenge of convenience. The tube is designed
to ensure that two-component products are correctly separated and distributed
in equal quantities when they are applied.
Most importantly, says Christensen, it offers high barrier protection. It is
constructed with an outer laminate tube containing foil combined with a plastic
inner tube with thin walls. The product also comes in an all-plastic outer tube
version. The tube’s products are then dispensed via a specially designed
orifice, through multiple ports. “It’s a dual-phase formulation,”
she says. “It allows a customer or consumer to combine two products easily,
and it’s really great for pharmaceutical and dentifrice applications.”
Montebello Packaging has also designed a tube with ease of use in mind. In fact,
the company’s laminate tube for the Flexogan 100g arthritis pain reliever
recently won the organization another 2003 Tube Council award. The Flexogan
tube, which is decorated with five colors, rests on a stand-up, flip-top cap.
The flexible laminate material is designed to further aid arthritis sufferers
by allowing them to effortlessly dispense the medication.
Increased Impact on the Shelf
Some tube companies are also concentrating on improving the image of their tubes
on store shelves. For example, Tuboplast Hispania (Alava, Spain) recently
released the Ellipsos E-50 plastic tube for dispensing of a depilatory cream.
The high-density polyethylene tube comes printed with two colors offset and
is finished with a colored cap of the same size. The 150-ml tube’s large
print surface, achieved though the tube’s elliptical shape, was designed
to better communicate with consumers, according to the company.
“We’re starting to see new design elements and colors with tubes,”
adds Amcor’s Hackett. “We’re actually being asked by pharmaceutical
customers to design tubes with more of a textured look and feel, so they’ll
jump out on the shelves.”
Chicago Paper Tube & Can Company, Inc. (Chicago), is another firm
that is interested in different design elements to make its tubes stand out.
Chrissy Cabay, marketing manager for the company, points to the Display Pack,
a tube initially designed for the cosmeceutical market but now targeting pharmaceutical
applications. The Display Pack displays both the product and container at the
same time, featuring a platform bottom. When displayed with the lid off, the
platform becomes a secondary container that is a stage for a product, she says.
“It’s a great alternative to folding cartons or boxes,” she says.
“As such, we’ve had a lot of demand for it. It’s 100% paperboard,
which makes it more versatile. Customers can foil stamp, emboss, or die-cut
on it.
 |
| New collapsible metal tubes from IntraPac change shape to match the volume of contents inside. This minimizes the chance of contaminants from getting into the tubes. |
Similarly, Tubed Products has created a family of tubes with distinctive design
elements such as matching colors, coordinated caps, and other graphic design
treatments. An oval shape allows for even more graphics on a tube’s front
space. “It’s all for increasing shelf presence,” says Farley.
“It’s also a very flexible tube family, so customers have a lot of
creative freedom.” The tubes come in a variety of diameters and are available
in a range of colors or see-through versions. “Color and texture are the
big things with this family,” Farley adds. A total of nine head styles
are available with the family of tubes, and he says the company can create unique
twist-off heads to help further differentiate a product.
Materials also come into play for companies looking to manufacture tubes that
stand out. Amcor Plastube is now making a metallic barrier polyfoil tube that
looks like plastic. “We’re getting so many requests for that product,”
says Hackett. “It doesn’t break down like plastic might; it’s
much more sturdy. And it also stands out on the shelf.”
Other Trends
Another trend in tubes is an increase in labeling space, brought on by FDA’s
OTC labeling regulations. Ampersand Label (Garden Grove, CA) is one company
working to meet those regulations. Its FlexView tube reportedly increases labeling
space by up to 200%, according to the company.
A two-layer construction creates the extra space, which can be used for drug
facts panels that are required to relay specific information in monograph form.
Rather than create a larger, more expensive tube, the company came up with normal-sized
(2.5-oz and 5-oz) tubes with the expanded label space. “Another thing that
we see is the use of colored webs that allow tubes to have different looks with
different colors,” says IntraPac’s Miller. “That’s all part
of product marketing. It used to be mainly a cosmetic industry feature, but
more and more pharmaceutical companies are using that element on tubes. That
will only increase.”
Alcan Cebal’s Christensen also thinks radio-frequency identification (RFID)
technology will find its way into tubes as a track-and-trace device. “Pharmaceutical
companies will definitely be looking to use RFID in tubes,” she says. “That’s
the way the industry is headed, and tubes are certainly no exception.”
Copyright ©2004 Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News
