Antalis packaging reduces distillery’s transit breakages to zero

Packaging Solutions

Antalis Packaging has created a fully insured, pulp based bottle protection solution for Sloemotion Distillery, which has resulted in a reduction in transit breakages from one in 20 to zero.

Sloemotion Distillery based in Yorkshire is a business creating spirits and liqueurs. Farm shops form its main customer base along with direct sales from its online shop. Antalis’ northern packaging team helped Sloemotion to create a bespoke outer box with a three-part moulded pulp insert capable of holding bottles of various shapes and sizes, to reduce transit breakages.

Sustainability is at the heart of Sloemotion, from its traditional, low impact, small batch production processes to the packaging. However, the company was experiencing high levels of breakages during transit – so the client had resorted to packing each order in two boxes for protection. The issues were affecting the company’s bottom line and increasing its environmental impact.

The Antalis Packaging team visited the distillery to assess the scale and scope of the requirement. Sloemotion’s existing packaging was a standard carton with either a six or 12 cell divider. Bottles in different shapes and sizes needed to be accommodated – a single box might contain a variety of bottles.

The new solution includes a 10 cm deep base with multiple ridges, enabling it to hold a variety of sizes of bottle. The middle part sits on the shoulder of the bottle while the final part sits over the top of the neck. In total, 90% of each bottle is covered, offering optimum protection during transit. Bespoke outer cartons in four different sizes were also produced to ensure a snug fit and quality of presentation. To ensure effectiveness, drop tests were carried out with a success rate of 100%.

Ben Oakes, packaging account manager at Antalis UK, commented: ‘The client’s damages were having a negative effect on the company’s bottom line, as well as on the environment, due to over-packaging. The solution we devised used off the shelf and bespoke components.’