Plastics' versatility and adaptability have touched virtually every aspect of our lives. And when it comes to packaging challenges in particular, plastics can often provide a solution, due to the myriad of physical properties and performance benefits available from different formats and structural options.

The growth of the rigid plastic packaging industry proves this theory. Rigid plastic packaging was calculated to be an $84 billion market in 2004 by Pira Intl. (www.pira.co.uk). That is forecasted to grow to $115 billion by 2009. It is a huge, diverse and vibrant segment of the total packaging industry.

The exhibits at PACK EXPO Intl. 2006 (www.packexpo.com), to be held Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 at Chicago's McCormick Place and sponsored and produced by the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (www.pmmi.org), will certainly reflect the latest trends in this expansive market segment. Show visitors can expect to see displays of a wide variety of rigid plastic packaging from practical, tamper-evident blister-packs to colorful, eye-catching containers that are equally practical and important as workhorses that support branding—the lifeblood of sales.

According to Ross Bushnell, senior vp of sales and marketing for Silgan Plastics Corp. (www.silgan.com), the first question that every user of rigid plastic packaging—of all packaging, in fact—asks today is, "How can you distinguish my package from the others on the shelf?"

"Others on the shelf" increasingly are store brands, which are not only growing in number, but also tend to resemble nationally branded products in terms of package colors, shapes, etc. Beyond that, neighbors on the shelf may be competitors' rigid packages or they may be standup pouches, canisters, retorted pouches, etc., as brand owners go farther afield in their own search for a unique look.

For rigid plastic packaging (A), the answer to that ubiquitous question varies, Bushnell says. The use of shrink labels is rising dramatically. In-mold labels are appearing on packages in market segments beyond the laundry detergent aisle where they began. Tactile finishes are being added to molded bottles, and screen printing is being used specifically to reflect a tactile sense. Molded containers are taking on new shapes that are both ergonomic and visually dramatic, including new types of dual-chamber bottles in various shapes and sizes.

The trend is toward greater visibility, more impactful shelf presence and a stronger dose of "here I am, pick me up" and hopefully "take me home."

Bushnell has been part of another recent trend that does not involve the actual package itself, but how companies that make packages are evolving. As the search for brand differentiation becomes more complex, makers of rigid plastic packaging must be able to integrate skills and capabilities that were formerly the province of separate units into the production of each package.

Bushnell says, "We now go into meetings about new packaging asking more questions and exploring entire product and package options rather than just recommending our particular part of the package."

One of the fastest-changing packaging types is the blister-pack. The most common blisters are mass-manufactured to hold over-the-counter medications, toys, tool parts and a myriad of other objects. But custom-designed blisters, both plastic-to-plastic and plastic-to-card, are rapidly diversifying in both their use and their design.

The "bulletproof" blister of a heavy, welded, two-part construction will be presented at PACK EXPO by SCA Consumer Packaging (www.sca.com), formerly the Alloyd Company, as a way to rescue valuable, pilfer-prone products from locked showcases to hang openly for consumers to examine (B) . The secure blister holds the product, printed information and an electronic article surveillance (EAS) tag that lets consumers see the product up close.

But some marketers have begun to realize that "complete" security can be self-defeating for a brand. Consumers may want to actually touch a product in addition to seeing it—although, without giving it away to a light-fingered pilferer. As a response, SCA has introduced a new line of custom High-Vis Retail Paks (a name it's in the process of trademarking), including the Promo-Label Pak, the Multi-Pak and the Trapped Try-Me Pak, which will also be displayed at PACK EXPO. The latter allows a consumer to reach through an orifice and touch the soft-grip pen inside, but the package stays sealed.

Each option is specifically designed to help the customer achieve a primary packaging goal. Other new blister-packs holding less expensive and therefore less targeted products enhance consumer access by using backing cards with cutaway corners. Still others offer even greater access and double as home-storage units with reclosable, die-cut flap openings in the backing card.

"The new approach," says SCA marketing director Ken Sullivan, "is that rather than designing a clamshell or a blister to fit the physical product, we focus on the goals of the package. Does the marketer want better security, branding differentiation, access that will let the consumer touch or try the product or after-sale convenient storage? The answer then guides the design."

Nothing is traditionally more "basic" than the food containers in the deli aisle (C), virtually one step up from the ones we use at home. But that, apparently, is changing.

"We now see a growing demand for convenient food packaging in the deli case that still protects food but gives it some brand pizzazz," reports Michelle Schmitt of Berry Plastics Corp. (www.berryplastics.com). In response, Berry has introduced its new Imedge® Squares line of containers, ideal for the both storage convenience at home and shelf presence in the grocers' cold case.

The 8-, 12-, 16- and 48-oz containers feature a square shape (as their name reflects), both for more efficient refrigerator storage and to better display the in-mold labeling Berry has adopted for crisp, vibrant graphics. In-mold labels, most commonly used on laundry detergent bottles, usually offer eye-catching visuals that eliminate the possibility of label wrinkling, tearing or misalignment, which can undercut brand image presentation.

Imedge Squares also satisfy another growing trend that Berry says it sees in the retail and foodservice sectors that indirectly affects shelf presence: tamper-evidence. The Imedge Squares incorporate a molded-in break-tab that clearly indicates if a product has been tampered with. The containers are molded of polypropylene, which Berry reports is quickly becoming the material of choice for disposable packaging, since it's durable and still economical.

Full-body shrink labels hit the big time with single-serve milk drinks that became popular in the 1990s. Packagers realized that the little plastic drink bottles were here to stay, and that shrink labels offer a cost-effective way of decorating them.

Gilbreth Packaging Systems (www.gilbrethusa.com) specializes in shrink labels, and its multicolor, special-effect labels have brought many a bottle to life. But new techniques have taken Gilbreth beyond printed color (D).

"We will have a lot to show visitors at PACK EXPO," says Gilbreth's product development manager, Theresa Sykes. "Some things will be visual effects—a sleeve printed with large-particle metallic ink, for instance—that really 'pop,' and a color-changing ink that varies as the consumer passes the package and changes on different-colored substrates."

Other news will include tactile ink finishes that give a package a rough or a soft feel, and a "rub 'n smell" feature that lets a label emit an appropriate scent when rubbed in a certain spot.

"Chemicals are encapsulated in the ink," Sykes says. "When the ink is rubbed, the scent escapes." Only taste and sound are left to future innovators.

To browse these and other new rigid containers and materials that make products pop, visit McCormick Place during PACK EXPO Intl. 2006. Or, contact the show department at 703/243-8555; fax 703/243-8556; or e-mail expo@pmmi.org.