Energized by effective design

Energized by effective design

It's an engineer's dream when marketing and operations partner on a packaging project to get a win-win. 

For Energizer's new EZ Turn & Lock blister for hearing-aid batteries, "The operation used to package this product was considered from the start of packaging ideation," says Chris Pigeon, Energizer's engineering manager, Specialty Batteries. "We didn't come up with a package design and then figure out how to make it. It was done all at the same time."

By giving equal weight to simplifying the manufacturing/packaging processes and satisfying marketing's needs, Energizer was able to minimize costs and production complexities while maximizing consumer benefits.

Like many seemingly simple concepts, this one took awhile to finesse, but, in execution, the EZ Turn & Lock works flawlessly. Pigeon cites the help of their supplier as instrumental. The Alloyd Brands Div. of Tegrant Co. provided a total integrated systems solution, from design consultation to cards and blisters to the molds and blister sealing equipment. "They were a big part of the whole process, all the way back to the ideation of what we were going to do to begin with," Pigeon says. "They've been involved from Day 1."

Strategy on the project started about two years ago, but the nitty gritty work on iterative designs began in the fall of 2009, with consumer testing feeding into packaging refinements along the way.

Lacey Gay, brand manager for Specialty Batteries (at the time), explains they just needed something "easy." Literally. Research revealed consumers wanted a package that made it easy to: 

•Access the product, so getting the small batteries out of the package was less of a hassle (this was their top request);
•Identify the cell size of the four available (10, 13, 312 and 675);
•Carry the batteries in a pocket or purse as a replacement in case a battery dies;
•Handle/replace them in their hearing aid.

"We've done some pretty nice packages over the years that have solved different consumer needs," Gay says (see sidebar "Now hear this!" at bottom left). "But the environment had changed and that's what made us relook at the package we offer today and make the best spin pack on the market so it was even easier for people to use. This pack encompasses all those earlier innovations into one."

Through both structural and graphic design (which we'll get into in just a minute), Energizer delivered on all these consumer needs. But there was one more that became important to address. "Women especially are speaking out more in focus groups and research, saying sustainability is important to them," Gay explains. So the EZ Turn & Lock package has various features designed to fulfill the consumer's preference for "green" attributes.

Building a secure structure
Energizer doesn't have the only spin package on the market, but it was determined to have the best. That meant coming up with a design that allowed easy access, but with a secure lock (hence the name). To do that, the EZ Turn & Lock package is comprised of three pieces: a front card, a back card and a blister, trapped in between. 

The design is similar to other carded blister pack structures, but with a twist. The back card is actually about half again as long as the front card, but then folded over so there are three layers of card where the blister sits to create a slightly raised platform. The middle layer has holes (detents) which correspond to raised nubs (locks) in the circular blister. The blister is loosely—but securely—trapped between the cards. It spins easily but then locks when a nub hits a hole. To get a battery out, consumers open a "door" in the back (a perforated flap folds down to expose one cavity) and drop a battery into their hand. Consumers cue up the next battery by spinning the blister until it hits another detent. 

Energized by effective design

The No. 1 reason for this locking feature is to prevent batteries from spilling out, but it has a secondary benefit, too: It helps prevent pilferage (hearing aid batteries are a high-theft item globally).

Pigeon explains, "With the way the cards are configured, folded and then heat sealed together, that blister is trapped in the four corners, and then almost across the entire top edge. You have to tear the card apart to extract batteries if you're not going to use the door. And if you use the door, they dispense just one at a time."

Eco offsets
Although the construction keeps the product secure, it doesn't stop consumers from easily separating the plastic blister from the paperboard for recycling when the pack is empty by ripping through the card. Stacey Harbour, the North American marketing director for Specialty Batteries at Energizer, points out the entire package is 100 percent recyclable and can be put, as is, into recycling bins in single-stream collection systems without being separated.

While recyclable, both the solid bleached sulfate (SBS) cards and the APET blisters are made with virgin materials.
Energizer tested recycled-content cards, but found virgin board processed better from a manufacturing standpoint. Oesterle explains, "We decided to stay with virgin board but made sure the paperboard is forested sustainably—our suppliers have SFI certification—because the recycled content was an opportunity for issues and errors in being able to maintain the detents in the back card."

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certified logo appears on the back card. Using virgin SBS meant being able to use thinner board stock, too. "Because we couldn't control the process and couldn't control the content, we would have had to increase some of the dimensional characteristics to guarantee we had the same structural properties with recycled content versus virgin," Pigeon says.

Communicating the blister's recyclability was a bit delicate. "In research, it became important to market on the blister and put the recycle logo on there," Gay explains, "because consumers didn't realize the blister piece was recyclable."

Energized by effective design

The treatment is just enough for consumers who were already taking the package apart and throwing away the blister. "For those who are already separating the blister, it's a natural step to recycle it," Harbour says. "They'll figure it out."

Another feature that's intuitive is the perforation just above the blister. Tearing off the top of the card makes the pack smaller and easier to slip into a pocket or purse for portability.

Color me cost effective
The EZ Turn & Lock graphics were also engineered for maximum effectiveness and efficiency.

There are 10 stock-keeping units in the line: 8-, 16- and 24-count packs of the 10, 13 and 312 cell sizes and one 4-count of the less popular, larger 675 cell size. (As hearing aid technology advances, devices get smaller and so use of the bigger battery is declining.)

An 8-count card holds one blister; the 16-count holds two blisters, side by side; the 24-count is actually one 8-count blister and one 16-count blister together in a die-cut carton.

Regardless of cell size, all 8-count packs (along with the 4-count pack for the 675 cell) have the same footprint for the cards. Ditto for the 16 counts. And all blisters are the same outside diameter, but with different cavity dimensions.

"From a manufacturing perspective, we made decisions to maintain the overall footprint of that card," Pigeon explains. "We were able to retain the same dimensional characteristics of the cards across all four cell sizes. The blister outer diameter was retained as well. It simplified quite a bit of our operational tooling and our supplier's tooling as well, keeping our costs down and driving it to be a simple process."

Plus, all the front cards are generically printed; product-specific info only appears on the back. And both front and back cards are printed on just one side (the longer back card is supplied folded and glued to help simplify Energizer's packaging line operation).

On the front card, the Energizer energy beam requires special "brand" colors, but they use process colors everywhere else to minimize the number of stations on a press.

"From a design standpoint, we spent quite a bit of time trying to develop the best way to print on these cards because the printing process is a significant portion of the cost of making these cards," Pigeon says. "We were able to minimize colors and the printing surfaces, which was a good result in simplifying the process. From a components design, we were able to take that front card and utilize one component across multiple cell configurations, minimizing the amount of inventory we have to manage, minimizing the potential for mistakes to be made by using the wrong materials. Really just simplifying the process through the whole operation."

Marketing got a win with the design, too. "Consumers really liked that the graphics showed exactly how to use the package," says Gay, referring to the EZ Turn & Lock logo with arrows dead center.

Other elements helped deliver what consumers said they needed. To easily identify battery size, long tabs attached to the batteries are color coded using the industry standard scheme (yellow for size 10; orange for 13; brown for 312; and blue for 675), with the number printed large and bold on each tab.

Research showed that about one-half (47 percent) of consumers select a battery size based on the cell size number. And another one-fourth (26 percent) select a battery size based on color. 

So Energizer, again, added a subtle but defining twist to the typical. "We did something unique—we flipped the tabs around so they face out in our spin pack," Gay says. "And every tab has both the color indicator and the size indicator of that battery. Typically on a pack, it's usually about that same size and in only one spot. Now, if you have an 8-pack, you have it on there eight times."

Repetition is one way to make a point. Prominent positioning is another. Harbour explains, "In the past, we used to call out that these were hearing aid batteries larger and more prominently placed on the package. But what we learned was they kind of get that naturally, so we could use that space for other things we wanted to communicate that were more impactful, more tie-breakers at shelf."

Such as the "ZERO MERCURY" logo in the upper left corner and, center right, "LONG TABS" (which make it easy for users, especially those who might be "dexterity" challenged, to handle and change the batteries in their devices).

Energizer is emphasizing the zero mercury feature for a couple reasons:
•The sustainability trend is on an uptick with consumers.
•It's a point of differentiation and a brand advantage. According to Harbour, Energizer was first to launch a zero mercury product (in 2006 in Europe, and then in the fall of 2008 in the U.S.), and is the only battery manufacturer to convert a full line of products with all their retail partners.

Lastly, the packages are printed in multiple languages (English, French and Spanish) as a reflection of the brand's global markets and as a way of optimizing internal SKU efficiencies.

Lined up for success
The EZ Turn & Lock packages are produced at Energizer's specialty battery manufacturing and packaging facility in Bennington, VT. The plant handles global operations for the company's mini batteries, such as those used in hearing aids, digital and film cameras, and watches.

The blisters are made on an Alloyd Aergo 8 rotary blister packaging machine, which automatically feeds, seals and eject the packs. Energizer declined to answer questions about the packaging operation except to say that it's a semi-automated line, with varying levels of automation throughout the process.

Energizer is supporting the January 2011 launch of EZ Turn & Lock with an integrated marketing campaign that includes print ads, direct e-mail and a microsite. Suggested retail price is about $9 for an eight pack.

Energizer put a lot of thought and innovation into developing this package—figuring out the secure locking mechanism, optimizing material inventories and packaging operations, incorporating sustainability aspects and improving the user's functionality. The company has already realized one payoff of its total integrated packaging systems approach: speed to market.

All that's left is for sales to follow.

More information is available:
Tegrant Co., Alloyd Brands Div., 800/756-7639.
www.alloyd.com