Tilt-neck bottles add a new angle to auto care

When a major U.S. manufacturer introduces a new line of auto care products and expects to win the battle for attention over established brands on retail shelves, it has to have a big packaging idea. That's why a group of tilt-neck containers is putting a new spin on DuPont Performance Chemicals' auto care products.

The products include a fuel system cleaner, a fuel injector cleaner and an engine treatment additive. The custom, extrusion/blown polyvinyl chloride containers feature long, tilted, angled necks and sleeve labels to differentiate the products from competitive brands on retail shelves. They also have color-coded caps and racy label graphics.

For another look at distinctive rigid containers, visit the Rigid Containers INFO CHANNEL on PD's website at www.packagingdigest.com/ info/rigid

The products are Tenneco Automotive's newest line of car-performance products, which it is introducing under a licensing agreement with DuPont.

While Tenneco says the labels couldn't get much snazzier or the containers any more colorful, it decided to take a radical approach to the structural design—by angling the neck of the additive bottles.

To mold the unique bottle shape, the company contacted Kaufman Container (www.kaufmancontainer.com), which partnered with several vendors to complete the finished packaging. Kaufman selected Novapak Corp. (www.pvcc.com) for help with the tooling and with the extrusion/blow molding of the PVC containers.

The base of the bottle is bulb-shaped and tapers into the neck and a spout that ends in a 22-mm opening that fits conveniently into the fuel tank and crank-case openings of automobiles. "It was imperative that the angled neck did not protrude beyond the sides of the bottle, ensuring that the bottle would not interfere with other packages on the shelf," explains Lela Prica, accounts manager for Kaufman Container.

The unusual shape created several challenges, one of which involved packaging logistics. According to Michele Heinle, Novapak's project manager, the bottle doesn't pack into a conventional stack-layer configuration for shipping, so requires what Heinle calls "tumble packing." Labeling also proved challenging, due to the bottle's shape. The proprietary shrink sleeves maximize the container's decorative area. "The bulb makes it more challenging to apply the labels and shrink them without wrinkles," says Heinle. Care must be taken not to skew the graphics around the angled neck. Orienting the bottles for consistent label application also proved challenging, Heinle adds, but was accomplished successfully.

Tenneco chose a silver and black color scheme for the label graphics to provide continuity with the decorating of other graphics featured on the rest of the auto chemical line, which includes waxes, protectants, a car wash product and tire- and wheelcare products. "We wanted consumers to recognize that we had introduced a new product in the performance chemical arena, but also wanted to associate it with the existing products in the car-care line," says Laura Morris, Tenneco's marketing manager for the DuPont family of products.

People reach for it because of the angle of the spout and the richness of the graphics. It is ergonomic to hold, which makes pouring into the gas tank or crank case even easier.

Color coding differentiates the gas and oil additives and provides easier identification and differentiation of the products on the shelf for consumers. The bottles for the 10-oz fuel system cleaner and 12- and 20-oz fuel injector cleaner have a red cap and red-circle label graphics. The engine treatment product, packaged in a 16-oz bottle, is decorated with blue-circle graphics and sports a matching blue cap. Due to the unique container shape, Novapak built disposable, unit-cavity tooling for each bottle size and ran samples prior to production. The 16-oz bottle was tested first. To meet Tenneco's tight timeline, Novapak began construction of the six-cavity production tools for all three sizes while constructing the two-unit cavity tools for the 12- and 20-oz bottles. Production tooling was ready in four to five weeks, says Heinle, and is geared for runs of 1 million to 1.5 million bottles annually.

"This packaging design was on an extremely aggressive timeline, from concept to delivery. The process took approximately seven months," says Morris. "The program just began shipping this year, and we are already seeing great success via the reorders. The product is clearly selling."

Judging by retailers' reactions, the new bottles have achieved their goal. During presentations, the bottles were placed on the table, slightly out of reach. "It was amazing how many customers reached for the bottle because of its shape," notes Morris. "People reach for it because of the angle of the spout and the richness of the graphics. It is ergonomic to hold, which makes pouring into the gas tank or crank case even easier."

The bottles also caught attention elsewhere; they won a Gold Award in 2005 from the National Association of Container Distributors in its annual packaging competition.

More information is available: