PACKAGING AND METHOD OF USE

Abstract

Packaging container having a chamber wherein the chamber comprises a plurality of corresponding products (1) sized such that a number of such products essentially completely fills the chamber, the packaging comprising at least one removable portion (4, 6) dimensioned such that the at least one removable portion (4, 6) can be removed from the packaging, rearranged to adopt an expanded form and placed within the chamber, having the effect of reducing the volume of the chamber available for the products (1) by n times the volume of a contained product (1), where n is an integer, whilst retaining the feature that a number of such products (1) essentially completely fills the chamber.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to packaging container having a chamber comprising a plurality of corresponding products, particularly a bespoke order of products.

BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART

When products are manufactured in a factory a number of products are often packaged together in a group for ease of handling. This is especially the case if the product being manufactured is relatively small, such as consumable products. In particular, if a factory produces various varieties of a product, it is typical to package together a group of products of a single variety, as this is simpler and more cost-effective. For example, if it is a food product, then a group of products of the same flavour or recipe may be packaged together.

On occasion factories will provide variety-pack type packaging containing different varieties in a single group packaging. However such variety packs are generally intended for sale to a consumer and may themselves be packaged together in a group packaging.

Such groupings can then be conveniently shipped to wholesalers or, more recently, to ecommerce shipping handlers.

Under normal circumstances a wholesaler would sell on the factory-packaged grouping on to a retailer without interfering with the factory packaging. A retailer would then typically remove the products from the group packaging for sale.

However, shipping handlers may wish to provide a bespoke service to online customers. In such a scenario the shipping handler removes the products from the factory packaging before preparing a bespoke order and packaging the bespoke order for delivery to the consumer.

In particular, for some types of products, shipping handlers may wish to offer to the public the possibility of choosing for themselves the mix of varieties they would like to be delivered to their home. In this case, the varieties ordered will be selected by the shipping handler according to the order and their bespoke order placed into new packaging and shipped to the consumer.

As the order is bespoke, the number of products to be packaged by the shipping handler will inevitably differ from the number of products present in the group packaging.

In this case, the packaging from the factory which groups together products of the same variety is seen as no longer of any use to the shipping handler and is discarded. The shipping handler then uses their own packaging to prepare the bespoke order, and the packaging may be chosen based on the order size. This is wasteful of the factory group packaging.

For example in a typical pick-by-light system, the picking sequence starts at the beginning of a zone where the operator scans a bar coded address label attached to the shipping carton or tote. The display tells the operator which products to pick and how many of each.

The pick-to-light system that is widely used in industry causes a lot of packaging waste. This is because the packaging used from the factory is removed and discarded before the product is placed into the pick-to-light racking. The pickers then use new packaging to pack the consumer order, often having different sized boxes to different order quantities e.g. a box for 5 products, a box for 10 products, a box for 15 products etc.

WO2011/32735 discloses transport packaging for producing a stackable display packaging, wherein a portion of the packaging can be inserted into the packaging. CA 2010833 discloses a combination shipper carton that can be rearranged to provide slots within the container to accommodate dividers.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In a first aspect the invention relates to packaging container having a chamber wherein the chamber comprises a plurality of corresponding products sized such that a number of such products essentially completely fills the chamber, the packaging comprising at least one removable portion dimensioned such that the at least one removable portion can be removed from the packaging, rearranged to adopt an expanded form and placed within the chamber, having the effect of reducing the volume of the chamber available for the products by n times the volume of a contained product, where n is an integer, whilst retaining the feature that a number of such products essentially completely fills the chamber.

Thus, the invention provides that the packaging container can be essentially filled with a number of corresponding products and can be emptied and refilled with a fewer number of corresponding products. The remaining space in the chamber is taken up by the presence of the at least one removable portion. Thus the packaging container can be used to deliver a factory-packaged grouping to a shipping handler. The shipping handler can then empty the packaging container of its contents, and reuse the container to package a bespoke order, even when the order is for a number of products which does not fill the packaging container.

By “essentially completely fills the chamber” is meant that a sufficient number of products would snugly fit within the packaging, leaving no freedom of movement of the contained products.

The term ‘removable’ means that the portion comprises features which enable the removal of the portion from the packaging container cleanly and neatly without causing damage to the packaging or the removable portion, e.g. by pulling the portion away from the body of the packaging.

The invention is of particular applicability to the ordering of bespoke consumer products, such as coffee or tea products, preferably tea, e.g. stored in a capsule for extraction by a beverage machine.

It is preferred that each removable portion reduces the available volume by from 1 to 30 products, more preferably from 1 to 14 products, most preferably from 2 to 6 products.

The packaging container may be made from a wide variety of materials but is typically made from cardboard and can adopt an essentially flat form for storage.

The packaging container may take a variety of shapes and sizes, however, typically the chamber is cuboid.

The products may take a variety of shapes and sizes, however, typically the products are cuboid.

Preferably the removal of the removable portion does not alter the available volume of the chamber.

The removable portions preferably form at least a part of one side of the packaging, preferably a portion or the whole of a top face of the packaging. Preferably the at least one removable portion is each a flat sheet of cardboard comprising pre-folds.

The packaging container may have any number of removable portions as is necessary, however the present invention has been found to be particularly effective when the number of removable portions is from 1 to 4, preferably 2.

In one particular embodiment, there are two removable portions which between them form substantially an entire face of the packaging.

The at least one removable portion is preferably attached to packaging by a weakened region, preferably perforations.

A discussed, the packaging container contains a plurality of corresponding products. Therefore, in an initial preferred embodiment, the packaging is filled with a plurality of corresponding products. For example, this is the condition the packaging would leave a factory and preferably would be all of the same variety.

In this embodiment, the chamber of the packaging container preferably comprises from 4 to 100 products, preferably from 6 to 50, more preferably from 10 to 30, prior to reduction of volume. This number of products means that a bespoke order for any number of products can be more easily met by the reduction in volume provided by the removable portions.

It has been found that the present invention is particularly effective when the products are cuboid and are sized such that a number of such products essentially completely fill the chamber.

Therefore in a subsequent preferred embodiment, the packaging is filled with a combination of a plurality of corresponding products and at least one removable portion in its expanded form. Preferably the products comprise a number of different varieties, for example a number of different tea types.

In a preferred embodiment each removable portion can take the form of more than one expanded form, preferably two expanded forms, each expanded form reducing the volume of the chamber by a different amount. In a particularly preferred embodiment, each removable portion is capable of adopting a first expanded form having the volume of 2 products and a second expanded form having the volume of 4 products.

In a second aspect, the invention relates to a method of preparing a package of bespoke products to a consumer who has placed a bespoke order, the method involving

• • a. obtaining a package as described herein containing a plurality of products,
  • b. removing a number of products from the package,
  • c. adding a number of varieties of product fewer in number than were removed in step b, to the packaging according to the bespoke order.
  • d. removing at least one removable portion from the packaging,
  • e. rearranging the removed portion to adopt an expanded form and placing it in the packaging so as to take up the difference in volume between the number of products removed and the number of products added.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention will now be illustrated by way of example and with reference to the following figures, in which:

FIG. 1 is an image of a packaging container according to the present invention comprising a plurality of corresponding products.

FIG. 2 is an image of the packaging container shown in FIG. 1 wherein a panel has been removed.

FIG. 3 is an image of the packaging shown in FIG. 2 wherein a second panel has been removed.

FIG. 4 is an image of the packaging container of FIG. 3 with the removed panels nearby.

FIG. 5 is an image of the packaging container of FIG. 4 wherein the products have been removed and one removed panel has been rearranged.

FIG. 6 is an image of the packaging container of FIG. 5 wherein the rearranged panel has been placed in the packaging container.

FIG. 7 is an image of the packaging container of FIG. 6 wherein a plurality of corresponding products have been placed in the packaging container.

FIG. 8 is an image of the packaging container of FIG. 7 wherein a new cover is added to provide a sealed package.

FIG. 9 is a schematic representation in plan, of a packaging container containing a plurality of corresponding products.

FIG. 10 is a schematic representation in plan, of a packaging container containing 16 corresponding products and wherein a rearranged packaging element has been added.

FIG. 11 is a schematic representation in plan, of two packaging containers containing 12 corresponding products and wherein one or two rearranged packaging elements have been added.

FIG. 12 is a schematic representation in plan, of a packaging container containing 10 corresponding products and wherein a rearranged packaging element has been added.

FIG. 13 is a schematic representation in plan, of a packaging container containing 8 corresponding products and wherein two rearranged packaging elements have been added.

Turning to the figures, as shown in FIG. 1, at a tea factory, capsules containing tea are packaged into cuboid packages 1 or cartons, each containing a number of capsules of tea of the same type. 16 such cuboid cartons are placed within a cuboid packaging 2 or case, according to the present invention, in two adjacent columns of 8 packages. For example, the packaging could contain 16 packages, each of which contains 12 capsules of tea, all 12×16 capsules being of the same tea type. As can be seen the 16 packages essentially completely fills the chamber of the packaging, as none of the packages is free to move within the packaging.

The case lid is closed but not sealed/taped. The case is then placed on a pallet and sent to the packer.

At the packer the packer removes the case from the pallet and ‘peels off’ the perforated lid flaps 4, 6 from the case and saves them for later, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4. The case is then placed into the back of the pick-to-light racking, with the product still in the case (saves time and minimises handling of the product).

When a bespoke order is taken, at the front of the pick-to-light racking, the picker uses an empty case (previously emptied) as shown in FIG. 5 and picks the different flavours of tea according to the consumer order.

If the consumer orders 16 cartons then no adaptation of the case is required as the case is originally sized for 16 cartons. The consumer can order in multiples of 2 from 8 to 16 cartons e.g. 8, 10, 12, 14, 16.

To fill the void/space in the case, the picker reuses the previously removed lid flaps 4,6 and folds them along the pre perforated lines and inserts into the case. As shown in FIG. 5 the lid flaps 4,6 have specific perforation so the they can be folded to fill the void of 4 or 2 cartons. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 one flap has been folded to take up the volume of four cartons of tea.

As shown in FIG. 7, the 12 cartons of the bespoke order fill the remaining volume of the packaging. When the order is finished a new, premium lid is placed over the case as shown in FIG. 8 and is banded together, along with the consumer address label, ready to be sent to the consumer. Thus, the packaging has retained the feature that a number of such products, in this case 12, essentially completely fills the chamber of the packaging.

According to this arrangement, all possible orders from 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 can be accommodated. FIG. 9 shown an arrangement where the order is for 16 cartons, FIG. 10 is for 14 cartons, FIG. 11 shows two different possible configurations for 12 cartons, FIG. 12 shows a configuration for 10 cartons and FIG. 13 shows a configuration for 8 cartons. In each case, all of the available volume of the packaging is taken up by a combination of product 1 or expanded flaps 4,6.

Claims

1. Packaging container having a chamber wherein the chamber comprises a plurality of corresponding products sized such that a number of such products essentially completely fills the chamber, the packaging comprising at least one removable portion dimensioned such that the at least one removable portion can be removed from the packaging, rearranged to adopt an expanded form and placed within the chamber, having the effect of reducing the volume of the chamber available for the products by n times the volume of a contained product, where n is an integer, whilst retaining the feature that a number of such products essentially completely fills the chamber.

2. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein each removable portion reduces the available volume by from 1 to 30 products, more preferably from 1 to 14 products, most preferably from 2 to 6 products

3. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein the chamber is cuboid.

4. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein the products are cuboid.

5. Packaging according to claim 1 wherein the removal of the removable portion does not alter the available volume of the chamber.

6. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein the removable portions form at least part of one side of the packaging, preferably a top face of the packaging.

7. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein each removable portion is each a flat sheet of cardboard comprising pre-folds.

8. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein the number of removable portions is from 1 to 4, preferably 2.

9. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein each removable portion is attached to the packaging by a weakened region, preferably perforations.

10. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein each removable portion can take the form of more than one expanded form, each expanded form reducing the volume of the chamber by a different amount.

11. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein the chamber is filled with a plurality of corresponding products, preferably all of the same variety.

12. Packaging according to claim 11, wherein the chamber comprises from 4 to 100 products, preferably from 6 to 50, more preferably from 10 to 30.

13. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein the packaging is filled with a combination of a plurality of corresponding products, preferably comprising a number of varieties, and at least one removable portion in its expanded form.

14. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein each corresponding product comprises capsules of a beverage material, preferably tea or coffee, more preferably tea.

15. A method of preparing a package of bespoke products to a consumer who has placed a bespoke order, the method involving

a. obtaining a package according to any one of the preceding claims containing a number of products,

b. removing a number of products from the package,

c. adding a number of varieties of product fewer in number than were removed in step b, to the packaging according to the bespoke order.

d. removing at least one removable portion from the packaging,

e. rearranging the removed portion to adopt an expanded form and placing it in the packaging so as to take up the difference in volume between the number of products removed and the number of products added.