Case Studies - Oxi-Ball Package

Display Pack Wins 2006 AmeriStar Award

The Institute of Packaging Professionals (IOPP) has presented Display Pack the AmeriStar Award in the Household Products area. This Award was given for the Oxi Clean package and its innovative liquid tight seal.

Thermoforming Challenges

Orange Glo International contacted Display Pack and inquired about plastic clamshell packaging that would function as the spherical “form” for the end product as well as the package. The “form” part of the package had to hold slurry with a consistency of pancake batter, supporting a working temperature of approximately 120 degrees. The package needed a large promotional billboard and was required to hold additional components for the Oxi-Ball. This innovative product needed innovative solutions.

The challenges came in designing the package to hold the slurry (without seepage) forming a perfect spherical shape which would hold the Oxi-Ball while cooling and setting. Display Pack designed a friction seal that held the slurry under expansion, yet still met the spherical shape requirements. A fill hole was also designed in the back half of the clam for an effective manufacturing solution to easy automated filling. Several different types of raw materials were tested including: PVC, RPET, HDPE and others, in order to meet the stress being placed on the clamshells from the slurry expansion during manufacturing. PVC and RPET were found to work well after the proper design had been created.

Printing and Marketing Challenges

Display Pack met all of the design challenges and then started working on solutions to the Oxi-Ball's printing and marketing challenges. Orange Glo wanted a larger shelf presence to match the competitor’s big laundry detergent bottles on the store shelves. Brainstorming sessions began and the final winner was a paperboard and clamshell package with the clam acting as the “form”, and also holding the Oxi-Ball bag inside. The paperboard cylindrical trapezoid formed the shape of the package, trapping the clamshell and protruding the product out the front of the package. This innovative paperboard design was also created, printed and manufactured at Display Pack.

Production & Shipment Challenges

Display Pack then developed a universal clamshell that could be pre-filled and assembled at a later time, which had to support its own weight in the trapezoidal shape, while maintaining its form and rigidity and also be nest-able for shipment. Lastly, we had to develop an end cap to hold the product bag in the bottom of the package, as well as adding overall rigidity.

Challenges

Friction seal
Slurry expansion
Ball Removal from “form”
Holding ball tight in package
Package shape
Ball protrusion in front of clam
Manufacturing issues with bag
Package strength with light weight materials for depth of draw
Design paperboard cylindrical trapezoid component

Steps

Initial design with friction seal and fill hole
Small square clam for carton package test
Testing of different materials
One tear tab for easy ball removal
New trapezoid shaped clam that will hold the bag as well
Reversed friction fit seal for better ball removal
Added second tear tab for ball removal
New locking tabs for clam to hold in package
New universal clam w/ end cap design
New end cap design to be universal
Design, Print and Manufacturing of Paperboard component

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