Innovative Companies and Equipment Produce an Infinite Variety of Tubes

By Noel Jeffrey

High-end luxury products get an extra cachet of class with slick, attractive, and sturdy paperboard tubes, like these from Chicago Paper Tube & Can.

Paperboard tubes are easily taken for granted. We use them everyday to mail posters, get juice from concentrate, measure out oatmeal, shake out plant food, and much, much more. Given the inventiveness of today's manufacturers added to designers' application of the latest printing and decorating methods, these tubes also serve as high-end packaging for luxury goods from cosmetics to premium beverages.

While some companies like Chicago Paper Tube & Can, Chicago, Custom Paper Tubes, Cleveland, and Robinson Packaging in Ontario, Canada, specialize in manufacturing both industrial and luxury and specialty products, others, like IBC/Shell Packaging in Lake Success, NY, include tubes in their mix of packaging and display solutions. What distinguishes each of these companies is their avowed dedication to creative solutions to achieve success for their clients' brand image.

Graphics are an integral part of those solutions, but none of these companies print in-house. Chicago Paper Tube & Can and Custom Paper Tubes both use trusted printer partners with whom they have established relationships. IBC/Shell does have an interest in a printing plant at another Long Island location that dates back some 20 years. Today, offset lithography accounts for practically 99% of the labels used on paperboard tubes. Finishing processes like coating, die cutting, foil stamping, embossing, etc. can also be applied to the labels.

In vogue

At 108 years, Chicago Paper Tube & Can claims the title of the oldest paperboard tube manufacturer in the U.S. It primarily works with customers needing custom containers—both industrial containers that require complex assembly as well as designer products for the consumer market. These designer products comprise about 70% of the company's business. Clients cover a wide range, including brand owners and designers.

Chrissy Cabay, marketing manager at Chicago Paper Tube & Can, sees a number of trends including overall growth for tubes as a whole. "Tubes are being used for a wider range of products," she says, citing shaker tops on food products as well as secondary packaging for cosmetics and fragrances. "There is also growth in gift packaging. For example as secondary packaging for candles," she adds. "Round stands out. Once one round package shows up, it captures the interest of other designers."

Cabay also notes a shift in what designers want. Today, product visibility is an issue. "They want the customer to see the candle," she says. "We're producing more tubes with clear, flexible sidewalls from acetate or PETG combined with paperboard closures or caps. Third, designers are looking for decorative combinations. They are adding accessories—just touches like a ribbon or rope handles or custom made metal knobs for gift packaging. It gets something different on the shelf—something extra."

Lou Stevens, president of Custom Paper Tubes, also cites the product visibility trend. "What designers want most is something new for a package," Stevens says. "Today they want to see inside, so we are marrying paper and plastic. We either punch cutouts in paper tubes, or use plastic sleeves with graphics on the end closures. These tubes typically range from 1" to 5" in diameter. We stabilize the products inside with foam cutouts. We're always finding new ways to present packages."

The demand is increasing for tubes made of mixed materials, from versatile metal ends to clear windows that allow 360 viewing (Custom Paper Tubes products shown).

Custom manufacturing

When Stevens purchased Custom Paper Tubes in January 1979, it specialized in industrial packaging. In the late 1980s and 1990s, the company added retail to its line. "By the mid-'90s, retail became our major emphasis and that's still true today," he says.

"There is a learning curve involved in being able to produce high quality retail products; for example, for top end cosmetic companies," adds Phil Van Duyn, Custom Paper Tubes sales manager. "You have to pay attention to details to be successful. Today our customers come to us with an idea and ask if we can do it. And, we are almost always able to accomplish what they had in mind. Everything we manufacture is custom for someone."

Stevens notes that they are short-run specialists handling orders from 5,000 pieces to half a million. Their typical order is 20,000 to 25,000 packages, though one order they took was for only two custom containers. "We've also taken orders for over 1 million pieces," says Stevens. "No company orders 1 million on day one, but with success their orders grow to large numbers and we grow with our customers."

Although tubes are specialty items in IBC/Shell Packaging's business mix, Bob Schoonmaker, vice president of manufacturing, notes that they produce them wrapped by both hand and machine for high-end clients such as Estée Lauder. "Quantity and size determine whether it's done by hand or by automation," Schoonmaker says. The IBC/Shell company was founded in 1964 by current president Norman Kay, and has additional manufacturing facilities in China.

Whichever process is used, IBC/Shell focuses on products and markets requiring sophisticated graphics, unique structures, and creative development. One complicated structure is for an ongoing program for the secondary packaging of upscale face cream brand La Mer (owned by Estée Lauder). This package is a paperboard tube that includes a thermoform cover, a thermoform insert, a turn top, and a pedestal to hold the bottle.

The TOOBZ line offered by IBC/Shell¬Ýhas unique shape possibilities and benefits that make it popular for packaging liquor bottles.

TOOBZ is another example of creative tube development, this time supplied by¬ÝTPC Printing & Packaging under the IBC/Shell trademarked TOOBZ name. Concept Packaging Ltd. in Bradford, England, holds the patent on the production technology. These uniquely shaped items are said to combine the best elements of rigid boxes, folding cartons, and spiral wound tubes. Schoonberg says that although the manufacturing process is completely different than the process for spiral wound tubes, they are typically used like tubes for high-end packaging such as for expensive single malt scotch.

Since none of these companies depend on commodity manufacturing, they use both the latest technologies and often develop tooling in-house. "Technology hasn't changed a whole lot," says Cabay of Chicago Paper Tube & Can. "We have in-house engineering and since what we produce is specialized, we often use machinery custom made in-house. Since we are the oldest, we have plenty of tooling."

"Technical innovations often come from in-house," echoes Stevens of Custom Paper Tubes. "However, the manufacturers have made lots of improvements in machine speed and quality. They are better and faster today."

Schoonmaker agrees, noting that automated wrapping machines are much more accurate and about three times faster than they were ten years ago. He notes that while these factors contribute to reduced manufacturing costs, both board and ink prices have gone up. Cabay and Stevens claim that rising outside costs outstrip gains in manufacturing efficiency that would otherwise allow them to lower prices.

Custom service

Still, these companies understand that they are an integral link in their customers supply chain. "Each customer's marketing and sales plans are different," Stevens says. "Our task is to make each product fit into their system. No two customers do things the same way. Whether it's POs, shipping methods, pallets, etc., we'll find a way to fit into their system."

These tube manufacturers are willing to adjust production timing to meet needs of their customers. Just-in-time efficiencies and inventory control issues can often necessitate flexible production schedules for high-end tube packages. Finally, all of these companies urge customers and designers to consult with them for ideas and specifications, appropriate liners, and other factors. Van Duyn says that it's helpful if designers know how a tube or canister is made, and these companies will supply helpful dyelines or templates with areas specified for artwork.