UK – Woodforde’s, a renowned Norfolk brewery in the UK known for its craft beers, is enhancing its presence on supermarket shelves through a partnership with Smurfit Westrock Saxon.
The brewery enlisted the packaging company to design shelf-ready packaging (SRP) for its custom 8 x 500 mL beer boxes.
The durable packaging strikes a balance between functionality and style, reducing the risk of product damage during transportation, minimizing waste, and cutting down on damage-related costs for Woodforde’s.
“This project was an exciting one for Smurfit Westrock Saxon and is a great example of working closely with our customers to tackle their packaging challenges together,” said Adam Futter, Business Development Manager at Smurfit Westrock Saxon.
“We collaborated with Woodforde’s to fully understand their packaging needs and helped them navigate these challenges with our sustainable solutions.”
The collaboration ensured that the new packaging was protective and visually appealing. The teams worked together to refine Woodforde’s artwork for flexo printing, conducting a press pass to ensure the final product aligned with the brand’s vision.
The result was a three-colour flexo-printed design that perfectly complements Woodforde’s beer.
A year after the initial launch, the partnership evolved with an upgrade to a “waste-based board” for the packaging.
This material is better suited to withstand moisture, addressing an issue where condensation from freshly bottled beer had been affecting the integrity of the original boxes. The eco-friendly packaging also meets the growing consumer demand for sustainable products.
The latest packaging innovation represents the culmination of years of collaboration between the two companies, focusing on solutions that “enhance the customer experience while staying true to the brand’s roots.”
“We’re delighted with our new beer box design. The Smurfit Westrock Saxon team transformed our existing boxes into something better, prioritizing durability and aesthetics,” said Chris Fuller, Marketing Manager at Woodforde’s.
“Even when we faced issues with moisture, the team quickly found a solution that exceeded our expectations.”
In addition, Smurfit Westrock recently selected ISN’s global online contractor and supplier management platform, ISNetworld, to enhance its contractor management and compliance processes.
Rogelio Serrano, Smurfit Westrock’s EHS Corporate Supervisor, emphasized the company’s commitment to safety, stating, “At Smurfit Westrock, we believe nothing is so important that it cannot be done safely. Partnering with ISN is a natural extension of our commitment to the health and well-being of our employees and contractors.
“With ISNetworld, we can effectively track safety program statistics across our operations and easily visualize these insights at both the company and individual levels.”
Operating in 40 countries with over 100,000 employees, Smurfit Westrock manages more than 500 packaging operations and 63 paper mills.
The company is renowned for its wide range of innovative packaging solutions, including corrugated and consumer packaging, bag-in-box packaging, and point-of-sale displays.
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