The 50mm tube, designed for the retailer’s Miss N Cleansing Body Wash features an image of a textured fabric patch which M&H say was achieved with new print technology developed by the packaging firm offering photo-realistic images printed directly onto tubes.
Kim Plunkett, customer services manager at M&H said: “M&H is continually developing its tube product portfolio by creating new designs and new models to improve customer choice.”
Hybrid printing technology
The tube was printed in-house by M&H on its hybrid press which uses flexographic and silk screen technology.
This method of printing is said to significantly increase the efficiency of the tube decoration process, eliminating the need for offset printing in one machine and screen printing in another, and M&H claim it will provide product differentiation.
“Our new hybrid press allows us to offer label quality print without the need to label. The hybrid press allows us to produce a combination of printing techniques: flexographic, silk screen or a combination of these,” marketing manager, Vicky John, told CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com.
Normally tube printers use dry offset print which has some limitations. The silk screening and flexographic printing is done in one pass on the machine (ie. in one procedure), and this means it does not have to go through multiple machines,” she continued.
Tube features
The tube has a gold screw-on cap and also incorporates a gold foil-blocked glitter effect, which the company claim gives an extra touch of luxury and instant stand out.
“Our aim was to create a unique design for this product which captured the unique brand essence of Miss N. M&H helped us meet this challenge and the result is a stunning finished product which will generate impulse purchase,” a Next spokesperson said.
M&H claims its machinery can manufacture and decorate up to a million tubes a week whilst continuing to achieve ever more demanding quality standards.
Experience in the tubes industry
A couple of years ago the company decided to invest in tubes, due to ‘unprecedented growth in the business segment leading the company to invest a ‘significant sum’ into expanding the current facilities.
Earlier this year, further growth in the tube sector was seen when the company introduced post consumer regrind tubes in an attempt to respond to customers calls for greener products.