The European Tube Manufacturers' Association (etma) has announced the winners of its annual Tube of the Year competition, with triumphs for Alcan Packaging Beauty, Tubex Wasungen and Tubex Rangendingen. The winners were announced at etma’s annual congress in Istanbul, which this year also marked the association’s 50th anniversary.
In the Aluminium Tubes category, the prize was awarded to Schwarzkopf Professional’s Essensity Soft Permanent Colour Cream, manufactured by Tubex Wasungen. The tube was covered with a matt white lacquer with a special haptic effect and printed in a deliberately puristic design using a computer to plate process.
Alcan Packaging Beauty meanwhile scooped top honours in the Laminate Tubes category for its Bye-Bye-Spot tube for Beiersdorf’s Nivea Visage Young range. The tube combined two technologies – a Pixel Laminat process, which ensures exact reproduction of very small details and hot stamping to create a mirror effect. The combination is said to allow the creation of photo-realistic matt or gloss designs with metallic effects that would only be possible elsewhere with labelling technology.
Finally, Tubex Rangendingen was awarded the top prize in the Plastic Tubes category for its Olay Definity tube from P&G. Features include intricate square holographic elements, combined with embossed designs and a mother of pearl colouration on the outer tube layer to create an eye-catching design.
The company was also awarded the prize in the Prototypes category for its Less is More tube. The patented shoulderless co-extruded plastic tube is fitted with a permanently attached two-part bicolour flip top closure, which coupled with the elimination of the shoulder, enables a weight saving of up to 40%, according to Tubex Rangendingen.