Wow Factor: 41 Winners of the German Packaging Award 2024
Smurfit Kappa’s SoftCorner corrugated cardboard packaging. (Courtesy of Smurfit Kappa)
The 27 independent members of the German Packaging Award jury certainly had their work cut out: Almost 250 submissions from 13 countries flooded in to the German Packaging Institute e.V. (dvi), the organizer of Europe’s largest packaging exhibition, to be individually assessed and evaluated.
In the end, 41 innovations in 10 categories were honored with the prestigious and long‐established award. The dvi is thrilled to see so much class at the top and across the board – and cordially invites the industry to the awards ceremony and the announcement of the Gold Awards at FACHPACK.
The 41 German Packaging Award 2024 winners come from Germany, Austria, Canada, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK. The dvi also received innovations from Denmark, France, Israel, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Hungary and the USA.
Winners in all materials and categories
The innovations cover the entire range of materials, from glass (2), wood (1), flexible plastic (5), rigid plastic (8), metal (4), paper, cardboard and carton (11), multi‐material (2) and new material (2) to corrugated cardboard (4) and composite material (1). At least one innovation won an award in each of the ten exhibition categories.
Breaking it down into the categories, there were five winners in Design, two in Digitalization, four in Functionality & Convenience, five in Logistics & Material Flow, six in Sustainability – Overall Concept, four in Sustainability – Material Substitution and Reduction, one in Sustainability – Reusability, three in Sustainability – Recyclability & Use of Recyclates, three in Young Talent, two in New Material, two in Packaging Machines, Technology and Software, two in Product Presentation and three in Cost Effectiveness.
Success stories
Oliver Berndt, Head of Organization of the German Packaging Award, reports: “We see that the traditional core functions of packaging are constantly being innovated and improved. At the same time, added value is created and new functions are added. This always happens with the customer’s requirements in mind and with remarkable gains in efficiency, safety, ecology, value for money, branding and convenience.”
One of the award winners in the category of Logistics & Material Flow was Smurfit Kappa GmbH for SoftCorner. The corrugated cardboard product is designed to prevent film damage in transport logistics.
The jury’s comments help explain why SoftCorner stood out and received recognition:
“SoftCorner represents a significant improvement in transport logistics by preventing film covers in pallet packaging from tearing.”
“A cost-efficient solution for keeping film intact has been found by replacing the standard corner with one that yields under pressure in a controlled way.”
“Small incisions were made at the corners when constructing the transport box. These incisions make the corners flexible, meaning that they can yield under pressure and take on a more rounded shape. As a result, the film adapts gently to the SoftCorner rather than tearing. Pallets can therefore be wrapped in a protective film without needing to resort to more expensive and thicker films. This keeps the packaging resistant under real transport conditions, while reducing costs and the ecological footprint.”
All 41 award winners and the jury’s judgments can be found here.
Award ceremony and Gold Awards
The dvi cordially invites the industry to the presentation of the 41st German Packaging Award at FACHPACK on September 24, 2024. The Gold Awards – which honor particularly ground‐breaking innovations that stand out even from this illustrious circle of packaging award winners – will also be announced there. Registration is required to attend the awards ceremony, but attendance is free of charge.
Those wishing to attend can register here.
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