Tetra Pak is preparing for the future of packaging food products—with a completely new generation of filling systems that feature an especially high degree of flexibility. Consumers have been changing their preferences more frequently, so the machinery needs to be rapidly adaptable to new demands.
Will milk cartons learn to speak and tell consumers what type of muesli they’re best suited for? Will juice containers on supermarket shelves recognize tired looking customers and recommend power smoothies? Will cartons of water automatically order replacements when supplies run low? If there is anyone who knows what food packaging of the future will look like, it is Roberto Franchitti. But he responds with a question of his own. “It’s not so much what or how,” he says, “but more a matter of where.”
A Londoner of Italian descent, Franchitti is Vice President of Research and Development for the Carton Value & Economy division of the Tetra Pak Group, the world’s leading producer of drink cartons. There are different answers to the question of what food packaging will look like, depending on the market. “We are active worldwide,” he says. “We produce around 190 billion cartons a year—or 20 for every person on earth.”