Stuart Packaging of Montreal, Quebec celebrates its 25th year of providing premium quality folding cartons to Canadian and U.S. cosmetic, neutraceutical and pharmaceutical markets. Founded in 1983 as a general box maker, the company forged into beauty products and over the past two years has focused on pharmaceuticals and high-end cosmetics, capturing impressive long term contracts.

"There is no secret to our success," says President, Stuart Goldman. "We invest heavily in research and development, and in the latest technologies to meet our customers demands. Their top four requirements are for packaging that stands its ground on a retail shelf, that is well priced, delivered quickly and is made from environmentally friendly materials. They want a package that looks good with more colours, textures and effects, but one that saves them money."

"We regularly perform a value analysis of our carton products to suggest ways of reducing the cost, yet give customers a package which looks as good as it did before. Plus our standards of delivery are high, usually within two weeks or less. We always ensure that we have sufficient capacity to meet the most stringent delivery demands. Our policy is to increase this with additional equipment when our capacity reaches the 75 to 80 per cent range. We have 100 employees and running three shifts, five days a week."

Stuart Packaging continually makes major investments in stateof- the-art technology, with efficient machinery that keeps waste to a minimum. The company has invested $15 million in recent years and is in the process of adding a KBA 105, six-colour offset press to its equipment inventory which also includes a KBA 105 seven-colour, in addition to Bobst die cutters and gluers in the company's 75,000 square foot facility. With conventional, hybrid and UV printing techniques, the company provides an array of finishes - sparkling, pearlescent and metallic effects, as well as spot coating and reticulation.

"We are developing new technologies with strategic partners that can handle multiple processes in-line in a single pass," says Joe Palumbo, CFO and vice-president of operations. "This will allow us to give our clients many value-added features that normally would be cost prohibitive. The hybrid equipment will bring different technologies together, allowing more visual elements on the package at an affordable price and in smaller runs."

Research and development is key to Stuart Packaging's success, with four dedicated research personnel, including a chemist. The Quebec government policy of fostering research and development activities to support the manufacturing sector adds to the company's investments in finding unique solutions to customer needs.
"Typically, companies in our size range of $20 million in annual sales do not make the kind of expenditures we do in research and development," says Goldman.
An example of how far the company will go is a U.S. CPC that approached Stuart Packaging concerning a special coating to inhibit mould growth. The CPC wanted to find an alternative to a conventional product, which was allowed in the U.S., but not in Canada, and was environmentally sound. The Stuart Packaging research and development team undertook several months of investigation to find a coating to inhibit the growth of specific types of mould spore that concerned the product. The team developed a compound, which could be suspended in a vehicle applied on press. Following testing at Stuart Packaging, the coating was tested by two independent laboratories, and the company has been running millions of cartons for this customer with the environmentally sound mould inhibitor.

The Research and Development department also deals with "pretty" aspects of customer packaging. The team developed a specialty finish using mica to impart sparkling and pearlescent touches. As mica is a very fragile material, application is critical so as not to crush the particles, which defeats the purpose of the exercise. The trick was for the R&D team to find the right type of coating in which to suspend the mica particles, and determine the concentration and application temperature.
Reticulation, textured surfaces and patterns, is another process that more CPCs are asking for to make their products stand out. Rather than creating the effects off-line in multiple passes, Stuart Packaging has developed a process for completing them in one pass with matte, gloss or stain varnish.

"Marketing has a rule that you can't bleed colours," explains Steve Kerr, vice-president business development, pharmaceutical and luxury packaging. "However, we have found that with a 1/8 inch bleed from one carton to the next, our blanking tools allow us to common cut boxes. This allows us to eliminate 3/16 inches between each row of cartons. On an annual basis, this reduces stock usage by 50 metric tonnes.

"Our passion for packaging makes us continually strive for practicality, quality and shelf appeal in the products we produce," says Goldman. "We enter our next quarter century with this continuing passion, as well as one for customer service and timely deliveries."