Guideline Easy Opening

Packaging has to meet a variety of requirements. Opening behaviour is crucial for the customer in terms of product acceptance. Both user-friendliness and an ageing society have to be considered. Not only senior citizens wish to have easy-to-open packages to take out their content effortlessly and cleanly.

In the AiF-Projekt »Easy Opening of peel-able packages« (15261 BR; project finished in May 2009) a standardized testing method to determine peel and opening forces on heat-sealed and peelable packages and reference values for user-friendly opening forces were developed. For verification of before defined optimal opening forces, the developed test method suites very good for quality control in the production process. In January 2010 for this test-method a standardization application was submitted to the Packaging standards committee in the DIN.

Estimating of measured opening forces regarding their user-friendliness is strongly dependend on the packaging design (e.g. design of the tear tab, counter holder for the second hand, design of the seal seam). Today there is no information about the quantitative influence of these handle able properties of a package.

The market interest in a guideline, which gives the user (e. g. packing designer) information how to design an easy peel able package, is quite huge.

In the project „Guideline Easy Opening” the influencing parameters on the easy opening of peel able packages gets analyzed. Thereby the connection between package design and opening behaviour, as well as influencing values out of the production-/seal process will get considered. As result of the project a guideline for the packaging industry with the focus “Easy Opening” will be published as an IVLV-guideline.

Current information about science-topics around “Easy Opening” and their results are provided at the homepage www.easy-opening.com by the Fraunhofer AVV.