Contract packaging requires both flexibility and reliability, especially when working with start-ups. Com.pack.t individually fills liquid to paste-like goods in quantities from three millimetres to one litre as well as powders and granulates.
9 August 2021
Bottled cocktails: extremely attractive on the outside, a flavour experience on the inside. (Image: Andrew Walet)(Image: Andrew Walet)
Anyone involved in the contract filling of products in quantities of one or more should be extremely flexible and be able to rely on their partners at all times. And every customer must be treated with the same level of care, regardless of whether it is a small quantity or a large-scale bottling project.
However, it is precisely the constantly changing challenges that make this service so exciting. The fact is, this business model very often involves different than you thinkTightly timed deliveries, for example of packaging, are first delayed, then the entire goods arrive at the door in one day. Quality defects arise during the incoming inspection of bottles, folding cartons and labels, and short reaction times are required. Filling concepts and times have to be completely redesigned because the customer postpones a date on which the products are to be put together or even launched for sale - or the quantities are changed ...
„Without a team that you can always rely on, it would not be possible to cope with the ‚daily madness‘,“ emphasises Susanne Gminder, founder and managing director of Com.pack.t from Göppingen, emerged.
Com.pack.t: From small to large - from liquid to pasty
Contract packaging is always about completely individual projects. From filling to the ready-to-sell product, the process steps also include labelling, marking and packaging in folding boxes. To ensure that natural cosmetics, raw materials and food supplements can also be processed, the machines must be approved for food filling and have an HACCP certificate. They also need to be flexible in terms of bottle shapes, as customer requirements are becoming increasingly complex.
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At Com-pack.t, we generally offer everything from liquid to paste-like, from three millilitres up to one litre but also powders and granules. Packaging for product launches is always particularly interesting, sometimes even involving a Unique specimen. But bottling in larger quantities is also part of the business. Microbiological tests of empty containers and products are carried out at the CFA Analytics laboratory or on site. The test label of CFA GmbH, Göppingen, is awarded accordingly. Since the construction of a clean room in 2016, the independent laboratory has also carried out regular on-site inspections and audits in the area of certified natural products.
In order to be able to react flexibly in an emergency and take a load off the customer's shoulders, external partners also play a major role in responding to special situations. For example, Sommer and Elso's in-house haulage company is able to deliver pallets on a 24-hour delivery service if the situation is urgent again or if the heat in summer could affect the products due to long reloading and standing times.
„We gain the majority of our customers through recommendations, and that is our greatest praise,“ emphasises Susanne Gminder. She particularly enjoys working with start-ups, because that's where the whole Heart and soul in the products and once again there is a particularly close relationship with the products. „We are the processors who bottle the ‚lifeblood‘ and pass it on to the end customer.“
Cocktails in a bottle
C&L Mixology GmbH, Munich, is an interesting example of a highly individualised collaboration with a start-up. The founders Christian Eder and Ludwig Lützgendorf set out with no less a goal than to revolutionise the minibars of luxury hotels worldwide. They have pooled their many years of international experience in the field of cocktails to create a Practically feasible version The focus is on recipes that can be realised in such a way that the cocktail tastes exactly as it would in a bar. And to focus on the most widely accepted flavour possible.
Each cocktail features a short story which, together with the music that goes with each cocktail, creates a real moment of pleasure via a QR code on the bottle. (Image: Andrew Walet)
They want to operate worldwide and about two years ago they were looking for a partner who was prepared to accept these container sizes and filling quantities and who could filling by hand in the clean room. With their ambitious creations, they immediately convinced nine five-star hotels of their concept at the beginning of last year. However, the success story was initially slowed down by the coronavirus measures. They are currently also being sold at high prices in specialist shops and online.
(Image: Maximilian Bublak)
„Both the transparency and the process-orientated briefing are particularly noteworthy at Com.pack.t.“ Ludwig Lützgendorf, Managing Director and co-founder of C&L Mixology GmbH, Munich
The mixtures produced in a catering kitchen are delivered in 60 and 120-litre barrels, filled into hundred-millilitre bottles at Com.pack.t at short notice after a microbiological quality control and then packed in specially produced 14-bottle packaging and 6-bottle outer cartons optimised for shipping. In 2020, 15,000 bottles were produced. Those responsible will continue to work with Com.pack.t in this segment, even for significantly higher quantities. „The processes are optimised by Susanne Gminder always individualised according to our wishes. And bottling is done by hand in the clean room,“ explains Ludwig Lützgendorf.
Natural cosmetics as an ingredient or product
NKM Naturkosmetik Muenchen GmbH, Oberhaching, wants to set itself apart from other providers and, as a family-run company, operate in an even more sustainable, regional and, above all, transparent manner. Customers with precisely this aspiration can select products and ingredients from their portfolio and thus customise their skincare to their individual needs and skin condition. Because NKM's main contract filler does not process pastes, balms and powders, it recommended Com.pack.t to the company as a partner. The partnership has now been in place for a year.
Bulk products are filled into jars (two, five or ten grams) and bottles (ten and 50 millilitres). This can be a finished product, or ingredients can be portioned. NKM then uses these packs to produce the individual care sets together.
Filling the nourishing plum butter is very demanding. (Image: Offroad St.)
When hot-filling shea butter and plum butter, for example, the sensitive raw materials are treated very gently must not be exceeded. Temperatures must not be exceeded and heating must be gradual so as not to destroy the natural ingredients. The quantities vary depending on demand; the most recent figure for the nourishing plum balm was around 600 kilograms per year.
NKM currently operates throughout Germany, with development, production and the origin of raw materials concentrated regionally, but is planning an online presence in France and throughout the EU. The partnership is set to continue in any case, because „Com.pack.t. is solution-orientated, and its flexibility is particularly noteworthy,“ is how it puts it. Joséphine von Klitzing from NKM to the point.
