Member Article

Packaging innovation leads Lesters award-winning charge

Innovative packaging, designed to support the roll-out of electric charging points, has claimed one of the top prizes in the UK Packaging Awards 2023.

Lesters, which provides millions of corrugated boxes, large format packaging and heavy-duty cases every year, beat off competition from 11 industry rivals to win the Best Packaging of a New Product – sponsored by PAGI.

More than 700 people attended the high-profile event at Grosvenor House in London and heard how the Burntwood-based manufacturer had met the bespoke requirements of Rolec, the UK’s leading manufacturer and supplier of EV charge points.

With sales for electric cars going through the roof, the customer had seen a massive increase in demand for its products, yet the packaging hadn’t really kept up with its innovation and growth.

Led by Head of Design Greg Burton and his three-strong team, Lesters came up with a new solution for its Zura intelligent charger that was optimised for the courier service, removed all plastic from the equation and upgraded the end user ‘opening’ experience.

Following numerous prototypes, Rolec settled on a unique one-piece design using a high-quality print large format box, with the print carried through the internals and the box featuring integrated fittings.

The packaging, which has reduced the number of SKUs from 4 to just 1, is suitable for the complete product range, including the 5 metre tethered, 5m double tethered and 10m single tethered options.

Lesters’ Greg Burton commented: “This is a massive moment for our business, especially considering the level of competition we faced from some of the biggest names in our sector.

“It also underlined our ongoing commitment to innovate the world of packaging by pushing design that offers both practical solutions and a great-looking, aesthetically pleasing product that consumers want to buy.

“As a company we have invested more than £200,000 into a new design and prototyping centre and it is really paying off.”

The main design of the Zura box is the ‘sell’, with the pack utilising form, function and print to ensure the customer opens the box like it is opening a book, or, in other words, ‘starting a journey’.

Once the two centralised hinges have been opened this reveals the stylish Zura charger, one of its main selling points.

Lesters’ design has also been optimised for palletising perfectly onto a UK standard pallet (ext size 600 x 500 x 250mm), which is ideal for racking and the courier service. The one-piece design also reduces pallet movements and increases efficiencies.

Greg concluded: “Like most of our work we want to make our packaging as environmentally conscious as possible, with the Rolec solution made from fully sustainable corrugated material that has no plastic, can go through any kerbside recycling worldwide and is scalable for future product development with the applied design principles.

“There are also thousands of tonnes of carbon savings through optimised palletisation and supply chain efficiencies.”

For further information, please visit www.lesterspackaging.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .