As a market-focused company, SKG knows innovation is of strategic importance in securing and retaining our customers’ business, especially in current challenging times. Innovative design is a unique selling point for the Group and serves to differentiate us in the marketplace. To foster innovation, we share best practice among the plants and divisions in the Group using our web-based tools such as Innobook. Internal Innovation Award competitions to assess the innovativeness of our designs are held in both Europe and Latin America with judging panels drawn from our key customer base. These measures promote the pursuit of excellence in design and a close alignment with the needs of our customers.

During the course of 2009 a selection process was undertaken throughout Europe to identify the designs which would be considered for European Awards. To demonstrate the importance of sustainability within SKG, the impact on environment was one of the main criteria used in the selection processes. The results of the competition will be announced in 2010.

The award jury looks for a trade-off between the ability of packaging to protect products, transport them efficiently and to ensure the effectiveness of packaging to assist in the marketing of the customer’s product at point of sale. Sustainability is also a key consideration.

All of the designs considered in the European competition will be added to Innobook, the unique SKG design resource, thereby further enriching the database.

As part of the process of using design innovation as a means of developing sustainable packaging, we continue to work with customers to:

• design packaging solutions that are both efficient and user friendly
• optimise the supply chain including palletisation, warehousing and distribution
• reduce “over-packing” by looking at “fit for purpose” specifications based on optimisation rather than the use of historical data
• reduce complexity in the packaging portfolio as this leads to higher productivity, less material and less waste.