GB2424409A

GB2424409A - Shelf ready packaging

Info

Publication number: GB2424409A
Application number: GB0521730A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Timothy Hassell; Garry Christopher Sheridan; Thomas William Walton
Original assignee: Walkers Snacks Ltd
Current assignee: Walkers Snacks Ltd
Priority date: 2005-10-25
Filing date: 2005-10-25
Publication date: 2006-09-27
Anticipated expiration: 2025-10-25
Also published as: GB2431629B; GB2424409B; GB2431629A; GB0521730D0; GB0614558D0

Abstract

A system and method for quickly stocking a shelf with packages from a box or container is disclosed. In one aspect, a band 120 is disposed in a container 110 having a plurality of packages 130 such that the band circumferentially bundles the packages. In one aspect, the band has two ends that terminate at or near the top of the container. The two ends of the band can be grasped by a stocker who can then efficiently transfer the bundle from the container to a shelf such as a shelf for retail display. The band 120 may be made from a flexible film, a foil or a paper material.

Description

SHELF READY PACKAGING

BACKGROUND

Technical Field:

This invention generally relates to a method for stocking packages onto a shelf from a shipping container and to a system for shipping and displaying packages. In particular, the present invention relates to such a method and system which enable quick stocking of the packages onto a shelf from the shipping container.

Background of the Invention:

Containers, including paperboard cartons or containers, have been used for many years to transport and store individually packaged products including, for example, packaged food products such as cereals, snack foods, dried fruit products, toilet paper, paper towels, etc. Several individually packaged products are generally packed within a single paperboard container which is provided with a removable lid or an integral folded top which is sealed. The packaged products are generally transported within the closed or sealed container from a manufacturing facility to a place of retail sale. In order to present the packaged product for retail sale, store or other personnel must first remove the lid or open the sealed top, remove each individually packaged product from the container, properly position each individually packaged product on available display shelves, and finally discard the container. Thus, transporting packaged products from a manufacturing facility to a storage location and then to a display location using conventional paperboard cartons or containers is a labor-intensive process. Further, for the stocker, the process of mounting the display package onto a shelf or display hanger is a tedious and time-consuming task that requires exceedingly repetitive work. Having such repetitive work for a stocker increases costs for the store or other entity employing the stocker and also increases the risk of injury to the stocker. While there is a significant amount of prior art disclosing the general idea of efficient methods and packages for the transfer of shipped product to a retail display, much of the art is focused on two general categories.

Patents in the first category are directed towards packages having apertures or holes to permit placement of the packages on display hangers. Such patents include U.S. Patent No. 5,054,727; U.S. Patent No. 5,730, 296; U.S. Patent No. 5,901,860; U.S. Patent No. 6,109,447; U.S. Patent No. 6,401,304; and U.S. Patent No. 6,704,971. Such patents, however, require packages to have an aperture and are directed towards placement on a display hanger rather than on a shelf.

Patents in the second category are directed towards packages using a portion of the container itself as part of the display. This typically requires a severing the top portion of a shipping container thereby leaving a bottom, tray portion which can be placed upon a shelf with the container contents. Patents in this category include U.S. Patent No. 4,773,541; U.S. Patent No. 6,050,420; and U.S. Patent No. 6,386,366. Many of these patents are undesirable, however, because they require that the original shipping package be taken apart or destroyed and further require that the tray portion stay with the packages while the packages are displayed. Thus, the shipping packages cannot be returned immediately for reuse and the same amount of shelf space is required by a tray that is half full of product as is required by a tray that is completely full of product.

Consequently, a need exists for a system and method permitting the efficient stocking of store shelves. The system and method should not require the package being displayed to have an aperture and should permit the shipping container to be preserved and reused.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect the present invention provides a method of stocking packages from a shipping container onto a shelf, said method comprising the steps of: a) providing a container having a plurality of packages, wherein at least two of said packages are circumferentially bundled by a removable band thereby defining a bundle of packages; b) removing said bundle of packages from said container; c) placing said bundle of packages onto a shelf and d) removing said removable band.

Preferably, said container comprises two or more bundles of packages.

Preferably, said removable band further comprises a first end and a second end where said first and second end are provided near a container opening.

The removable band may be made from a flexible film, a foil or a paper material.

Preferably, said removable band around the at least two packages in the bundle is unfastened.

Preferably, said packages comprise snack food.

In a second aspect the present invention provides a system for shipping and displaying products, said system comprising: a container having a plurality of packages, and at least one removable band having a first end and a second end, wherein said removable band is placed circumferentially about at least two of said packages thereby making a bundle of packages.

Preferably, said container comprises two or more bundles.

Preferably, said first end and said second end are provided adjacent an opening side of the container.

Preferably, said packages comprise snack food.

The proposed invention accordingly comprises circumferential placement of a removable band to bundle a plurality of packages within a shipping container. Upon opening the shipping container, the bundle of packages can be pulled out of the shipping container, placed onto a retail point of sale shelf; and the band can then be removed, resulting in a stocked shelf. The present invention thereby increases productivity of stocking shelves with product and decreases repetitive motion previously required by a stocker to transfer individual packages from the shipping container to the shelf.

The above as well as additional features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following written description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a cutaway perspective view of an open container having two bundles in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a person removing a bundle of packages from the container in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a person placing the bundle of packages onto a shelf in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a person removing the band in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a front view depicting shelves stocked with packages in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Directing attention to Figure 1, shown is a cutaway perspective view of an open container 110 partially lined with two bands 120 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. A plurality of packages 130 are nestled inside the bands 120 in the container 110. The first band 120 on the left side of the Figure depicts the band ends open to better illustrate how the bands can be loosely positioned in the container 110.

The second band 120 on the right side of the Figure depicts the band ends overlapping to better illustrate how the banding can appear when the container 110 is first opened. In one embodiment, placement of the bands 120 within the containers 110 is automated.

The band 120 having a first end and a second end can be any type of flexible material that can conform to the walls of a container 110. A foil, plastic-like film, or paper material can be used. In one embodiment, the band 120 is oriented such that the ends rest near the opening side of the container 110. The opening side is the side of the container that is opened to retrieve the bundle. In one embodiment, the opening side of the container 110 is the top. In one embodiment, the band 120 is not affixed to the container 110 or to itself by an adhesive or any other fastening means.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a person 140 removing the bundle of packages 130 from the container 110 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. A person 140 grasps the two loose band 120 ends and thereby temporarily seals the two ends together to form a bundle of packages 130. The bundle of packages 130 can then be removed from the container 110 as a single unit. Although two separate bands 120 are shown in Figures 1 and 2 resulting in two separate bundles, a container 110 can comprise one or more bands 120 depending on several factors including, but not limited to, the size andlor weight of the packages 130, desired number of packages 130 in a bundle, and the size of the container 110 holding the bundles. Normally, the person 140 would use only a single hand to remove a single bundle of packages 130 from the container 110, as shown in Figure 2, so that bundles are removed one at a time from the container 110. However, alternatively two hands could be used to remove two bundles of packages 130 at the same time.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a person 140 or stocker placing the bundle of packages onto a shelf 150 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The bundles can be sized or configured so as to fill a portion of or the total shelf depth with packages. For example, if it takes six packages to fill the depth of a shelf, the bundle can comprise up to six packages in depth. It may be desirable to use fewer packages 130, such as four or five, however, if the shelves are not anticipated to be completely empty.

In one embodiment, the band 120 is sized in width such that, if a flexible packaging is utilized, the weight of the bundle does not cause the package to bend when the bundle is removed from the container and placed onto a shelf.

In the preferred embodiment the packages 130 are packages comprising snack food, and the packages 130 may be flexible bags as illustrated, either single packs of snack food or packs (which may be called "multipacks" in the art) containing multiple bags of snack food. Alternatively, the packages may be tubes, for example rigid tubes, containing snack food. The packages 130 in each bundle are oriented and aligned lengthwise in the same direction and closely packed. Different bundles can be differently aligned in the same container. The band 120 has a strength, in particular a tear strength and a tensile strength, to enable the flexible band 120, when manually lifted as described earlier, to be able to support the weight of the packages 130 wrapped by the band 120 without breaking or significant stretching. This therefore permits the entire bundle of packages to be lifted from the container 110 and held by the stocker 140 only holding the flexible band 120.

Being flexible, the stocker 140 can manually squeeze the band 120 if necessary to impart a squeezing force on the bundle of packages 130, which tends to assist the packages 130 being held together as a single bundle as they are removed from the container 110 and placed on the shelf.

The band 120 preferably has a width that is a significant proportion of the length of each package 130 in the bundle, typically from 50% to 100% of the package length. This provides that the wide band 120 imparts a supporting force on a significant area, from 50% to 100%, of the outer circumferential surface of the bundle as it is lifted from the container 110 and placed on the shelf. This assists the packages 130 being securely held together during the lifting step, with reduced movement or slippage between packages in the bundle. This is particularly important for snack food packages 130 which are packed in the container 110 in a bundle in which individual packages can possibly slip or move relative to other packages because the packages are not of a regular shape, for example rectangular boxes, and no dividers are placed between adjacent packages 130 in a bundle. The band 120 is wrapped around a central portion of the bundle of lengthwise aligned packages 130 and does not extend as far as to cover the opposite ends of the packages 130, otherwise it would be difficult to remove the band 120 from the packages after having been deposited on the shelf without disturbing the positioning of the packages 130 on the shelf.

Also, by providing a wide band 120, when the packages are flexible bags containing snack food, this reduces the pressures applied to the packages and so minimizes inadvertent crushing of the snack foods in the lifting operation. In fact, individual packages 130 do not need to be held manually, which may reduce inadvertent manual crushing of snack foods as compared to manual handling of individual packages of snack foods.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a person 140 removing the band 120 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. A person 140 can use one hand to hold the bundle of packages 130 in place while using the other hand to easily slide and thereby unravel the band 120 to reveal a set of neatly displayed packages 130 on the shelf 150.

In one embodiment, the band 120 is not adhered to the packages 130 or the container 110 (as depicted in Figure 1 and Figure 2) ensuring quick, unfettered, and easy removal.

Figure 5 is a front view depicting a shelf 150 stocked with packages 130 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the present invention provides a way to neatly and uniformly stock a shelf 150 with a plurality of packages 130.

One embodiment of the present invention will now be described in the following Example to illustrate the efficiency provided by one embodiment of the present invention compared with a prior art method as exemplified in a Comparative Example. This example is intended to illustrate the invention without limiting the scope as a result.

Comparative Example

A container filled with thirty six packages of food product was opened and each individual package was placed onto a store shelf. The stocker bent over more than ten times to unload the food packages from the container and neatly place them onto shelf.

The amount of time required to perform this task was ninety seconds.

Example

A container filled with thirty six packages of food product was placed in a container lined with two adjacent removable bands wherein each band surrounded eighteen packages. Each bundle was comprised of packages three across and six deep. The container was opened. The stocker grasped the two ends of the first band and removed the resultant bundle or parcel from container and placed the first bundle of eighteen packages onto a shelf. The stocker then removed the band from the first bundle and placed it back into the container. The stocker then grasped the two ends of the second band and removed the second bundle or parcel from container and placed the second bundle of eighteen packages onto a shelf adjacent the first bundle. The stocker then removed the band from the second bundle and placed it back into the container. The stocker required only twenty four seconds to neatly place the thirty six packages on the shelf and the stocker was required to bend over only twice.

Although the example above is directed towards a container having two bundles, any number of bundles can be placed into the container. Similarly, although the example above has eighteen packages per bundle a bundle can comprise two or more packages.

There are several advantages provided by the instant invention. First, the amount of repetitive motion required by a stocker is reduced. Thus, the present invention minimizes possibility of back strains and other potential work-related injuries to the stocker. Second, the instant invention results in much greater productivity. In the example above, productivity was enhanced by a factor of three. This can significantly decrease labor costs associated with the stocking of retail shelves. Third, a more uniform and organized shelf display is likely to result, as the packages are already in a desired packing configuration on removal from the container and as they are placed on the shelf.

Fourth, there is no loss of shelf space from a portion of a partially empty bottom tray portion. Fifth, the packages do not require any holes or apertures to be placed on display. Sixth, the bands and containers can be recycled and used again further reducing costs.

While this invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A method of stocking packages from a shipping container onto a

shelf, said method comprising the steps of: a) providing a container having a plurality of packages, wherein at least two of said packages are circumferentially bundled by a removable band thereby defining a bundle of packages; b) removing said bundle of packages from said container; c) placing said bundle of packages onto a shelf; and d) removing said removable band.
2. The method of Claim 1 wherein said container comprises two or more bundles of packages.
3. The method of Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein said removable band further comprises a first end and a second end where said first and second end are provided near a container opening.
4. The method of any foregoing Claim wherein said removable band is made from a flexible film.
5. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein said removable band is made from a foil.
6. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein said removable band is made from a paper material.
7. l'he method of any foregoing Claim wherein said removable band around the at least two packages in the bundle is unfastened.
8. The method of Claim 1 wherein said packages comprise snack food.
9. A system for shipping and displaying packages, said system comprising: a container having a plurality of packages, at least one removable band having a first end and a second end, wherein said removable band is placed circumferentially about at least two of said packages thereby making a bundle of packages.
10. The system of Claim 9 wherein said container comprises two or more bundles.
11. The system of Claim 9 or Claim 10 wherein said first end and said second end are provided adjacent an opening side of the container.
12. The system of any one of Claims 9 to 11 wherein said removable band is made from a flexible film.
13. The system of any one of Claims 9 to 11 wherein said removable band is made from a foil.
14. The system of any one of Claims 9 to 11 wherein said removable band is made from a paper material.
15. The system of any one of Claims 9 to 14 wherein said removable band around the at least two packages in the bundle is unfastened.
16. A system for shipping and displaying packages substantially as hereinhefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

16. The system of any one of Claims 9 to 14 wherein said packages comprise snack food.

17. A method of stocking packages from a shipping container onto a shelf substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

18. A system for shipping and displaying packages substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

/ Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows: CLAIMS: 1. A method of stocking packages from a shipping container onto a shelf, said method comprising the steps of: a) providing a container having a plurality of flexible packages comprising snack food, wherein at least two of said packages are oriented and aligned lengthwise and circumferentially bundled by a removable flexible band thereby defining a bundle of packages, the band being wrapped around a central portion of the bundle of lengthwise aligned packages and having a width that is from 50% to 100% of the package length; b) removing said bundle of packages from said container by holding the removable band; c) placing said bundle of packages onto a shelf; and d) removing said removable band. ( ) )

2. The method of Claim 1 wherein said container comprises two or more bundles of packages.

3. The method of Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein said removable band further comprises a first end and a second end where said first and second end are provided near a container opening.

4. The method of any foregoing Claim wherein said removable band is made from. a film.

5. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein said removable band is made from a foil.

6. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein said removable band is made from a paper material.

7. The method of any foregoing Claim wherein said removable band around the at least two packages in the bundle is unfastened.

8. A system for shipping and displaying packages, said system comprising: a container having a plurality of flexible packages comprising snack food, said at least two of said packages being oriented and aligned lengthwise, at least one removable flexible band having a first end and a second end, wherein said removable band is placed circumlerentially about said at least two of said packages thereby making a bundle of packages, the band being wrapped about a central portion of the bundle of lengthwise aligned packages and having a width that is from 50 to 100% of the package length.

9. The system of Claim 8 wherein said container comprises two or more bundles.

10. The system of Claim 8 or Claim 9 wherein said first end and said second end are provided adjacent an opening side of the container.

11. The system of any one of Claims 8 to 10 wherein said removable band is made from a film.

12. The system of any one of Claims 8 to 10 wherein said removable band is made - fromafoil.

13. The system of any one of Claims 8 to 10 wherein said removable band is made from a paper material.

14. The system of any one of Claims 8 to 13 wherein said removable band around the at least two packages in the bundle is unfastened.

15. A method of stocking packages from a shipping container onto a shelf substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.