Unilever argues for holistic NPD

Packaging News, 18 May 2007

Unilever has warned that lightweighting for its own sake is not the best approach to packaging design and that a more holistic approach is preferable.

“We see packaging as part of the total system of product development,” Graham Houder, Unilever Foods’ category packaging director, told delegates at a Packaging Innovation seminar yesterday.

“It would be irresponsible for us to lightweight packaging if there were going to be negative consequences for the product.”

Unilever also said it did not have a “monopoly on great ideas” and that it was outdated for companies to decide what they wanted then find someone to produce it.

Unilever Foods’ collaborative innovation director Graham Cross, who shared the podium with Houder, said the company had decided to come to Total because it wanted to encourage all packaging manufacturers, large and small, to approach it with their innovations.