IN Brief:
- Minor, Weir and Willis has replaced pre-printed flow wrap on its twin-pack avocados with a recyclable linerless fruit lid.
- Ravenwood's Nobac 5000L applies the format, with a second machine purchased as production expands.
- The six-month development programme included label design, transit trials, production ramp-up, and collaboration with specialist printers.
Minor, Weir and Willis has replaced the pre-printed flow wrap used on its Twin Pack Ready to Eat Avocados with a linerless fruit lid, moving the format into commercial production after a six-month development programme.
The fresh produce business worked with Ravenwood Packaging, ProPrint Group, Reflex Group, and other packaging partners to develop the new presentation around automated linerless label application. The fruit lid is applied using Ravenwood’s Nobac 5000L system, replacing a flow-wrapped format that met production requirements but did not fit the recyclability objectives set for the replacement.
Development covered label design, machinery selection, transit trials, operational testing, and work towards an acceptable cost point, with technical and commercial teams involved before the pack entered production. The process reflects the practical difficulty of changing primary produce packaging while retaining product protection, throughput, presentation, and retailer acceptance.
Ravenwood Packaging said the Nobac 5000L provides automated application of the linerless fruit lid within the packing process. Earlier launch specifications for the installation put application capability at more than 50 packs per minute, although the current line remains in a ramp-up phase and Minor, Weir and Willis has not presented maximum speed as the principal measure of the project’s success.
Production optimisation is continuing as volumes increase. Reel changes are currently more frequent during ramp-up, while the operating team adjusts the process around the new format. A second machine has already been purchased to support additional products and accommodate the larger volume expected to move into linerless packaging.
The material change removes the pre-printed flow wrap and uses a recyclable linerless fruit lid. Unlike a conventional pressure-sensitive label, the linerless format does not require a separate backing liner, removing another material stream from the packing operation. Printing for the project is being carried out by ProPrint Group and Reflex Group.
Ravenwood reports a clear reduction in plastic use and packaging waste, but detailed environmental measurements have not yet been published. The precise carbon benefit therefore cannot be quantified from the available evidence, even though the physical reduction in plastic and removal of the previous non-recyclable flow wrap provide a direct change in the pack specification.
Immediate cost reduction was not the primary objective. Ravenwood says the new format required higher upfront investment, with sustainability, shelf presentation, and consumer response given greater weight than achieving the lowest packaging cost or fastest possible production rate. The business case therefore rests on the combined operating and commercial result rather than a single packaging material saving.
Minor, Weir and Willis has reported a significant sales uplift against the previous base, although the exact figure remains commercially confidential. The increase cannot be attributed solely to packaging from the available information, but the company considers the response strong enough to support extending the format into other produce categories.
Passion fruit, mango, and sharon fruit are among the products now being moved towards linerless packaging, with top fruit expected to follow. The wider rollout changes the engineering requirement because a system that works with one pack has to accommodate more product sizes, presentation formats, label reels, and production schedules without creating excessive downtime between runs.
The second Nobac machine indicates that the project is moving beyond a limited retail trial. Additional equipment gives the operation more capacity for the format and reduces the risk of routing an expanding product range through a single application point. It also makes changeovers, reel management, maintenance, and label supply more important as the number of stock keeping units increases.
Fresh produce packaging is required to perform several functions with very little material. It must protect a variable agricultural product, tolerate chilled and ambient handling conditions, provide enough visibility for quality assessment, carry branding and statutory information, and work at the speed of the packing line. Material reduction has to be judged against those functions rather than treated as an isolated design target.
The six-month development period reflects that constraint. Transit testing and machine trials sit between the design concept and the retail shelf because a visually attractive pack is of little value if it moves in transit, tears under handling, interrupts the applicator, or creates inconsistent presentation at normal operating rates. Bringing packaging, print, machinery, and produce handling together early reduces the chance of solving one problem while creating another elsewhere on the line.
Minor, Weir and Willis is now moving into the broader production phase. The first avocado pack has established that the linerless format can reach production and retail, while the second machine and wider produce rollout will test whether the approach remains workable across higher volumes and more varied products. That expansion will determine whether the project develops into a general packaging platform rather than remaining an isolated avocado format.
