Founded in 1924, Viipurilainen Kotileipomo is a family bakery business producing cakes and artisan breads from local ingredients using traditional methods. The company was searching for a way to simplify the construction of its cake boxes to make them faster to assemble in store, and also wanted a packaging design that would better convey its fresh, dynamic brand image and reduce the company’s environmental footprint.
“Together with their design agency, Viipurilainen Kotileipomo has put a lot of effort into creating a distinctive brand image. We were approached by them to facilitate a co-creation workshop at our Äänekoski Excellence Centre in central Finland, where everyone could be around the same table to innovate a new, simpler and more ecologically friendly packaging design,” says Ilkka Harju, Packaging Services Director, EMEA at Metsä Board.
Expertise and experience make finding the right material a piece of cake
The Metsä Board team recommended MetsäBoard Prime FBB EB – a fully coated, lightweight and high-brightness barrier paperboard that can be recycled in paper or paperboard waste streams.
“We demonstrated that the proposed material would meet the requirements of the products to be packed and designed the best way to integrate the desired branding elements,” explains Ilkka. In this regard, the deep knowledge of structural packaging design, paperboard performance and branding integration that the Metsä Board team brought to the table played a crucial role in the success of the project.
Before any boxes went into production, a virtual model of the design was created by the Metsä Board team to help the client visualise what it would look like in real life.
Sustainability baked in
But better branding opportunities were only part of this new packaging recipe. As well as enabling Viipurilainen Kotileipomo to package its products in boxes that are 100% recyclable and free of PE plastic coating, Metsä Board’s lightweight barrier paperboard and the new design concept have delivered other tangible benefits.
The new packaging design reduces material usage by 25%, CO2 emissions by around 34% and is 17% lighter. Furthermore, the properties of the paperboard make the cake boxes quicker and easier to assemble.
Viipurilainen Kotileipomo has been seeking a new solution to speed up assembly of its cake boxes for several years. Teppo Ylä-Hemmilä, Bread artist and Head Of Innovation was very impressed by the solution that was developed as part of their collaboration with Metsä Board: “Not only did we gain packaging that is more efficient to assemble, but we also benefited from improved sustainability and branding. Packaging sustainability is important for our customers, and we are proud to be able to say that ours is now fully recyclable. The whole product development process was carried out in a structured way and with fast speed to market.”