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Great Northern Packaging

First Year of Collaborative Course Produces Sustainable Packaging Designs

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Introduction
At the beginning of the 2021 fall semester at UW-Stout, the Great Northern Corporation Collaboration Experience kicked off. Six teams of packaging and graphic design students in the course were tasked with creating new, sustainable packaging for Reckitt, a client that makes Air Wick plug-in scented oils and diffusers. When the fall semester wrapped up, the students presented their final projects to not only the class, but also to industry professionals.

Each team was to design a single sustainable package that meets club store and Amazon packaging requirements for in-store display and online retail, while improving customer experience. During their research, the teams found Air Wick’s packaging to be unsustainable, difficult to open, and it didn’t have storage for oil refills once opened.

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Retail display of crackers

4 Ways Digital Printing Can Add Value to Retailers

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Retailers are always looking for new ways in which they can differentiate themselves from their competition and draw more shoppers to their store. Digital printing provides retailers with new opportunities to interact with shoppers, be that through retail customization, local and channel promotions, or market segmentation. The use of digital printing on packaging also offers opportunities for you to help retailers accomplish their goal in the following ways.

 

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Red shopping card in a canned food aisle

4 Ways Digital Printing Can Add Value to Your Brand

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Standing out on a crowded shelf has never been more important, or more difficult. As competition increases, so must your brand’s marketing strategy and ability to grab the shopper’s attention. Being able to stop the shopper at the shelf and convert them into a sale is made even more challenging by the depth of our shoppers’ omni-channel experience. With messaging coming from all different directions, how do you get YOUR brand noticed by the shopper and make them pay attention to your message? Digital printing is expanding the ways retail packaging can communicate your message to shoppers. Here are four ways digital printing can help your brand.

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Great Northern Corporation Collaboration Experience for students

Great Northern Corporation Collaboration Experience is Underway

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Earlier this fall, University of Wisconsin-Stout and Great Northern Corporation kicked off a four-year pilot project called the Great Northern Corporation Collaboration Experience. This sponsored course is an advanced design selective for graphic design students and a senior capstone for packaging students. The course is to be held four times over four years and is co-taught by packaging and graphic design faculty.

The inaugural collaborative experience has 24 students working together in cross-disciplinary teams. “It’s an opportunity for students to better understand and grow in appreciation of each other’s majors, skills and methodologies. It’s a chance for them to challenge each other and compromise in order to develop a package that meets the needs of the customer, just like in the industry,” said Robert Meisner, packaging program director.

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Recyclable Packaging

Millennials Impact on Sustainable Packaging

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It’s no secret that shoppers are more environmentally aware now than ever before, and the millennial generation is helping drive this trend. In fact, one of the main factors affecting the Millennials purchasing decisions is packaging, especially when it comes to the food and beverages they consume daily.

Findings from the EcoFocus Worlwide 2019 U.S. Trends Survey suggest that millennials are rewarding brands that align their packaging with eco-friendly needs more than any generation before them and they expect brand owners to follow their lead. Here are five examples of how millennials will change the packaging aspect of businesses for years to come.

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Paperboard Packaging Council

Great Northern Packaging – Oshkosh Facility Wins Excellence Award for Packaging Design

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The annual North American Paperboard Packaging Competition is a premier competition for carton manufacturers involved in the concept, design, print, performance, and shelf appeal of paperboard packaging. Every year the best paperboard package designs from across North America are submitted and judged by a jury of packaging professionals, industry experts and professors. This year marked the 78th year of competition and our Great Northern Packaging – Oshkosh facility is pleased to announce it has received an Excellence Award.

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Why Paper is a More Sustainable Packaging Solution than Plastic

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Sustainable packaging has become increasingly important as consumers become more aware of its impact on the environment. According to a report done by GlobalWebIndex, 42% of U.S. and UK consumers say products that use sustainable materials are important when it comes to their daily purchases. Environmentally aware consumers are more willing to support companies that share the same concern as them.

The two most common types of packaging are made up of paper or plastic. These two combined for 56.4 (69%) of the 82.2 million tons of containers and packaging produced in 2018. Here is a comparison of both packaging life cycles from their beginning to their end use.

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Great Northern Packaging – Oshkosh Facility Earns Safe Quality Food Certification

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Our Great Northern Packaging – Oshkosh facility is pleased to announce its renewal of the Safe Quality Food (SQF) Certification. This certification validates that Great Northern has robust food safety control systems effectively implemented in their manufacturing process. SQF is recognized by retailers and food service providers around the world who require a rigorous, credible food safety management system.

When the general manager of our Oshkosh location, Galen Killam, was asked what the significance of this achievement means, he said, “Achieving the renewal of our SQF certification shows our commitment to the time and effort required to provide our customer with a food safe folding carton.” Killam also mentioned, “We work hard all year to operate in a clean and safe manner and this recertification is the outcome of that work.”

To learn more about our packaging solutions, click here.

Sustainable Forestry initiative logo

Great Northern Packaging – Oshkosh Facility Earns SFI Sourcing Label Certification

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Great Northern Packaging – Oshkosh Facility is pleased to announce its renewal of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Sourcing Label Certification. This certification verifies that products from our Oshkosh facility come from recycled content or from a certified forest and that all the fiber in our products are acquired from sources that are in compliance with state, provincial or federal laws.

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Custom digitally printed packaging for retail

Three Benefits of Multiple Print Versions Packaging

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The retail landscape is changing rapidly and a main contributor to this is customer preference. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are more willing to try new buying channels, brands, and product varieties than ever before. An advantage of this trend is that it offers new market opportunities and opens the door for new product variations and product packaging.

However, this puts more pressure on brands to not only get their products to market faster, but also to make sure their retail packaging stands out on a crowded shelf. Click on the link at the end of the article to access our Targeted Packaging to Meet Changing Market Needs Webinar for a more in-depth look at this trend.

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Custom packaging for frozen food

What to Consider For Your Frozen and Refrigerated Package

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When it comes to packaging for frozen and refrigerated products, there are different qualities that need to be taken into account compared to retail packaging. The most important aspect is preserving the quality of the product, and if a package is not strong enough to withstand freezer and refrigeration environments, you risk the product spoiling. You also need to have a package design that separates your brand from others in a crowded cooler. Here are a couple things you should take into consideration when choosing your frozen and refrigerated package supplier.

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Shelf-ready retail packaging

The Rise of Shelf-Ready Packaging

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Shelf-ready packages are used on retail shelves more than ever. Retailers like shelf-ready packaging because it reduces labor costs. CPGs also benefit from this packaging solution because it helps brands stand out on shelf and the packaging displays the product the way it should be displayed, resulting in a better experience for the customer.

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Custom alcohol packaging from Great Northern Packaging

4 Tips to Having Your Seasonal Beverage Breakthrough at Retail

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Standing out in a crowded cooler inside the alcohol section of a store is getting tougher to do every year. It seems like every time you turn around there’s a new beverage with new flavors coming out, and seasonal beverages are no different. This is a result of people being more willing to try new flavors now more than ever before. So, in case you’re wondering “How can I get my brand noticed by the customer?”, here are four ways to do just that!

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Digital printing machine

How Digital Printing Can Benefit You

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Today, the retail landscape is changing faster than ever, making it tougher for brands to standout on the shelf. Being able to customize your package to your exact specifications is crucial, and that’s where digital printing can help! Unlike most traditional printing methods, digital printing provides brands with more benefits and features like customization, flexible quantities, quick turn arounds, and competitive pricing.

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Custom bag in a box packaging

5 Advantages of Bag-In-Box Packaging

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The bag-in-box industry has been trending upwards the last few years, and it’s showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon. There are many advances in the beverage industry that are influencing this trend whether it’s new technologies in films, taps, or how the bags are made and filled. The BIB industry is here to stay. Here are five advantages to bag-in-box.

1. Better for the environment
Corrugate requires a lot less energy to produce than glass and the outer box and bag are recyclable. It is light weight also makes it easier to transport, so shipments leave less of a carbon footprint in the long run. Also, since BIB wine stays fresher longer, you are not as likely to waste half-finished bottles that have gone bad.

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Paperboard Packaging Council

Great Northern Packaging – Oshkosh Facility Wins Two Excellence Awards for Innovative Paperboard Packaging

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Each year, the very best paperboard packages across North America are entered in the North American Paperboard Packaging Competition. Our Great Northern Packaging – Oshkosh facility is pleased to announce it has received two Excellence Awards – one in the Digital Application category, and the other in the General packaging category. The winning packages stand out with their high-impact graphics, durable structures, and custom features.

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UW Stout students in packaging lab

Great Northern to invest in UW-Stout advanced design and packaging class to replicate industry

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Great Northern is pleased to announce a collaboration with the University of Wisconsin–Stout to launch The UW-Stout Great Northern Corporation Collaboration Experience course, a four-year pilot project focused on advanced design and packaging. Students will receive instruction and work in cross-disciplinary teams to solve a packaging challenge or complete a project or competition.  “The Collaborative Experience is a multidisciplinary design and packaging class that replicates the way we work with our customers on design projects,” commented John Davis, Great Northern’s Chief Executive Officer. Read More…

Packaging Award

Great Northern wins ‘Best in Show’ and ‘Gold’ Awards at the 2020 Excellence in Flexography Awards

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Great Northern Packaging is pleased to announce that it received The Best in Show and Gold Awards in the Combined Corrugated category in the 2020 Excellence in Flexography Awards competition. The winning packaging, the 3M Rock Your Workday Box produced by the Chippewa Falls Packaging team, stood out for its flexographic print quality that achieved a good tonal range and exceptional detailed image quality.

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Paper Discovery Center

Great Northern Partners with Paper Discovery Center

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When people think about boxes, they think of the items inside the box. This year, Great Northern partnered with Paper Discovery Center to create the program, “Cardboard – Outside the Box,” as a way to inspire creativity in a child’s mind. With the cardboard donations from Great Northern, children were able to explore, create, and invent with this interactive program.

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NEW manufacturing alliance logo

WLUK Fox 11 Feature: Learn more about a Career at Great Northern

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View the video below to discover how Great Northern can help you win with a career in corrugated manufacturing. The segment aired on WLUK Fox 11, in partnership with the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance, and provides an inside look at Great Northern and how we live our mission and vision every day.

Fibre Box Association Logo

New FBA Video: Boxes – the most extraordinary ordinary thing in the world

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Check out the Fibre Box Association’s newest video, which takes a creative and fun look into why “ordinary” boxes are truly extraordinary!

Amazon Packaging

Great Northern Joins Amazon Packaging Support and Supplier Network (APASS)

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Great Northern is now a member of the Amazon Packaging Support and Supplier Network (APASS), a select group of companies that Amazon officially recognizes as packaging experts who can help e-commerce vendors with their packaging challenges.

View the Press Release to Learn More.

Learn how Great Northern can assist you with meeting Amazon’s new standards.

75th annual Northern American Paperboard Packaging Competition

We won four Excellence awards for innovative packaging!

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In this year’s North American Paperboard Packaging Competition, Great Northern brought home Excellence Awards for the innovative design and performance of four paperboard packaging solutions. Hosted by the Paperboard Packaging Council, the best designs from across North America were judged by a jury of packaging professionals, industry experts, and professors.

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Biolage Packaging by Great Northern Packaging

Great Northern Wins Two Excellence Awards for Package Design

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APPLETON, WI, December 13, 2017 – Great Northern, a leader in custom retail packaging solutions, received two Excellence Awards in the 2017 North American Paperboard Packaging Competition. Great Northern’s Excellence Award Winners include an innovative package design for Griffon Vault – Premium Vodka in a Box, using an eco-friendly packaging concept that features a dispenser integrated within the package design. This is the second PPC award a Griffon box has received in the last two years. Read More…

Great Northern Corporation team picture

Great Northern Packaging – Oshkosh honored with platinum supplier award

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Great Northern Packaging – Oshkosh facility has been awarded the first ever Platinum Supplier Award by Hickory Farms. To qualify for this award, we had to achieve three consecutive annual Gold ratings.

The Platinum Award goes to the supplier that exemplifies the high performance culture, quality, operational excellence and proactive improvement for long-term focus that Hickory Farms expects from its partners to achieve its best in class mission. Read More…

Titleist Consumer packaging

Great Northern Packaging – Oshkosh Location Receives Six PPC Awards

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Great Northern Packaging – Oshkosh, a leader in engineered packaging solutions, received six awards, including a Gold Award and five Excellence Awards, in the Carton Competition held by the Paperboard Packaging Council on October 8, 2015.

Our gold-winning package was the “Titleist 2 Dozen Promo Kit.” The package’s heavy duty construction held multiple components, such as two dozen golf balls and various promotional items. The goals of the project was to give the buyer a high perceived value, and extend brand visibility. Read More…

Great Expectations

Great Expectations is more than a tagline, it is an attitude. At Great Northern, customer challenges are met by an undying spirit to doing what others can’t or won’t. It’s in our DNA. And it is what our customers have come to expect with Great Northern.

How can we exceed your expectations?

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