Shell signs to show its true colours worldwide

Shell lubricants companies have made sure that their motor oil packaging has the same colour anywhere in the world through an agreement with Ampacet Corporation.

Shell lubricants companies have made sure that their motor oil packaging has the same colour anywhere in the world through an agreement with Ampacet Corporation.

Under the agreement, Ampacet guarantees that the colorant masterbatches used in packaging for the Pennzoil, Quaker State, Shell Helix, Shell Rimulaand Shell Rotellabrands meet Shell's global specifications.

In implementing the agreement, Ampacet first matched Shell lubricants packaging colour standards and then defined quantitative colour measurements for each brand as a way to control colour masterbatch quality at Ampacet's facilities in North and South America, Europe and Asia.

The masterbatches are then used in blow moulded bottles, injection moulded pails, and injection and compression moulded caps made for Shell by about 100 convertors in 60 countries.

Ampacet will provide ongoing oversight to ensure each convertor continues to meet the colour specifications.

"Our global colour initiative gives us better control over the look and feel of our automobile and heavy duty motor oil packaging", says Gary Stutzman, Shell Global Category Manager, Packaging.

"A part of this effort involved choosing an exclusive global colour supplier.

We evaluated six masterbatch suppliers and chose Ampacet for its broad geographic presence, regional technical centres that can support our convertors in meeting the set colour specifications, and innovative solutions that make our convertors' packaging operations more cost efficient".

The new colour standardisation effort fosters the identity of the Shell lubricants brands worldwide.

Its stringent colour specifications will help the company address counterfeiting issues, because bottles that don't conform to the standard are easier to identify in the market place.

It also creates uniformity across the Shell lubricant's supply network, because packaging from any source location will look the same when placed on store shelves in any region.

Under the initiative, suppliers to Shell must adopt procedures to assure that the final packaging has the appropriate colour values, opacity and overall performance.

In practice, production follows a "three-to-agree" approach under which Shell, each packaging manufacturer's location and Ampacet affirm that a colour meets the specifications set for a package.

"The programme went from concept to implementation in about one year", says Rick Hawley, Global Packaging Technical Manager at Shell.

"An initial study of Shell lubricants packaging from 10 countries found 10 shades for the same brand".

"We then spent six months collecting data from our supplier and convertor base regarding colour, usage and other factors that affect packaging".

"This was followed by the search for a global colour masterbatch supplier and by putting enhanced colour systems in place".

Doug Brownfield, Strategic Business Manager at Ampacet, says this is a unique and visionary initiative.

"To our knowledge, the Shell Lubricants companies are the first organisation to engage a single masterbatch supplier for a global colour programme that ensures the colour consistency of their brands worldwide".

"This agreement extends our existing relationship with Shell lubricants companies".

"As a Shell colour masterbatch supplier in the USA and South America for several years, we understand the Shell Lubricants colour and packaging needs in detail and how to meet them".

"It is a natural step to extend this knowledge base to other regions".

"This is an ongoing programme".

"Once it is fully implemented, we will continue to uphold Shell's colour requirements at each convertor in each country".

The work on standardising the colours of Shell lubricants' bottles across multiple convertors and countries began in Asia and the Indian Subcontinent.

Ampacet met with 20 convertors in 13 countries in these areas, set up trials at each one, and then tested the moulded bottle colours made by each location against the standard.

"Our initial colour mapping study of Shell lubricants' bottles reinforced their desire to use a single masterbatch supplier worldwide", says Christian Carnevali, General Manager - Ampacet Asia.

"After we were chosen for the programme, we set about implementing Shell's colour standards in Asia, India and Pakistan".

"The initial trials were just the first step".

"We now have an ongoing quality control initiative under which we test sample bottles from each convertor to ensure bottle colour remains true to the standard".

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