Fabio Perini continues its technological innovation process. It’s called MILE+ and it is the new and innovative rewinder that produces not only traditional bathroom or kitchen rolls with a cardboard core, but also the new revolutionary SOLID+ product.
Francesca Ragazzini, Marketing Dept. - Fabio Perini S.p.A.
The SOLID+ roll has the innovative characteristic of being a “full” roll, with no central hole, like a Solid roll, but features the added plus of being able to contain a mini-roll as its “kernel”.
The MILE+ rewinder is equipped with a special unwinder to handle kraft paper reels, whose function is to unwind one strip that will be used to “wrap” the kernel or the hole in the center of the roll.
Fabio Perini’s know-how in the design and construction of tissue converting machines - fruit of 50 years of experience - guarantees reliability of its products. But with the MILE+ rewinder, the company has gone one step further in interpreting the needs of its final customers, turning them into new machines.
Indeed, for Fabio Perini it is no longer enough to focus exclusively on its customers’ needs through a typical B2B philosophy; indeed, it is becoming increasingly indispensible to understand final consumers’ purchase drivers and hence shift to a new B2C approach that aims at studying and interpreting downstream trends, turning them into new finished products and then moving back upstream to consequently develop the machines that can satisfy these demands. Only by adopting this policy is it possible, in our opinion, to truly understand the needs of our customers and offer them the most appropriate machines.
In a world where advertising and stimuli directed at final consumers are increasingly numerous and the product offer on supermarket shelves is progressively becoming capillary and differentiated, it is necessary to design products that capture consu-mers’ attention while shopping. But at the same time, it is indispensible to consider that new consumers are becoming more demanding and attentive to choosing the products they use.
SOLID+ is born to answer a twofold demand. On the one hand, to offer a totally innovative product that can capture the attention of buyers of large retailing, and hence favor turning the product into a reference while at the same time assuring good placement on the shelves. On the other, to place converting companies in the condition of studying new marketing and communication campaigns by exploring all the possibilities that an “alternative/breakthrough” product that is not currently present on the market can offer.
It is undeniable that today large retail chains are showing great interest in themes tied to the eco-sustainability aspects of the products they sell in their supermarkets - from an attentive monitoring of the disposal of production wastes to the reduction of CO2 emissions connected to transport.
At the same time, it must be said that although innovative, “alternative/breakthrough” products present some opportunities, it is also true that changing consumption habit requires time and it is not always the easiest road to embark on.
The SOLID+ product is intended as a concrete answer to this new “green” sensitivity that is increasingly visible both on a retail and consumer level, a truly innovative product that at the same time maintains a bond with traditional consumption habits. Differently from traditional rolls that yield some sort of waste during production, the new SOLID+ rolls are “zero waste” because the cardboard core is completely eliminated. And the possibility of extracting the kernel, leaving a “traditional” roll, allows using the normal dispensers present in our homes, and this does not entail changing consumers’ habits.
So, differently from a traditional roll, the SOLID+ roll offers the possibility of using the tissue paper contained in it up to the very last sheet - avoiding the bothersome problem of finding the last sheets stuck to the cardboard core - and having an extra mini-roll to be used at home or as a handy take-along roll.
Many are the uses of the roll’s kernel, and these can be highlighted by marketing campaigns addressed to specific consumer targets or demands. There are lots of situations where having some tissue paper handy is certainly helpful. Just think of mothers with small children who can use this mini-roll in “emergency” situations away from home, sports enthusiasts or people who travel, young people spending the evening in discos or pubs where, very often, it is impossible to find bathrooms stocked with toilet paper, especially late at night. There are also countries where hygienic habits are not yet fully developed and the kernel can be used, for example, to educate children to use toilet paper more frequently and more consistently.
And just as important is this product’s potential as a communication and promotional means offered by the paper that wraps the kernel or the internal hole. This wrapper - that can be four-color printed - can become a means to disseminate co-marketing campaigns with other companies, implement cross-selling activities with other products in the portfolio or launch prize contests and loyalty-points schemes.
Together with all the advantages illustrated up until now and tied to a new B2C approach, the undeniable benefits that the new MILE+ rewinder offers in terms of production savings are also certainly worthy of note. Just as an example, thanks to the possibility of transporting “full” rolls instead of traditional rolls with a core, each truck can contain up to 16% more product and reduce packaging material by 10% at the same time. To make these savings more tangible, they can be translated into three and a half more pallets of product transported in each truck! And also, every MILE+ line installed will entail an annual reduction of 110 tons of CO2, equivalent to over 4,000 new trees! And one last - but certainly not least - advantage concerns savings in tax duties connected to the disposal of the cardboard cores and packaging materials governed by the new European Directive UE 2013/2 of 7 February 2013.
Awareness that bringing about changes in the consumer field requires time has led Fabio Perini’s R&D department to design the new MILE+ rewinder keeping this in mind. Thinking about those customers who, although desirous to invest in an innovative pro-duct, also want to maintain the possibility of producing a wide range of products, the new machine offers the chance to have the innovative and patented SOLID+ roll together with the traditional roll with a core and the SOLID roll. *