Packaging 101: Getting Your Product Into the Proper Container

Start with the product. Its pH, viscosity, oil content, alcohol content, temperature at fill, and sensitivity to light and oxygen narrow the field faster than anything else. An acidic hot-fill sauce and a solvent-based cleaner rule out almost everything the other one allows.

Next, the process. How is the container filled — by hand, by piston filler, by gravity? What closure torque does the capper hold? Will it be retorted, pasteurised, frozen, or shipped in a hot trailer? Many package failures are process mismatches, not material failures.

Finally, the market. Retail shelf presence, freight weight, breakage tolerance, and whether the container needs to be decorated all shape the answer. Bring those three sets of facts to us and the shortlist writes itself.