Dr. Misty Blessley is Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at Temple U.
Kraft Heinz, the fifth largest food and beverage company in the world (founded in 2015 with the merger of Kraft Foods and H.J. Heinz companies), is on a mission to reduce, recycle and replace virgin plastics in their packaging, including their tomato ketchup bottles. In 1983, as did many firms at that time, Heinz introduced plastic bottles as the packaging of choice for its famous tomato ketchup distributed to the retail grocery channel.
Virgin plastic is newly produced plastic, and Heinz has a goal of eliminating 100 million pounds by 2030. This is a reduction of 20% when compared to their 2021 baseline. Kraft Heinz recently stated: “When deciding what packages to focus on, we first see if there’s an opportunity to remove any unneeded plastic, then we look for opportunities where we can reduce plastic weight, add recycled content, or replace plastics with other types of materials, while ensuring we do not compromise the product quality and [do] meet consumer expectations.”
Kraft Heinz was able to reduce plastic by simply removing the bag from some products and worked towards their recycling objective by swapping some virgin plastic with recyclable plastic. They are also replacing their plastic ketchup bottles with a paper-based bottle made of 100% sustainably sourced wood pulp. A prototype is currently being tested, for this first of its kind in the sauce category.
The firm is partnering with Pulpex, a packaging technology company focused on delivering sustainability through renewable packaging. If the bottle in the photo looks new yet familiar, it is because Pulpex is innovating with Heinz’s iconic ketchup bottle, the same one seen on Heinz ketchup (at restaurants, as an image on foil packs and dip and squeeze packs, etc.) since 1876.
Classroom discussion questions:
1. Product decisions are fundamental to firm strategy and to competitive advantage (see pages 161 – 162 of your Heizer/Render/Munson OM text). Given the need for sustainability in operations and supply chain management, why and how has packaging become part of the product decision?
2. Why do you think Kraft Heinz and Pulpex both feel that familiar looking packaging is a customer expectation?