In the perpetually evolving industrial landscape of packaging solutions, one particular format has risen to prominence for its versatility, sustainability, and consumer-friendly design: tube packaging. From the beauty counters of shopping malls to the pharmaceutical packed shelves of pharmacies and beyond, tubes have become a go-to container choice for brands and manufacturers seeking efficient, attractive, and practical packaging solutions. In this article, featuring our resident industrial packaging supply experts who specialize in tubes, discover insights into tube packaging innovation and how to choose the best tube for your product. This comprehensive look into tube packaging explores market performance, applications across various industries, and the innovation driving its success.

Packaging Experts on Incredible Tube Market Growth

Tube packaging has witnessed remarkable growth, buoyed by its appeal across multiple sectors, including beauty and personal care, healthcare and pharma, food and beverage, household and industrial, and the burgeoning cannabis industry. As reported by leading market research firms, tube packaging's global market is on a significant uptrend, with a notable CAGR of 7.8% from 2023 to 2032.

The market growth in tube packaging is thanks to consumer preferences for:

• Convenience
• Product freshness
• Sustainability

“There’s a big push to manufacture tubes more sustainably. This is not a trend which will fade in time” - O.Berk’s Director Of Supply Chain, Michael Zimmer

Brands and manufacturers that align with these values are adopting tube packaging to ensure longevity no matter how markets grow or contract. Tube packaging is a solution that promises not just protection and preservation of their products, but also an enhanced user experience.

How Tubes are Reshaping Brands

Market leaders across the board have leveraged tube packaging to carve out niches and strengthen their market positions. The packaging experts at O.Berk know about tubes and their usage across all industries more than anyone else in the industry. Cosmetic giants have turned to cosmetic tube packaging for its ability to preserve the integrity of formulations while offering precise application. In the pharmaceutical realm, plastic tube packaging has become synonymous with hygiene and safety, providing barrier protection against contaminants, and ensuring product integrity. The food and beverage sector has not been left behind, with clear tube packaging offering a visual appeal to consumers, showcasing product quality at first glance.

Most of all, tubes are reshaping brands as they offer a variety of ways to create attention-drawing packaging.

“Tubes can even get that high shine by metalizing a layer of PET to give it that pop.” – added Michael Zimmer

Beauty & Personal Care: Embracing Elegance and Precision

In the beauty and personal care industry, packaging tubes have become a hallmark of luxury and convenience. Brands like Dove use cosmetic tube packaging for a range of products. From skincare serums to foundations, tubes are highly versatile. These tubes offer benefits such as controlled dispensing, product protection, and a premium aesthetic appeal, aligning with consumer expectations for high-quality, sophisticated packaging. Consumers of cosmetic products are influenced by package design.

“The cosmetic and personal care industry in North America is thriving, boosting the need for visually appealing and convenient tube packaging.” - Precedence Research

Healthcare & Pharma: Ensuring Safety and Integrity

The healthcare and pharma sectors prioritize packaging that maintains product integrity and ensures user safety. Plastic and aluminum tubes have been instrumental in achieving these goals, used for creams, ointments, and oral care products. Their airtight seals protect contents from contamination, while the materials used ensure compatibility with various formulations, making them an indispensable part of the pharmaceutical packaging toolkit.

Food & Beverage: Innovating for Freshness and Flavor

Tube packaging has made significant inroads into the food and beverage industry, offering solutions that extend shelf life and maintain freshness. Products like condiments, spreads, and beverages find a perfect match in tube packaging, which offers ease of use, portion control, and the preservation of flavor. Innovative brands like Heinz and Nestlé have embraced tube packaging, recognizing its potential to enhance consumer experience while ensuring product quality.

Cannabis: A Growing Market Demands Innovative Packaging

The legalization and commercialization of cannabis have opened new avenues for packaging innovation. Tubes have emerged as a popular choice, providing a child-resistant yet accessible option for a range of cannabis products. The airtight seals of tube packaging ensure freshness and potency, crucial for maintaining the product's quality from production to consumption.

How to Find The Best Tube for Your Product

The process of finding the best tube packaging, if you’re not familiar with it, can be daunting. Here’s where the experts at O.Berk can help.

“Top of mind when sourcing a tube is the formula, and the product type - it will tell you which type of tube you’ll need.” – Michael Zimmer

If the product formula requires a barrier, the best tube packaging may use a coax or a laminate with a barrier structure. A highly fragranced product, for example, may need a barrier, such as that provided by a co-extruded tube. The product’s application will dictate the best opening size or tube packaging orifice. Experts at O.Berk ensure they understand the application of the product to help find the best tube design for every product.

Product Type: Choosing the Best Tube

• Extruded Tubes - Seamless plastic resin is extruded into tube form and then cut to size before being headed or joined with the separately molded shoulders and head.
• Monolayer Tubes - Made of extruded polyethylene, monolayer tubes are ideal when a barrier layer is not needed (for most personal care products).
• Co-Extruded Tubes - Typically, polyethylene with an added barrier layer when needed for certain formulations including solvents, oils, gasses, and SPF. Co-extruded tubes can have many layers.
• Laminate Tubes - Composed of several layers of films that are adhered to each other with an adhesive. Once the layers are laminated together, they are rolled into a tube shape and cut to size before being “headed” or joined with the separate molded head and shoulders. Can be printed before or after being formed.
• Foil Tubes - Comprising layers of plastic film, foil tubes typically have an inner layer compatible with the fill, a middle barrier layer, and an exterior printable layer.
• Aluminum Tubes - Impact extruded by a mold from a small aluminum disc, with its neck, shoulders, and orifice molded along with the tube itself, in one continuous piece. Aluminum tubes are 100% recyclable with internal liners that can be applied to adjust for product compatibility. A thin layer can seal the orifice to be later protruded by the user. Aluminum tubes can also contain post-consumer recycled aluminum.

Learn more about How to Spec a Tube in O.Berk’s educational video.

Product Aesthetics: Choosing the Best Tube

Beyond the tube’s performance, durability for shipping and cost-effective attributes, the popularity of tubes among brands is driven by the beautiful platform for color and attention-drawing images they offer.

“The way modern tubes are produced - the decoration possibilities are endless.” – Mark Konstandt, Manager of Purchasing / Supplier Relationships

When you come to O.Berk for packaging solutions, our team of experts customize your tube packaging to meet your product’s needs and aesthetics. When customers are looking to put a product in a tube, it’s important to know the decoration possibilities in tube packaging are extensive.

Flexographic printing, color photographic and digital printing - there are different ways of achieving desired decorations, depending on how the tube is made:

• Extruded Tubes
  • Custom color foils and films
  • Silk Screening
  • Hot Stamping
  • Can be clear, frosted, or solid
  • Can be coated for a gloss or matte effect
• Laminate Tubes
  • Full-color offset printing
  • Silk Screening
  • Hot Stamping
  • Can be coated for a gloss or matte effect
• Aluminum Tubes
  • Offset printing
  • Base color tinted to show aluminum texture; solid white, pearlized, or clear finishes are possible.

Applicators, Closures and Head Style: Choosing the Best Tube Packaging

From pumps to silicone tips, tamper evident foil seals to flip cap closures, there are endless possibilities to enhance your tube packaging to optimize the end-users’ experience.

“Team of experts and the resources we have, we can source anything - we are open to all projects and challenges” – Jessie Kressen, Director Of Marketing

Innovation and Sustainability in Tube Packaging

As industries continue to evolve, so does the demand for packaging that combines functionality with environmental responsibility. Companies like O.Berk are at the forefront, offering custom tube packaging solutions that cater to the specific needs of brands while embracing sustainability. Advances in tube packaging and materials are setting new standards, increasing sustainability, ensuring that tube packaging remains a preferred choice for years to come.

“It’s exciting…light-weighting tube sleeves maintain the same burst strength and robust package but use less plastic.” - Michael Zimmer

Leading the Way with Innovation and Design

Innovation in tube packaging is not just about functionality; it's also about aesthetic appeal and consumer convenience. With advancements in digital printing and decoration technologies, custom tube packaging offers brands unlimited opportunities to stand out on the shelves. A growing trend in beauty packaging, tubes are worth considering for your products.

O.Berk's commitment to cutting-edge design and decoration techniques, as highlighted on their website, demonstrates how tube plastic packaging can be both beautiful and functional, appealing to the modern consumer's desire for products that look good and are easy to use.

Emphasizing Sustainability

Sustainability has become a critical factor in packaging choices, with consumers and companies alike seeking more environmentally conscious options. The packaging industry has responded by developing packaging tubes made from recycled materials. These efforts align with the growing environmental consciousness among consumers and reflect the industry's commitment to reducing its carbon footprint. By incorporating the use of less plastic in tube packaging, as well as the use of recycled materials, suppliers are prioritizing more conscious manufacturing, helping to contribute to a more sustainable future. O.Berk is committed to passionately pursuing sustainable packaging.

“Sustainability is an aggregate of all of the different efforts: less plastic, PCR, PET recycling.” – Mark Konstandt

Looking Ahead: The Future of Tube Packaging

The future of tube packaging is poised for further innovation, with trends leaning towards smart packaging solutions, such as tubes with integrated technology for product authentication and user engagement. Additionally, the ongoing development of material science promises to deliver even more sustainable and efficient packaging solutions, reducing waste and improving recyclability.

As tube packaging continues to evolve, its role in enhancing brand value and consumer experience cannot be overstated. From cosmetic tube packaging that beautifies the retail shelf to healthcare and pharma tubes that ensure product integrity, the versatility and potential of tube packaging are boundless. O.Berk is leading the charge in an industry set for a future where packaging is not just a container, but a crucial part of the product experience.

The Future of Packaging: Tubes

Tube packaging stands as a beacon of innovation, sustainability, and consumer convenience in the packaging industry. Its success across diverse sectors underscores its versatility and appeal, offering brands a powerful tool to enhance product value and meet consumer expectations. As the industry looks to the future, the continued evolution of tube packaging will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping the landscape of retail and consumer goods. With a commitment to sustainability, innovation, and understanding consumer preferences, the possibilities for tube packaging are as expansive as the industries it serves.

It's clear that tube packaging is more than just a trend; it's a testament to the industry's ability to adapt, innovate, and respond to the changing needs of the market and the planet.

Best in Service: Tube Packaging Experts at O.Berk

For brands looking to make a lasting impression on consumers while upholding values of sustainability and efficiency, tube packaging offers a path forward, promising not just to protect and preserve products, but also to elevate them, making every tube a story of success in itself. To find the best tube for your product, leverage the services at O.Berk.

Experts in tubes and packaging needs, the wonderful team of experts at O.Berk offer clients personalized service, helping you find the best packaging for your products’ needs.

Embrace tube packaging with a company that can navigate the complexities of modern consumerism, offer solutions and innovations to ensure your products are not just seen by customers, but experienced to the fullest - work with O.Berk experts.

For help finding the best tube for your product, contact the experts at O.Berk.