Cross-industry collaborative innovation of metal packaging and herbal tea

——Concurrent discussion on the role of Metal Packaging in herbal tea product innovation, industrial upgrading, brand culture innovation and safety management

Chinese TCM health culture has a long history. The ancient philosophy of "Heaven and Man" philosophy and the traditional "medicine and food homology" culture tradition, as well as unique medicinal and edible resources, have injected vitality into the development of functional plant beverages, especially herbal tea products. The most eye-catching performance.
After the Chinese beverage industry experienced rapid growth for many years, the growth rate began to slow down. According to the 2015 Annual Report of the China Beverage Industry as published by the China Food Industry Association, the total output of the beverage industry in China for the year was 176,100,000 tons, an increase of 6.23% over the same period of last year. While herbal tea is one of the few sub-categories that continue to maintain a relatively good growth trend, sales revenue has exceeded 50 billion yuan, an increase of 10.6% year-on-year, of which JDB holds a dominant share. Liu Zhi, executive vice president of the China Food Industry Association, attributed the good development of herbal tea beverages to consumer demand for health promotion and industrial innovation. The herbal tea companies represented by Jiaduobao relied on the profound cultural heritage of herbal tea. Through the comprehensive application of modern food industry technology, herbal tea has become a “dark horse” in the beverage industry in the world and has won numerous consumers in domestic and foreign markets. Accredited. Analysis of the innovative development and safety management of JDB Herbal Tea has implications and guidance for the development of other food categories.
Herbal tea product innovation and industrial upgrading




Herbal tea production standardization, industrialization Jiaduobao has persisted in continuous innovation for years to improve product quality. Through years of research and development, the company has pioneered the patented technology of herbal tea concentrate juice. The transformation of the dispersed plant raw materials into standardized industrial products realizes the industrialization and standardization of plant raw material processing, and establishes a safety barrier between plant raw materials and beverage products. Based on this, the industrialized production model of "centralized extraction and decentralized filling" of herbal tea was initiated. It not only solved the problem of raw materials, product quality and consistency of the new factory, but also laid the technical foundation for the globalization of herbal tea.
Packaging innovations that are compatible with the production process In 1996, Cadobo pioneered the production of three canned herbal teas, which realized the canning of herbal tea, making herbal teas for the first time in the form of canned packages, in addition to traditional large bowls of herbal tea. Those who adapt to the fast pace of modern life are quick and easy to obtain.
Through technical research, the company successfully developed a two-piece canned herbal tea production process for high-temperature filling and sterilization, a PET cold aseptic cold tea production process, and a boxed herbal tea production process. In line with the production process, the product packaging form continues to be innovated and optimized: concentrates from bagged herbal plant raw materials to metal juice barrels packed in sterile bags; from three Tinplate canned herbal teas to two pieces of aluminum canned herbal tea (For more details, see the "Packaging Reduction" section below); and bottled and boxed herbal teas for different consumer sites.

Figure 1 canned herbal tea production equipment

The technical innovation of herbal tea industry structure upgrade will not only bring opportunities to enterprises, but also promote the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure.
The transportation, warehousing, and cleaning of herbal tea plant raw materials and the treatment of waste slag after extraction have high requirements on the location of the plant. After setting up factories in appropriate areas to “collect and extract” plant raw materials, the resulting plant waste residue is used to generate electricity, produce steam, serve as raw materials for edible mushroom production enterprises, improve soil, etc., and “dry-press and clean” the waste, and turn waste into waste. Comprehensive use of treasure. In the construction of “disperse filling” of factories across the country, there is no need to consider the treatment of plant residues, and there is a great deal of freedom in site selection.
Metal packaging innovation is an important component of beverage innovation.



Three-to-two, cover-type conversion brings huge social and economic benefits. The conversion of the three-piece can of JDB's herbal tea into two-piece cans changed the production capacity of beverage cans in China's metal packaging and promoted the introduction and development of highly efficient and highly-automated cans. In addition, it also brings all-round improvements to the value of beverage companies, such as: high-efficiency, low-cost, fewer risk points and control points; another example, the high input cost of 100 million yuan for two cans A barrier effectively prevents the possibility of unscrupulous traders producing counterfeit herbal tea by producing counterfeit metal cans. After the conversion of JDB in two-piece cans in 2010, no counterfeit products were found on the market, which not only protected the brand's reputation, but also ensured Consumer rights have also reduced the investment of corporate crackdown personnel. This feature of two-piece metal cans is also obvious compared to other packaging methods such as PET bottles and boxes.
After converting from three Tin Cans to two aluminum cans, the economic and social benefits achieved are also enormous. Only with the annual output of 6 billion cans of herbal tea and 36 grams per can of metal packaging, the consumption and transportation of 216,000 tons of metal packaging materials are reduced, energy consumption and air pollution are reduced, and aluminum packaging also has Higher recovery rate.
Since 2014, under the same function, JDB has cooperated with the packaging industry to complete the conversion of cover type from 202 to cover type 202. Calculated with a weight reduction of 0.9g per lid, only Jiaduo Herbal Tea packaging reduces the amount of aluminum used by 5,400 tons per year, and the industry-wide savings are even more alarming.
Metal packaging and beverage companies need collaborative innovation across industries. The above-mentioned optimization and innovation not only reduced carbon emissions, but also promoted the upgrading of metal packaging products. These "technological revolutions" have lifted herbal tea from the traditional mode of production and laid the foundation for industrial soaring. In 2010, JDB won the “Global Food Industry Award”, which is known as the Oscar of the food industry, and became the first national beverage brand in China to receive this honor.
Drink innovation and packaging innovations often blend together. It is difficult to say clearly who is first, who is behind, who is Lord, and who is. From a large herbal tea in the traditional herbal tea shop to three tinplate canned herbal teas, it seems that only a slight change has taken place in the form of product packaging, but in reality it is often accompanied by a full range of transformation of production equipment, process technology, production management, quality management and other systems. upgrade. It is the result of collaborative innovation between upstream can making, lid making, and even coating production enterprises and downstream beverage manufacturers. Therefore, "Made in China 2025," proposed that adhere to the "innovation-driven, quality first, green development, structural optimization, talent-based" basic guidelines, proposed to promote cross-domain, cross-industry collaborative innovation, take the innovation-driven development.
Innovations in the metal packaging industry, in addition to passively focusing on the innovation and demand of the downstream food and beverage industry, should take the initiative to do a good job, on the one hand, to make current technological progress, and on the other hand, to do a good job in understanding the direction of food and beverage development. Innovation reserves provide advice for downstream industry innovation and guide downstream companies to innovate. From the perspective of the food and beverage industry, once the metal packaging industry has undergone substantial minor breakthroughs or innovations, it often means a re-division of the metal packaging market share. Packaging innovation has become an important part of food and beverage innovation.
Brand culture innovation
The implementation of the cultural "going out" strategy by the state is of great significance to improving the soft power of our country's culture and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
To spread the herbal tea culture in an international strategy and promote brand development. As a typical representative of Lingnan culture, herbal tea was successfully selected as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2006 under the active participation of the JDB Group. In the same year, assisted the Guangdong Provincial Food Industry Association and the Herbal Tea Branch to launch the "Global Campaign for the Communication of Herbal Tea Culture" with the theme of "Carrying Forward Chinese Culture and Inheriting the Herbal Tea Culture", and used the "Global Travel" method of Chinese herbal health culture with extremely profound herbal tea. It is promoted throughout the country and around the world, aiming to spread the seeds of herbal tea culture to all corners of the globe, taking root, sprouting, flowering, and the results.
At present, under the guidance of the national macro-strategy of the “Belt and Road Initiative,” “Going Global,” and “Upgrading Soft Power,” JDB has also been working hard to carry out strategic upgrades, accelerate the pace of internationalization strategies, and actively spread herbal tea culture. The soft power of culture drives the brand's spread and development. From the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, the 2012 London Olympics, the 2013 Nanjing Asian Championships, the 2014 Brazil World Cup and other major international events, and the Summer 2014 Davos Forum, 2014 APEC The conference, the 2015 Milan Expo, and the 2015 China-Africa Expo will feature Jiaduobao at every international event. On May 20th, 2016, JDB represented the Chinese brand into the UN Headquarters and landed on the Nasdaq Grand Screen in New York to successfully promote the herbal tea culture on the higher international stage.
With the spread of herbal tea culture around the world, the Chinese nation's warm and peaceful concept of health preservation and natural and harmonious national spirit have become more deeply rooted. Herbal tea as a symbol of contemporary Chinese culture is also being recognized and accepted by the world. At present, JDB sells in more than 60 countries and regions in the world and is becoming a golden card for the world to understand China.
Internet marketing, embracing young consumer groups. Internet marketing is part of the marketing of brand culture communication. The so-called “not young, no future”. In 2015, Jiaduobao used the “China Good Voice” platform to cooperate with 16 internet companies, opened the “port” of Jiaduobao’s billions of sales, and printed the QR code on the gold cans for the online enterprise manufacturing line. Under the entrance, build a "golden color life circle." On the first anniversary of the launch of JINDUJUJIA in 2016, JDB partnered with the international movie “Angry Bird”, which is popular with young people around the world, and launched four limited-edition herbal teas to interact with young global consumers. , strengthened the young, stylish, and energetic brand image of Jin Can Jardo.

Figure 2 On the first anniversary of the launch of the Jin Can Jia Duo Bao, JDB partnered with Angry Birds to launch four limited-editioned herbal teas to strengthen the young, stylish, and energetic brand image of the Jin Can Jardo.

Food and beverage as a fully competitive, market-oriented industry, companies want to get a better development, and deepen the young consumer groups market is the key. Mobile Internet is the best way to enhance the cohesion and interaction with young consumers. Whoever ignores the Internet will ignore the future market. However, it must be clearly seen that mobile Internet marketing is only a means of marketing. If there is no product quality as the basis and no product (or corporate) cultural heritage and core competitiveness, it is completely wrong to think that the idea of ​​the Internet being touched and touched down is not the end.
The metal packaging industry should provide complete internet marketing solutions. The metal packaging industry must keep up with the trend of Internet marketing in the food and beverage industry, and actively cooperate with network technology companies to provide complete solutions in the aspects of “data management, coding technology, one can, yard, and scan code inquiry” and so on. , to prevent stocks, awards and awards to provide value-added services.
Metal canned foods are beautifully printed, with strong print information and higher grades than other packaging forms, which have their advantages in Internet marketing. It is precisely because of this also put forward more requirements for metal packaging. At present, food and beverage Internet marketing, more commonly used by sweeping the code, increasing the powder, increasing the number of loyal fans. How to identify the scan code is the ultimate consumer? And to ensure that only the goods that are paid for and spent will be scanned, and that the scan code query is simple and easy to do at the same time? There are many defects and inconveniences in the production of two-dimensional codes under the tabs and lids currently used. Solving the above problems requires further innovative thinking.
Four-pronged approach to ensure food safety
Food safety includes four parts: the safety of the food itself, the safety of the packaging materials in contact with the food, the excellent anti-theft performance (markedly after the opening of the package prevents unintended food safety), and the food applicable to the inner coating (ie, reasonable use) ).
The safety of food itself The safety of food itself depends on the quality and safety management of food and beverage companies. Large food and beverage companies have basically established their own food safety management system. JDB Group has established a food safety management system based on risk analysis and prevention, and has passed ISO9001, HACCP, ISO22000 and other international management system certifications. Judging from the industrial business model, Jiaduobao has built a business model for the entire industry chain, established more than 100,000 mu of herbal planting bases throughout the country, implemented GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) management, controlled it from the source, and realized it from the farmland. Food safety to the table.
The safety of packaging materials in contact with food, ie the quality of metal packaging, depends on the stability of the metal substrate, the safety of the coating, the adhesion of the metal substrate and the coating, and the stability of the metal packaging production equipment and process. Due to the lag in quality performance and the high efficiency of modern canning lines, the number of packages involved after the occurrence of problems has become enormous, and food safety management must be moved forward to ensure the quality and safety of metal packaging by controlling input factors and processes.
In the quality and safety control of metal packaging, JDB has established strategic partnerships with upstream can-making and cap manufacturing companies. In terms of supplier management, the supplier's choice of accreditation is combined with the supplier's production of raw materials (manufacturers and model specifications), processing equipment, and production process certification; once the supplier's production conditions are determined, it is not written and has been reviewed by JDB. Agree, not to adjust; to establish a new certification standard for raw and auxiliary materials, for security, compliance evaluation and qualified testing of packaging materials, must also pass the corresponding cycle of small test, pilot, large test and observation period assessment. All the above assessments are eligible to be included in the list of qualified materials (suppliers).
This means that extending the concept of quality management to the front end not only manages suppliers but also manages supplier suppliers. For example, the brands and models of aluminum materials, coatings, and inks used in the production of JDB gold cans are all increased. Bao Certification confirms that metal packaging manufacturers have no right to change.
Anti-theft performance of the packaging with a theft of the metal packaging has excellent anti-theft performance, leaving a significant imprint after opening, which can effectively prevent unexpected food safety risks, which is also a major advantage of metal packaging.
Foods that are suitable for inner coating (ie, reasonable use) Each inner coating has a certain range of applicable objects. Improper use or over-range use will cause food safety problems. According to the food category (such as water, alcoholic beverages, foods containing fats and oils), food status (liquid, powder, dry), food processing technology (high temperature, low temperature), etc., choose the appropriate coating, and after migration test and other tests qualified. In recent years, due to the low cost and high efficiency of the two-piece can-making process, many foods that previously used other forms of packaging began to attempt to use two-piece can packaging. The conversion of packaging must pay attention to the scope of application of the internal coating and the processing performance of the metal packaging and coating.

Concluding remarks rely on innovation-driven, adhere to the quality and safety of the lifeline and upstream and downstream industry chain integration and synergistic development, with deep Chinese herbal health culture of herbal tea, in the internationalization strategy will surely go further and further away.
Metal packaging with superior performance plays an indispensable role in the rapid development of herbal tea. In the era of mobile Internet marketing, metal packaging will surely create more industries and brands.
Topic map illustration: From left to right, JDB's herbal tea metal cans have undergone a process of three to two, two-piece can lids of 206 to 202, bringing great social and economic benefits.