Out of the box

Even though ER-Packaging CEO Tommi Rantala says he has lived among cardboard boxes since childhood, he is always on the lookout for new methods in terms of packaging materials and production methods.

– Even familiar things and their development need to be actively considered. We conduct continuous product development in close collaboration with our customers, says Rantala.

Erkki Rantala founded the packaging company at the turn of the 60s and 70s. The company was renamed ER-Pakkaus Oy in 1994, and the entire Rantala family, including his parents and four children, are also owners.

– I never had any other idea, but it has been clear from a very young age that I would work in this package. I started my career mowing the lawn and then learned this job piece by piece through easier tasks in production. The whole house has become familiar through practice, says Tommi Rantala, who is the CEO of the company founded by his father.

Demanding specialized expertise

Specializing in demanding solutions, ER-Packaging primarily uses cardboard and corrugated cardboard as materials for its products. The CEO cites glued and offset-printed packaging as the company's strengths. The more printed and unusual structures are required for a box, the better it fits into ER-Packaging's production.

– A product without a basic print does not necessarily best describe what we do. The more work stages, corner gluing and folding there are, the more our machines and professionals can show what we are capable of. We also make products or partial works as subcontractors for other players in the industry.

As one of the most complex products, Tommi Rantala mentions a box made of offset-printed cardboard on both sides, in which the photo-quality print was overprinted onto thin corrugated cardboard in a corner-glued box shape with a window.

Product safety guaranteed

Another special feature of ER-Packaging is that only food-approved materials are used in production. Whether the contents are a filled cake, a business gift, a men's shirt or iron nails, the cardboard, glues, varnishes and colours used in the packaging are safe and food-safe.

– Everything is guaranteed to be safe without any unpleasant odors or tastes. Someone has said that even less would have been enough, but this is our way of working, says Rantala. – This way, there is no risk of accidentally getting the wrong material into the food packaging.

Greener environment

Responsibility is not limited to product safety, but green values ​​influence all of ER-Pakkaus Oy's operations. All materials used, including their additives, can be recycled or burned with other incineration waste. The cardboard left over from production is sorted. Some goes forward as recycled cardboard, some is used as crushed recycled fuel with the permission of the authorities for the property's heat production to reduce the use of oil heating.

Last summer, nearly 300 solar panels were installed on the roof of the production facility, with an estimated annual output of approximately 83,2 MWh.

– We are happy to discuss with our customers how to reduce the environmental burden, for example by advising against unnecessary overpackaging. We also offer our customers carbon-neutral packaging, the emissions used to manufacture which are compensated. In addition, the window films we use in some of the windowed boxes are made of cellulose acetate film instead of plastic, Rantala lists the environmentally friendly measures.