Enercon Industries has won a prestigious award alongside the consumer goods giant Unilever.

The 2015 Package of the Year Award was presented to Unilever and its nominated vendor Enercon Industries for the new and innovative Hellmann’s Mayonnaise Squeeze bottle.

The international trade association, The Association for Dressings & Sauces, awarded the prize in recognition of the product’s consumer friendly design.

“We worked with Enercon Industries to design a bottle to help consumers get the most out of the product, and the most product out of the bottle,” said Tom Wajda, Research and Design Director at Unilever.

The squeeze bottle aims to prevent users from having to shake or scrape the container to get the sauce, while the “clean lock cap” aim to eliminate drips.

However, this new design presented challenges when trying to apply an induction seal.

The flip-top closure’s foil is recessed from the top of the cap, unlike standard applications, and the induction seal’s diameter is significantly smaller than that of the cap.

To find a solution, Unilever approached Enercon for their induction sealing expertise.

Ryan Schuelke, Vice President of Sales at Enercon Industries, commented: “This was not a one-size-fits-all project.

“To ensure Unilever could achieve perfect seals, our engineers fitted the induction sealers with custom sealing heads designed to focus the sealing energy directly to the foil’s position.

“This is critical in producing a consistent hermetic seal.”

As a result of this partnership, Unilever selected Enercon Industries as its Supporting Vendor of the Year for the award.

Speaking about Enercon’s expertise, Schuelke added: “We have a dedicated engineer to tackle these innovative applications and a sales team who have over six decades of sealing experience between them.

“We have utilised this in-house expertise to create a unique range of sealing heads specifically for products like these.”

Enercon manufactures induction cap sealers which are recognised around the world for providing tamper evidence, preventing leaks and preserving freshness for packagers in the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industry.

Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of food, home and personal care products. Unilever owns more than 400 brands including: Persil, Dove, Domestos, Lipton, Wall’s, PG Tips, Ben & Jerry’s, Marmite, Magnum and Lynx.