Sometimes the closure or the applicator is what makes the tube. By incorporating features from child-resistance to tamper evidence, and by providing crucial functions, closures and applicators are a significant selling point, both from the tube suppliers to the pharmaceutical companies and from the pharmaceutical companies to the users of their products. Therefore, tube closures and applicators must be designed very carefully.
Any innovations can lead to major advantages in the marketplace.
If it is customer-driven, they will have ideas of what they are looking for, and we will incorporate them. If we are doing the design, it is a case of selecting the right medium for the right part. A lot of times we will use an injection-molded base. But there are times we will have to go to blow molding or a different process to achieve the part we are looking for. And of course we have to make sure it is compatible with the package being used, whether plastic or laminate.