Four interdisciplinary Cal Poly student teams were among the top award winners at the Paperboard Packaging Alliance 2017 Student Design Challenge, announced at PackExpo, an annual packaging industry conference held in Las Vegas on Sept. 25-27.
The 14th annual competition, which is open to universities throughout North America, seeks to foster awareness and appreciation of paperboard packaging among educators and the next generation of packaging design decision-makers.
Students had to design interactive packaging for wearable fitness trackers that allows a consumer to try on the wristband and later reuse it to store the device. More than 60 student teams from 14 universities across the U.S. — including Clemson, Indiana, Michigan State, Rutgers, Rochester Institute of Technology, San Jose State and University of Wisconsin — submitted entries.
Cal Poly students from a variety of majors developed their entries as Learn by Doing projects during a series of packaging and design courses taught earlier this year.
The university’s top entry earned second place for the “Moov Now” product, which featured 100-percent compostable and recyclable materials. The design was considered innovative for the product category because it used part of the packaging as a carrying case. The manufacturing process also employed efficient die lines that reduced material scrap. The design was created by industrial technology and packaging students Nicolas Le (San Jose) and Konstantine Marowitz (Culver City), business administration student Julia McKeag (San Rafael), and Cody Mindling (Santa Cruz), who is studying art and graphic design. The group was advised by packaging Professor Javier de la Fuente, packaging lecturer Irene Carbonell and art and design Professor Mary LaPorte.
A second Cal Poly team’s design for the “Moov Now” product earned one of the two runners-up awards. The entry was the work of industrial technology and packaging majors Macintyre Peek (San Marcos) and Adrian Rico (San Luis Obispo), art and graphic design student Paul Guzman (Bay Area) and graphic communication major Amanda Ornelas (Torrance). de la Fuente, Carbonell and LaPorte advised the group.
Cal Poly projects also received two of the judge’s seven “shout out” honors.
“ReCord” was created by industrial technology and packaging student David Dixon (Novato), graphic communication student Jacob “JB” Berkowitz (San Luis Obispo), 
art and graphic design student Jordon Gonzales (Pismo Beach) and Peter Jensch (Healdsburg), who is studying business administration. Faculty advisors included de la Fuente, Carbonell and LaPorte.
The “TriFit” package was created by graphic communication students Michaela Purcilly (San Luis Obispo), Leah Gilchrist (Santa Ana) and Hanna Crowley (South Pasadena) with industrial technology and packaging major Karan Singh (Los Angeles). The group was advised by graphic communication Associate Professor Collen Twomey.
Winners were chosen by a team of paperboard packaging industry professionals who rated submissions based on their response to the competition scenario, innovative structural and graphic design, functionality and the quality of the finished product. 
The second-place team received a $3,000 to share among team members, and Cal Poly also received $3,000.
Cal Poly has placed highly in the competition since 2015 when student teams took first place. According to faculty, the teams’ interdisciplinary approach that fuses package design and branding has been key to a string of recent success in national competitions.
For more information on the competition and a full list of winners, visit http://www.paperboardpackaging.org/university-features/2017-sdc-winners-and-entries.
Cal Poly Packaging and Design Students Earn National Awards at 2017 Ameristar Student Packaging Competition
For the second consecutive year, four teams of Cal Poly students took first-, second- and third-place awards and an honorable mention in the 2017 Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) Ameristar Student Packaging Competition.
Interdisciplinary teams combined industrial technology and packaging students with art and design students to create packaging solutions for a variety of consumer needs. Each team developed a physical prototype of their product complete with branded graphics.
Industry experts judged entries on environmental impact, marketing, product protection and economics. Award-winning teams will be honored at the PackExpo industry conference in November. Top entries will also represent the United States in a global design competition, the WorldStar Student Awards, hosted by the World Packaging Organisation.
Organizers called these honorees “tomorrow’s packaging leaders.”
Cal Poly’s first-place award was given to “Tea Stems,” a convenient alternative to tea bags. The tea stem is a cylindrical wooden dowel attached to a polymer mesh material filled with tea leaves functioning as a tea bag and stirring stick. The stems are packaged within a die-cut paperboard folding carton that “blooms” when the box is opened. The package was designed by industrial technology and packaging students Brendan Smyth (San Jose, Calif.), Simeon Comanescu (Pleasanton, Calif.) and Ryan Marrs (San Luis Obispo, Calif.), and art and design students Alexandra Rosado (San Francisco, Calif.) and Lucia Astiazaran (Valencia, Calif.).
Second place went to SticKit, a two-in-one packaging system that dispenses insulin syringes and safely houses used syringes. A pull tab on the bottom of the secondary container dispenses a boxed syringe while a flap on the top of the container can be opened and locked for safe syringe disposal. A durable plastic divider separates the compartments, moving down with gravity as syringes are dispensed. The entry was designed by industrial technology and packaging students Paul Woodman (Atascadero, Calif.) and Michael Lowe (Pleasanton, Calif.), graphic communications student Dana Shell (San Ramon, Calif.), and art and design students Gina Agapito (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Ashley Vong (San Jose, Calif.).
Vera Cruz Surf Wax earned the third-place award. The packaging integrates a wax comb, a protective shell to minimize sun exposure of the wax and a discrete compartment to store the user’s car keys. The design is made of injection-molded compostable PaperFoam. Its unique triangular shape offers an ergonomic grip. The dispensing mechanism was inspired by chap stick packaging, which can contain and reshape a melted product. The package was designed by industrial technology and packaging students Brooke Billmeyer (Solana Beach, Calif.), Grant Badstubner (Danville, Calif.), and Sai Domanico (Hillsborough, Calif) with art and design students Daniel Blenkinship (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) and Zach Baker (Rocklin, Calif.).
La Habra Avocado oil earned an honorable mention. The oil is housed in a recyclable plastic pouch encased by two paper pulp shells molded in the shape of an avocado. A pour spout with a drip return prevents the oil from spilling on the package. The product was designed by industrial technology and packaging students Katie Exum (Torrance, Calif.), Michael Moorehead (Walnut Creek, Calif.) and Patrick McCaffrey (Irvine, Calif.), and art and design students Jessica Ferguson (San Jose, Calif.) and Deric Shindledecker (Temecula, Calif.).
The student projects were developed in Professor Javier de la Fuente’s IT 435: Packaging Development class and Professor Mary LaPorte’s ART 437: Graphic Design III class. De la Fuente and LaPorte served as student advisors.
For more information about this year’s teams, visit IoPP’s website at https://www.iopp.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageID=4335.
Packaging Program Wins International Competitions, Scholarships
This fall, Cal Poly’s Packaging Program brought home a number of student competition wins and scholarships from major industry organizations. The streak of success began as two Cal Poly student teams taking first place in competitions at the PACKEXPO conference, held Sept. 28-30 in Las Vegas.
One team of students took first place in the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute’s (PMMI) annual PACK Solutions Challenge after presenting its proposal for a pharmaceutical packaging line to a panel of industry experts. The team included industrial technology and packaging seniors Nick Abbatelli (San Jose), Rebecca Kisch (Paso Robles), Jeff Norton (Emerald Hills) and Patrick Salibi (Felton). The students will share a $4,000 scholarship for their first-place finish. The group’s poster presentation also earned the People’s Choice Award during the conference.
This is the first time Cal Poly has won first place in the PMMI competition. The students came together outside of class during the summer to work on the PMMI project. Under the guidance of Cal Poly Professor Ajay Kathuria, the students developed an end-to-end packaging line solution for a water-sensitive product that incorporated federal regulations, efficiency and economic viability.
Another team of Cal Poly students at the PACKEXPO conference took first place at the Paperboard Packaging Alliance (PPA) Student Design Challenge, which challenged university teams from across the U.S. and Canada to create limited edition, innovative toy packaging that could also be reused as an interactive structure with the toy. Cal Poly’s team came first out of 53 entries with a Star Wars light saber toy that extended and collapsed from the handle.
The team included four students from Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business: business administration majors Alyssa Harben (Auburn) and Griffin Meinken (Windsor), economics major Michael Udinski (Pleasanton), and industrial technology major Austin Turner (Atherton). The group was awarded $5,000 in cash, along with a $5,000 gift to Cal Poly’s Packaging Program to improve student labs.
Another team of Cal Poly students earned an honorable mention in the PPA competition for their packaging design for a Lego Movie board game. The team included industrial technology majors Catlin Khamashta and Jonathan Molnar, business administration majors Josephina Ma, Jennifer Block and Trevor Smith, and art and design major Doug Huynh.
Cal Poly students developed their projects as part of an IT 408: Paper and Paperboard Packaging course taught by Javier de la Fuente, an assistant professor of packaging. Winners were chosen by a team of paperboard packaging industry professionals who rated submissions based on their response to the competition scenario, innovative structural and graphic design, functionality, and quality of the finished product.
“This is the second time Cal Poly has taken the top spot in this challenge, facing very stiff competition,” says Javier de la Fuente, an assistant professor of packaging. “These projects really show the synergy between marketing and packaging, and I’m incredibly proud of all of our projects.”
The Cal Poly Packaging Program was also recognized for its overall success by PMMI’s Packaging World magazine. It selected the program as the recipient of a $5,000 2016 Future Leaders in Packaging Scholarship. The prize was awarded to David Karditzas and Katherine Exum, two outstanding students in Cal Poly’s Packaging Program, to offset tuition or other education-related expenses for the 2016-2017 academic year.
“Hats off to Cal Poly on being selected as the recipient of this 2016 scholarship,” says Joe Angel, Publisher of Packaging World and President of PMMI Media Group, of which Packaging World is a part. “We’re big believers in the importance of educating the next generation of packaging professionals. We are indeed honored to recognize Cal Poly’s contributions.”
For more information on Cal Poly’s Packaging Program, visit the Orfalea College of Business website.
Cal Poly Students’ Packaging Line Design Wins National Competition
A team of Cal Poly students took first place in the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute’s (PMMI) annual PACK Solutions Challenge held Sept. 28-30 in Las Vegas.
Cal Poly’s team won the competition after presenting its proposal for a pharmaceutical packaging line to a panel of industry experts at PACKEXPO.
The PACK Solutions Challenge asked partner schools across the nation to create proposals for a dedicated production line to package and ship a fictional fast-dissolve, over-the-counter pharmaceutical product.
Cal Poly’s team included industrial technology and packaging seniors Nick Abbatelli (San Jose), Rebecca Kisch (Paso Robles), Jeff Norton (Emerald Hills) and Patrick Salibi (Felton). They will share a $4,000 scholarship for their first-place finish. Cal Poly’s team topped entries from seven other schools, including Michigan State and Rutgers University. The group’s poster presentation also earned the People’s Choice Award during the conference.
This is the first time Cal Poly has won the competition. The students came together outside of class during the summer to work on the PMMI project. Under the guidance of Cal Poly Professor Ajay Kathuria, the students developed an end-to-end packaging line solution for a water-sensitive product that incorporated federal regulations, efficiency and economic viability.
The team won the competition because of its hands-on approach, sound technical understanding, hard work, and good communication skills.
For more information about the PACK Solutions Challenge and the PMMI, also known as the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, visit www.pmmi.org.
Pictured (L to R): Jeff Norton, Patrick Salibi, Professor Professor Ajay Kathuria, Rebecca Kisch, Nick Abbatelli and Marc Ostertag, President of competition sponsor B&R Industrial Automation.
Cal Poly Students Win Paperboard Packaging Alliance Student Design Challenge
A team of Cal Poly students took first place at the Paperboard Packaging Alliance (PPA) Student Design Challenge. Cal Poly’s team won the competition after presenting its design to a panel of industry experts at PACKEXPO, held Sept. 28-30 in Las Vegas.
PPA challenged university teams from across the U.S. and Canada to create limited-edition, innovative toy packaging that could also be reused as an interactive structure with the toy. Cal Poly’s winning team came first out of 53 entries with a Star Wars light saber toy that extended and collapsed from the handle. The team also carefully considered price point, the target audience and efficient material usage in their marketing plan for the product.
The team included four students from Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business: business administration majors Alyssa Harben (Auburn) and Griffin Meinken (Windsor), economics major Michael Udinski (Pleasanton), and industrial technology major Austin Turner (Atherton). The team was awarded $5,000 in cash, along with a $5,000 gift to Cal Poly’s Packaging Program to improve student labs.
Cal Poly students developed their projects as part of an IT 408: Paper and Paperboard Packaging course taught by Javier de la Fuente, an assistant professor of packaging.
“This is the first time Cal Poly has taken the top spot in this challenge, facing very stiff competition,” de la Fuente said. “These projects really show the synergy between marketing and packaging, and I’m incredibly proud of all of our projects.”
Another team of Cal Poly students earned an honorable mention in the competition for their packaging design for a Lego Movie board game. The team included industrial technology majors Catlin Khamashta (Jackson) and Jonathan Molnar (San Diego), business administration majors Josephina Ma (Carson), Jennifer Block (La Jolla) and Trevor Smith (Orange), and art and design major Doug Huynh (San Jose).
Winners were chosen by a team of paperboard packaging industry professionals who rated submissions based on their response to the competition scenario, innovative structural and graphic design, functionality, and quality of the finished product.
For more information about the PPA Student Design Challenge, visit paperboardpackaging.org.
Pictured: Griffin Meinken, Michael Udinski, Professor Javier de la Fuente, Alyssa Harben and Austin Turner at the PPA Student Design Challenge.
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