The winning team

Eight teams of students at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Rochester, N.Y., competed in a redesign of four store brand products from Wegmans Food Markets — barbecue sauce, laundry detergent, artisan crackers and organic juice — in the American Packaging Corp./Wegmans Student Design Challenge. In the end, top honors went to a team that redesigned the retailer’s Food You Feel Good About barbecue sauce bottle.

According to RIT — which hosted the competition on Feb. 22 and 29 at its Center for Student Innovation — the teams partnered students from the packaging science department in RIT’s College of Applied Science and Technology with students from the industrial design and graphic design departments in the university’s College of Imaging Arts and Sciences. Each team’s project had to include strategies about changes in packaging structure, the materials used and improvements to graphic and ergonomic elements. The teams also were required to provide evidence of sustainable use and cost savings.

The winning team’s members were Simon Jones, Tuan Tran, Marco Fesyuk, Chen Guo Wei, Sumeet Deshpante and Christin Allessio. To create the winning redesign, the team swapped the product’s stout-shaped glass bottle with a taller PET bottle. This switch reduced individual bottle weight by 84 percent, Jones, a fourth-year graphic design student, said. On individual shipping pallets, weight would be reduced by 179 pounds, and 43 percent more bottles could be shipped in one truck. Seven fewer trucks would be needed for every million bottles shipped, reducing shipping costs and carbon emissions.

Jones said his team also added a few extra niceties to make its project look extra sharp.

“We decided to go all-out with screen-printed aprons and an elegant display box, which helped get the judges on our side,” he said. “Overall, we are extraordinarily thrilled, and although all the projects were extremely well-crafted, we are quite happy to be named winner.”

The RIT packaging science program looks to industry sponsors to support its undergraduate and graduate course projects, said Karen Proctor, professor of packaging science, RIT. Three years ago, the College of Imaging Arts and Science and the College of Applied Science and Technology began collaborating on these industry-sponsored projects. Past sponsors have included Kraft Foods, Colgate-Palmolive Co. and American Packaging Corp. This year’s competition was the first in which Rochester-based Wegmans participated. The winning team received a monetary award.

“The collaborative team gives the students real-life experience in working successfully with various skill sets necessary to address the project needs,” Proctor said. “The end result of this teamwork is truly a remarkable effort that delights our sponsors. Our success has been so highly touted that we are lucky to have a long line of companies wanting to sponsor the next course project.” PGSB