Laundry detergent bottles

Requirements for laundry detergent bottles are changing due to e-commerce and sustainability. These new requirements are challenging Henkel to develop new packaging solutions. BPO has helped Henkel to give direction to the design process and validate different designs with impact simulations.

Persil laundry detergent bottle

Persil is a famous laundry detergent brand that is being sold by Henkel for more than 100 years. The liquid detergent is typically sold in bottles, of which the cap is used to measure the adequate amount for the laundry. Requirements for these bottles are changing due to global developments such as e-commerce and sustainability.

These new requirements are challenging Henkel to develop new packaging designs. BPO has helped Henkel to give direction to the design process and validate different designs with impact simulations. Simulations are a very powerful tool for virtual testing. In contrast to what could be assumed, simulations are often more efficient in time and cost than physical testing. Besides that, simulations provide a lot of very useful insights in a product’s behaviour that cannot be seen in practical tests.

Persil laundry detergent bottles simulations

Henkel’s laundry detergent packaging is assembled from a bottle, spout, cap and optionally a doser. Different configurations of these components were validated with simulations and advise was given on how to optimise the parts’ geometry in design details like beads, ridges, and radiuses. Many parameters such as impact angles, different surfaces, and bottle sizes between 1 and 5 litres were considered in the project. Using simulations, a matrix that combines all different combinations of design and requirements was created without doing extensive physical testing.

During pilot tooling validation, simulations were also used, to benchmark the test result and get a better understanding of the test performance and possibilities for further fine-tuning of the parts.