Aetna Group and PZ Cussons:
Flexible Packaging Solutions to Meet the Needs of Millions of Consumers

The collaboration between the two companies has been ongoing since 2023 and is built on a relationship of trust and a deep understanding of the customer's production requirements, developed through a partnership focused on identifying efficient technological solutions.

The installation was carried out at the PZ Cussons (UK) Limited Innovation Centre, where a Sotemapack WA20 wrap-around case packer was integrated. The machine is designed to automatically pack products starting from flat carton blanks.

Founded in Sierra Leone in 1884, PZ Cussons has more than 140 years of experience in the personal care, home care, and baby care sectors. Throughout its history, the company has built a portfolio of brands, including Carex, Childs Farm, Cussons Baby, Imperial Leather, Morning Fresh, Original Source, Premier, Sanctuary Spa, Stella, and St. Tropez, offering products designed to meet the needs of millions of consumers across its key markets: the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, and Indonesia.

Today, PZ Cussons is a publicly listed company headquartered in Manchester, employing approximately 2,000 people and reporting £541.4 million in revenue in FY26.

The Sotemapack WA20 incorporates a range of technologies and features designed to combine productivity, flexibility, and precision throughout the packaging process. One of the aspects most appreciated by PZ Cussons is its ability to ensure accurate and gentle product handling, a particularly important feature when dealing with products packaged in flexible packaging.

In particular, thanks to the racetrack infeed system, products are smoothly guided from a horizontal to a vertical position, ensuring controlled handling and proper orientation before insertion into the carton. This solution also helps reduce product movement within the pack and improves stability during palletizing operations.

Packaging formats such as doypacks require special attention during feeding, handling, and insertion into secondary packaging in order to preserve product integrity while ensuring process continuity and efficiency. It is precisely in this balance between performance and precision that Sotemapack technology demonstrates one of its key strengths. The WA20 is capable of handling multiple formats with the flexibility required by consumer goods manufacturers managing broad and diverse product portfolios.

Another distinctive feature of this solution is its ability to handle Retail-Ready Packaging (RRP) cartons equipped with perforations, designed to be easily transformed into practical display boxes.

Once the products reach the retail environment, the carton can be quickly opened and used directly for product display, reducing shelf-stocking operations while ensuring an orderly and effective shelf presentation.

This approach combines the requirements of secondary packaging with those of in-store product presentation, transforming packaging from a simple functional element into a key component of the customer experience and shelf visibility strategy.

The WA20 therefore provides PZ Cussons with a solution that combines efficiency, flexibility, and packaging quality, meeting the demands of an increasingly dynamic and complex consumer market.

The project implemented at PZ Cussons represents a further step in the collaboration that began in 2023 and confirms Aetna Group's approach: developing technological solutions that integrate effectively into customers' production processes, including applications that require particular care in product handling and packaging.

In the case of PZ Cussons, the Sotemapack WA20 has brought a combination of productivity, flexibility, and gentle handling to the production line, providing a targeted response to both product characteristics and market demands.

Since PZ Cussons founding in Sierra Leone in 1884, they have been creating brands and products to delight, care for, and nourish consumers. Today, they are a listed consumer goods business headquartered in Manchester, UK, employing c.2,000 people with revenue of £541.4 million in FY26. Our brands are used by millions of people around the world and include Carex, Childs Farm, Cussons Baby, Imperial Leather, Morning Fresh, Original Source, Premier, Sanctuary Spa, Stella and St.Tropez. Always guided by our Purpose: For Everyone, For Life, For Good.

Aetna Group is a global leader in end-of-line technologies. Through a comprehensive portfolio of lines, machines, and services, the Group supports worldwide manufacturers in the consumer goods and industrial sectors, combining customer care, technological innovation, load safety, and operational sustainability within a single industrial mission: transforming the end-of-line into an intelligent, connected, and safety-oriented ecosystem.

It operates production facilities in Italy, Germany, the United States, Brazil and China. In 2025, it recorded a turnover of 538 million euros.