After over a decade, Disc Brakes Australia (DBA) is readying to present to the market an evolution of its brake rotor packaging.
The new visual design is said to not only take the customer buying experience to another level, but the packaging will also offer increased structural stability for extra product protection whilst meeting DBA’s strict sustainability targets.
“Bringing our packaging design into the 2020s” is how Lars Mehlan, Marketing Manager at DBA, describes the vision that the company had when it embarked on the overhaul project. “DBA has grown over the last 40 plus years mainly on the back of its market leading brake rotor program, and it is still our most important product line today,” explains Mr. Mehlan. “As a business, our target is to match the visual appearance of our product packaging with the premium quality that our product is known for, and consequently to enhance the overall customer experience.”
As part of the journey, DBA went through a comprehensive market research and benchmarking process, talking to stakeholders along the value chain about their expectations and requirements. Consequently, taking inspiration from leading packaging concepts from within and outside the automotive industry, the design language was simplified and modernised, with the box top panel now featuring one hero product image per product line and making use of selfexplaining pictograms to replace lengthy text passages. The back of the box shows an easy-to-understand product outline explaining the main technical features. In several places on the box, QR codes offer the user the opportunity to link to DBA’s website or external resources for further information or engage with DBA to exchange feedback.
As part of the project, DBA went as far as to streamline its product brands within the rotor program. The result is a clear, three-tiered product offering of direct replacement rotors (STREET SERIES), upgrade performance rotors (4000 SERIES), and high-performance rotors (5000 SERIES). Existing product subbrands such as En-shield, 4×4 Survival or Club Spec will be phased out with the new packaging design. “Obviously, En-shield coating will still be available for our STREET SERIES products, and our 4000 SERIES will still be the rotor of choice when it comes to 4×4 applications,” explains Mr. Mehlan. “However, in order to reduce product complexity and everything that goes with it from inventory management to cataloguing, we found that a simple, three-tiered system based on our successful product brands STREET SERIES, 4000 SERIES and 5000 SERIES would work best.”
As a result, DBA says the reduction in required box design variants will lead to significant savings in warehouse space along the value chain. Said reduction has also allowed DBA to add some additional box sizes to its range, thus ensuring all brake rotors sit tightly within their box no matter the product dimensions. Less movement within the box means less force deployed on the packaging, resulting in less box rapture or damage. As a side effect, DBA claims to be able to save over 2,500m² p.a. in padding material, helping to meet its strict waste reduction and sustainability targets.
Other measures to improve the structural integrity of the new box include the introduction of a heavy duty, twin-fluted cardboard composition for rotors over 10kg, a new inner and outer fold system with a series of structural beams for extra support, and an extra layer of internal and external coating for enhanced weather proofing.
DBA will launch its new brake rotor packaging design at the AAA Expo in Melbourne, April 7-9 2022, stand L44.
For further info visit dba.com.au or call DBA Customer Service on 1800 730 039.