written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . december 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message tetra pak type private industry food packaging founded lund sweden 1943 founder ruben rausing headquarters pully switzerland area served worldwide key people dennis j nsson ceo ruben rausing hans rausing gad rausing revenue 11.075 billion 2013 number of employees 23 540 2014 parent tetra laval slogan protects what s good website www.tetrapak.com tetra pak is a multinational food packaging and processing company of swedish origin with head offices in lund sweden and lausanne switzerland . the company offers packaging filling machines and processing for dairy beverages cheese ice cream and prepared food including distribution tools like accumulators cap applicators conveyors crate packers film wrappers line controllers and straw applicators . 1 tetra pak was founded by ruben rausing and built on erik wallenberg s innovation a tetrahedron shaped plastic coated paper carton from which the company name was derived . 2 in the 1960s and 1970s the development of the tetra brik package and the aseptic packaging technology made possible a cold chain supply substantially facilitating distribution and storage . from the beginning of the 1950s to the mid 1990s the company was headed by the two sons of ruben rausing hans and gad who took the company from a family business of six employees in 1954 to a multinational corporation . 3 tetra pak is currently the largest food packaging company in the world by sales operating in more than 170 countries and with over 23 000 employees 2012 . 4 5 the company is privately owned by the family of gad rausing through the swiss based holding company tetra laval which also includes the dairy farming equipment producer delaval and the pet bottle manufacturer sidel . 6 in november 2011 the tetra brik carton package was represented at the exhibition hidden heroes the genius of everyday things at the london science museum vitra design museum celebrating the miniature marvels we couldn t live without . 7 8 9 the aseptic packaging technology has been called the most important food packaging innovation of the 20th century by the institute of food technologists and the royal swedish academy of engineering sciences called the tetra pak packaging system one of sweden s most successful inventions of all time . 10 11 contents 1 history 1.1 formation 1.2 operating history 1.3 mergers and acquisitions 2 operations 2.1 business and markets 2.2 competition 3 products 3.1 aseptic technology 3.2 packages 3.3 processing and distribution 4 environment 4.1 environmental policy 4.2 recycling 4.3 criticism 5 community projects 5.1 food for development 5.2 school milk 5.3 disaster relief 6 controversy 6.1 monopoly 6.2 the parmalat scandal 6.3 the tetrahedron legacy 7 references 8 external links history edit ruben rausing tetra pak was created in 1951 as a subsidiary to kerlund & rausing a food carton company established in malm in 1929 by ruben rausing and erik kerlund . rausing who had studied in new york at the beginning of the 1920s had seen self service grocery stores in the united states which was unheard of in europe at the time and realised that pre packaging was part of the future in food retailing as a more hygienic and practical way of distributing staple groceries . at the time these were sold over the counter in cumbersome glass bottles or impractical paper wraps in most european countries . 10 at the end of the 1920s rausing bought a run down packaging factory in malm together with the industrialist erik kerlund . 12 kerlund & rausing was the first packaging company in scandinavia and eventually became a leading manufacturer of dry food cartons . 12 13 initially however kerlund & rausing had difficulties making profits and in 1933 kerlund sold his share to rausing who became the sole owner . 14 15 formation edit kerlund & rausing produced all sorts of paper packaging for dry staple groceries but rausing was determined to find a way to pre package liquids like milk and cream and spent large sums on developing a viable package . the goal was to provide optimal food safety hygiene and distribution efficiency using a minimum amount of material according to the subsequently famous credo that a package should save more than it costs . 10 16 the new package had to be sufficiently cheap to be able to compete with loose milk meaning that a minimum of material waste and a maximum of production efficiency needed to be obtained . in 1943 the kerlund & rausing lab started to work on developing the milk carton and in 1944 came up with the idea of constructing a tetrahedron shaped package out of a tube of paper . 17 the idea was simple but efficient making optimal use of the material involved . after some initial hesitation rausing understood the potential of the package and filed for a patent on 27 march 1944 . 18 the rest of the 1940s were spent developing viable packaging materials and solving the technical problems of filling sealing and distribution . modern retailing woman with tetra classic packages 1950s it was reportedly rausing s wife elisabeth who came up with the idea of continuously sealing the packages through the milk while filling the tube in the manner of stuffing sausages to prevent oxygen from entering the package . 15 in 1946 a model for a packaging machine was presented by engineer harry j rund and in collaboration with swedish paper mills and foreign chemical companies a viable paper for packaging was finally produced when coating carton paper with polyethylene which made the paper waterproof and allowing for heat sealing during filling . 15 17 operating history edit exporting the tetra classic italy 1960s ab tetra pak was established in lund sweden in 1951 . in may of that year the new packaging system was presented to the press and in 1952 the first filling machine producing 100 ml cream tetrahedrons was delivered to lundaortens mejerif rening a local dairy . 19 19 in the subsequent years the tetrahedron packages became more and more frequent in swedish grocery stores and in 1954 the first machine producing 500 ml milk packages was sold to a stockholm dairy . 19 that same year the first machine was exported to hamburg germany soon to be followed by france 1954 italy 1956 switzerland 1957 and later the soviet union 1959 and japan 1962 . 20 rausing relentlessly strove to improve the tetra classic system wrought with many technical problems during the 1950s and spent enormous amounts on development . the different projects the tetrahedron the aseptic packaging technology tetra brik all demanded extremely large resources and the company had financial troubles well into the 1960s . 21 indeed tetra pak s commercial breakthrough did not arrive until the mid 1960s with the new tetra brik package introduced in 1963 and the development of the aseptic technology . 18 to liberate capital kerlund & rausing was sold in 1965 while ab tetra pak was retained . 19 international expansion had begun by the beginning of the 1960s when the first production plant outside of sweden was established in mexico in 1960 soon to be followed by another in the united states in 1962 . 19 in 1962 the first tetra classic aseptic machine outside of europe was installed in lebanon . 19 the late 1960s and 1970s saw a global expansion of the company much due to the new tetra brik aseptic package launched in 1969 which opened up new markets in the developing world and sparked off a virtual explosion in sales . 10 mergers and acquisitions edit in 1981 tetra pak relocated its corporate headquarters to lausanne switzerland for tax reasons however retaining all r & d functions in lund sweden . 10 for the equivalent of 2.5 billion tetra pak acquired alfa laval ab in 1991 a venerable swedish company producing industrial and agricultural equipment and milk separators world leading in its industry in what was at the time sweden s largest takeover . 10 22 since the deal allowed tetra pak to integrate the alfa laval competence within processing the merger eventually made it possible for tetra pak to offer entire packaging and processing products to its clients . the deal drew anti competitive scrutiny from the european commission but it went through after various concessions from both companies . 10 23 after the merger with alfa laval tetra pak announced plans to return the headquarters to sweden and in 1993 tetra laval group was created with joint headquarters in lund and lausanne . alfa laval s liquid processing unit was absorbed into tetra pak and the unit specialising on machinery for dairy production was organised separately in alfa laval agri . 22 alfa laval agri was later renamed delaval after alfa laval s founder gustaf de laval and is still a part of the tetra laval group . 24 the part of alfa laval that was not directly linked to tetra pak s activities heat exchangers and separation equipment among others was sold in 2000 to swedish finance group industri kapital . in 2001 tetra laval acquired the french plastic packaging group sidel . the merger was prohibited by the european commission on the grounds that both tetra pak and sidel were market leading in their field and operated in related business areas . 25 26 the european court of justice eventually ruled in favour for tetra laval in a high profile case . 27 the tetra laval group is controlled by the holding company tetra laval international whose board of directors include the three children of gad rausing . 28 operations edit business and markets edit the tetra pak packaging portfolio tetra pak operates globally through 40 market companies which are subsidiaries to tetra pak international sa doing business in over 170 countries . 29 because of the low relative cost of its end products the developing world has been an important market for tetra pak from the start . in 2010 tetra pak reported a 5.2 % increase in sales with an annual turnover of almost 10 billion . 30 in its 2010 2011 annual report tetra pak announced particularly strong growth in china southeast asia eastern europe and central and south america . 31 rising income levels in these markets enabled higher consumption of protein rich foodstuffs such as dairy products and tetra pak has announced that it will increase investment in the emerging markets with 10 % to over 200 million 2009 . 32 after investing close to 200 million in new packaging plants in russia 2007 and china 2008 in 2011 tetra pak announced the construction of new packaging plants in india and pakistan to meet increasing demand . 32 33 the new plants on the indian sub continent are thought to supply the growing demand in the middle east . the financial times reported that the rise in milk consumption in emerging markets particularly regarded uht milk facilitating transportation and food safety something which is favourable for tetra pak whose aseptic packages represent two thirds of its sales . 32 34 tetra pak s most popular product is the tetra brik aseptic a best seller since the 1970s . 10 34 in may 2011 tetra pak launched the first aseptic carton bottle for milk the tetra evero aseptic . 35 competition edit in an interview in swedish business monthly aff rsv rlden in 2006 tetra pak ceo dennis j nsson defined tetra pak s current main competitor to be swiss manufacturer sig combibloc however adding that tetra pak s main competition generally no longer comes from companies producing similar packaging but from industries and companies producing other types of packaging with a lower cost of production like the pet bottle . 36 indeed j