The 50s

Let's rock. The fifties brought us rebels without causes, Elvis, soap operas, the Cold War and Sputnik. Tetra Pak goes from zero to one billion packages.

1951 – It all started in Lund, Sweden

Ruben Rausing and Erik Wallenberg starts AB Tetra Pak in Lund as a subsidiary of Åkerlund & Rausing. On May 18th, a new packaging system is presented to the press and attracts a great deal of attention. 

The following year saw delivery of the first Tetra Pak machine for tetrahedron-shaped cartons to a Lund dairy.

1953 – The fight against the milk bottles

Tetra Pak starts its fight against glass bottles by introducing polyethylene as plastic coating on the paperboard.

1954 – Germany first export market

The first exported Tetra Pak machine goes to Alster Milchwerk of Hamburg, Germany.

1956 – Development starts

We move into our current factory in Lund, and start development on the aseptic packaging system.

1958 – A Classic year

The range of Tetra Classic machines for tetrahedron-shaped cartons is extended to include the T-150 for milk and still drinks in 200 ml portion packs.

1959 – One billion packages eight countries

Production capacity reaches one billion cartons a year. Packages are licensed to eight countries.

The Tetra Brik package is about to be born.