Anders Ruben Rausing (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈrʉ̌ːbɛn ˈrâʊsɪŋ]; originally named Andersson; June 17, 1895 – August 10, 1983) was a Swedish business leader who founded the company Tetra Pak, which makes liquid food packaging.

Early life

Anders Ruben Andersson was born in 1895 in Råå, a small fishing village in the district of Raus near Helsingborg in southern Sweden. His parents were August and Mathilda Andersson. His father owned a small but successful painting business. Anders attended high school in Helsingborg and graduated in 1915. During his military service, he was called "rausingen" by his fellow soldiers, a name that means "the boy from Raus" (referring to his hometown). He liked this nickname and later changed his last name from Andersson to Rausing in 1921.

Career

Rausing received a loan from his aunt to study at the newly established Stockholm School of Economics and Business Administration. He graduated in 1918. After working briefly at Stockholms Enskilda Bank, a privately owned bank, Rausing joined Sveriges Litografiska Tryckerier, SLT, a well-known printing company. In 1919, he earned a scholarship from SSE to continue his studies at Columbia University in New York City. He received an MSc in Economics in 1920. During his time in America, Rausing saw self-service grocery stores for the first time. He realized this system, which was not used in Europe, could change how stores operated.

Returning to Sweden in 1920, Rausing continued working at SLT. He first worked as a Manager Assistant and later became a Manager. During his time at SLT, Rausing met Erik Åkerlund, an industrialist. In 1929, Rausing left SLT to start a new packaging company with Åkerlund in Malmö, called Åkerlund & Rausing. This was the first packaging company in Scandinavia and eventually became a major maker of dry food carton packages. However, the company struggled to make money at first. In 1933, Åkerlund sold his share to Rausing, who became the sole owner.

At that time, drinks like milk and juice were sold in heavy glass bottles. Rausing wanted to use new packaging technology. He spent many resources developing new ideas. To create a carton container for liquid foods, similar to the wax-coated paper cartons he saw in other countries, Åkerlund & Rausing invented the plastic-coated carton tetrahedron. This invention was patented on 27 March 1944.

In 1951, there was still no suitable material for the new package. Work to develop packaging materials continued. In 1952, the first machine to make tetrahedron cream packages was sold to Lundabygdens Mejeri, a local dairy. The new packaging system was not immediately successful. The company faced challenges throughout the 1950s, and Rausing continued spending large amounts on development. Initially, the company focused on the Swedish market. It gradually expanded, with Germany, France, and Italy as its first export markets in 1954 and 1956.

Tetra Pak's major success came in the mid-1960s with the introduction of the Tetra Brik package in 1963 and the development of Aseptic technology. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the company expanded globally, especially because of the Tetra Brik Aseptic package, introduced in 1968. This package helped the company enter new markets in developing countries and led to a rapid increase in sales. After 30 years, Rausing's business became successful, and Tetra Pak eventually became one of the leading food processing and packaging companies in the world.

Honours

Rausing was given an honorary doctorate in Medicine from Lund University in 1957, in Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics and Business Administration in 1959, and in Technology from the Royal Institute of Technology in 1977. He was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademin, IVA).

Personal life

Ruben Rausing was married to Elisabeth, who was born Varenius. They had three sons: Gad, Hans, and Sven Rausing. In 1969, Rausing moved to Rome because of tax reasons. Even though he lived in Rome, he continued to own his countryside home, Simontorp, near Lund, Sweden. He passed away there on August 10, 1983, at the age of 88.