Scott Fuller
Intermittent Motion Product Line Manager
CMD Corporation
(920) 730-6888
Joe Vannieuwenhoven
Sales Engineer
Totani America
4 years with the company
(920) 632-7319
James Russell
President
Modern Manufacturing Services LLC
3 years with the company
(585) 289-4261
Sanjay Amin
Manager, Exports
Mamata Machinery
Pvt. Ltd.
12 years with
the company
(630) 801-2320
Danford Anderson
Product Manager
The Hudson-Sharp Machine Company
(800) 950-4362
Fabio Dacò
Sales Manager
Elba Spa
+39-0331-305570
By Erin J. Wolford, Editor-in-chief
Q: Since we all know the standup pouch is king, do you see another pouch style that might end up being the next big thing?
Fuller: All signs point to a variation on a theme. You can add a fitment, a valve, a new reclose feature, a flat-bottom, whatever you want…but it’s still a standup pouch. Fitments for liquids and sauces are trending now. Shapes are gaining popularity. The key is going to be for the converter to find the supplier who can help them to execute the right solution in a timely fashion
.
Anderson: Side gusset bottom seal (SGBS) is also a growing application. SGBS has continued to replace large format paper bags in the marketplace. PE/PE laminate structures are also going to take market share from paper bags in the next few years.
A newly developed polybag known as Rapid Close self seal bags has an exciting opportunity to make a statement in the market. Rapid Close bags are single use or reclosable bags that can be closed quickly with no sealing equipment needed.
Vann: To take a variation of an existing product and be unique, I think will prove to be the next big thing. With the magnitude success the standup pouch has had, it’s the variations of the standup pouch that are poised for better growth. A prime example is a spouted pouch. A majority of all spouted pouches are standup, but it’s the spout (fitment) that distinguishes the product and allows the consumers to experience in a new way. Spout pouches are becoming much more popular more than ever in North America.
Finally, in my opinion the Box Pouch fits the next “Big Thing” profile to a “T.” The Box Pouch with its flat bottom gives products with limited shelf display space a more prominent appearance. The flat bottom allows for more fill capability than the traditional standup pouch and requires less retail footprint. The Box Pouch will not diminish the success of standup pouch, because it is more complex to produce, while also making it a more unique solution.
Box Pouch is a side gusseted pouch with many capabilities including; pinch bottom, fold & glue bottom, flat bottom, and terminated gussets with reclosure.
Russell: There is no question the standup pouch is the king in flexible packaging; I do not think there is a replacement for this in the nearing future, only an adaptive and a reconfiguration to this for the other market segments, such as the barrel pouch that uses a tap and fitment for dispensing liquids.
Amin: What we find as next big thing coming up in the market is pouches with gusset on all 3 sides (also known as flat bottom pouches). This is something that converters are looking at as replacement market of standup pouches, as a smaller pouch size can have large volume and better visibility of the packed product on the shelf. However, the investment cost is not allowing people to get into this market and has limited to a few big converters.
Dacò: It is really hard to say, as the standup is a really flexible pouch. I do not see at the moment any other style with characteristics that could compete with the standup. I do not believe in combination with rigid and flexible pouches, or surrogates of the standup.
Q: Which type of bag/pouch has the best versatility across all markets, and why?
Anderson: The standup pouch, with or without zipper, is the fastest growing style in North America. It has a lot of advantages such as maximum delivery of content, easy to use, and is sustainable environmentally.
Fuller: Here again, the 3-side-seal is applicable across all markets, including medical, with the SUP following close behind.
Vann: SUP with or without zipper has the best versatility, because of combining a reasonably priced package with shelf presence and environmental and many other benefits. The quad seal or flat bottom Box Pouch are growing as brand owners compete for shelf space.
Dacò: In my opinion is the standup/doypack. It is easy to be produced, it is available in different sizes, can be shaped or spouted and these features allow the pouch to be flexible for different kind of markets, from the food to the chemical one.
Russell: We all know this is the standup pouch, this has proven to fit so many solutions in the packaging market for many end users. I do not see this being replaced any time soon, I only see alterations to the standup pouch to reinvent itself to fill other market segments.
Amin: For conventional packaging needs (food and other packaging), standup pouches remain the most versatile pouch style even today due to its ease of manufacturing and the sizes you can make them. However, the market is now shifting to thicker gauge co-ex PE films to help the environment recycle this pouch style, and also for prints that are edge-to-edge (also known as full bleed pouches). In PET food/fertilizer markets, side gusseted pouches, either from laminated structures or with co-ex films, are also one of the most popular pouch styles today. Since these packages are required for large volume, the format of side gusseted pouches is preferred.
Q: What kind of bag/pouch is fastest to produce, and why? Which one is most complex to produce, and why?
Fuller: The fastest would be the standard 3-side-seal. A more complex pouch would be a liquid-fill standup pouch with inserted bottom gussets and a fitment…all done in-line.
Vann: Polyethylene or polypropylene side weld bags can be made at speeds of 400 cycles per minute on our HK Series of side weld bag machines. These machines are made for long runs of (more and more) commodity type bags. In order to add profit in these markets, high speed, efficient machines with excellent stacking is required. Down time, due to high speeds, and around-the-clock production, must be kept to a minimum. That is why the HK series is so successful in Asia, and why we feel it will be successful in North America.
Special attachments or auxiliary equipment will typically slow down the production.
The Totani Box Pouch is more complex. It can run up to 110 cpm and one style can actually run 2-up, thus up to 220 bpm. However, speeds are reduced as the pouch repeat size increases or special materials become factors. While its reclosure feature runs in the standard machine direction, forming the side gussets and flat bottom makes it more complex than standup pouches.
Even though it is more complex to produce, the Totani Box Pouch is a package growing in popularity. The Box Pouch reduces the face space on retail food shelves while offering the benefits of a SUP.
Russell: We all know that pouch bags have a varying level of complexity, and that with all the options of film variations and pouch configurations, there is no single answer to this question.
What I can tell you is that there is no one piece of equipment that will make every pouch well.
This is why Modern and other pouch making equipment suppliers offer various models.
So when a supplier tells you that any pouch can be on a single machine, you need to carefully examine the complexities of the changes from one pouch type to another, to be sure you are addressing the proper market configurations for the main products you wish to make.
Remember, you may be able to make all the pouches you wish on a single machine, but how well it can make all the configurations is the real answer to the question.
Amin: Fastest bag that you can make is a wicketed bag. Fastest pouch you can produce is a 3 side seal pouch. In bag making, the most complex one to produce is a quad seal bag from a single web that we offer on our bag machines. These bags are used for fertilizers, PET food, agri produce, etc. The most complex pouch style we offer is to make a side gusseted (quad seal pouch) with press to close or slider zipper. Both these bag/pouch styles requires extreme close tolerance in web handling and requires high precision sealing mechanism, hence are considered to be complex structures.
Dacò: Of course the fastest pouch to produce it the three side seal (vacuum pouch) with non-printed material, PA/PE, starting from one single roll. This is because it is the easiest pouch with no printing, no tools (like easy open punch, round corner, etc), just film to be sealed according to the pitch. Of course, the most complex is the side gusset bag for pet food market with big dimension, starting from multiple rolls as you have to synchronize different printed rolls (for example, for the inserted gussets). The big size of the bag requires dedicated conveyors too.
Q: What is your opinion of the flexible packaging industry overall?
Fuller: I’ve worked on the film and packaging supply side, and now on the machinery supply side – almost 30 years combined.
I still love working in this industry. My wife still hates to go into the store with me, because I’m constantly checking out different packages and trying to teach her the various cool attributes. As the market continues to grow, so does my passion for it…how many industries can deliver that type of life-long satisfaction?
Dacò: The packaging industry is stable even if I see a continuous changing from the rigid packaging to the flexible one. More and more companies are choosing this last one for refills, liquid, soap, etc. I see that some companies are merging to face the Far East suppliers and to find new synergy to reduce production costs and increase market research.
Anderson: In our observation, the flexible packaging industry has done well even through the recent economic struggle. It is driven by its advantages over conventional packaging types and is stable, while continuing to produce many growth opportunities that show the strength of this industry. The yield is good, the ease-of-use is good, and it is greener than other types of packaging options.
Russell: The flexible packaging market as we all know is still growing beyond the economic recovery. As new innovative products continue to hit the market place, we can continue the growth trends. This requires a liberal approach between equipment suppliers and the producers of the packaging, in order to inspire and maintain this growth pattern.
Amin: Since the last 3 years, a lot of consolidation has taken place, resulting in lower investment in new equipment. We believe that next wave of equipment buying is round the corner
Q: What’s missing from this sector? What would you like to see improve?
Russell: Product awareness and standardization, is still lacking in the flexible packaging market place.
If we want to be able to introduce add products into flexible packaging, then more product standardization processes are required to compete with other market sectors, in the rigid packaging world.
Amin: As said before, the market is missing high-speed spout insertion equipment and filling equipment for flexible pouches to replace the rigid containers.
Dacò: Probably everyone is waiting for a real innovation in the pouch shape, to have a real alternative to the standup. I guess we need to improve research on materials, to be more and more “sustainable.”
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