Catch the Wave

A wave of innovate pouch packaging is sweeping over North America, but will the U.S. flexible packaging industry catch it?

VISIT YOUR LOCAL supermarket and you can see a major packaging shift taking place—the use of flexible packaging is prevalent down every store aisle. Cartons and canisters are being replaced or partnered with stand-up pouch packaging that use reclosable zipper features. Retort pouches are being introduced to create a value-added line extension to mature products traditionally marketed in other packaging formats. Things are changing and flexible packaging appears to have the "right stuff" at the "right time."

Form and function

Just a few short years ago, many new product introductions were launched in the same traditional package methods that had been used for decades. But today more than ever, packaging is being used as a strategic marketing tool to better position a new product, stimulate flat sales, and re-invent a mature brand.

It is common that some form of flexible packaging is put on the table as part of the mix of potential packaging options. And, more often than not, flexible packaging is winning out over many of the classical rigid-packaging formats.

Helping this movement is that flexible packaging has come a long way in recent years; it's no longer just a simple pouch or bag, but a real packaging solution worthy of serious consideration. Innovative flexible packaging is providing true form-and-function benefits for creating a well-balanced packaging design and successfully promoting a new realm of product line extensions in the market.

New features and functionality are being integrated in today's flexible packaging designs to add consumer convenience, build brand identification, and dramatically improve the dynamics of the "product package-consumer interface." The ability to add reclosable zippers, slider zippers, hang holes, handles, tear notches, laser scores, separate product compartments, spouts, and special closures has truly revolutionized the pouch category.

The technology to design shape into a flexible package with the use of diecutting at the converting level (as a pre-made) or on-line as part of the form/fill/seal process can now offer the ability to add character and personality to the package. These value-added features, in combination with the use of spectacular graphics produced in rotogravure or enhanced flexography, all add up to a packaging solution second to none.

Opportunity knocks

The business of supplying pre-made pouches is perhaps one of the greatest opportunities to come along for the packaging industry in a very long time. The pre-made pouch business represents the supply of a wide variety of pre-formed and pre-fabricated bags or pouches. Pre-mades have certainly been around for a while, but the market is continuing to evolve and grow. This is mainly being driven by market dynamics to satisfy consumer convenience and by the advancements of related machinery technologies.

Pre-made bags and pouches can be constructed of basic polyethylene or complex laminated structures, providing custom barrier properties. Pre-mades can be further enhanced with the incorporation of spouts, dispensing fitments, zippers, slider zippers, diecut handles, and unique shapes to satisfy the most demanding applications.

There are a multitude of quality global players, both large and small, eager to enter the U.S. market and who are looking for a domestic partner to provide technology, capacity, and in some cases, proprietary technology. All they ask in return is an alliance to create a conduit into the market. U.S. companies can help, or foreign businesses will ultimately do it on their own.

Now is the time for North American companies to be on the lookout for the right global strategic partner. In this critical time when companies may be looking for ways to keep their capital investment low, they can form a strategic alliance with a domestic or international pouch converter who may already own the equipment, but lack the customer base and marketing savvy to promote their products and capabilities in the United States.

Not a novel idea

The concept of pre-made packaging is not new—think for a moment: composite cans, spiral wound containers, metal cans, glass jars, and PET bottles all represent forms of pre-made packaging. These packages are all pre-fabricated, shipped to the packager, warehoused, and finally delivered to the packaging floor. But it's not done yet, the container still has to be decorated or labeled, filled, and sealed. Logistics is just now starting to be considered in the cost modeling of the true cost of all packaging formats.

The pre-made flexible pouch or bag is pre-printed, shipped in flat, and efficiently warehoused. Typically one truck of flexible pouches represents 25 trucks of rigid packaging. Think about that effect over the coarse of a day, a week, a month, or a year! The logistics are staggering and companies are realizing this fact and changing not only to suit the consumer or market, but to reduce the cost structure of the total packaging process and the multitude of cost centers along the way.

In the near future, we may see pre-made pouch converting lines that far exceed the present technology of 100-400 pouches per minute (ppm). Systems are on the horizon that may be capable of approaching 2,000+ ppm! Fill/Seal equipment is also evolving and systems are already installed in the U.S producing 100-500 ppm.

If the North American flexible packaging converting industry does not respond by offering viable cost-effective solutions to their customers, it may find that packagers become more self sufficient by incorporating pouch-making capabilities within their own operations—this is already a growing trend among some of the largest beverage and retort packagers around the world. Pouches are a wave of innovation and an opportunity not to be missed.

by Dennis Calamusa

Alliedflex Technologies Inc.