Cover Story-The Complete Package

VersaPack is prepared to offer North America more retort capabilities.

RETORT POUCHES ARE used prevalently throughout Europe and Asia. However, in the United States—the birthplace of the thermostabilized, laminated pouch—the packaging has been slow to make it from Meals Ready to Eat produced for the U.S. Armed Forces to American store shelves.

That won't last for long; not if VersaPack, the sales and marketing arm of a Korean film converter, has anything to say about it.

VersaPack started producing retort pouches more than 10 years ago. Since then, the Fair Lawn, N.J. company has taken considerable steps to ensure the stateside future of the innovative packaging. From expanding the company to adding and creating retort-capable technology, VersaPack is ready to offer American consumers retort pouches.

Pouches are already jumping in demand in the United States, according to The Freedonia Group, Inc., an industrial market research firm which published a study called "Pouches" last November. According to the study, the demand for stand-up pouches in the United States is projected to increase by 16.6 percent annually through the year 2006. The study also predicts that within the next three years, pouch demand in the food and beverage markets will jump by nearly 7 percent to $3.6 billion, while the demand for pouches in non-food related markets will increase by 7.1 percent to $950 million.

These numbers aren't daunting to VersaPack directors Anthony Catino and Ike Yoon. "VersaPack and our sister company, United Packaging & Processing Systems, are prepared to supply filling/sealing equipment and pouches," said Catino.

Promoting its Steel Can Replacement (SCR) Pouch™, VersaPack has successfully taken on the challenge of offering U.S. manufacturers a complete retort pouch package. As a fledgling company, VersaPack found many end users interested in using retort pouches, but they had no way of filling the pouches, Catino said. To overcome that hurdle, VersaPack took on UP&P. Together, VersaPack and UP&P co-developed a rotary filler machine used to fill the pre-made pouches. "One of the reasons why retort pouches are not taking off like rockets in the United States is because it's a pre-made pouch, which needs a machine to fill it," Catino explained. "Those machines are developed in Europe and over in Asia, and there hasn't been a domestic market force to sell that kind of machine here. [With UP&P,] now we can provide the complete solution. That's part of our overall objective."

VersaPack's parent company is also A pouch-making room at VersaPack

expanding its in-house capabilities. In less than a decade, the company has grown to include 13 Nishibe and Totani pouch-making machines, with two more to be added by the end of 2003.

Furthermore, VersaPack recently co-developed a process, with Dow Chemical, using a blowing tower configured to improve the production of retort cast polypropylene (RCPP)—the substance used to increase the strength of retort pouches—while reducing costs. With the recent purchase of a new blowing tower, VersaPack's total comes to three, with a fourth to be added in the next 12 to 18 months.

VersaPack isn't done yet. The company's business plan also calls for future acquisition or construction of U.S. production facilities. "We are focused on working with food manufacturers that are converting their processing lines from cans to pouches, or from three-layer retort pouches to four-layer retort pouches, which is what we manufacture," said Catino.

VersaPack's SCR Pouch is a four-layer laminated film pouch consisting of PET+AL+NY+RCPP. While most retort pouch manufacturers produce three-layer pouches, VersaPack has always made four-layer pouches because of its increased strength, Yoon said. "It's designed to be strong enough to hold during the retort heating process. You need a strong laminate and a strong sealant to hold in that severe environment," he said.

Due to a new process at VersaPack that includes the processing of its own RCPP material and the strict quality control measures that have come along with that capability, VersaPack's SCR Pouches have improved. "All these factors combined allow our pouches to be used by our customers under the most difficult and rigorous conditions," Catino said.

For the most part, the company keeps its pouch design simple—no frills like zippers or spouts. Catino cites lack of market demand for such features, as well as the fact that it has not yet been completely proven that they hold up during the retort process. Technology in this area is still being developed and improvements will be made, Catino said. "We don't think of ourselves as the Lamborghinis or the Ferraris of retort pouches," he said of the company's lack of special features. "We like to think of ourselves as the General Motors of retort pouches. Our goal is to be the largest retort pouch manufacturer in the world, not necessarily the one with the most features." Yoon added, "We are focused on producing a very reliable and strong pouch with an economical cost."

While Catino says there is little demand for zippers and other special applications, clear retort pouches are steadily gaining interest. VersaPack has created a see-through pouch consisting of a silicon oxide layer, which replaces the metallic foil layer in opaque pouches. The clear pouch consists of PET+SIOX+NY+RCPP.

"We have developed a process that allows us to produce a pouch with stronger seal strength and better lamination strength with high production speeds and better yields," Catino said. "Those advantages combined with our new pouch-making machinery are helping us to grow at a double-digit pace."