A Tech Bite from Greener Vice-President & co-owner Matt Wojtech
The failed trial of a new flexible packaging material may have more to do with the trial process than the structure of the material.
Problems often occur when new materials are trialed on machines that retain adjustments and components designed for the previous material. This is especially true for new sustainable structures, with increased heat sensitivity and narrower seal ranges that often require specialized sealing jaws and optimized machine setup to run properly.
This Greener Tech Bite compares two different trial processes for flexible packaging materials on flow wrappers and vertical baggers that often yield contrasting results.
The Circular Trial Process
Packagers, material suppliers, and converters often get caught in the following Circular Trial Process:
New Flexible Packaging Material Specified
A material supplier or converter works with the packager to specify a material that will help them reach their corporate goals and provides material for a trial.
Factory Trial with Current Sealing Jaws & Minor Adjustments
The packager trials the new material in one of their factories, utilizing existing sealing jaws and only making minor adjustments to their flow wrapper or vertical bagger.
Factory Trial Fails
The trial is unsuccessful. They are unable to meet seal integrity and/or machine speed requirements, and the new material is deemed a failure.
Modified Version of New Material Specified
The packager’s process returns to stage 1, and the material supplier or converter provides a modified version of the new material.
Factory Trial with Modified Material
A second factory trial is run with the modified material, again using the existing sealing jaws.
Factory Trial with Modified Material Fails
Results improve slightly, but seal quality fails to meet quality standards at the machine speeds necessary to meet production requirements.
Circular Trial Process Repeats
The process again repeats, and may do so multiple times before a successful trial occurs or the project reaches an impasse.
The cost is high not just monetarily, but also for the long time it takes to develop and approve a new material. When forced to rely on this Circular Trial Process, packagers often don’t meet their goals in the desired timeframe or are forced to settle for substandard package quality and/or productivity.
The Expedited Trial Process
With Greener’s Expedited Trial Process, we partner with packagers, material suppliers, converters, and OEMs to prevent the repetitive efforts and failed results of the typical Circular Trial Process and reduce the time required to move from project inception to successful trials.
Through our Expedited Trial Process:
New Flexible Packaging Material Specified
The packager works with the material supplier or converter, often with input from Greener, to specify a material that will help them reach their corporate goals.
Partnering with Greener Corporation
The packager and/or the material supplier or converter partner with Greener Corporation for the trial process. They send us rolls of the new material.
Trial of New Material in Greener’s Packaging Lab
Greener trials the new material in our Packaging Lab on a horizontal flow wrapper or vertical bagger. The optimal sealing jaw design and machine setup for the new material are determined and utilized for the trial.
Packages are tested to ensure they meet the packager’s quality standards. Testing methods include the Vacuum Decay Test for seal integrity, the Seal Strength/Burst Resistance Test, and Microscopic Evaluation.
A Seal Range Graph is created to determine optimal temperatures and machine speeds for the material. Seal Range can be used to identify potential modifications to the structure that could increase productivity or reduce material costs.
Using optimized sealing jaws and machine adjustments, the trial succeeds.
Recommendations are provided for sealing jaw designs and setup specifications for the packager’s flow wrappers or vertical baggers.
Factory Trial with Recommended Jaw Design & Setup
A factory trial utilizing the new sealing jaw and setup recommendations is run with the new material.
A Greener Technical Specialist attends the trial to help optimize packaging machine setup and ensure that factory trial results match those achieved in our Packaging Lab.
Factory Trial Succeeds
The factory trial produces successful results.
Greener’s Expedited Trial Process for Flexible Packaging Materials reduces costs by shortening the new material development process and by allowing packagers to maintain seal integrity standards and production levels.
Trials of new flexible packaging material often fail when they don’t need to.
If you are a packager, material supplier, or converter and want to improve your trial process to get faster, more accurate results, contact Greener Corporation. We provide integrated parts and technical service solutions worldwide.
