Flexible friends

6 October 2011



Plastics and paper, between them and together, offer myriad flexible options. Joanne Hunter looks at today’s market and the promise of digital printing to transform the sector in the future


The confectionery sector in Europe in 2010 consumed 5.5 billion m² of flexible packaging, generated by the typical European’s sweet tooth.Growing in girth and enjoying the sweet taste of success in the flexibles sector is what sector leader Amcor is doing and what its now-acquisitive competitors, understandably, aspire to do. Meanwhile, staunchly independent companies are going their own way with full-on, full-service menus tailored to demanding customers in a market that requires quick turnaround and uncompromising high quality.

PCI Films Consulting’s report The European Flexible Packaging Market 2011 reveals how Amcor now dominates the €11 billion market, following its acquisition of Alcan’s European flexible packaging operations. Now accounting for nearly a quarter of all European flexible packaging sales, and with its nearest rival only around a third of its size, Amcor “is the overwhelmingly dominant European supplier, and its strength is galvanising other companies into hitting the acquisition trail, as they try to ‘bulk up’ to compete”, says PCI.

The report found that the converted materials sector recovered strongly in value terms in 2010. Sales increased by 4.7% overall, although much of the growth was down to price increases. In general, while nearly every national market showed growth, Eastern Europe pushed ahead, averaging a 6.2% sales increase. Russian sales showed near double-digit growth.

The scope of flexibles is expanding. Technical advances by film manufacturers are offering packaging converters a host of new applications.

Heat-resistant films for use in microwave ovens, a next-generation resealable system for flow-wrap applications, co-extruded products, cheese maturing bags and sterile medical packaging are all produced by packaging films manufacturer Südpack.

The German group is “pioneering” in terms of co-extrusion development, according to its managing director Johannes Remmele. Its film-based steam cooking system for microwaves SteamSolution has valves integrated in the film, to better retain vitamins and minerals. Cheese maturing bags, another Südpack speciality, do the job so well thanks to a consistent film thickness, which can be precisely defined. “This guarantees a regular exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide resulting in uniform ripening and allowing storage of up to 12 months,” says Remmele.

From a multi-sector business that turned over €270 million in 2010, we turn to an example of staunch independence bringing its own rewards today and the promise of future success.

Independently minded

Family owned Ultimate Packaging is focused on supplying the UK fresh produce and chilled sectors. Independence and a full-service offering make the company fleet of foot to meet the short lead times of its customers. A year ago it bought 10D Creative so that it could provide design, photography, project management and printing in addition to manufacturing. The partnership’s first big project – the re-launch of Soleco UK’s Florette bagged salad brand – successfully tested the fluency of the process from concept design to print.

“In the current climate, competition is stronger than ever and so in developing our business and adding creative design, photographic and repro to our offering, our customers can now experience complete brand management,” says Chris Tonge, sales and marketing director at Ultimate Packaging.

He says that as a “forward thinking independent” Ultimate Packaging is benefiting from the bulking up of Amcor, which gobbled up Alcan’s flexible packaging interests, and other groups that plan to expand. Brands need alternative suppliers as backup. “We are in control of our own production and can produce very high quality in literally hours,” he says. “We are in total control of our own destiny. We own the land and building and we are able to make a decision today.”

Capable of such speed today, it is not surprising that tomorrow’s world of digital printing is attractive to Ultimate Packaging. It is where the flexibles market is heading, says Tonge, prepared to run the two systems side by side when the digital technology is available. He envisages a day when food companies will have digital printing equipment on the end of the production line being fed files from Ultimate Packaging.

As a stepping-stone to the future, the company is testing digital equipment with HP. In principle this will make it possible to produce a food shot illustration in the morning to print in the afternoon. Ultimate sees itself “at the forefront of driving standards up”, among other things, working with the industry to test digital inks in food migration tests.

Low eco-impact

High performance with low environmental impact is the ideal. Mondi’s industrial one-ply bags aim to reduce packaging weight and volume. Called the One range, suitable for high speed filling and made of 110g/m² high performance paper, these bags “guarantee a smooth application on the filling spout and high handling resistance of the filled bag”, says the supplier. For added moisture protection, One Plus is laminated with PE film or a biodegradable film.

Hailed as the “first biodegradable valve bag”, Mondi’s Terra Bag with an optional biodegradable film for humidity protection is certified compostable. The OK Compost logo can be applied to the bags to make them easily identifiable in the waste stream.

Paper and plastics substrates, whether used exclusively or in tandem, must pay as much attention to end of life as to functionality and decoration.

Dr Wilfried Haensel, executive director of the industry body PlasticsEurope, observes that consumers, retailers and original equipment manufacturers “want to profile themselves in such a way as to show they are driving technical advances”. There are two routes: the use of a renewable base or recycled content. Both are part of “eco-development”, but the implications of each route must be clearly understood from a holistic point of view, says Dr Haensel. “Biodegradability can have a positive effect, but [the product] may not find itself in an effective process.”

To clarify, he gives the example of agricultural films in which biodegradability has an obvious role to play because the end-user can also make use of the final product, humus. Bin liners for bio-waste is another good application for biodegradable material where there is access to treatment plants that accept both together and have no need to separate them.

Flextrus is focused on developing advanced flexible packaging materials that “protect in the very best way”, the Swedish company’s marketing manager Ms Lidbäck tells Packaging Today. “Good packaging saves more than it costs - it enables avoidance of packed product spoilage. Our products with tailored barrier as well as mechanical and sealing properties ensure good product quality all the way through its shelf life.

Biopolymers welcome

But paper cannot always do the job by itself. Barrier layers and sealing properties must be added to give a package that protects and preserves the packed product in a safe way. “For this we need to combine the paper with polymers of some type. The development of biopolymers is very welcome and increasing, but so far there is only a very limited range of biopolymers commercially available and only a few can meet the high demands on barrier and sealing properties. We are always keeping our eyes open for new biopolymers and trial them when available. We can provide paper-based packaging materials combined with biopolymers, but so far our customers are not prepared to take the extra cost for this.”

For now, the most used polymer options are PE, PET or PP, with paper providing the necessary mechanical strength and stiffness. The benefits of the co-material solution are exemplified in Flextrus Fibrecote coated papers designed for pouches, flow-wrap, lidding film and base web.

“Thanks to our advanced manufacturing technologies we can minimise the amount of plastics used and yet provide a high barrier and well-functioning packaging material. In many cases we can replace a 100% plastics packaging material with a solution with a minority part of plastics.”

Printing is the obvious differentiator when designing a pack and Flextrus considers itself a “pioneer and market leader” in HD (high definition) flexo printing. “We can provide stunning prints with high volume and lead time flexibility. The paper surface of course is very important for the outcome of the print,” Lidbäck continues. “For very detailed designs with lots of halftones and possible high gloss, a very good quality of coated paper is needed, but in many cases the rougher surface of an uncoated paper gives a more natural look, which is wanted by brand owners, more and more.”

While digital processes are being honed and the way prepared for the possibility of on-demand printed packaging at the end of food production lines, as is envisaged, clearly there is huge scope for single and co-material flexible packaging to offer solutions that are as environmentally aware and waste-saving as they are attractive on-shelf


The Suedpack group sees itself as in terms of co-extrusion development Suedpack Another Utimate Packaging production - Young's Salmon and Scampi Ultimate Premium Yorkshire Puddings in packs produced by Ultimate Packaging Yorkshire Puddings Ultimate Packaging designed and manufactured this 5kg potato sack Sack Specified by Tesco, Flextrus Fibrecote coated papers are designed for pouches, flowwrap, lidding film and base web Fibrecote

Suedpack Suedpack
Yorkshire Puddings Yorkshire Puddings
Sack Sack
Ultimate Ultimate
Fibrecote Fibrecote


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