6 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Flexible Packaging For Your ...

Flexible packaging is one of the fastest growing forms of packaging in the industry and it doesn’t look like that growth is stopping anytime soon. Not only is it beneficial to both manufacturers and retailers, but it also has it’s perks for consumers as well. Flexibility is the name of the game, not just in a tangible sense. The options available in the flexible material space are almost endless! Read on to learn why flexible packaging is so innovative and the great perks that come along with transitioning to using it to package your products.

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Flexible Packaging Is Lightweight Material

One of the greatest features of flexible product packaging is that it’s lightweight. The benefits lightweight packaging include reduced use of resources required to produce your finished goods (which is great not only for your carbon footprint but also for your brand's corporate responsibility), lower transportation costs (thanks to less weight per product when compared to alternative packaging materials), and easier storage that takes up less space in your own facility.

Flexible materials are also often much easier to open for an end-user as well as easier to carry (think less bulk) and they offer excellent resealable options for consumer convenience. There are several options available for easy linear tear packages and reclosable zippers to add further convenience and make your products more attractive to your target market.

Flexible Packaging Gives The Ultimate Protection

Most flex-pack options are made out of materials that are great at withstanding harsh environments and changing climates. This allows for your product to stay protected from hazards during transport and storage. Not only this, but the ability of flexibles to protect your products from rough handling is outstanding.

It also makes it easier for consumers to keep the products also protected in their home while creating less waste. If they are able to reuse and easily open/close the packaging for multi-use products they can use the product longer and possibly even re-use the packaging for other items. Again, a keyword here is convenience.

As an added bonus, the quality of protection with lightweight flexible materials has dramatically improved over the past 10 years. A product that required an 80 gauge film to properly protect it can now use a 40 gauge film without losing any protective qualities. This means less cost and improved efficiencies with your machinery and production processes.

You Can Get Extra Creative With Flexible Packaging

Flexible packaging offers a wide range of customization. You’re able to select and optimize your product packaging in practically any shape or size to ensure you are meeting the needs and wants of your target market, and speaking their language.

The ability to print with high-quality graphics on most flexible materials allows you to reduce costs in labeling while adding the eye-catching impact your product needs to stand out among the competition in the retail space. This allows you to be more competitive in the retail space as well.

Unique and creative packaging is going to stand out on the shelf. This brings opportunity to drive more interest and sales your way.

Want to know more about flexible protective packaging and how it can benefit your brand? Get your free copy of the Ultimate Guide To Protective Packaging Here!

The Materials Of Flexible Packaging

When it comes to flexible materials there are so many options to make your packaging perfect for your product. From films, bagging, and pouches to carded packaging including blister and clamshells, there are light and flexible packaging options for almost any product. This also extends to secondary packaging like air pillows and stretch wrap for palletizing.

We mentioned earlier that the flexible materials are great at protecting your products. To get even more specific, several types of flexible materials, like polyolefin shrink film, are FDA approved food-grade materials.

Customization is hugely available in the flexible material space, with different additives, there are multiple options available for protective barrier layers in multi-layer flexible films like pouch packages to add things like UV protection and anti-fog properties to keep your product protected while looking its best long-term.

Flexible Packaging Is Better For The Environment

flexible materials allow for less waste than your typical packaging. In fact, production for flexible products could use up to 85 percent less energy than alternative packaging materials depending on your production. This also means that you’re cutting down on carbon emissions and doing your part to reduce your impact on the environment.

As mentioned above about lightweight packaging taking up less space, your both reducing the impact of transportation, shipping and warehouse costs while also further reducing your environmental impact with lighter products that take up less space on each pallet you ship. Reducing the amount of trucks needed to deliver your products and the fuel that truck will require to deliver your goods is never a bad thing! Not only is this great for the environment, but it’s great for your companies budget as well.

Flexible Packaging Offers Amazing Graphics

When it comes to printing graphics on packaging - almost all flexible packaging can be printed on, and with super high quality graphics! Why use additional labeling materials when you can print directly on your product packaging? You can even use a clear window on the packaging to show off the contents of the package, which has been noted by consumers as more appealing. Being able to actually see the items your are purchasing to consume within its packaging leads to more confident purchase decisions.

The main printing process for flexible materials has been flexographic print for a long time. Flexographics are added to the packaging via rubber or plastic printing plates and do not offer quite the high-quality graphics needed for stand-out packages. Digital printing is making a huge impact on the market as the quality of print is greatly improved as it is printed directly onto the substrate without permeating, forming a thin layer on the surface using heat.

There are now digital/flexo hybrids making their way into the market that are making a huge difference in the quality of print and the ease of production. Digital print does have a higher price-point but smaller runs of different SKU's are more profitable for a brand in today's marketplace of hyper-personalization, making the higher price worth the spend.

There are many benefits to utilizing flexible materials in product packaging for businesses, consumers and the environment. It doesn’t cost more, especially when you take all factors into consideration. In fact, your sales could increase due to the interesting, convenient and unique packaging you can create for your products.

Well, Almost Everything…

The packaging industry is vast. Vast, nuanced, niched, and sometimes complicated. With more than 3 decades under our belt, we’ve dedicated ourselves to helping you navigate the industry to help your business thrive. Learn with us as we recap the basics of flexible packaging and answer the question, “Why use flexible packaging in the first place?”

The video below is a comprehensive overview broken into chapters. The text below the video is the same content, but in written form if that’s how you prefer to digest the content. The text below also contains helpful links referenced in the video so you can dig in to even more information. The video has chapters you can click individually or, of course, you can watch it in its entirety.

The chapters are:

1. Overview

2. Types of Materials

3. Barrier Packaging

4. Sustainability

5. Solutions

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While there's certainly a time and place for rigid packaging, flexible packaging opens the door for innovation. Instead of searching for a packaging solution that your product fits in, convertors can manipulate materials and conform them to your exact specifications, tailoring each product to the right size, shape, and appropriate amount of barrier protection.

From small convertors to large corporations, there are many moving parts that take a package from the design concept to the finished product.

The flexible packaging industry is  made up of:

• Packaging engineers and designers

  You will get efficient and thoughtful service from Yifu Packaging.

• Flexible material manufacturers

• Companies that print flexible materials

• Companies that build equipment to process those materials

• Converting companies like Heritage Packaging that convert the materials into products like pouches, bags, liners, and covers. 

We aim to provide custom flexible packaging products that solve challenging packaging problems, contributing to the industry’s growth and reputation for solutions that are… out of the box! We do this using a wide array of flexible packaging materials and processes.

Types of Materials

Choosing the proper material for your application is our specialty, and is a critical aspect of protective flexible packaging. As a converting company, we typically work with flexible packaging materials that are classified as either mono-layer blown films, co-extruded blown films, or multi-layered laminated materials.

• Mono-layer blown films look like a typical clear poly bag. They are made by melting a particular resin, or multiple resins and additives, then forcing that melted blend of ingredients through an extrusion dye, and blowing up the extruded material into a tubular film that gets flattened and wound onto a core.

• Co-extruded blown films are made in a similar manner but with two or more blends being extruded simultaneously into the tubular configuration. When looking under a microscope, the film has clearly distinguishable layers. These co-ex films offer greater barrier properties than mono-layered films.

• Multi-layered laminate materials are a combination of two or more pre-manufactured films or other material, like foil, paper, TYVEK, Polyester, or  NYLON, that are bonded to one another by either adhesive, polyethylene, or a solvent. Laminated structures currently offer the highest level of barrier protection over the two flown film categories- more layers mean a more robust material with a higher barrier.

There are hundreds of different flexible packaging materials available within these categories. Among them, some are additionally categorized as Mil-Spec materials. Mil-Spec materials can be mono-layer film, co-ex film, or multi-layered laminations, but in order to be certified as a Mil-Spec material, the manufacturer must submit the film for government testing against a specific performance standard. If approved, it’s awarded inclusion on the Qualified Products List for that standard. (i.e. MIL-PRF 131, MIL-PRF 121, etc.) Any structure that is submitted for testing and approved can then be printed with the necessary Mil-Spec nomenclature and sold as Mil-Spec material, but the manufacturer can also elect to forgo that printing and sell the material for strictly commercial applications.

Whether or not a Mil-Spec material is required depends on your application’s specifications. Unless it’s specified for a commercial application, there are often other comparable options available; however, Mil-Spec materials CAN be used for commercial applications if desired.

Barrier Packaging

At Heritage Packaging, one of our specialties is highly protective barrier packaging. 

Barrier packaging is a type of flexible packaging. All flexible materials provide some degree of barrier; however, when discussing barrier packaging, we’re typically referring to packaging products made from materials that provide a higher level of protection against permeation than a typical polyethylene bag.

In our industry, permeation is the passing of liquids or gases through a material. A package made from a flexible barrier material prevents the permeation of things like moisture vapor, gas, and aroma, either inwards, outwards, or in both directions. For example, a pouch made from a high barrier material that contains fresh peeled garlic will keep the strong scent contained until it’s opened. If that pouch were made from mono-layered film, the aroma could permeate out of the pouch before it ever reaches the store or the customer.

Barrier packaging keeps food fresh, metals free from corrosion, cultural heritage items safe from degradation, and more. In future videos, we’ll take a closer look at potential hazards like corrosion, and how barrier packaging can protect metal items. 

Sustainability & the Future of Packaging Materials

Both flexible packaging and flexible barrier packaging products offer solutions that are protective, innovative, cost-effective, consumer-friendly, and unique; but it’s undeniable that they also produce waste.

As society becomes more aware of the negative impact that our waste stream has had on our planet, efforts are being made in the industry to minimize the harm. Ongoing research is being done to develop materials that are bio-degradable, compostable, reusable, and more. While we haven’t found a perfect solution yet, progress is being made and Heritage Packaging is always on the lookout for sustainable materials that won’t compromise the quality of the packaging product. In the meantime, we work towards a workplace culture that is mindful of energy use and the impact of scrap material, always looking for impactful improvements that we can control.

The good news is that flexible materials take up significantly less space in a landfill than rigid materials, and require less resources to pack and transport, all of which benefit the environment. Work is also being done in the exploration of non-petroleum-based materials as raw feedstock for flexible packaging materials which, if successful, will reduce the carbon footprint of the material. As progress is made, the industry is quick to adjust and begin the implementation of new innovative ideas, and we look forward to telling you about new developments here.

What We Consider When Suggesting a Solution

With such a wide array of materials, processes, and customizations available to our customers, we have a lot to consider while guiding customers to the appropriate solution.

It’s important that we know what your product is, what regulations must be complied with, what filling or handling equipment your packaging needs to be compatible with, what the product is made of, and other specific details so that we can make informed suggestions, accurate quotations and move your project into production without any holdups or surprises.

We strive to find the highest performing yet economical choices for materials and processes that best suit your application. In doing so, we consider things like:

• The material’s Moisture Vapor Transmission Rate, or the amount of gaseous H2O that permeates through a material over a specific time and under specific conditions, as well as the Oxygen transmission rate.

• We evaluate any sharp edges to your product or handling processes to assess how much puncture and tear resistance is necessary.

• We think about the service temperature range and make sure the final material can withstand the minimum and maximum temperatures.

• We consider how well the material heat seals and if the seal strength will be strong enough for your application.

• We discuss closure or sealing methods and consider what package configuration or shape makes the most sense for your products and goods.

• We consider what mode of transport will be used, and how the product is loaded into the packaging to avoid damage from your handling processes.

We often see businesses unknowingly ask for improper materials, heat seals, closure methods, and more, due to a lack of technical knowledge that only packaging professionals would know, but when you work with our team of engineers, machine operators, and hand fabricators, you’re guaranteed to get the perfect package. 

Whether you’re looking for a custom solution from Heritage Packaging or have less demanding needs that can be met with an off-the-shelf product from an online retailer, it’s important to understand what your packaging product or material needs to do for the application.

We’ve created a free checklist to help you understand your product’s needs and to help describe your needs to your packaging provider. Download it by clicking here.

Conclusion

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Take care!

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