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Ionomer-Replacement Sealant Film Wins New Business for Danafilms Customer
Customer offers food company a more cost-effective package
Overview/Context
Pouches, gusset bags and stand up bags are increasingly popular for food applications. These constructions need an inner layer that has excellent seal properties as well as FDA approval for food contact. The film must seal at a relatively low temperature and at high production speeds. Since food is involved, the seal must be absolutely leak proof. The film must also seal through a variety of contaminants, such as crumbs, food particles, moisture, grease or oil, depending on the food product involved.
The Situation
The industry has had an excellent ionomer-based resin for the purpose. The resin is typically extrusion-coated onto a multi-layer substrate that could include paper, film and foil. It can also be laminated onto a substrate as a film. The downside for this resin is that it is expensive.
The Challenge
An established customer came to Danafilms looking for an alternative solution in order to win new business. The customer was a packaging converter who wanted to offer a food company a more cost-effective package for bagel chips. In order to create the new package, he needed a lower cost sealant film that had all the performance characteristics of the industry-leading ionomer.
The Solution
Using their extensive experience with resins and properties, Danafilms engineers developed a proprietary blend of polyethylene to create a sealant film that mimics the performance characteristics of the ionomer. It is FDA approved for food contact and has a low seal initiation temperature that is identical to the ionomer.
The converter laminated the film into a package construction designed to be used on the food manufacturer’s existing form fill and seal equipment. In testing the package, they discovered the package seal strength was even higher than that of the ionomer, and it ran flawlessly at the food manufacturer’s top line speed.
Results
The converter won the business with the bagel chip manufacturer and has been supplying the bag to them for three and a half years. In that time, the Danafilms Ionomer-Replacement Sealant Film has become one of its most successful monofilm grades.
“We get presented with requests like this on a daily basis,” said Danafilms Coextrusion Technical Manager, Aaron LaPointe. “We turn these around quickly to help our customers win business or get new products to the market fast. Our customers are always looking for ways to do things better, faster, cheaper, with fewer passes through the lamination process and with thinner films for better sustainability. We do our best to give them what they need.”