Bonus pack shows off new pour pouch

Associate Editor: Laura McCluskey -- Converting Magazine, 4/1/2001

More is usually better. Launching its new easy-open cat food, American Nutrition decided to add a bonus pack of 3 lbs. to its normal Atta Cat 16-lb. bag of cat food, making a total of 19 lbs. The company adopted the new O-P-CT (open-pour-close) feature, made by Bemis Pet Products, for its 16-lb. bag.

"Consumers are looking for convenient and easy-open reclosable packages," says Jim Stoltz, logistics manager for American Nutrition, "and we want to be able to supply that to our customers."

To produce the heavy gauge multi-layer structure, a specialty coater/laminator provided an anchor seal construction that could be reverse-coated with the adhesive on the reseal layer.

Bemis sent American Nutrition a template of the dimensions for the flap of the open-close portion. American Nutrition created new graphics in-house and sent them to Bemis. The labels were flexo printed on a Webtron 1013 8-color press at Industrial Label in two colors from 10.5-in. roll stock and die cut on a Rotometrics machine into 5 x 3-in. sections.

After being printed by Industrial Label, the labels were sent to Bemis' Vancouver facility in a fan fold format, where they were then spliced on a B-Bunch fan folder for continuous inline application. In the manufacture of American Nutrition's bags, the outer layer, a white clay coated paper stock, is printed on a 7-color flexographic Windmoeller & Hoelscher 8-color press and UV-cured. The print roll stock is moved to the final converting line and joined with a sheet of 40 lb. natural kraft and an inner wall of 50 lb.

Four plies are formed into a tube and a series of knives cuts the tube ends in graduated steps for sealing. The machine applies a hot melt adhesive to the top end where the plies are later joined for heat sealing. At the same time, the W & H machine applies adhesive to the bottom end, which remains open for filling.

In the final step, the label is applied as the peel bar and a label applicator strips the label from its release liner and air blows it onto the bag applicator. The bags are filled and the adhesive is activated to seal the package.

Many cats, and cat lovers alike, enjoy the new pour pouch feature.

More information from:

Bemis Pet Products, 800/654-8385, fax: 402/734-9609, www.bemis.com Enter 280.

Webtron/Aquaflex, 800/935-1618, fax: 954/979-1676. Enter 281.

Rotometrics, 800/325-3851, fax: 636/587-3701, www.rotometrics.com Enter 282.

B-Bunch Co. Inc., 602/997-6452, fax: 602/997-7266. Enter 283.

Windmoeller & Hoelscher, 800/854-8702, fax: 401/333-6491, www.whcorp.com Enter 284.

If you found this article helpful, ENTER 285 or Inquire Online.