How Bostik and a Large Equipment Supplier Reduce
Trial Investment and Risk
For heat seal packaging converters and film producers, it’s important to keep output volumes and package quality high. Therefore, it can be challenging to justify allocating time and resources to trialing new materials, especially when there isn’t necessarily a problem with existing ones and no guarantee that the new ones will offer any improvement.
THE SITUATION
When considering running a new material on an extrudable heat seal packaging production line, such as an extrudable heat seal layer, it typically takes several trials before determining if the new material is feasible on their lines. This is because extrusion technology can be product dependent and requires fine tuning the resin properties and coater settings for each structure before reaching optimal results for the new material and final structure. These process parameters can include but are not limited to:
THE PROBLEM
Furthermore, extrudable products are historically difficult to transition as the processing parameters are more complex. However, while the hesitation to qualify new products is understandable, by not investing in trials, converters and film producers may be limiting their ability to enhance existing packaging processes and performance, expand into improved packaging designs, and, in turn, increase revenue.
Fortunately, with Bostik’s Trial Simplification Process, converters and film producers no longer need to choose between meeting current goals or trialing new materials. Trial investment and risk can be reduced.
Bostik, the adhesive solutions division of Arkema, has been a global adhesive supplier for over a century and understands the conundrum this poses for converters and film producers. To make it easier for our customer to trial a new adhesive, Bostik has implemented a solution. By working with a large equipment supplier, Bostik runs pilot trial tests internally on both cast and blown film lines. By being able to run trials on both extrusion processes, Bostik can better supply processing guidelines to converters and film producers, regardless of the manufacturing capabilities at a given site. The pilot trial tests help determine the following:
The Solution
Because Bostik and the equipment supplier determine heat seal resin and equipment settings to most effectively process the adhesive upfront and in-house, converters and film producers:
The Value to the Customer
As a result, by working with Bostik and the equipment supplier, they are able to:
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• Correct resin thickness and coat weight
• Film uniformity across the web
• Optimal performance properties, such as seal strength
• Correct extrusion screw settings
• Proper dye gap temperature and thickness
• Needed chill roll temperature
This also takes time, because all extrudable resins vary in processing efficiencies in terms of screw configuration, processing aids and temperature settings. As a result, the operating parameters may need to change in order for each heat seal resin grade to be properly extruded in a uniform fashion. Extrudable resins also can run differently due to their chemistry type, crystallinity, viscosity, melt point and more.
Therefore, one 8-hour trial, which typically costs $20,000-$25,000* on its own, is not enough time to optimize processing settings and successfully extrude a film with suitable performance properties. Instead, typically more than two trials are needed. To add to that, each trial halts production for at least a full day, meaning converters and film producers are unable to make commercially sellable material shortly before, during and even shortly after the trial duration. This is because they need to invest the time to get the equipment ready for the new adhesive to trial, conduct the trial, and then re-set it after the trial concludes. Further, it can be time consuming to coordinate each trial given constrained support resources. In total, an average trial may entail:
• Pre-trial preparation work: 2 hours*
• Trial time: 8 (if only one is needed)*
• Set up and clean up work: 4 hours*
As a result, even though the heat seal resin may or may not ultimately help the company improve their packaging processing performance and package design, the trial investment alone prevents many companies from considering making a switch and taking any risk.
*based on internal observation and previous customer trial data
• Sealing parameters for tray sealing
• Adhesive coat weight thickness for proper bond strength
• Uniform application requirements
• Cooling and rewind requirements
• Dye temperature and gap for film thickness and uniformity
• Screw temperature for ease of extrusion
• Chill roll temperature for blocking and film crystallinity control
By conducting the Trial Simplification Process, Bostik is able to determine optimized processing performance windows to create extrudable heat seal films. The material created during the trials is then tested to determine end-performance such as seal temperature curves, bond strength testing and tray compatibility. Therefore, not only does Bostik have the parameters to create film but also correlate performance data on what can be expected of such a structure.
Provide processing window settings for our adhesives on cast and blown extrusion lines
Optimize end-product heat seal performance
Reduce the amount of resources needed to trial new adhesives
Overall reduce the number of trials needed to scale up a new structure
Save an average of $20-25k per trial needed
Save an average of 14-hour resources per trial (pre-trial meeting, trial start up, trial and clean up)
Reduce the qualification process by one or more trials
More easily – and quickly - expand into new package designs