Volpak, part of Coesia group, has opened a new PouchLab to help its customers and stakeholders develop sustainable pouch solutions.
Image: Volpak has opened R&D excellence centre to develop sustainable pouch solutions. Photo: courtesy of Volpak.
The new R&D excellence centre, which is situated inside the company’s premises, will enable brand owners to set standards for their packaging, optimise the package size and explore new materials for their products.
Volpak’s new PouchLab will help industry customers to compare the behaviour of different structures, test machinability and double check the performance of their film, as well as develop new sustainable solutions or new re-closable features for flexible packaging.
The lab can be used by film converters, cap and zipper manufacturers, technological centres and raw material suppliers, in addition to the company’s customers.
PouchLab features an advanced pouch-forming machine that is based on HFFS technology, as well as complete testing equipment for customers to rent and use at their discretion to assess their material, make pouches and test the quality of the product in a controlled environment.
The company, which has expertise in the field of pouch processing and packaging, will also extend its support to the users in new materials applications and energy saving procedures.
The new generation HFFS machine at the PouchLab will be used for both flat and stand up pouches.
It will allow customers to control and monitor seal temperature, seal pressure and seal time, as well as supervise the film tension. The machine will also help in measuring film stretch in forming area.
An electrostatic charge measure tool will help precisely measure and offer the electrostatic charge of any material, while stress test machine will help secure accurate and manageable information about pouches stress resistance.
The high speed camera will be used for root cause investigation of any issue and an advanced microscope will help assessing the quality of the seals.
Volpak is specialised in providing horizontal form-fill-seal solutions for the pouch-type packaging industry. In 2001, Volpak acquired Enflex, which is specialised in the design of entry-level horizontal pouching machines.