From Ultrapak (Dunkirk, NY), the 3-mil PVC film is printed gravure in seven colors. Printed copy on the film carries the name Berkley & Jensen, BJ’s private-label brand, identifying the twin-pack’s contents as two 40-oz PET jars, with a total net weight of 5 lb. Ultrapak prints the film, slits it, and seams (or seals) the material. It then sends rollstock to Leavitt where sleeves are applied automatically on a new machine from Axon (Raleigh, NC).

“For this new package, we selected material from Ultrapak because we had used them before,” says Frank Ciampa, Leavitt’s director of purchasing. Leavitt packs products under its own brand names such as Teddie, as well as private-label brands. He says the company has produced multipacks in the past, applying the sleeve labels by hand before sending them through a shrink tunnel. The Axon machine, he notes, “applies them several times faster than we could by hand. And it’s allowed us to move six or seven people to other tasks.” —JB