With the launch this summer of premium sliced deli meats in a flexible package with a slider-type reclosure feature, Hormel becomes the first to use the slider closure on a package made on a horizontal thermoform/fill/seal machine.
"We adopted this advanced closure system to offer our premium deli meats in a package with both an unrivaled technical advantage and exceptional consumer convenience," says Dan Miller, manager of packaging development, Hormel Foods. "It gives us a true marketing point of differentiation."
The package is the result of what Miller describes as a "dedicated effort" by Hormel and two key vendors: Pactiv and Multivac. Pactiv makes the roll-fed Hefty® Slide-Rite® Advanced Closure System and the Model SR-2002 machine that feeds the reclosure material to the flexible packaging material. Multivac customized one of its tf/f/s machines to not only vacuum package the product but also to heat-seal the slider profile to the flexible packaging film. The packs are formed two-up.
The forming web, from Pechiney, is a nylon/ethylene vinyl alcohol/polyethylene structure. The lidding material, also from Pechiney, is polyester/EVOH/PE. The barrier component is carried over to the Pactiv slider profile. Its flange portion, the part that gets heat-sealed to the forming web and lidstock, is a five-layer coextrusion that includes EVOH.
According to Pactiv, adopting the slider closure enabled Hormel to improve throughput by 10% over its previous easy-peel-style package. Miller acknowledges the new pack costs slightly more "because the package is a little bigger." An anticipated increase in sales justifies the upcharge, says Miller.
