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Six factors to consider when choosing between premade bags and a f/f/s system

You’re looking to add flexible pouch capability in your operations—a very popular choice.

You now have a choice between two reliable and time-tested pouch-filling methods: You can make the packaging in your facility, or utilize premade bags. Here are some factors to guide your choice:

1. Get educated about the fundamentals. Form/fill/seal, whether horizontal or vertical, is dedicated. It is capable of considerably higher volumes and faster speeds, with a lower cost per bag. However, it requires the packager to become his own bag maker, ordering rollstock, dealing with scrap, etc.  Not every operation is set up for that method. Premade bags offer a lower cost of entry, and are made by experts in bag-making technology that can constantly invest in new technology, equipment, and materials. They also offer some styles of bags (stand-up, gusseted, etc.) that are not readily available with f/f/s. However, the packager does not have as much control over construction of the bags when they are bought premade. Keep in mind that a pouch-filling machine needs a full-time operator to load the pouches, whereas on the f/f/s machine, the operator can focus on other things while the reel of
film runs.

2. Consider a shortcut calculation.  For some packagers, a shortcut calculation takes volume into consideration. Overall volume below a certain number of units per year indicates that it makes more sense to use premade pouches—the volume number can be anything from several hundred thousand units per year, to 1 million or more. If you cannot predict robust growth, the payback may be very long for a f/f/s system.

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