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Company gets 'smart' with flexibles

A specially designed stand-up pouch helps this manufacturer of cleaning chemicals provide consumers with greater convenience and efficiency.

A maintenance worker places the new Smart Sac Stand-up Pouch inside the Smart Box containing unit for proportioning and dispensi
A maintenance worker places the new Smart Sac Stand-up Pouch inside the Smart Box containing unit for proportioning and dispensi

At St. Louis-based Buckeye Intl., August ’99 saw the introduction of a 5-L (1.32-gal) stand-up pouch for concentrated cleaning chemicals. An alternative to a 5-gal bag-in-box format, the new package has brought a whole new level of convenience to janitorial personnel who use Buckeye products.

Called the Smart Sac, the stand-up pouch from Kapak (Minneapolis, MN) fits inside the equally new Smart Box. The Smart Box is typically mounted on the wall of a custodial closet or maintenance room. A janitor places the Smart Sac upside down in the Smart Box. After removing a polypropylene closure from the Smart Sac’s fitment, the janitor inserts a probe into the fitment. The other end of this probe is connected to a water source. The janitor uses a mixing dial on the front panel of the dispensing system to select the correct ratio of cleaning concentrate to water. Then, by pressing a dispensing button, the janitor can fill a bucket or other container with whatever amount of cleaning liquid is desired. Vacuum pressure pulls chemical concentrate from the sac along with the water.

To appreciate the advantages of the flexible pouch, it helps to look at how Buckeye customers use the alternative package, the 5-gal bag-in-box. This package is still popular with customers who go through huge quantities of Buckeye products. It, too, is connected to a water source for easy proportioning of water and concentrate. But it’s too heavy to mount neatly in a wall unit like the Smart Sac. And basically it’s just not as easy to handle, says Scott Criswell, vice president and director of marketing at Buckeye.

Handle provides convenience

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