The mood was set early by Jeff Kellar, president of Reynolds Flexible Packaging, who boldly stated in his co-keynote address that the pouch industry is still early in its growth stage and poised to take a major chunk of both the food segment and strongholds now captured by metal cans.

While pouch converters and suppliers can check off an array of challenges they must manage -- starting with the high cost of materials and energy and moving to production speeds -- the 2008 Global Pouch Forum produced a buoyant and somewhat-unexpected degree of heady optimism and a positive message that the pouch industry is just beginning to scratch its surface potential.

Jeff Kellar of Reynolds said metal can conversions conversion in food are prime targets for pouch conversions, while Danny Beard of Packaging Specialists argued that PET bottles and foodservice are the strongest penetration candidates. “Pouches have been in the shadow of both cans and plastic bottles for many years,” Kellar insisted.”But they are now gaining wide acceptance across a variety of categories. Growth opportunities remain visibly in front of us.”

Business Growth Highlights Discussed At The 2008 Global Pouch Forum

• Technology is only viable when it satisfied the needs and desires of customers, and pouch converters and suppliers must be more consumer-driven
• Resealable packaging is transitioning to the next generation by offering temperature and time-elapsed sensors, anti-counterfeiting devices, aroma features, and post-applied zippers and seals, said Zip-Pak’s Robert Hogan
• “Quasi-rigid” packaging – a new term coined at the Forum -- that blends the attributes of flexible packaging with a more rigid format (such as a container) could mean a step change for pouches
• The need to produce pouch machinery that doubles filling speeds and offers both integration with existing equipment and automation will help converters cope with margin pressures from mass-market applications
• Most consumers have a different opinion on what sustainable packaging means, have difficulty understanding the value of plastic packaging, and want to “do the right thing” with sustainability but have no idea how to go about it, according to a video survey of shoppers by a marketing communications firm
• An abundance of new pouch formats are coming from Japan -- including edge pouches, new spout tops, stackable sleeve-in-pouch and gourmet coffee cups -- that offer “consumer delight” and visual differentiation, said Neil Kozarsky of T.H.E.M.
• A new pouch by Method Home for a line of cleaning wipes uses a polypropylene-based monomaterial format that could become one of the first recyclable pouches on the market

Read full coverage of these and other discussions of the most critical packaging business issues
in the May 30 issues of Packaging Strategies Newsletter.

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interpack Insights Report: Actionable Insights and Opportunities 2008-2011

Some of the relevant pouch technologies on display at interpack and reported at the Global Pouch Forum by the Insights Team:

• PushPop ( Wolf Verpackungsmachinen , Germany). A double-gusset, form fill seal pouch that opens to form a wide-mouth bowl suitable for snack food and other items
• BoxPouch (Totani Giken Kogyo , Japan). Featuring side gussets and a flat bottom, the BoxPouch gives a glimpse into efficient pouching. The BoxPouch offers a 12 to 15 percent reduction in film compared to standard stand-up pouches.
• Qwikpak Soft Bottle System (Unifill , Italy). Another of the new “quasi-rigid” genre. To mold the Qwikpak , Unifill uses a compact monoblock machine that thermoforms and fills plastic portion packs by combining the advantages of form/filll/seal and blow molding technologies.