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Roll Film vs. Pre-Made Bags: Specs to Know
Thomas Bornemann, Director Sales & Marketing at Hastamat, says roll film is cheaper than pre-made bags, and for standard production, bags formed on a vertical machine save a lot of money, while very small productions sometimes stay with pre-made bags. Dennis Feldbusch, Area Sales Manager, says bag style, width, length and zipper define the machine, and registration controls with sensors are more or less standard.
Key takeaways
- Thomas Bornemann says roll film is cheaper than pre-made bags, and for standard production, bags formed on a vertical machine save a lot of money.
- Dennis Feldbusch says bag style, width, length and whether there is a zipper all define the machine.
- Hastamat uses registration controls with sensors more or less as standard, especially for four-corner seal bags, and Thomas Bornemann recommends sharing future plans so the machine can be built for flexibility.
Common questions
- Is roll film cheaper than pre-made bags?
- Yes. According to Thomas Bornemann of Hastamat, film on a roll is cheaper than pre-made bags. Very small productions sometimes stay with pre-made bags because a fully automatic system makes no sense for them, but for standard production, bags produced by a vertical machine save a lot of money.
- What bag information does a VFFS machine supplier need?
- Dennis Feldbusch of Hastamat says the first thing needed is the bag style, then the sizes: lengths and widths. Whether the bag has a zipper also matters, since all of these points define the machine. Thomas Bornemann adds the customer's future plans, so the machine can be built flexible for future changes.
- How does a VFFS machine keep the film in the right position?
- According to Dennis Feldbusch of Hastamat, their systems use registration controls with sensors, more or less as standard. This is especially important for four-corner seal bags, where a very accurate film position is needed.
Transcript
Tom Rougeux, President, Piepenbrock Packaging
How do you choose between a film that comes in a roll and a pre-made bag? What makes the difference between a pre-made bag or why would you use film? What are the costs of using a pre-made bag versus film?
What are the advantages? Can you tell us about the difference between pre-made bags and film?
Thomas Bornemann, Director Sales & Marketing, Hastamat
Finally, the cost is the customer. If it's just a very small production, they sometimes stay for pre-made bags, because the investment for fully automatic systems makes no sense. But if you calculate for, let's say, standard production, the cost for a pre-made bag or a bag produced by a vertical machine, you save a lot of money.
Tom Rougeux
Does it cost more to have a pre-made bag made? Or is buying film in a roll more expensive?
Thomas Bornemann
It's more cheaper than the pre-made bag for sure.
Tom Rougeux
Buying it in a roll is less expensive than buying it in a bag?
Thomas Bornemann
Exactly, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Tom Rougeux
Okay, all right.
So what package formats should the customer look at before buying a bag? So width, length, range. Is there a range of bag size?
What about these zippers that come on bags? What kind of challenges are involved with those?
Dennis Feldbusch, Area Sales Manager, Hastamat
Yeah, for sure. The bag style is important. Width, length also.
Zipper, yes, no, also. At the end, everything of these points defines the machine.
Tom Rougeux
Okay, and what happens when a film gets off of track? We call that registration. How does that happen?
And what does Hastamat do to keep film running in line with where it's supposed to be?
Dennis Feldbusch
We have registration controls with sensors on our system, especially for four-corner seal bags where we need a very accurate film position. We are using this more or less in standard.
Tom Rougeux
Okay.
What kind of information do we need from our customers about the bags that they're using? What kind of details would we want to have?
Dennis Feldbusch
First of all, the bag style.
Tom Rougeux
Okay.
Dennis Feldbusch
Then for sure the sizes, lengths, widths.
I think these are more or less important points.
Thomas Bornemann
And finally also the future plans of the customers, because we can produce the machine in that way that the machine is more also flexible for maybe future changes, future ideas of the customers.
