According to the packaging supplier, Overture One is suitable for a wide variety of granular, powdered, liquid and solid applications such as stick packaging for powdered drinks.
“Any products that are currently in a flow wrapped package, either with aluminium foil in the structure or a film that has been metalized, can use Overture One,” Dwane Hahn, vice president of sales and marketing at Rollprint told FoodProductionDaily.com.
Rollprint said the Overture One lamination is based on the company’s ClearFoil barrier-coated polyester and is coupled with an “aggressive sealant”.
Size stick packs using the Overture One system will be dependent on brand owner objectives and equipment capability.
Non-Aluminium foil
According to the vice president, company research revealed the need for a structure with barrier properties but without the use of aluminium foil. “The reasons varied from wanting portions of the product to be visible to consumers to overcoming metal detection interference,” Hahn said.
The company claims that oxygen barrier levels are available as low as 0.0008 cc/100in2/24 hrs and moisture barrier properties are available down to 0.0008 g/100in2/24 hrs.
Hahn said that there is a 30 per cent reduction in material usage as the structure of the stick pack features two layers, compared to the three layers used in an aluminium foil package.
“Additionally, due to their geometry, stick packs typically require 20 per cent material less than sachets,” said Hahn.
Rollprint also claims that the transparent attributes of the packaging will enable brand owners to use product texture and colour to enhance the product’s shelf appeal: “The entire structure can be kept transparent or limited to ‘windows’ to display contents. Consumers can readily see contents, so guesswork is eliminated,” said Rollprint.
Hahn said demand continues to grow for convenience-oriented, single serve packaging: “This is particularly true in a variety of powdered or granular beverage categories including instant coffees, teas and other flavoured products.”
Equipment investment would vary according to existing plant capability, said Hahn, adding that companies are frequently outsourcing stick pack filling to contract packages who have already committed resources to the latest technology.