Walking the thin line (Part II): Bringing down the gauge
Up Next
Inteplast Engineered Films was already excited just to hear that a renowned German food company was opening a plant in London. Imagine how much more excited we were to get the opportunity to provide film to wrap their gourmet frozen pizzas.
Read MoreNot only are we actively trying to down-gauge our existing customers’ films, but we are also trying to help bring thinner shrink film to other markets and applications.
For instance, we have been working with existing customers who use our perforated film to wrap trays of glass jars, cans and plastic bottles. They started with a 2.4 mil film; now it’s 1.5 mils. Not only does it use less material and retain strength properties, it’s also ready for different types of shrink equipment—whether it is typical sheeting or u-film. The film we created for these customers is ready to insert the product and shrink around it.
A success story, to be sure, but the thin film revolution hasn’t always been easy. Even though we know we have a great solution, sometimes we meet resistance. It was hard to convince customers to replace market favourites, such as oriented polypropylene (OPP) and olefins, with customized films.
In their minds, they had used it for years, and had already tried other films that didn’t work out. By convincing customers that we could adjust formulations to address the requirements of their specific application, we started to get more opportunities to prove it.
One application area that has seen a lot of interest is customized perforated u-films. Some customers have the perception that this type of perforated PE film will not actually open or that the film layers might stick together. In reality, IEF has been able to overcome this hurdle through process optimization. From technical requirements to aesthetic characteristics, we create value for our users with our films.
Interested to see which films we can help you down-gauge? We’re ready to help.