World first: design diversity for paper-based flow packs

FormerFab® GmbH is a finalist in the Sustainability Awards 2022

FormerFab® GmbH was one of four companies to make it to the finals of the Sustainability Awards 2022, which are presented annually by the “Packaging Europe” magazine.
The medium-sized company based in Freital near Dresden produces forming elements for flow pack machines. It competed in the “Machinery” category with its forming shoulder for flow packs with an asymmetrical longitudinal seam in paper. The variety of flow pack designs and the quality of the produced flow packs is unique worldwide.

Flowpack forming shoulder for paper with asymmetrical seam

Design variety as with plastic film

Paper-based flow packs standardly include a central longitudinal seam. From now on, you are no longer bound by this. Design the back of your flow pack the way you need it. You can also create perfect flow packs with an off-centre longitudinal seam using the forming shoulders from FormerFab.

Primary and secondary packaging possible

With precision and a little bit of experience, paper can be formed just as well as plastic film with the existing form fill and seal machines. Film tears or wrinkles on the paper do not have to occur. The barrier layers of the paper are stressed as little as possible so that they are preserved as far as possible.
Therefore, the forming shoulders can be used for secondary packaging as well as for primary packaging for fat-containing products such as chocolate.
The forming shoulder itself is optimised for the respective application, packaging material and machine type. It can be used immediately by the user and saves valuable time at the packaging machine for setting up the forming shoulder.

Simplified entry into paper packaging

Tobias Nitsche, forming shoulder developer at FormerFab, is proud of the product and sees FormerFab as a pioneer in the industry:

“Flow pack machines are standard machines. They work wonderfully with plastic film. The same now applies to paper. When switching to paper, some equipment has to be adapted and the parameters properly reconfigured. This includes the forming shoulders or folding boxes that form the paper tube. Here we offer a brand-new solution! The forming shoulders arrive at our customers already configured. Align the infeed roller. Done. All information for the set-up is provided in a drawing. Even different formats can be changed quickly and put back into operation.” He adds: “Finally, switching to paper gives our customers more time and capacity to concentrate on redesigning the sealing rollers, cutting tools and gussets. The problem area of forming shoulders for paper has already been solved!”

Active support to switch to paper packaging

Roy Holfert, Sales Director at FormerFab, sees FormerFab as a pioneer of the industry: 

“Nowadays, nothing is impossible. With our asymmetrical flow pack forming shoulder for paper, we are giving brands completely new possibilities. We hope to alleviate some of their fears and make it easier for them to switch to paper solutions.” Consumers need to feel involved, he says: “Design plays a big role in today’s packaging world. You want and need to stand out among other products on supermarket shelves. That’s why it’s important to offer producers and packagers an alternative to the norm.”

FormerFab® GmbH’s headquarters are in Freital, Saxony, where it develops and produces high-precision forming shoulders for horizontal and vertical tube bag making machines. With a workforce of 21 employees, the medium-sized Freital company supplies packaging machine manufacturers, end users and contract packaging companies in over 50 countries around the world.

You can find more on the topic of forming shoulders for paper >>here<<

You can see moving images of the world’s first on our >>Youtube-Channel<<.

Project Engineer Flowpack Tobias Nitsche

Sales Director Roy Holfert