Production and equipment of special-shaped bags

With the continuous growth in demand for plastic packaging bags, plastic packaging bags are increasingly dominating the market with their inherent characteristics such as vibrant colors, novel designs, and convenience of use. The market also places higher demands on plastic packaging bags. Not only are new and innovative designs required to attract attention, but also high barrier properties are needed to maintain the freshness of the contents, while the shape of the packaging bags is also required to be ever-changing.

Therefore, as soon as custom-shaped bags appeared on the market, they quickly caught people's attention with their unique shapes and distinct personalities. In supermarkets, the dazzling array of goods overwhelms us, and various plastic packaging bags (especially custom-shaped packaging) provide us with a visual feast, making us deeply feel that plastic flexible packaging has a vast market.

Due to the uneven technical capabilities of domestic flexible packaging enterprises, the production of custom-shaped bags is a major challenge for many of them. Some enterprises even have to give up such orders due to a lack of sufficient technical support. Today, Shunxingyuan Packaging, a professional flexible packaging manufacturer, will briefly introduce the production and manufacturing of custom-shaped bags and the performance of related equipment for the reference of interested production enterprises.

I. Types of Shaped Pouches

1. Three-side Seal Shaped Pouch

Various patterns are directly die-cut on three-side seal bags to meet the requirements of daily chemicals, food, etc., for intuitive and distinct product individuality, such as packaging bags for various fruit slices (mango slices, etc.) designed into the shape of the corresponding fruit (mango shape, etc.).

2. Stand-up Shaped Pouch

By adding a bottom gusset, shaped pouches of various forms can stand upright, fully reflecting their three-dimensional sense, and facilitating their display on supermarket or store shelves.

3. Stand-up Shaped Pouch with Zipper

Adding a zipper allows the packaging bag to be repeatedly opened based on the unique shape of the pouch. This is generally suitable for lightweight dry items such as candies, dried fruits, chocolates, biscuits, jellies, tea, etc.

4. Stand-up Shaped Pouch with Spout

The purpose of adding a spout is to facilitate the pouring of contents. Products with a spout can be re-sealed, meaning they can be opened and used multiple times. This type of shaped pouch is suitable for liquid beverages, shower gel, shampoo, ketchup, cooking oil, and other liquid products that need to be opened and used multiple times.

5. Spout-like Stand-up Shaped Pouch

In packaging design, no additional spout is added; instead, a spout-like shape is created using the manufacturing characteristics of the shaped pouch for convenient use. It is generally used for liquid packaging, but once opened, it cannot be re-sealed.

II. Structure of Shaped Pouches

Shaped pouches are similar to ordinary flexible packaging bags. Their main structures include PET/PE, PET/CPP, BOPP/PE, BOPP/VMPET/PE, PET/VMPET/PE, PET/Al/NY/PE, PET/NY/PE, etc. Their printing and laminating processes are similar to those of ordinary packaging bags.

III. Manufacturing and Equipment for Shaped Pouches

For some flexible packaging enterprises, the forming of shaped pouches is done by making bags on a bag-making machine, then offline using a punching machine to die-cut the irregular shapes, followed by necessary trimming to complete the production. This method wastes a lot of human and material resources, and the production efficiency is not high. Currently, an auxiliary equipment for bag-making machines has appeared on the market—the die-cutting machine, which is specifically used for the production of shaped pouches. It is mainly driven by a servo motor, equipped with optical, electrical, and pneumatic systems, and has its own PLC signal which can be well linked with the bag-making machine to achieve online synchronous die-cutting. This ensures the precision of shaped pouch manufacturing, eliminates the need for subsequent offline processing, and is equipped with online finished product conveying and automatic edge trimming and winding functions, greatly improving the efficiency of shaped pouch production and reducing production loss. Currently, many domestic manufacturers are producing such machines, with companies like Nanhai Bocheng being relatively successful.

Shaped pouches break through the limitations of traditional rectangular bags, transforming straight edges into curved ones, thereby embodying different design styles. They feature novelty, simplicity, clarity, easy recognition, and brand image prominence, also representing the trend direction of plastic flexible packaging. Currently, some large domestic flexible packaging manufacturers have equipped themselves with corresponding machinery for the professional production of shaped pouches. It is believed that with the development of bag-making technology and equipment, and the continuous popularization of die-cutting equipment, the production of shaped pouches will no longer be a challenge for flexible packaging enterprises, and shaped pouches will present a prosperous scene of widespread adoption.