ALLIEDFLEX® Technologies, Inc.

ALLIEDFLEX® is the exclusive North American sales and marketing partner for ROBERT'S PACKAGING MACHINERY, MESPACK PACKAGING MACHINERY and SJ PACK pouch machinery Programs. ALLIEDFLEX® specializes in Standup Pouch Packaging Machinery with flexible solutions for Pre-Made Pouch Fill-Seal and fully automated Intermittent or Continuous Motion Form, Fill and Seal Machinery. Our unique blend of machinery technologies, in addition to our global network of Packaging Material Suppliers, Contract Packagers and Ancillary Equipment Providers offer you and your project the COMPLETE SOLUTION.

A fully automatic wicketted bagger, designed to open the bag, receive a charge from most types of feeding devices, seal the bag with an integral heat sealer, and then transfer the finished bag onto a discharge conveyor. Will also accept hand feeding when equipped with a foot pedal. STANDARD FEATURES: P.L.C. (programmable logic controller) - Temperature and speed controlled seal head complete with pneumatic scrap removal and bagtop trimmer - Stainless steel product contact surfaces - Automatic bag discharge - Take away conveyor with adjustable discharge height - Adjustable infeed hopper - Integral electrical control panel which can be interfaced to a product feeding device - Auxiliary blower for over sized product bags (on WBS 0918 only)

I recently had the opportunity — along with a group of Institute of Packaging Professional (IOPP) members — to visit the Clemson University campus in Clemson, S.C. The visit was focused around Clemson’s packaging laboratory and new Center for Flexible Packaging (CEFPACK). Our tour was conducted by Dr. W. Scott Whiteside who is the program’s associate director Besides creating a wonderful educational environment for Clemson's undergraduate and graduate students, the CEFPACK program has also been designed to perform research projects and packaging evaluations for industry including consumer product companies and packaging suppliers.

You may ask what does this have to do with flexible packaging? Well flexible packaging is starting to be used widely by the consumer product companies to meet the objectives of the club store marketing approach. Dictates for lower cost and larger sizes are driving companies to look more closely at flexible packaging. We also seeing this drive toward larger sizes increasing the trend toward the requirement for reclosability—it’s not a choice, but a requirement. Take a look and you will see hundreds of products packaged in big party sizes or large food service packages offering multiple servings with zipper reclosability. “Big” package sizes equate to “big” opportunity for our industry.

Those of us involved in the flexible packaging business have seen dramatic change in our industry in recent years. Many of the marketplaces that we serve have evolved and so have their methods of packaging. Once an industry driven by price and price alone, we are now taking a leadership role in bringing creative value-added solutions to the world of packaging. The continued market success of many new innovative products is dramatically raising the profile of flexible packaging by creating a ripple effect of opportunity in a broad array of product categories.

At the recent Pack Expo International 2002 held in Chicago, a packaging machinery and technology exhibition that highlighted “who’s who” in the global packaging arena, PMMI presented the latest and greatest in packaging. And during the exhibition, you could not help but notice that flexible packaging dominated the scene and stole the show! Numerous examples of evolving flexible packaging technologies and machinery systems stood out from the crowd. The list goes on and on, illustrating the power of flexible packaging and our industry’s continued commitment toward the further evolution of the technologies that will help grow the market and provide the necessary tools to further meet the “challenges of change

We all know that supporting our existing customers and establishing new business opportunities is more important than ever. Have you noticed lately that your customers are also expecting "more" from you as a supplier then ever before? Things are changing at an increasing pace and your customers and futures prospects are looking to their suppliers for in-depth expertise, application experience and the resources to help them get the job done and done right. What they are really looking for are solutions - solutions to their packaging needs. Those that can separate themselves and their company from their competition and orient their selling strategy to solving problems and develop total solutions will win the business.

For the flexible packaging market to continue to prosper, it will be important for our industry to have a constant outlook toward emerging trends and evolving market dynamics that may shape our future and continue to create forward momentum. It is important for us to look globally as to what packaging solutions are working within various regions of the world in order for us to get a "snapshot" of what we may expect to see in our own backyard in coming years. After all, we are starting to see that the United States market is not quite as unique as we may like to think. For decades, I have observed global packaging innovation that I was told would never succeed in the U.S. This was incorrect.

ROBERT'S IMFS series Fill / Seal system for the automatic filling and sealing of pre-made Standup or Side Gusset Bags with Zipper or "Slider" reclosability.

Have you noticed lately that the frozen food category is starting to re-invent itself through the use of new and innovative flexible packaging? Over the years, we have not typically thought of the frozen food category as particularly innovative. However, since many modern freezer cases today have now gone “Upright,” “Lit Up,” and many retail stores have gone “Upscale,” so has frozen food packaging. The modern freezer case of today is starting to get “jazzy” with many new product introductions, new packaging formats with sparkle, vibrate color and attention getting graphics.