Packaging Strategies’ third annual Global Pouch West is moving to Las Vegas December 7-8 for one-and-a-half days’ worth of educational sessions, networking and a tabletop exhibition hall. While the educational sessions will touch on a variety of hot-button issues for western-based packaging professionals, the tabletop exhibit hall will showcase some of the latest innovations in flexible packaging and the pouch packaging format.

Here’s a preview of some of the technology and new innovations that will be on hand at Global Pouch West:

Mondi Group (21): Mondi’s Consumer Goods Packaging business will showcase its customizable teapot-shaped standup pouch, which is designed to capture shoppers’ attention on consumer goods retail shelves. The uniquely shaped pouch, which can be tailored to meet the specific needs of brands, can be printed via flexographic or rotogravure print processes and enhanced with metallic inks and matte finishes. A broad range of spout and cap configurations and a selection of bottom constructions add to the pouch’s design flexibility. It is available in sizes ranging from 350 to 1,000 milliliters and is compatible with conventional filling equipment for filling at the pouch’s top or through its spout. The pouch has a 3-ply construction, and can be produced with clear windows to showcase products featuring striking colors or with tinted windows. It is ergonomically designed with a handle built at a 25-degree angle that makes the pouch easy to control when pouring.

NOVA Chemicals (42): NOVA Chemicals will feature its versatile all-PE multilayer film structure design for use in the popular standup pouch package format. The structure is compatible with No. 2 HDPE recycling streams, while retaining the performance, processability and cost competitiveness of existing mixed-material structures. The new film offers several benefits, such as exceptional moisture barrier performance, ability to run on standard lines without productivity loss, ability to be co-extruded or PE-PE laminated for surface or reverse printing, compatability with reclosable zippers and other open/close fitments and ability of oxygen barrier functionality can be added without compromising recyclability. The structure is also suitable for other packaging formats, including lidding for trays, pillow packs and sachets.

Precision AirConvey (36): Precision AirConvey will present on its matrix waste removal systems and how they increase productivity, decrease downtime, and lower material and labor costs. Additionally, the systems guarantee a full return on investment in less than 24 months for narrow web and flexo print companies. PAC’s pneumatic systems eliminate the need to wind matrix waste. Instead, PAC matrix waste removal systems capture matrix right at the press, where it is chopped up and whisked away pneumatically to a waste compactor or baler. No winding is needed, saving production time. PAC also offers options for those working with PSA materials.

Sun Chemical (11): Sun Chemical will further discuss its recent partnership with ACPO as a means of meeting the growing demand of brand owners and flexible packaging converters for high-barrier transparent packaging. Sun Chemical supplies its SunBar oxygen barrier coatings to ACPO to coat and supply various films to flexible packaging converters. These films are an excellent choice for clear high-barrier flexible packaging structures and also for ultra-high barrier metalized film structures.

Charter NEX (45): Charter NEX will have its GreenArrow Recyclable Films on display, which are a direct response to the desire for more sustainable flexible packaging materials. The GreenArrow film line includes a 100 percent PE film for surface-printed pouch applications and a multilayer film using RecycleReady technology.

Menshen (14): Menshen will showcase its variety of standard weld spout and closure designs, which have been successfully developed and launched for spouted pouch applications across many industries, including medical, pharmaceutical, chemical, food and beverage and consumer products. Of particular note is its Child Friendly weld spout and closure (CSC-A), which is supplied assembled and designed to be run on horizontal FFS machines. Benefits include reduction of oxygen transmission, reliable sterilization during the hot-filling process and elimination of product in the neck of the fitment, among others.

HP (22): HP will have customer success stories, a variety of samples printed on the HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press as well as HP Indigo Pack Ready on display. The HP Indigo 20000 addresses SKU diversity and seasonal redesigns, optimizes supply chains, and deploys mass customization and personalization for campaigns that boost sales and brand loyalty. The press enables customers to expand into new markets and produce nearly any packaging application, including flexible packaging, labels and shrink sleeves on film or paper. HP Indigo Pack Ready is a set of post-print converting solutions developed and patented by HP and selected best-in-class partners that enables high-performance applications and immediate time to market.

Toppan USA (10): Toppan will feature its transparent barrier GL Film, which consists of a base layer (PET, OPA, etc.), an inorganic vapor deposition layer (alumina, silica, etc.) and a barrier coat layer. The multi-layer structure combining a proprietary coat layer and high-quality vapor deposition layer facilitates lamination and ensures stable barrier performance. GL FILM is currently used for approximately 15,000 products in roughly 45 countries and regions thanks to a wealth of variations suited to different purposes and the world’s highest level barrier performance, achieved using original vapor deposition technology.

Mamata (39): Mamata introduced its flat-bottom pouch machine to the U.S. market in 2015 and has now added capability to make zippered flat-bottom pouches with terminated gussets in two lanes. Mamata is the only company that can provide this capability, doubling the production capacity, which signals a change in the cost-to-output ratio to make the production of these pouches more affordable. Mamata will also discuss its FS-Series Fill+Seal machine and its VegaPack M200, M260 and M300 HFFS machines.

Kuraray (19): Kuraray will showcase products that provide superior gas barriers in food packaging applications, as well as transparent resins and films for product visibility and easy processability. Products it will have on hand include PLANTIC HP Sheet, which combines high-performance packaging with bio-based content to benefit the environment, EVA EVOH resins and films, which provide a superior barrier copolymer used in co-extrusion, co-injection and lamination, and KURARISTER, a transparent, high-barrier retortable film used in standup pouch and lidding applications as a substitute for foil.

ProAmpac (29,40): ProAmpac will have its E-Z SnackPak by Ampac on display, a new packaging format for the single-serve snack food market. This tetrahedron-shaped pouch transforms into a serving tray upon opening – providing a unique consumer experience. Also on display will be ProAmpac’s PRO-TEAR, a stick pack that is high-barrier and laser-scored for easy opening with stiffness suitable for high-speed filling. The PRO Pouch and PRO-DURA bag will also be on hand.