The Dow Chemical Company’s (dow.com) Performance Packaging business is always ready to help its customers gain firsthand experience with industry-leading technologies that can help turn packaging ideas into premiere packaging solutions. To further enable the development of packaging innovation, Dow is launching Pack Studios, a collaborative capability of Dow Performance Packaging that can accelerate packaging application projects through a global network of labs, experts and testing equipment.     

Currently there are four Pack Studios centers around the globe – Freeport, Texas; Horgen, Switzerland; São Paulo, Brazil; and Shanghai, China. Each center features a collaboration room to inspire solution-based thinking, laboratory facilities for material development, and fabrication and testing equipment to validate packaging applications. Direct customers and other members of the packaging value chain who visit Pack Studios will have the opportunity to collaborate with a dedicated Dow technical team and a global network of industry professionals that have a wealth of experience in packaging application, materials and design.

“Pack Studios is summarized in three words: collaborate – innovate – accelerate. These three propositions underscore the value that Pack Studios will bring to our customers,” say Scott Collick, North America director of Technical Services & Development for Dow Performance Packaging. “By combining these three core values, Pack Studios becomes a catalyst for the packaging solutions of tomorrow, providing customers with a competitive advantage today.”

Besides providing the opportunity to experiment with different properties for flexible food and beverage packaging such as protective barrier films, sealants and adhesives, Pack Studios can facilitate the sharing of ideas that will enable greater growth within the food packaging industry. This collaborative approach helps build a stronger foundation for innovative solutions and better packaging.

“Pack Studios’ purpose is to assist Dow in fulfilling the larger goal of advancing the packaging industry as a whole while helping our customers improve their bottom lines,” explains Collick. “This is more than a series of labs – it is a unique experience for each customer that allows them to accelerate their innovation process.”

At the centers, customers will be able to test applications in rigid plastic, shrink wrap, stretch hood films, as well as flexible packaging for food. This allows customers to minimize the downtime associated with prototyping and testing, along with the wear and tear on their own equipment.