Walk down a snack aisle and most of what you see in the bar section is flow wrapped. Same for individually wrapped cookies, single candies, many medical supplies and a surprising number of small toys. The format is so common that people rarely notice it, which is exactly the point. Flow wrap is built for speed on the packing line and for a single use in the consumer's hand.
Here is how the format works, what the film choices mean, and where it fits against pouches and sachets.
What a flow wrap is
A flow wrap is a package formed around a product from a continuous roll of printed film. The film wraps around the item, the two edges meet on the back and are sealed together into a fin, and the package is crimped and cut at each end. The result is a sealed sleeve with a fin seal running along the back and an end seal on both sides.
The process is continuous. Products feed into the wrapper in a line, the film forms around each one, and the machine seals and separates them without stopping. That is why flow wrap dominates high volume single-serve categories: it is one of the fastest ways to get a product into a sealed package.
Flow wraps are typically made with plastic films, which seal well under heat and hold up to the speed of the line.
Which products belong in a flow wrap
Flow wrap is most commonly used with food items. Bars, cookies, individually wrapped confections, crackers and single portions of baked goods are the classic cases. The format also shows up outside food, on medical supplies and on toys, wherever a product needs a sealed wrap and will be opened once.
That last part is the defining trait. Flow wraps are intended for products with a single use that do not need to be repackaged for storage. There is no zipper and no reclose. Once the fin seal or the end seal is torn, the package has done its job. If the consumer will open and close the package repeatedly, a stand up or lay flat pouch with a resealable zipper is the better fit.
The films behind the format
Flow wrap is a roll stock product, which means what you order is printed film on a roll, formed and filled at your facility or your co-packer's. The film has to match both the product and the wrapper it runs on.
All of the flow wrap we produce is custom printed. The items we offer include:
- Snack webs, the workhorse film for bars, cookies and confections
- Cosmetic web, for single-use beauty and personal care items
- Forming films
- Heat seal polypros, which seal cleanly under heat on the wrapper
Special items are available on request when a product does not fit one of these.
Roll stock versus premade packaging
If you have only ever bought premade pouches, roll stock is a different purchase and it helps to understand why.
Roll stock is printable film delivered flat on a roll. It is the popular choice for single-serve and sample-sized products because the packaging cost per unit is low and the film is formed, filled and sealed in one pass. The tradeoff is that it needs a machine at the filling end. Flow wrap, stick packs and sachets are all roll stock formats. Stand up and lay flat pouches are premade, arriving finished and ready to fill.
For a brand that already runs a wrapper or works with a co-packer who does, flow wrap roll stock is often the most economical way to package a single-serve food product. For a brand without that equipment, a premade pouch may be the faster path.
Design considerations on a flow wrap
A couple of things about flow wrap artwork catch brands off guard.
The first is repeat. Because the film is continuous, the artwork repeats down the roll and the wrapper registers each cut to the design. The design has to be built to the repeat length of the finished package, with the fin seal and end seals accounted for.
The second is the seal area. The back fin and the two crimped ends are real estate the design cannot fully use. A design that puts a logo or a regulatory statement on the back seam ends up with that element folded into the fin. It is worth checking the layout against the finished package dimensions before film is printed.
Printed digitally, matched run to run
Our flow wrap film runs on the same fleet of HP digital presses that prints our pouches, stick packs and labels, with widths from 13 to 30 inches. Digital printing on flow wrap means no plates, which removes the cost barrier for a bar line with a dozen flavors, and it holds color consistency from one run to the next so a reorder matches the shelf. For longer runs, our UV inkjet press brings the economics of flexographic printing without giving up quality.
Where K. Sidrane fits in
Flow wrap is one of the roll stock formats we print and convert at our flexible packaging facility in Farmingdale, New York. We produce custom printed flow wrap for specialty food brands, nutraceutical companies packaging bars, and beauty and cosmetics brands running single-use items, alongside printed roll stock for individually wrapped cookies and bars.
If you are moving a bar, a cookie or a single-use product into flow wrap, reach us at orders@ksidrane.com, at 631-393-6974, or through the quote request form.