Pulse Flexible Packaging & Plasfilms zip-up an ideal solution for M&S

When Anne Harding, print and packaging development manager at M&S, turned to Pulse Flexible Packaging to see if it could provide a packaging solution for its new Taste of the British Isles confectionery range, produced for M&S by Thornton’s, the company seized the opportunity with both hands.

The brief was to develop a pack with an easy open and re-close system that allows for careful portion control and simple in-store display to attract the consumer. It was critical to M&S that the pack had a premium look and feel to reflect M&S’s high quality product, in conjunction with a high quality packaging format to engage the customer.

Pulse Flexible Packaging’s development team devised a solution using a high quality gravure printed polyester with a patterned surface lacquer, laminated in line to BPI grade PE, to then be formed in to a pouch. The pouch can be self– supporting on shelf, with the added convenience of a euroslot for trouble-free on-shelf hanging and removal. While the high impact graphics and patterned lacquer ensures the products premium look and feel on-shelf.

The Taste of The British Isles ‘Strawberries & Cream Coconut Ice’ pack was a finalist in the prestigious 2015 UK Packaging Awards in The Best Flexible Plastic Pack of the Year category.

The easy-open and re-close system was achieved with a simple tear notch, for convenient access to the product, while Plasfilms supplied a SANZIP MD10-TK re-close gripper ensuring an efficient re-close, time and again, allowing effortless portion control for the consumer. The MD10-TK offers a very strong inner holding force from the inside coupled with an easy-open feature for the consumer.

The construction allows for an effortless crush on the side seal, which not only offers an attractive flat finish but a good barrier with little air escape. Converters benefit from being able to run the zipper at high speeds and at low sealing temperatures.

When Pulse Flexible Packaging broadened its portfolio to include premium premade pouches, Plasfilms was the natural choice to support the company. As a supplier of SANZIP re-closable zippers, which have numerous formats and consumer benefits, including easy-open functionality and re-closeability for portion control and product freshness, Plasfilms, through its Armstrong Bradley business, has been a supplier to Pulse Flexible Packaging for a number of years. The two businesses have a shared value for quality and customer service and have a successful partnership.