Walk the EasyLine!

Constantia Flexibles: What normally happens when you open a bag of food?

Matthias Cibis: Well, of course that is not always what happens, but mostly you tear open a bag and it opens very uncontrollable. By the way, our technical term for bag would be pouch, a small flexible baglike container. So the pouch might be ripped open too much and a lot of the product falls out. The other extreme is that you are too careful and open the pouch to little that you can hardly get the desired food item out of there…

Constantia Flexibles: What is different with EasyLine?

Matthias Cibis: We invented CONSTANTIA EasyLine as a so-called “Tear Directed Opening”. To make it simple, EasyLine is a compound of two layers of film material, where one layer is mechanically pre-cut in the production. The cut in one of the materials enables the second material layer to follow the cut pattern. Thus the bag opens controlled along the pre-cut.

The great thing is, that all the desired barrier-abilities stay the same, which means although one layer of material of the compound has been cut, the second one enables the pouch to stay sealed and waterproof and hygienic. We tested this with the “Dinkelberg-Test” where the Dinkelberg machine generates a vacuum. It causes a negative pressure and as a result it shows the tightness of the pouch. If the pouch would not be completely tight it would create bubbles or even burst. This test is very important – it makes sure that the barrier is not harmed because of the EasyLine.

Constantia Flexibles: Does EasyLine work with every type of pouch for food or liquids?

Matthias Cibis: Well, the cut is possible in machine direction, only, so the application works for all pouches, which are packaged against the machine-direction and also for several flow packs, which are typically used for chocolate bars, cookies or gum. Originally we designed EasyLine having its use for chocolate candy products and other snacks in mind.

Constantia Flexibles: What would you see as the top three innovation features of this product?

Matthias Cibis: First of all it helps avoid a lot of mess when you are consuming the product from the pouch. This is a big convenience feature for the end-consumer as more and more food is also consumed on-the-go and needs to come out of the packaging fast and clean.

Secondly there is the cost-saving factor for the customer as there are no extra material costs. In fact more expensive PE types can be exchanged against less expensive, simpler PE types with this compounding method EasyLine.

And last but not least there is innovation in the fact that EasyLine can be easily and quickly installed on the finishing lines, which means that the downtime for the manufacturer is very small.

Constantia Flexibles: Thanks, Mr. Cibis, for the interview and the insights.