New Technology Positions Large Laminate Tubes to Compete with Blow Molded Bottles

At the recent K 2019 show in Germany, Packsys Global of Switzerland showed off new equipment intended to prompt brand owners to convert from extrusion blow molded bottles to side-seamed laminate tubes for cosmetic applications. Packsys Global is part of the Brueckner Group, with offices in Portsmouth, N.H. (brueckner-usa.com). Packsys introduced side-seaming, heading and capping systems (see also Keeping Up section) for plastic and laminate tubes up to 60 mm diam., which can hold up to 400 ml of product. The company says bottles use 10% to 40% more weight of plastic than a tube that holds the same volume. Further, multilayer laminates reportedly can be thinner than an extruded tube and provide the same look and feel.

 

 

Another advantage claimed for tubes over bottles is that laminate tubes start out flat, which offers sophisticated direct printing opportunities without need for labels. To take better advantage of that decorating capability, Packsys Global introduced NEOSeam side-seaming technology that is said to provide the appearance of 360° decoration with no overlap visible to the consumer. NEOSeam’s side-seaming process reportedly allows for a seamless print appearance, improved seam performance, and highly stable, perfectly accurate seaming with a wide processing window. NEOSeam can be retrofitted to Packsys Global side seamers for cosmetic tubes of 28 mm diam. and larger.

One important feature of NEOSeam is the ability to repurpose the laminate side trim that is normally discarded. Instead, the side trim is used by NEOSeam to build up the tube’s side seam so that tubes don’t show any “white line” at the seam, even after multiple uses. That eliminates purchasing additional material from third parties and ensures that the tube maker has material on hand that matches the color and structure of the tube being produced. NEOSeam is said to be well suited to small-batch production or startup businesses.