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Should your new product introduction use pre-made fitmented / spouted pouches or form fill seal?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of pre-made pouches and form fill seal?

This question has been the cause of much consternation among packaging professionals for a long time. Does it make sense to leap right into the more complex form fill seal (FFS) technology for your spouted pouch project – or start out using pre-mades?

Companies that may be just getting into flexibles as a replacement for rigid packages may want to initially start with pre-mades and then graduate up to FFS once acclimated and volume grows. Some prefer to go through this initial learning phase with the help of a contract packer and then take production in-house when ready.

There are several factors that drive the pre-made vs. FFS debate, such as:

- With pre-mades, your pouch supplier conducts quality checks before shipping pouches to you. With form fill seal, you effectively become the pouch manufacturer and are responsible for all related quality aspects of the package. Therefore, more expertise is required to run FFS equipment vs. pre-made equipment.
- With pre-mades, the cost of the equipment is lower and the cost of the package itself is higher than with FFS. Filling speeds with pre-mades are also slower than with FFS. A byproduct of the slower filling speed with pre-mades is a lower scrap rate.
- With pre-mades, various pouch shapes, fitment types, and placement on the pouch are possible. These options are more limited with FFS technology.

These are a few of the factors to consider when comparing pre-made pouches to form fill seal. There are several others including freight costs, warehousing/storage, supply chain complexities, and lead time.

At HQC Inc., we manufacture custom and stock pouch fitments designed to run on both pre-made pouch filling equipment and form fill seal lines. Among other value add services, we also help you dial in the fitment sealing process using our in-house auto fitment insertion machine.

Let us help you sort through the process of identifying the best way to launch your new spouted pouch product. Give us a call at (630) 820-5550. We go the extra mile to make sure your product launch is a success!