PACK AGI NG
Closure-added uses
TH E I R VE RSAT I LIT Y HA S NO LI M ITS. TH E KW I K LOK CO R PO RAT ION F RO M YAK I MA, U SA, A MAN UF A C T U R E R O F B A G C L O S U R E S A N D A S S O C I A T E D M A C H I N E S , N O T O N LY S U P P L I E S E Q U I P M E N T
AN D MATE R IALS B UT ALSO ACTS A S A LI N K TO ADVE RT I S I NG PARTN E RS ON R EQUE ST
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© f2m
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Imagination knows no bounds in
advertising. This is how film
producers in Finland publicise
their latest works, mayonnaise
manufacturers advertise their
products and bread producers
their own product range. There’s
even room for scratch-card
lotteries on such labels
Shrek stood proud on the clip-mounted
paper label in Finland, as did Spiderman in the Far East – for film distributors the
daily bread placed on the family table is an attractive advertising medium that is noticed
by all generations in a household several times
a day. Thanks to the bread suppliers’ precise
distribution plans, timing and regional deployment can be very accurate. In return, the film
people finance the closure and sometimes the
sealing machine as well.
However, they are not the only ones who value
and know how to use the additional information on the product. Le Panier uses the
back of the label to explain how the product
should be handled; delicatessen manufacturers
praise their wares on it as a sandwich spread,
and on Greek labels the ingredients list and
nutrition labelling of the product in the bag
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BAKING+BISCUIT ISSUE 01 2011
are put on the back of the label. Kwik Lok’s
latest idea is to have labels with a scratch-card
game printed on them as a buying incentive.
Application of the labels is easy and can be
implemented at no extra cost. The labels are
firmly attached to the typical Kwik Lok plastic
closures, which are easy to open and to reseal.
The bag sealing machine does what it always
does; it slides the back into the closure aperture and a sensor checks that the whole bag is
enclosed in the clip and the clip is then
snapped from the roll, taking the additional
label with it.
There is no need to even reduce the speed at
which the bags are sealed with a label attached
to them, 110 to 120 bags per minute can be
closed with a clip and label. This is because
pushing the bag into the closure needs only a
single movement from one side. Pre-determined
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PACK AGI NG
break points are also built in between the clips on the roll
and so a knife etc. is not needed to cut the clips apart.
Kwik Lok closures work on a simple, ingenious principle. An
opening is punched in a plastic component. The divided
movable edge of the plastic component allows entry into the
opening so the bag can be pushed into it, but blocks its way
out. It is only when the consumer’s hands slightly bend the
divided edge apart that the bag can be re-opened again and
closed again.
This solution was invented in 1952 by Floyd Paxton who was
working at that time in his father’s company, which made box
nailing machines. However, wooden boxes were soon increasingly abandoned in favour of the newly discovered plastic
bag. Sealing them with a Kwik Lok-Clip was Paxton’s idea.
Today, the company is represented on every continent and 90 %
of its customers are from the food industry which appreciates
the reliability of the closure system and the sealing machines.
The company, whose headquarters are in Yakima, Washington, concentrated on the closure and sealing machine from
the very start, and nowadays it cooperates with practically
every packing machine manufacturer throughout the world.
Six factories, two of them in the USA, with the others in
Canada, Ireland, Australia and Japan supply clips and machines. Kwik Lok has a total worldwide workforce of about
500. On-the-spot marketing is undertaken by distributors.
The European headquarters are located in the Netherlands.
Clips are available in various sizes and with different openings
depending on the material of the package that is to be sealed.
Their advantage is that they are entirely metal-free. This means
the clips can be used even if the product is frozen afterwards, or the sealed bag is passed through a metal detector
to make sure the product it contains is not contaminated.
The clips can be printed by a thermal or laser printer, allowing
minimum shelf life, batch and/or production data to be noted
on them.
The sealing machines, which Kwik Lok offers for purchase
or on lease, differ depending on the clip they can handle and
the level of automation, which extends from an entirely manual
operation to a fully automated in-line version. Printers supplement the equipment, and a distinction is made between
printers that put the data directly onto the closure and those
that print a label on the spot if required. As a general rule,
however, the labels are pre-printed and are already combined
with the clips to form a strip that enables the required high
hourly rates.
According to Anton van Oirschot, Sales Manager for Northern
Europe, the cross-over labelling idea in which current films,
seasonal or combination products are publicised on the label,
is now not only established in his sales area but has also
received very positive feedback throughout the world. Oirschot
reports, “It’s a typical win-win situation. The bakery business
reduces its costs and the partner comes much closer to the
consumers than with classical advertising. It can’t get better
than that!” +++
© f2m
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BAKING+BISCUIT ISSUE 01 2011