When the Moltan Company (Middleton, TN), a leading manufacturer of over 100,000 tons of natural minerals annually, began selling its industrial-strength absorbent materials as consumer products in retail stores, it had to create a semi-bulk package that would not only continue to support and protect the products, but cater to customer accessibility to encourage sales as well. What was Moltan's solution? Reinforced soft handles and high-impact printing on Rex™ heavy-duty poly sacks from Plassein International (Willington, CT).
Handles Create Consumer Carrying Ease
With products ranging from cat litter to soil amendments and oil absorbers, many of the brands Moltan supports for consumer use are destined for automotive supply outlets and home and garden wholesale centers. Because these products are packaged in semi-bulk, the company needed to incorporate a packaging feature that would enable customers to easily lift and carry the weight of the bags.
"Consumers recognize the cost-savings from buying in bulk," said Jim Burns, Executive Vice President of the Moltan Company. "They also recognize the added-value of handles for carrying semi-bulk products not only to their car, but around their garages and gardens as well."
This often-underutilized feature of heavy-duty packaging can vastly improve consumer lifting and carrying of semi-bulk products. Super-strong reinforced handles, like Plassein's Handi Sac™ handles, enable consumers to deftly carry heavy packaging and prevent chafing and skin abrasions due to extended handling and loading of bags into vehicles. Additionally, the incorporation of handles allows consumers to pick up more than one bag at a time, which may encourage multiple product purchases at point-of-sale. It also gives brands with these new handles a significant competitive advantage.
Packaging Material of Choice
Polyethylene heavy-duty sacks are quickly becoming the packaging material of choice for semi-bulk products because they provide the moisture barrier properties necessary to protect brands in outdoor storage settings. Rex™ heavy-duty sacks from Plassein also offer exceptional durability, preventing tears and insect contamination in retail and end use.
This durability feature affords protection during shipping and forklift handling. The Moltan Company significantly reduced breakage problems by using valve-filled poly sacks from Plassein. Burns notes, "Products packaged in our traditional semi-bulk packaging had the tendency to tear during distribution, resulting in product spillage in trucks, and worse yet, in customer warehouses and retail floors. The Rex bags from Plassein reduced breakage problems, ensuring shipments arrive without harm."
High-Color Printing Shines
To boost its Opti-Sorb and Ultra-Sorb brands, the Moltan Company takes advantage of high-color packaging graphics. Says Burns, "Plassein provides us with premium graphics so that our semi-bulk packages serve as high-impact billboards in retail isles." He also points out that packaging graphics remind buyers after sales to repeat the purchase when supplies are running low.
"Since incorporating poly bags with high-color printing into the packaging mix of what was traditionally paper multi-wall bags," says Burns. "Moltan has expanded its business to nationally recognized brands like NAPA and Unisource."
The importance of strategic packaging merchandising is paramount when heavy-duty sacks are stacked. Moltan utilizes Plassein's high-color gusset printing to ensure that even bags that are stacked are a highly visible means of displaying traffic-stopping brands and logos. Plassein achieves these high-impact results with state-of-the-art presses that print up to six colors.
The most effective forms of semi-bulk packaging should not only provide an efficient method of protecting product quality during shipping, storage, and shelf life, it should also be utilized as a medium to promote brand identity in retail scenarios. And as the Moltan company experienced, the inclusion of easy-to-carry handles can transform a bulky heavy-duty bag into an appealing, consumer friendly package that keeps them coming back for more.