From Bulk Bags to Stand Up Pouches: Packaging One Product Twice

Coffee, rice, seeds, pet treats, spices: plenty of products arrive at a packing plant by the ton and leave it in a pouch small enough to hold in one hand. The same product needs two very different packages along the way, and each one has its own job.

This guide follows a product through both, so you can brief the bulk side and the retail side together instead of treating them as two unrelated orders.

Stage one: moving the product in bulk

At the bulk end, the product travels in flexible intermediate bulk containers, the woven polypropylene bags lifted by forklift. Many buyers know them as super sack bags, after the Super Sack® brand, and you will often hear a single one called a super sack bag. The name is a trademark of one company; the product itself is the FIBC, and that is what to put on a purchase order.

For food that will later be packed for retail, the bulk bag has to protect it the whole way. That usually means a food grade bulk bag, often with an FDA food grade liner in blue, clear or green, and a discharge spout that suits your packing line. If you are new to these bags, what is an FIBC covers the basics.

Stage two: why stand up pouches win on the shelf

Once the product is portioned for sale, the package changes job. It is no longer about surviving a forklift; it is about standing out, keeping the product fresh and being easy to open and close again. Stand up pouches do all three. They stand on a shelf like a box, show a full face for branding, and weigh far less than a rigid container.

What goes into customized stand up pouches

Customized stand up pouches are built around the product and how long it has to last, rather than picked from a catalogue. These are the choices we work through with customers:

• Structure: a laminated film specified for the product, the barrier it needs and the shelf life you want.
• Closure: a resealable zipper, a spout fitment for liquids and powders, or a plain heat seal.
• Print: multi-colour, printed to your artwork, with a gloss, matt or soft-touch finish.
• Extras: a tear notch, a hang hole for peg displays, a window to show the product, or a degassing valve.

Coffee is a good example. Freshly roasted beans keep releasing carbon dioxide, so a coffee pouch usually gets a degassing valve that lets the gas out without letting oxygen in. A pouch for dried fruit might skip the valve and add a window instead, because the product sells itself.

Stand up pouches are one format among several. If your product suits a flat three-side-seal pouch, a gusseted pouch or a vacuum pack better, the same brief applies. Our flexible pouches page lists every format.

Briefing both stages at once

Buying the bulk bags and the pouches from one supplier means one conversation covers the whole journey. A few details are worth sharing for both sides at the same time:

• What the product is, and whether it is sensitive to moisture, oxygen or light.
• How much arrives in each bulk bag, and how much goes into each pouch.
• How the bulk bag is emptied at your packing line.
• How long the packed product needs to last on the shelf.
• Your artwork, or a sample of the pouch you use now.

If you already have a pouch you like, send us a sample with the artwork. We will work back to its structure and confirm what we can reproduce.

Next step

Tell us what you pack, the bulk quantities coming in and the pouch sizes going out. Contact us to start, or use Build a Bag to set out the bulk bag side first.

SUPER SACK® is a registered trademark of United Bags, Inc. Transcontinental Packaging is not affiliated with United Bags, Inc.; the name is used here only to describe what buyers search for.

Explore our packaging product range or visit the Transcontinental Packaging homepage to learn about our company and the industries we serve.