Pack Expo 2012

"Feel the energy in here," Collick told PlasticsToday. "There are new packaging ideas being created this very minute."

At Pack Expo 2012 (October 28-31; McCormick Place, Chicago), you won't find employees of Dow manning a booth. Instead, the company sponsors a customer care center, located in the Vista Ballroom, in an effort to meet with its customers in a setting that is designed to promote collaboration.

The company's performance packaging division recently announced its commitment to establishing strong value chain partners and collaboration within its Film Application Development Center (FADC). The center, located at Dow's Freeport, TX facility, is lab that offers customers and formulators the opportunity to conceptualize, fabricate, test and validate the latest in film packaging applications without the cost and downtime that can be associated with utilizing their own production facilities.

"We like to refer to collaboration as growing a pie," said Dave Kyle, North America performance packaging director of marketing for Dow. "When all players of the supply chain are working together, it makes everyone in the packaging space better."

One of the collaborations the FADC recently established is the installation of a Herrmann Ultrasonics HiQ Dialog 20kHz ultrasonic welder. This machine allows customers and packaging film developers to evaluate sealants and film structures for ultrasonic sealing applications and measure seal strengths. The HiQ Dialog provides the ability to control the sealing process by several factors, including total energy, and records and tracks seal process data, enabling an analysis of the ultrasonic sealing window for materials and structures, Dow stated. Additionally, the welder will facilitate the investigation of seal through contamination and other benefits of ultrasonic sealing, allowing the team to test films for performance in ultrasonic sealing applications.

Another new addition to the lab is the Cloeren Nanolayer Feedblock. The Feedblock offers the FADC's visitors a versatile system to produce nanolayer films on Dow's Egan five-layer cast extrusion line. The system is suited for use in the testing and production of films in applications including flex-crack resistant barrier film, optical film, stretch film, and high-barrier food-packaging film. Dow said its partners can now fabricate and test packaging applications with "enhanced barrier performance, film toughness, modulus, formability and optics."

During Pack Expo, Dow introduced a new laminating adhesive, ADCOTE adhesives and coatings, a new series of AGILITY processing accelerators, and two additions to its existing DOWLEX linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) resins portfolio.

 "Where collaboration comes in is when we listen to our customers in the value chain and use this insight to help deliver solutions to problems," Collick said. "We're always looking to increase efficiency."