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The pouch market in packaging has been poised for a major U.S. breakthrough for much of this decade. Some would say that the market is still waiting.
But others would be accurate in pointing out that time has come today, with many leading pouch innovations starting to reach across the waters from Europe and Asia and make their way into new applications in the United States.
If nothing else, the 2011 Global Pouch Forum, the major industry event celebrating the rise of the pouch for more than a decade, has much to talk about this year. The event will be held June 7-9, 2011, at the Westin Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and will continue If nothing else, the 2011 Global Pouch Forum, the major industry event celebrating the rise of the pouch for more than a decade, has much to talk about this year. The event will be held June 7-9, 2011, at the Westin Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and will continue
A Growing Event
The Forum's recent popularity pays testimony to the growth in pouches in North America. This event is now in its 14th year, but continues to draw a large crowd. Last year, close to 300 attendees came to the Global Pouch Forum, one of the strongest attendance levels in the event's history. With new applications for the pouch either now on the market or on the near-term horizon, this year's event also is expected to draw a full house.
Ever since the dawn of time (also known as the advent of a universally accepted drink pouch, when Capri-Sun was launched in the United States back in the early days of the Clinton Administration), pouches have been considered ready for major market penetration. But some factors have delayed the pouch invasion in a major way.
Among those has been the fact that existing equipment could not easily handle high volumes and compete with the production of rigid bottles and cans on high-speed packaging fi lling lines and in-line systems. Plus, while pouches offer consumers some market advantages due to their light weight and portability, they also mean a major equipment changeover at large end-user companies that had invested heavily in rigid-packaging equipment.
But the pouch industry has...