Strategy Picks Ishida High-Speed Clip-Strip System
Ishida has revealed that contract packer Strategy Group has installed the flexible strip pack applicator (F-SPA) for hanging products in retail stores. The automatic clip strip solution, provided by Ishida's UK distributor Index, is said to provide effective merchandising for retail outlets while offering cost savings compared with hand-loaded alternatives. Index said hang-strips are a good format for impulse purchases and because they do not take up shelf space, provide an opportunity to gain a first retail listing.
They can also be used for special promotions or placed strategically next to complementary items in any part of the store, for example, snacks by the beer section. Such benefits, said Index, mean that a correctly merchandised strip can deliver up to 30 per cent increase in sales compared with shelf display. For Strategy, the F-SPA provided a cost-effective solution to maximise the benefits of hang-strips. Melanie Norcross, sales manager at Strategy, said: 'In the past, placing packs onto strips was a very labour-intensive operation.
'In addition, packs usually had to be adapted with the inclusion of a hole or euro slot to enable them to be placed on the strips and the strips themselves could be quite heavy and bulky. 'All this generated extra costs for the packing process, which could not be reflected in the selling price of the pack, making strip packs something of a loss leader. 'With the Ishida system, we have a cost-effective operation, which enables the strips to take on a far more proactive marketing role,' she added. The F-SPA loads 60 bags per minute onto the Ishida strip-tape, ready to hang at point-of-purchase locations.
The Ishida strip-tape design heat-seals the bags to the re-sealable strip-tape. The sealing process can be adjusted according to the requirements of each product to provide a secure attachment and ensure that packs can not accidentally drop off the strip during packing or handling. Equally, the tape allows bags to be re-attached to the strip-tape using the adhesive layer of the tape. Furthermore, as the bags do not require a hole or a euro-slot to be attached to the Ishida strip-tape, bag makers with those facilities are not required. The strip-tape is supplied on a reel, which is inserted into the F-SPA.
The tape can also be printed with individual product branding if required. The reel format provides flexibility as individual strips can be of different lengths to hold different numbers of packs (typically six, 10 or 12). The spacing of the packs on the strip can also be adjusted depending on pack design and bag size, to ensure that they can be presented to their best advantage in-store. In addition, an extended length of tape at the top of each strip can be created to allow for additional product brand promotion to be included in order to maximise in-store impact.
Settings for individual product requirements are stored in the Ishida F-SPA memory and called up at the touch of a button. For Strategy, an important benefit of the Ishida system is that packs can be brought into the factory, applied to the tape and then repacked in the same box, enabling manufacturers to keep the same SKU for simplified distribution. Because the weight of the Ishida strip is lighter than traditional plastic strips (3.8g as opposed to 17g), this reduces both transport costs and the amount of waste sent to landfill, helping to improve a pack's overall carbon footprint.
Further advantages of the F-SPA are its flexibility, which means it can be linked to bag makers and flow wrappers as well as manually fed. It can also be easily moved to different production lines or operated off-line as required. The F-SPA is suitable for bags made with heat-sealable OPP film. The amount of air fill in the bag and the sealing temperature of the bags to the tape can be adjusted for each product to ensure that the bags are held firmly in place while still being easy for consumers to remove without damaging pack integrity. In addition, the top of the bag is folded over before being affixed to the strip, aiding the customer to easily remove the bag.
They can also be used for special promotions or placed strategically next to complementary items in any part of the store, for example, snacks by the beer section. Such benefits, said Index, mean that a correctly merchandised strip can deliver up to 30 per cent increase in sales compared with shelf display. For Strategy, the F-SPA provided a cost-effective solution to maximise the benefits of hang-strips. Melanie Norcross, sales manager at Strategy, said: 'In the past, placing packs onto strips was a very labour-intensive operation.
'In addition, packs usually had to be adapted with the inclusion of a hole or euro slot to enable them to be placed on the strips and the strips themselves could be quite heavy and bulky. 'All this generated extra costs for the packing process, which could not be reflected in the selling price of the pack, making strip packs something of a loss leader. 'With the Ishida system, we have a cost-effective operation, which enables the strips to take on a far more proactive marketing role,' she added. The F-SPA loads 60 bags per minute onto the Ishida strip-tape, ready to hang at point-of-purchase locations.
The Ishida strip-tape design heat-seals the bags to the re-sealable strip-tape. The sealing process can be adjusted according to the requirements of each product to provide a secure attachment and ensure that packs can not accidentally drop off the strip during packing or handling. Equally, the tape allows bags to be re-attached to the strip-tape using the adhesive layer of the tape. Furthermore, as the bags do not require a hole or a euro-slot to be attached to the Ishida strip-tape, bag makers with those facilities are not required. The strip-tape is supplied on a reel, which is inserted into the F-SPA.
The tape can also be printed with individual product branding if required. The reel format provides flexibility as individual strips can be of different lengths to hold different numbers of packs (typically six, 10 or 12). The spacing of the packs on the strip can also be adjusted depending on pack design and bag size, to ensure that they can be presented to their best advantage in-store. In addition, an extended length of tape at the top of each strip can be created to allow for additional product brand promotion to be included in order to maximise in-store impact.
Settings for individual product requirements are stored in the Ishida F-SPA memory and called up at the touch of a button. For Strategy, an important benefit of the Ishida system is that packs can be brought into the factory, applied to the tape and then repacked in the same box, enabling manufacturers to keep the same SKU for simplified distribution. Because the weight of the Ishida strip is lighter than traditional plastic strips (3.8g as opposed to 17g), this reduces both transport costs and the amount of waste sent to landfill, helping to improve a pack's overall carbon footprint.
Further advantages of the F-SPA are its flexibility, which means it can be linked to bag makers and flow wrappers as well as manually fed. It can also be easily moved to different production lines or operated off-line as required. The F-SPA is suitable for bags made with heat-sealable OPP film. The amount of air fill in the bag and the sealing temperature of the bags to the tape can be adjusted for each product to ensure that the bags are held firmly in place while still being easy for consumers to remove without damaging pack integrity. In addition, the top of the bag is folded over before being affixed to the strip, aiding the customer to easily remove the bag.
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