Complete Production Process of Flexible Packaging Pouches

Lucy Wang

Complete Production Process of Flexible Packaging Pouches

Flexible packaging pouches are widely used in food, pet food, pharmaceuticals, household, and industrial applications. While pouch types vary in structure and application, their production follows a standardized industrial workflow.The process as follows :

1. Raw Material Preparation

Raw material rolls are categorized as:

Plastic films: BOPP, PET, PE, CPP, Nylon (PA)
Aluminum foil: High-barrier applications
Paper-based materials: Kraft paper, specialty paper for paper-plastic pouches

All materials are inspected for thickness, surface tension, flatness, and visual quality.

2. Printing on film roll

Where Is Printing Normally Applied?

Printing is typically applied to the outer layer material, most commonly:

PET/BOPP/Nylon/Paper
PE or CPP is usually not used as the main printing substrate due to lower print stability.It is mostly used as inner layer.

Printing Process

Rotogravure printing is the most widely used method, offering high accuracy, stable color reproduction, and consistency for mass production. Printed materials are fully dried before lamination.

3. 2 or multi-layers material Lamination

Lamination combines multiple layers. Methods include:

Dry lamination
Solvent-free lamination
Extrusion lamination (for specific structures)

Plastic lamination examples:

PET/PE, BOPP/CPP, PET/AL/PE, NY/PE

Paper-plastic lamination examples:

Kraft Paper / PE
Kraft Paper / AL / PE
Paper / Extruded PE / Plastic Film

Curing (24–72 hours) stabilizes adhesion.

4. Slitting (Optional)

Wide laminated rolls may be slit into narrower rolls according to pouch size. Slitting can be done after lamination or, in some cases, before printing.

5. Pouch Making

5.1 Forming

Stand up pouch (bottom gusset)/Quad seal pouch/Center seal pouch/Three-side seal pouch/Flat Bottom Pouch/etc.

5.2 Zipper Insertion

Zipper applied inline for reclosable pouches

5.3 Heat Sealing

Bottom, side, back, or corner seals
Temperature/pressure adjusted for material

5.4 Cutting

Continuous web cut to pouch length, counted, and packed

6. Quality Control of finished flexible packaging pouches

Inspections include:

Printing accuracy
Lamination peel strength
Seal strength
Finished pouch dimensions and appearance

Core production process:

Core production process:

Raw materials → Printing → Lamination → Optional slitting → Pouch making (form + zipper + seal + cut)

Pouch type differences mainly relate to printing substrate, lamination structure, and forming method.