Food Manufacturing’sNext Big Thing

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Most marketers are aware of the explosive growth of Unit Dose packaging for

laundry detergents. In less than three years, detergents delivered in water-soluble film packs shook up the industry, spearheading emergence of a unique product category with more than 10% of overall sales.

Of course, water-soluble film, per se, is not new; MonoSol has been innovating, tailoring and reinventing this technology since the 1960s, when Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble introduced the first unit dose offerings.

This time around, however, in addition to detergent and film innovations, marketers such as P&G aggressively championed the concept and drove their products, sensing the major impact they could have in the marketplace. It‘s paying off, big time.

Meanwhile, a variety of single-serve food and beverage products proliferate, offering potential for formulations using unique, specially tailored types of water-soluble film.

The low-hanging fruit, however – with the broadest range of applications, the greatest potential savings and payback – stems from ingredient delivery in-plant, in the food manufacturing process. These applications also are easiest to implement and track.

In this Trends Paper, we will address …

•Unit dose product parallels and differences re: food manufacturing

• Production-line plusses (dosing accuracy, less waste & labor, easier handling)

• The Regulatory Environment – what you need to do (and don’t)

• Converting issues: equipment options, implementation tips

For food manufacturers, in-plant ingredient delivery using water-soluble film offers a rare opportunity. An opportunity to achieve efficiencies, boost productivity and profits … and to lead the industry.

A consumer-product phenomenon is about to trigger a revolution in the manufacturing of food and other products.

Will you be the one to launch it?

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Food Manufacturing Applications

MonoSol ConfidentialAmong a myriad of new products constantly bombarding the marketplace, relatively few succeed. Even fewer make a major impact. Rare indeed is the standout that not only achieves sales success, but disrupts the status quo with a new way to deliver value that customers are willing to pay for.

Witness the new wave of Unit Dose packaging for laundry detergents, which quickly generated strong sales – and carved out its own, new market category. It has already captured nearly 12% of the $7+ billion laundry detergent market since 2012, and is projected to account for nearly 18% in a few more years.

Numerous marketers have contributed, including Procter & Gamble, Sun Products, Church & Dwight, Unilever, Henkel … touting brands such as Tide® Pods®, Toss ’n Done®, All Mighty Pacs®, Crystal Burst®, Purex Ultra Packs® – the list goes on.

Reinventing a market to deliver

customer value.

While single-dose laundry products in one form or another and water-soluble films have been around for decades, the latest iterations were championed by their makers. Visionary perception of the potential for this product concept helped propel sales to unprecedented levels in short order.

Therein lies the key: Looking beyond traditional ways of doing things – and acting on what you see.

Food manufacturers could benefit from doing likewise.

Food manufacturing’s value-driven Next Big Thing

Odorless, tasteless and available for sale in the U.S., patent-pending Vivos film offers food manufacturers a highly cost-effective ingredient delivery platform.

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“The laundry detergent category was ripe for reinvention. So is the food manufacturing process.”—————————————————

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Laundry MonoDose Markets

Ref: Euromonitor analyst reports and market data

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A new product category with continued strong growth. A majority of those detergents are encased in MonoSol films.

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The same basic product-delivery concept that’s working for non-food marketers, also can work for you. And it can resolve numerous costly, productivity-reducing issues in the process.

Meet food-friendly vivos® film.

“Getting the chemistry right” is a MonoSol forte. That means crafting specific films to precisely match each and every product. Certain basics apply, of course. Film must be tough enough to withstand handling – yet it also must dissolve quickly when it hits the tank.

It’s all yours with Vivos. Unlike films for detergents and other products, patent-pending Vivos films are specially formulated for food and beverage applications. As you would expect, they are odorless and tasteless; they simply dissolve and disappear.

To be sure, numerous single-serve consumer products already on the market could be candidates for using this film. Crystal Light® stick packs, for example. Or Keurig® coffee, tea and competitive brands. These aren’t even the tip of the iceberg in terms of the many end-use products with market potential.

Potential for B-to-C foods, beverages,

personal care.

Instant food and beverage formulations such as whey protein, workout drinks and meal replacement shakes could likewise be delivered via Vivos.

Even selected personal care and cosmetic products could make a perfect match. Convenient travel-size pouches with cleansing oils, exfoliants, hair care, soaps and other products would require little space, while providing precise portions; no overuse or waste.

For multiple-ingredient products, multi-compartment Vivos pouches keep ingredients separate until use.

And as noted earlier, the greatest and easiest-to-implement potential gains can be found on food manufacturing production lines.

The practical magic of vivos® in food

manufacturing.

Although Vivos’ simple task is to

deliver material to its destination – then dissolve fast – it delivers many more advantages in the food production process.

For openers, it protects the purity and preserves the potency of your ingredients inside. Delivered in sealed packets, it also prevents product losses.

With traditional dosing systems, valuable product can be lost from inaccurate dosing, pump priming, product changeovers, ingredient rotation – to name a few.

Good reasons to “break tradition” and employ Vivos. There’s no better way to transport and combine:

• food colors

• spices

• enzymes

• sweeteners

• flavor ingredients

• other actives

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In the process, Vivos also protects workers from bothersome or potentially harmful exposure – not to mention drastically reducing tedious, time-consuming cleanup of equipment and interior plant surroundings.

no special labeling needed to use

vivos in the U.s.

Furthermore, Vivos can likely be used in the U.S. without special labeling.

How so? Two simple reasons: Vivos is used in small amounts as a manufacturing aid to deliver food ingredients. It’s not present to a significant degree in the finished product – and it serves no functional purpose in food entering the marketplace.

So chances are, no additional labeling will be required. The ingredients themselves matter the most.

accuracy. Consistency. virtually no

waste.

Topping the list of “must haves” for food makers is spot-on ingredient combinations every time … in order to ensure a consistent looks-feels-and-tastes-the-same end product. Every time.

Vivos delivers. Every time. Without losing any dosage along the way.

In fact, with Vivos’ pre-measured and accurate sealed-pouch delivery, you may be able to reduce the amount of some ingredients … use 5 grams of an enzyme, for instance, instead of 10 per dose – because it’s not in contact with other chemicals which could degrade it.

Talk about “less is more” – such reductions could pay huge dividends.

Vivos also avoids losses that can occur even when simply scooping sweeteners, colorants and such into a gravimetric feeder.

And anyone who’s ever fussed with a suction wand trying to coax that last bit of product out of a drum, probably is also thinking “There must be a better way!”

Contrast this with Vivos, a super-optimized ingredient delivery platform: The sealed, ingredient-filled packet simply goes into the tank. Every gram gets used, and Vivos disappears. End of story.

Bid ‘adieu’ to daily dustings, and

costly spills.

Fact is, even today’s modern, automated traditional ingredient-dosing systems are rife with potential for waste. Dusting, for one. Virtually a nonstop “given” in many operations.

And colorants, to cite one ingredient example, don’t come cheap. Here again, losing a little bit adds up to a lot … hour after hour, shift after shift, day after day.

Losses multiply even faster when preparing small-run production batches for varied final products on the same line. So does changeover cleanup and prep time.

You avoid cross-contamination with Vivos, too. Not to mention “nuisance” issues: colorants getting into your hair, under your fingernails, in your nose. Not fun. And they’re not easy to get out.

Spills? (Ouch!) They not only cost you product, they create a major mess that must be cleaned up – which also costs you time, labor and lost productivity.

No scooping, no weighing – Vivos delivers precise doses to your mix with less hassle, less equipment, less waste.

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“Pre-measured, precise dosing is paramount in order to produce consistent-quality goods – a critical ‘ingredient’ in brand integrity.”—————————————————

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It’s easy to see why it makes sense to seriously consider ingredient delivery via Vivos.

‘healthier,’ more-precise and potent

enzyme dosage.

It’s tough to top pre-measured dosing with Vivos – a definite plus with enzymes as well as other actives. Precise dosage also ensures that the enzymes work properly with other ingredients in your mix.

Health considerations reveal another Vivos advantage:

Although enzymes are biodegradable, water-soluble and generally nontoxic, workers may experience health-related issues such as skin irritation and respiratory sensitization upon exposure.

Direct contact with proteolytic enzymes, for example, can irritate the skin and, in some cases, cause redness of mucous membranes.

Inhaling is a more serious hazard, as it can develop into respiratory allergy, with symptoms similar to those from naturally occurring pollen, animal hair or dust mite allergens: sneezing, sinus congestion, coughing and breathing difficulties.

Aerosolization is the culprit – which can occur while weighing, mixing or during gravimetric feeding. And once those enzyme micro-particles get into the air, it’s virtually impossible NOT to inhale.

No such problems with Vivos film delivery. Enzymes are safely sealed until they hit the tank and harmlessly dissolve.

simplify production for greater

accuracy, efficiency.

Reinventing production lines around ingredient delivery using water-soluble Vivos film could easily qualify as a noteworthy new industry “Best Practice.”

It’s no secret that traditional

systems can be incredibly complex and extensive, with far too many opportunities for less-than-precise dosing, product loss and waste. In certain situations, some operators may still utilize “Human Eyeball” technology – iffy, at best, when measuring and adding ingredients, even for the most experienced practitioners.

Furthermore, on a typical line, “routine” cleanup and ingredient changeovers can be tedious, labor-intensive and frustrating, while costing precious time and throughput.

All of which is why so many manufacturers of non-food products already employ water-soluble film technology in their operations.

vivos: a flexible ‘drop-in’ product.

The payoff could be far greater for food makers, implemented with relative ease and speed.

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“Water soluble delivery essentially prevents enzymes or other ingredients from getting into the air, with potentially harmful effects.”—————————————————

Little spills or big, production line incidents can be costly, indeed: lost time, extra labor, reduced productivity and more.

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Consider, for one, that the vast majority of non-food manufacturers making water-soluble packs are running MonoSol films.

•Vivos is designed to essentially drop right into this type of production line configuration.

While every MonoSol film, as noted earlier, is crafted for specific product usage, the converting properties are similar, enabling converters to implement Vivos technology with little or no special effort.

Vivos production-line equipment options basically boil down to two, either of which can be tailored to match your package size and shape, cost structure, desired throughput – you name it.

•vertical form-fill-seal (vffs) employs a heat-seal method commonly used, for example, to make stick-pack powdered drink formulations. VFFS is highly suitable for larger packs – 40 or 50 grams, 100 or even 200 grams. Machines from various manufacturers offer maximum production line throughput ranging from100-120 to 220 packs per minute (ppm).

•Rotary Drum machines, which are typically used for higher volume production (in the range of 1,000 units/min.), process smaller pouches carrying 20-50 grams of material. A custom sealing solution ensures pouch integrity.

•Co-packers offer still another option for newcomers to water-soluble film technology – with no direct investment in capital equipment.

next-Gen delivery, with a

sustainability bonus.

On top of everything else, a Vivos ingredient delivery platform results in less packaging waste – eliminating solid waste from insoluble, non-recyclable material.

Vivos simply disappears. Leaving the exact mix your specific formula calls for, in the tank.

In short, a Vivos-centered ingredient-delivery production setup could likely benefit your operation many-fold. As one industry observer recently put it, “This is where the industry is headed.”

And there’s no time like the present to lead the way.

Start with a clean sheet and thumbnail a potential reinvention of your production setup. We can assist, if you wish, or connect you with specialists who can – including converters familiar with water soluble film, and/or co-pack partners in the U.S. and in Europe.

Ready for the plant floor

The stage is set. Film technology as well as in-plant production-line systems are here, now. Both already proven in global applications akin to yours.

All poised to help you reinvent the food manufacturing process, with an ingredient delivery platform that provides …

•more-precise dosing with virtually no waste

• safer movement of sensitive, hard-to-handle ingredients

• less cleanup, less hassle from spills or other issues

…and ultimately, increased productivity, output and bottom-line returns.

All with super-optimized, water-soluble Vivos ingredient-delivery film technology.

Not just another dosing system, Vivos offers opportunity for a new and highly practicable line production strategy.

It’s not a question of “if”; it’s merely a matter of when. And who. Will it be you?

Convert Vivos film using Vertical Form Fill & Seal machines (shown) or Rotary Drum technology.

Since 1953, MonoSol LLC has been a leader in specialty water-soluble poly-mer-based films. MonoSol offers a wide range of water-soluble delivery systems for unit-dose applications for consumer, agricultural chemicals and industrial products, as well as additional films, solutions and compounds.

MonoSol joined Kuraray Co., Ltd., a global specialty chemical company in mid-2012. In mid-2014, MonoSol became the WS Film Division of Kuraray. Kuraray was established in 1926 and in 1950 became the first in the world to bring polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) synthetic fiber to market. Since that mile-stone, Kuraray has used its proprietary technology in the area of polymer chemistry and synthetic chemistry to develop resins, chemicals, fibers, textiles and others.

Together, MonoSol and Kuraray provide innovative solutions for customers. A global network of dedicated partners is maintained to offer sales, service and technical support to its worldwide customer base.

for more overall company information, visit www.monosol.com and www.

kuraray.co.jp/en.

for additional details on vivos water-soluble film for food manufacturing,

visit www.vivosfilm.com

MonoSol, LLC 707 E. 80th Place #301 Merrillville, IN 46410