The Scenario
A bakery end-user had switched to an acrylic PSCST during the pandemic due to not being able to obtain a competitive 1.8 mil hot melt tape consistently. They started to experience box failure and application issues with the acrylic tape. The bakery switched back to the competitive 1.8 mil hot melt box sealing tape but still had concerns with the tape adhesion due to using a 100% recycled box.
Results/Benefits
The IPG team installed the ETX tape heads into seven different style machines over four equipment manufacturers. This added value by allowing the end-user’s maintenance staff to stock one style of wear parts and streamline tape head maintenance training. The IPG tape head supply agreement program provided the customer with $16,096 in no-charge tape heads for a commitment of $100,000 in tape sales. This program also helped to solidify our position at the end user and protect the Cradle to Cradle Certified® Silver shrink film and stretch film business at this account which totals $175,000 annually.
IPG Program Benefits
- Reduced Costs & Complexity
- Improved Sustainability
- Increased Output
- In-Field Performance Testing
- Increased Minority Supplier Spend
The Situation
The IPG team visited the bakery end-user’s manufacturing site, where the following took place:
- The IPG team, along with the distributor, tested IPG’s Cradle to Cradle Certified® Bronze 7100 1.9 mil medium grade hot melt box sealing tape with a 2” ET-Xtreme® (ETX) tape head vs. the competitive 1.8 mil CST on the customer’s current (competitive) tape head.
- The IPG tape and tape head showed an 80.6% increase in adhesion when performing on-site adhesion performance testing. The customer saw an increase from 10.47 lbs. of force to failure to 18.91 lbs. with the 7100 and ETX tape head.
- The customer needed variable tape legs so when the tape is applied, the legs do not cover box perforations for certain tear-away cases they utilize. They were not able to set up their existing competitive tape heads to meet this need.
- Along with providing greater adhesion, the ETX tape head was able to adjust the front and rear tape leg independently, providing the appropriate tape legs needed for bakery cases.
- The end-user was utilizing four different brands of tape heads, so IPG also showed value by providing standardization across all their tape heads.