Form Fill & Seal (FFS)

Form fill and seal machines build the pack from two webs of film: the lower web is formed into a cavity, filled, and sealed under an upper web before the packs are cut apart. No trays to buy in or store, and a lower cost per pack once one format runs hard enough to absorb the tooling.

Ideal for: Dairy products, yogurt, sauces, condiments, pudding

See it running

Specifications

Where this machine class fits

Forming your own packs pays once a format runs long and hard enough to absorb the tooling. Below that, pre-made trays are usually cheaper and certainly simpler. The threshold is not a fixed number: it moves with what your trays cost, what storing them costs, and how many formats you run. If you are running one or two high-volume formats and paying for tray storage you would rather not, this is the machine class to be looking at. If you run a dozen short-run SKUs, a tray sealer will serve you better and we would say so.

What to confirm for your line

• Forming depth. Your deepest pack has to sit inside the machine envelope. Send the pack, not the drawing.
• Both film webs. The lower web forms the cavity and takes up to 1,000 microns; the upper web seals it and takes up to 120 microns. Confirm your intended film sits inside both.
• Gas or seal only. Modified atmosphere costs cycle time. A rate quoted seal-only is not the rate you will run at with gas flush.
• Retail presentation. If a retailer needs hanging packs, the machine punches a standard circular peg hole or a wide Euro-slot. Worth settling before artwork.
• Tooling per format. The forming die is specific to a pack geometry, so each new format is a capital purchase with its own lead time.

Every figure above is published rather than held back for a quotation. Where the honest answer depends on seeing your product, we would rather say so than print a number that falls apart on your floor.