The March meeting of Australian Institute of Packaging in Melbourne was a visit to Innovia Films (Asia Pacific) Pty Ltd where two members and two executives hosted a select group of members. Richard Fernandez Marketing Manager, and Mark Williams Operations Manager, together with Claude D'Amico and John Nickless members and stalwarts of the Institute showed why the company is a global leader in plastic films and a major contributor to Australian export earnings. 

After a comprehensive overview by Richard Fernandez where it was disclosed that biaxially orientated polypropylene –BOPP- is manufactured at the plant that operates every hour of every day each year and one more in 2012 the tour commenced. 

Production is achieved with a staff of dedicated employees trained, and probably biaxially orientated to follow the corporate direction toward excellence. This was notable as the overview was delivered, and later during the plant tour and networking period held in the "Supermarket".

This R&D centre supports the global workforce of 1350 in four plants worldwide where ninety thousand tonnes of BOPP and thirty thousand tonnes of cellulose based material is produced and sold in 110 countries. 

The visitors were given a comprehensive tour of the production from the initial melt of raw material to the finished product in its various forms waiting for shipment out the door. Testing of each batch commences during production and continues until the technicians are sure that no flaws are present. Until a clearance is given the product cannot be released as it is locked down in the system.

It was explained how important exact conformance with specifications is, particularly for the major material produced which is converted to currency. A nano fault could cause off register printing which would render banknotes useless. This equally applies to the film used for cigarette and confectionery overwraps where clarity is the silent sales person.

This also gave an opportunity to more closely examine the different heaters, coolers and rollers that are needed to produce rolls of film that can contain as much as 30 kilometres. The reclaim and reuse of all scrap material was evidenced as the recovery team were in full flight. 

BOPP is a process where the raw material is melted and formed into a tube which is the blown into a bubble and heated to an exact temperature. The temperature is controlled by cold water, hot air and radiant heat until the correct gauge is achieved. The film is then calendared on a series of rollers and onto a storage roll for a predetermined time when it is the turned into the consumers product.

Scrabble players could quickly change Innovia into innovation and that is what the Australian arm of the company did when it developed a "Supermarket". It was explained that once material was despatched the folks who made it had none or little idea what product it was used to package. This was particularly so given that up to 95% of some materials are exported, which also had some downstream effects when sales people were seeking to convert new customers.

Of particular interest to many of the visitors on the night was packaging solutions around renewability, sustainability and compostability. Solutions not previously thought to be possible are now on supermarket shelves around the world as evidenced at this "supermarket" display. Innovia uses its display to help stimulate and challenge new concepts in packaging.