Outraged by Wrap Rage

August 2006

Sixty-seven thousand is a rather large number; but it seems an almost impossible figure when representing the number of injuries reported each year by consumers who have had the misfortune of wrestling with a hard to open package. If you’re a consumer, and who isn’t, you’ve probably experienced this yourself. You know that new 2 GB memory card you just bought? Only one thing stands between you and the small piece of plastic that promises to hold all of your precious memories, that’s right, the packaging. The container that’s meant to keep your product protected from harm until you take it home; but who will protect you? Or maybe it’s the shrinkwrap on that new DVD that you stood in line to reserve months ago, but how to get it open; a knife perhaps? Maybe scissors will do the trick. Scissors and knives may work out, but for a lot of people, about 67,000 of them to be more accurate, this only ends in frustration and injury. Now, not only do you have a new medical bill to pay, you still haven’t gotten your package open! This surmounting frustration has been the underlying basis for the new-fangled term referred to as wrap rage.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the US Department of Labor, “knives cause 35% of knife laceration and puncture injuries, requiring one or more days away from work in foodservice and drinking operations. Imagine a 35% decrease in employee time off, and more importantly, in Workers Compensation claims. Sealstrip Corporation‘s products can help make it a reality.

Sealstrip Corporation of Boyertown, PA finds these statistics outrageous at best and just plain unacceptable. Having been in the flexible packaging industry for more than 40 years, Sealstrip knows the value of providing safe and convenient packaging for consumers. Sealstrip’s easy open convenience can be found in a variety of places including food and medical packaging.

Because Sealstrip specializes in custom solutions, they can make any flexible package easy to open, that new DVD for example. For shrink wrapped products like DVD’s, CD’s, computer programs, and VHS tapes, Sealstrip’s Shrinktape is most often used. Shrinktape is a narrow width (3.4mm), 2mil, pressure sensitive shrinkable teartape that is applied in line and is ideal for enabling an easy open on shrink wrapped products.

Sealstrip has also developed a specialty pressure sensitive Teartape that maintains the seal integrity, thereby maintaining barrier properties of the original flexible packaging. The advantage to users is the ability to easily open a package in a controlled manner and prevents small torn away pieces of the package from contaminating the preparation area; this easy open system is popular for food or medical applications.

As a direct result of the wrap rage articles in the European press, where shrinkwrapped soft cheese packages were identified by consumers as one of the most difficult packages to open causing product damage, and wrap rage. Sealstrip has helped cheese manufacturers to overcome this growing consumer frustration with their Peelwrap™ and OpenEasy™ solutions.

Peelwrap is a wider tape, about 3/4″, giving consumers and industry workers a larger grip area and facilitating an easier opening process. The Peelwrap™ Applicator perforates the packaging film and applies the Peelwrap™ material over the perforation (completely sealing the package), creating the easy open feature. The applicator utilizes a smooth rotary design providing high speed, efficiency and durability. Providing easy open convenience and product protection, Peelwrap is available for both shrink and non-shrink applications. Some ideal applications include cheeses, medical devices, frozen pizza, food service, multi-packs, printed media, and bakery.

OpenEasy is Sealstrip’s newest innovation and functions very much like Peelwrap. The major difference is that OpenEasy is applied in-line, intermittently, and in register, for a more controlled opening. Another advantage of OpenEasy is when using a barrier film for extended shelf life; OpenEasy will maintain that barrier, thus maintaining the integrity of the product.

Sealstrip is the only easy open materials manufacturer that also designs and builds applicators for retrofit to all the worlds’ packaging machinery. New innovations are constantly being developed and released, so the next time you feel wrap rage coming on, give Sealstrip a call.

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