Whether you’re launching a new product or trying to invigorate an established product line, there are many decisions to be made, one of which is determining whether to choose premade pouches (also known as preformed pouches) or to explore form/fill/seal (f/f/s) pouches. In a nutshell, premade pouches are fully-formed and fillable pouches manufactured by flexible packaging converters, while f/f/s pouches involve purchasing flexible packaging in the form of rollstock and forming the rollstock into pouches on f/f/s pouching machinery（as our GVF Series Automatic Vertical Packing Machine）.

Choosing premade pouches is a natural choice for many brands because typically, cost of entry is significantly lower, product scrap waste is lower, more pouch features are available, and you won’t be limited to only a handful of pouch shapes or sizes. Also, premade pouches are manufactured by experts in flexible packaging—many of whom are continually investing in new materials and pouching technology—and they can guide you through the process from concept to commercialization. The premade pouches can be packed by semi-automatic machine or fully automatic packing machine as GPB8-200 Premade Stand Up Pouch Packing Machine.

When choosing f/f/s stand-up pouches, volumes typically need to be very high in order to justify the cost of the machinery, and the time required to get a machine up and running (along with the inevitable learning curve of becoming your own in-house pouching operation) adds up quickly.

Choosing Suppliers

The quantity of premade pouches you need is one of the biggest factors that will determine which type of premade pouch supplier is ideal for you.

As a general rule of thumb, if you need fewer than 25,000 pouches, a “narrow web converter” or “narrow web printer” is a good place to start, because this converter’s equipment is well-equipped for these volumes. Not all narrow web printers work with flexible packaging (for instance, some specialize in labels), but these days, many narrow web converters have made the leap to flexible packaging.

Narrow web converters typically buy unprinted flexible packaging laminations from a third party, and then print on these materials using digital or flexographic printing. To form the printed lamination into premade pouches, a small number of narrow web flexible packaging converters have their own in-house pouching equipment, but the majority outsource this step.

If you need more than 25,000 premade pouches, a wide web converter is your best bet. Wide web converters will manufacture your flexible packaging materials using extrusion or adhesive lamination (or sometimes a combination of the two), and they are well-equipped to custom-engineer your flexible packaging laminations specifically for your product’s unique formulation and required barrier properties. Your flexible packaging laminations can also be customized to meet various requirements such as:

• Regulatory requirements
• Consumer needs
• Desired shelf life
• Filling machine and/or co-packer requirements
• Distribution methods