How is rollstock produced and used?
What’s rollstock mean?
Rollstock refers to flexible packaging material supplied in a continuous roll (or web) that is used to make pouches, bags, or other flexible packages. Instead of receiving pre-made bags, a packaging operation receives film in long rolls which are then formed, filled, and sealed by FFS machine.
How is rollstock produced and used?
To consumers, they may not know what rollstock is, because what they see is a finished pouch containing a product. In reality, before that it exists as a continuous roll (or web). So how is rollstock made and applied?
The artwork designer needs to know the pouch’s exact dimensions and place the brand graphics and other elements on the pouch’s flat layout to complete the artwork.
The Cylinder maker adjusts the original artwork as needed and produces the printing cylinder.
The pouch manufacturer prints the artwork onto the printing substrate using gravure or digital printing.
The pouch manufacturer laminates the printed layer, barrier layer, and sealant/contact layer—three or four materials—to form a parent rollstock.
The pouch manufacturer trims the excess bleed on both edges of the parent roll; after slitting, the continuous rolls (or webs) wound as reels are the rollstock.
Product manufacturers mount these FFS films on FFS machines (VFFS or HFFS), which automatically form, fill, and seal them into specific types of pouches that are then presented to consumers through marketing channels.
