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Kodak rocks the packaging boat

When Kodak brought its patented MEMS print head to market, predictable packaging just would not do. A stand-up pouch stands out on store shelves.

Pw 7358 Ink Cartridges Pp 11902

“We couldn’t bring this new print cartridge to the retail aisle in a package that looked like everyone else’s. The package had to be disruptive.”

That’s how Kodak’s Shannon Monroe, worldwide consumables product marketing manager, describes the stand-up pouch used for the ink-jet print cartridges that complement Kodak’s new Easy-Share All-in-One printers. The packaging isn’t the only thing that’s on the disruptive side. Kodak’s development of a new type of MEMS print head (see sidebar) that is separate from the cartridge itself lets Kodak price its cartridges at $9.99 for black and $14.99 for color. That’s about half the price consumers routinely pay for comparable cartridges, says Monroe.

The stand-up pouches are provided by Printpack, which prints the graphics, laminates the three-layer structure from which pouches are made, and also makes the Doyen-style pouches. The outer layer of 48-ga polyester is reverse-printed flexographically in up to six colors. Extrusion lamination marries this printed substrate to a central layer of 48-ga metallized polyester. Completing the three-layer sandwich is a sealant film that’s adhesive-laminated to the metallized polyester. The finished bags are shipped out in boxes.

One SKU in the line, the Photo Value Pack, includes not only a color ink cartridge, but also 180 sheets of Kodak photo paper. This item comes not in a bottom-gusseted Doyen-style pouch but rather in a flat-bottom pouch.

Contract packagers in the U.S. handle the packaging for Kodak. The cartridges themselves arrive wrapped in a clear barrier film, packed by Kodak manufacturers in Asia. Operators in the U.S. manually load the cartridges in one of four pouch formats, and then the pouches are heat sealed shut on a band sealer.

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