The Dow Chemical Co.’s Performance Packaging business, Midland, Mich., is ready to help turn packaging ideas into premiere packaging solutions thanks toPack Studios, a set of innovation centers that help accelerate packaging application projects through a global network of labs, experts and testing equipment.

Currently there are four Pack Studios centers around the globe—Freeport, Texas; Horgen, Switzerland; São Paulo, Brazil; and Shanghai, China. Each center features a collaboration room to inspire solution-based thinking, laboratory facilities for material development and fabrication and testing equipment to validate packaging applications. Direct customers and other members of the packaging value chain will have the opportunity to collaborate with a dedicated technical team and a global network of industry professionals that have a wealth of experience in packaging application, materials and design.

“Pack Studios is summarized in three words—collaborate, innovate, accelerate. These three propositions underscore the value that Pack Studios will bring to our customers,” says Scott Collick, North America director of technical services and development. “By combining these three core values, Pack Studios becomes a catalyst for the packaging solutions of tomorrow, providing customers with a competitive advantage today.”

Pack Studios offers experimentation with different properties for flexible food and beverage packaging such as protective barrier films, sealants and adhesives. It can also facilitate the sharing of ideas that will enable greater growth within the food packaging industry.

“Pack Studios’ purpose is to assist Dow in fulfilling the larger goal of advancing the packaging industry as a whole while helping our customers improve their bottom lines,” says Collick. “This is more than a series of labs—it is a unique experience for each customer that allows them to accelerate their innovation process.”

At the centers, customers will be able to test applications in rigid plastic, shrink wrap, stretch hood films, as well as flexible packaging for food.