Zip-Pak, Manteno, Ill., opened a packaging lab and showroom at its Brazil facility located in Cabreúva, São Paulo, designed to provide visiting regional brands a first-hand experience of resealable packaging solutions for a variety of flexible consumer packaging formats. The showroom is interactive by design, allowing visitors to touch and experience the functionality of a wide range of Zip-Pak resealing solutions. The packaging lab’s capabilities include prototype production, with the means to provide owners, converters and original equipment manufacturers a formed and decorated pouch complete with a resealable closure.

The resources made available through the Zip-Pak Brazil packaging lab are “uncommon to the region,” says Flavio Zampirolli, field service engineer for Zip-Pak Brazil. “Customers can send us their film, and we can quickly produce a functional prototype with branded decorating, resulting in a virtually ‘shelf-ready’ sample. Looking at a computer rendering or flat artwork just does not compare to holding a formed and decorated zippered pouch. Once customers see the zipper integrated into their packaging, the advantages of using a resealable closure become fully apparent.”

“The market for resealable bags in Brazil and throughout Latin America is growing rapidly,” adds Zampirolli. “Regional consumers are demonstrating a preference for brands marketed in recloseable packaging, and regional brands and suppliers are actively looking for resources to meet growing demand. Our packaging lab represents an important first step toward understanding the possibilities, and ultimately realizing the benefits of resealable packaging.”

The inspiration for the Brazil facility’s packaging lab and showroom comes from the Zip-Pak Atlanta facility, which makes similar resources available to visitors.

“As a global company, we routinely interface with the greater Zip-Pak community on a variety of practices, and determine the best way to implement them on a regional basis,” says Frank Kelly, director of business development and Brazil. “While prototyping capabilities and showroom areas are common in the U.S., they are unique to Latin America and a definite advantage for regional customers. It really helps make the next step toward commercial integration of zippers that much easier.”