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The vision behind WetBone, world’s first-ever water in a flexible plastic pouch for dogs on-the-go, is based upon the same mobility in drinks for dogs that consumers enjoy – portability, lightweight, resealability, ready-to-use and easy-to-drink. The concept is the brainchild of Wetbone cofounders and product developers Sue Tyska and Tony Tropea. The 16-oz (475 ml) water bag, shaped as a dog bone, contains two compartments: one reservoir for purified, vitamin enriched water and a “drinking bowl”. The pouch is a three-layer polyester/foil/linear oriented LDPE*) laminate, manufactured by Ampac Flexibles, a business unit of Ampac Packaging LLC. The pooch owner simply removes the tear strip at the top of the “bone” and after opening the press-to-close zipper, squeezes with one hand the bottom of the pouch, while the other hand is cupped around the top section forming a bowl. The squeezing action forces a small amount of water to enter the channels into the top bowl area. The owner can then offer the pouch to the pet for drinking. “The most challenging part was the flow rate. We didn’t want a ton of water in the bowl when the consumer first opened the pouch. We needed to find a way to properly move the water from the reservoir into the bowl and do it in a way that would give us a pouch that could be commercially manufactured in a cost-effective way,” Sue Tyska explains. The real “magic” was modifying the automatic heat sealer to create appropriately-sized gaps in the seal so that the channels were formed. “You need to create a channel system which allows water to migrate into the upper bowl-not too slow and not too fast. We were shooting for a filling speed of 5 to 7 seconds when steady pressure is applied to the bottom reservoir,” Steve Herlehy, account representative of Ampac, says. The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association estimates that there are some 74 million dogs in the USA, with a budget of 42 billion dollar in 2007. As 70% of the pet owners travel with their dogs dehydration of the animal on-the-go is of imminence importance. Currently the pre-formed pouches are filled on a semi-automatic machine, but PPi Technologies Global is, in collaboration with Ampac developing a fully automatic filling and sealing system for this complex stand-up pouch construction. The stand-up bowls have a graphical design from Tropea and are printed by Ampac in five colours rotogravure. *) LDPE = Low density (0.92-0.934) polyethylene. Used mainly for heatsealability and bulk in packaging.
References: amsteeman, ampaconline Filed In: |


