Business Case

A major food commodity ingredient manufacturer wished to distribute its product in bulk and was looking at the alternative methods of bulk cargo, FIBC’s or lined containers. After a lengthy evaluation, they decided to go for the lined containers (bag-in-the-box) concept for the following reasons:-

• Cost effectiveness
• Flexibility of logistics, in not being tide to one shipping line with the Bulk Cargo or BI-BO (Bulk in / Bag out) concepts.

For years they had been using cargo vessels to ship their product, but on-going this method did not provide the security of non-contamination that was now required. However, having never distributed their product by “lined” container methods before, they required a great deal of assistance in not only moving to such a concept, but also in assisting the manufacturing locations in the loading equipment that would be necessary. In looking at both the design of the liner to satisfy the application requirements and to take account of the ergonomic and environmental issues that would be met, Linertech engineers were able to help them in deciding the correct total solution.
It was essential that:-

• the loading method ensured that the least amount of damage to the product was to take place; and that
• the design of the packaging was correct for the loading system;
• that the least amount of dust be generated during the loading;
• that the best material of construction be used to minimise the ingress of moisture during the complete transportation period;
• that the product took account of the explosive nature of the products dust in given circumstances;
• that the packaging met the relevant
  • requirement laid down in EU Directives and Regulations:-
    • EC 1935/2004; 2002/72/EC;  2004/1/EC;  2004/19/EC;  2005/79/EC;  2007/19/EC;
  • requirements laid down in US FDA Regulations:-
    • CFR 21 Parts 177 & 178
  • purity criteria in accordance with Directives 95/31/EC;  95/45/EC;  96/77/EC
  • requirements to minimise the generation of an ignition source;
• that the manufacture of the packaging was done under ISO 22000 standards;
• that manufacturing quality was conducted under ISO 9001:2000 standards;
• that the loading connection matched the loading system being installed;
• that the discharge connection and discharge venting met with the delivery methods and systems at the recipient destinations;

In order to come to a correct solution, detailed discussions were held between Linertech’s application engineers and the customer, leading to full scale trials, before any major capital investment was made. In addition, Linertech met with the customer’s customer to discuss the connections that would be necessary to facilitate an efficient delivery.

Once the loading equipment has been installed and first shipments were looming, Linertech sent its engineers to the customer to train them in:-

• container inspection, acceptance or rejection procedures;
• liner fitting;
• loading and closing procedures.

To meet the above requirements, the solution that was proposed was to use a food grade electro-statically dissipative (conductive) polyethylene film liner, as opposed to a laminated polythene woven liner. The reasons for this and the comparisons made between the two materials of construction are listed in the comparison table below:-

In addition, the liner design took account of:-

• achieving loading with the minimum of contaminants being introduced;
• and minimising the ingress of humidity and moisture to prevent any “caking” of the product during shipment.

Result – one satisfied customer who satisfies their customer needs.