Flexible packaging has rapidly grown over the last half-century due to its ability to meet packaging needs at the lowest cost and with the least amount of material usage. Yet it faces challenges due to its single-use, poor recycling rates, and leakage into the environment. To deal with these challenges the industry will need to undergo tremendous change. This workshop presents a science-based introduction to the technology of flexible packaging. the main film-converting technologies will be introduced.
Design for sustainability often involves the use of new materials or combinations of materials. Processing considerations that should be taken into account, such as rheology, flow stability, and coextrusion, are discussed. A package has many performance requirements that need to be maintained when considering design changes. We will dive into two of these in detail, heat sealing and barrier (gas, moisture, light, other), exploring the resin and process technologies used to achieve these, and how packaging performance may be affected by design for sustainability.
Barry Morris is an industry thought leader in plastics and packaging technology. He retired from Dow in 2021 as an R&D Fellow after over 35 years at Dow and DuPont supporting new product and application development for Dow’s (and previously DuPont’s) ethylene copolymer business. He is an authority on translating application needs and applying scientific principles for optimal material selection and a passionate and engaging teacher with the ability to explain difficult concepts in simple terms for technical and non-technical audiences. In 2022 he formed BA Morris Consulting LLC to continue to offer his expertise to the packaging and plastics industries. In 2022 he also assumed the role of Chief Technology Advisor at VOID Technologies, a company developing solutions for more sustainable packaging.
Barry is the author of over 125 book chapters, journal articles, conference papers, and magazine articles, including the definitive book The Science and Technology of Flexible Packaging, whose second edition was published in 2022. A holder of 12 U.S. patents, Barry has many years of experience in packaging technology and developing resins for the film and coating markets. He received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. from Princeton University. He also has an MBA from the University of Delaware. He is a Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), a long-time board member of the SPE Extrusion and Flexible Packaging Divisions, and a frequent presenter at SPE and TAPPI conferences. He is the recipient of several industry awards including the SPE’s Bruce Maddock Award (2018) for significant contributions to the advancement of single-screw extrusion technology, and TAPPI’s Rohm and Haas Prize (2005) for outstanding technical contributions to the flexible packaging industry.
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