For sporting goods retailers tired of the space, cost and messiness of using polystyrene peanuts in shipping boxes, the new Fill-Air FLOW provides an a affordable alternative. Replacing packing peanuts for relative peanuts, the $475 inflatable packaging system makes protective air pillows like those used by Amazon affordable for the first time.
According to Sealed Air, inventor of Bubble Wrap and many other packaging solutions sold worldwide, the Fill-Air FLOW provides a space-saving, cost-saving and environmentally friendly alternative to using polystyrene peanuts as void-fill and cushioning in packing boxes, making protective air pillows accessible for users with low-volume shipping needs.
The inflation unit is mounted to a wall or tabletop. A single roll of ready-to-inflate plastic bags frees up nearly 50 cubic feet of storage space compared to packing peanuts and also costs less than the equivalent peanut fill volume. The system also offers better shipping protection, neater packaging for customers, and an eco-friendly alternative to polystyrene, says Millennium Packaging, which is the exclusive U.S. distributor of the Fill-Air FLOW.
The mounted device produces 11 high-fill or 20 low-fill inflated plastic bags per minute. Both the machine’s 13″ x 14″ x 8″ footprint and the inflation speed are suited to environments with moderate shipping volumes such as retail shipping service centers, retail stores, e-tailers, light industry, company mail rooms, marketing and advertising agencies, printers, law firms, artists’ studios, art festivals ad more, said the company.
Each FLOW roll contains 500 10″ x 8″ ready-to-fill perforated bags in a spool not much larger than a roll of paper towels. A single roll produces fill volume equivalent to more than three-and-a-half 14-cubic-foot bags of packing peanuts, freeing up nearly 50 cubic feet of storage space per roll. At $50 per 500-bag roll, inflatable packaging with Fill-Air FLOW costs roughly $1 per cubic foot of fill compared to $1.30 to $1.90 per cubic foot for retail-priced peanuts. The refill rolls are also available exclusively from Millennium Packaging.
Operation of the Fill-Air FLOW is as simple as swiping a hand over a sensor located on the side of the unit for each bag desired, or holding a hand over the sensor for three seconds to inflate 100 bags at a time. High-fill or low-fill can also be selected with the touch of a button. An optional photo sensor attachment for use with a continuous flow setting will stop production when it detects a set number of inflated bags and resume it when the bags are removed, making it possible to have bags ready for immediate use without inflating the whole roll at one time.
“Major retailers like Amazon have been using inflatable packaging technology for years, but until now the price point has prevented smaller organizations from realizing the benefits,” said John Tyrrell, President of Millennium Packaging. “At less than $500, Sealed Air’s Fill-Air FLOW enables companies of any size to send peanuts packing forever.”
“The Fill-Air FLOW has changed everything. It’s more efficient, less material, less packing time, and the space savings is unbelievable,” said Helen Ann Lally of Your Neighborhood Office, a business help center and errand service in New York’s Greenwich Village that was an early tester. “When we took the peanut hopper out of here, I was able to put in drop ceilings that gave me another floor of storage space.”
For more information or to order the Fill-Air FLOW, visit www.parcelpkg.com.
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