How To Design Your Own FIBC Bags?

When we start working on our business, we hanker to do everything all by ourselves. But that is practically impossible, reason being- the varied segments that come together to make a business work. You don’t necessarily need to have a degree or experience in every segment involved, however, you surely need to know the processes in and out to make your business the major success.

If we observe from bottom to top, there are various small things that play a major role in making your business succeed. For example, if you own a food , minerals , chemical or agriculture business, packaging makes a huge difference. Supplying the best goods is just one part, wherein, supplying those goods in the most presentable and safe way remains the other! This calls for a drive to see it through and create a stronger plan, on what type of packaging will support your business the best.

You all probably know that FIBC Bulk Bags are flexible and customizable. These bags can super-easily be designed to exactly fit your storage, transport and discharging needs. But how?

Let us tell you how a FIBC bag is customized to meet the exact requirement for your business, beyond just being a big bag.

CUSTOM OPTIONS:

1. Determine the size:

Starting from the outside, it’s important to determine the right size that fits your industry needs. Most products have different bulk densities (the space they consume), so first you need to find out how much of your product fits into 1 cubic metre space of the bag. This will help you determine the volume (space) required to pack 1000 Kgs of your product.

For Example: Wet Sand.

If 1922 Kilos of Wet Sand requires 1 Cubic Metre of Space, Then the bulk density of wet sand will be : 1.922.

Divide 1000 by 1.922, which gives 0.520 m3. This is the space/volume required to pack a tonne of wet sand, i.e., even less than 1 cubic metre.

NOTE: This is an approximate method as the product and their densities vary due to moisture content and various other factors. Also, it is never recommended to fill the bags until its very top, therefore, always add at least 10% extra space that is needed to be kept unoccupied.

Once you realize the space/volume occupancy of your product, now you need to finalize the perfect size of the FIBC Bag. For this, there is a golden rule to remember:

The smaller the base size of the FIBC Bag, the higher space your bag will have to achieve the volume you need.

Also, the Standard FIBCs belly at the sides by approx. 20%, so keep that count as well. Internal baffles can be added to to limit the belly of the FIBC bags, but that makes it a little more expensive.

Adding loops to the bags for lifting also requires at least 50 cm extra clearance. Also, it needs a good amount of caution to decide the base of the bag, because taller bags may be less expensive to transport but are hard to fill. So, choose wisely!

2. Determine the right fabric type and weight:

Ask yourself a few questions. How do you want your bulk bag to look? Is there any particular style that you wish to keep in accordance to your business? Here are the 4 varieties of fabric that are usually available:

• TYPE A:

These are the standard bulk bags, but avoid using them if your products are combustible. These bulk bags are made up of calcium carbonate, polypropylene and an UV Additive.

• TYPE B:

These bulk bags are made in a way that they have a thin coating over them, to avoid catching sparks. They are also made from polypropylene.

• TYPE C:

It’s totally safe to use these bags to transport flammable products. Type C fabric bags are made of carbon filament, because of which they need to be grounded while filling or moving them.

• TYPE D:

This fabric type removes the need to ground the bag while filling or moving. These bags are made with an antistatic fabric that makes them even more suitable for transport.

Coming to weight, there are three standard ranges of weight in which most of the bulk bags are available, that are 5 oz., 6 oz. and 8 oz. This can be decided on the basis of the weight of the products that the bulk bag will carry. The product engineer can help you analyze the optimal weight of the bulk bag.

3. Decide the ease of using the bags:

Determining the size of your bulk bags is just the primary step. After deciding the weight and size, the tough calls follow. The question arises is how to bring these bags to use? That means, how to fill the bulk bags. Will the bulk bags be hooked up to a machine to be filled? What will be the size of the spout in that case? To ease this query, there are various types of Top for the bulk bags that facilitate filling in the bulk bags, including:

• Standard fill spout
• Cone top with fill spout
• Duffel top
• Open top

After you have finalized the top, the next step is to understand and analyze how the bulk bags will be emptied. Fow this, you must first understand that will the product be discharged into the consumer packaging directly, or will it be undergoing further processing? Following are the bottom design options available in the bulk bags, for emptying:

• Spout bottom
• Flat bottom
• Tie-open bottom

Not just you have to take care of the optimal packaging, but you also need to make sure that the products are easily transferable into packaging.

4. Bulk Bag Coating & Material:

The next step is to determine, that the bulk bags we are making require or do not require coating. The uncoated fabrics allow air and moisture to pass through the fabric. But if you do not want much exposure to air or moisture for your product, coated bulk bags come with a woven polypropylene with lamination on the inside. The coated bulk bags are leakage proof as well.

If you have to lock the moisture inside the bag or out of it, then you may choose to incorporate a liner in the bulk bag. A liner retains the oil or moisture inside the FIBC or blocks the moisture out of the bag. There are various types of liners available as options, you may choose whatever is the safest for your product transport.

5. More features: