NEW PACR material from 3M / Cassie Navara and Bryan Hartenberg

Check out this new sustainable material here! 
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v101684130/

Connect with a 3M Packaging Specialist to learn more about how 3M can reduce costs and improve efficiency in your business!
https://engage.3m.com/packagingsolutions

What is PACR and how can it replace your foam and bubble
Did you know this material is curbside recyclable?
On demand and right size material!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassie-navara-80827964/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanhartenberg/

Check out our sponsor Orora Packaging Solutions 
https://ororapackagingsolutions.com/

https://specright.com/?utm_campaign=2024%20Influencers&utm_source=cory%20connors&utm_content=home%20page 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-connors/

I'm here to help you make your packaging more sustainable! Reach out today and I'll get back to you asap.

This podcast is an independent production and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2022.

Transcript

Cory Connors: 0:31

Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors. Today's guests, I have two amazing people from the 3M company, celebrating their new product, the PACR Packer product. I've got Bryan Hartenberg, the Global Portfolio Manager, and Cassie Navara, the Application Engineer. Welcome, both of you.

Cassie Navara: 0:53

Thank you. It's great to be here.

Cory Connors: 0:55

Excited to have you both on really, was totally impressed with this product. It's brand new and, I got to see it at the 3M innovation lab and, ahead of the public. So that was really exciting. And I think this is going to solve a lot of problems for a lot of people in the industry. But, before we get to all that stuff, can we get just a little bit of background on each of you, Cassie, if you don't mind telling us how'd you get into this packaging industry?

Cassie Navara: 1:20

Yeah, it's an interesting story. I'm an application engineer working at 3M within our industrial specialties divisions. currently I'm specializing in the packaging. Department with a strong focus on sustainability. So my journey into the industry really began with my educational foundation in biochemistry and medical device innovation. 2 things that are not super related to sustainability, but those have really provided me with a unique perspective, I would say, to the intersection of science and application. In my previous role, I worked with some key accounts where I developed and optimized products focusing on baby and adult diapers in the personal hygiene industry. in that role, I leveraged my expertise to ensure solutions were meeting the highest standards of performance, functionality, and comfort. at 3M, I'm really dedicated to advancing our sustainable packaging solutions to meet our customer needs and to contribute to our healthier planet. my work really involves collaborating with the cross functional teams to develop those innovative solutions, and reduce environmental impact while maintaining the product integrity and performance. So I'm really excited about the future of our sustainable platform and our packaging products and look forward to continuing to contribute to 3M's mission of improving lives through the science and innovation.

Cory Connors: 2:44

very exciting. I agree. what you and your team at 3M have coming out is, totally innovative and exciting. So well done to you. I'm excited to announce some of those other products later, but, let's get to Brian and your background, sir.

Bryan Hartenberg: 2:59

Yeah, no, thank you. So I'm Brian Hartenberg. I'm a global portfolio manager here at 3M working on our industrial packaging business where I've helped or where I am helping us drive forward with some of these more sustainable solutions. I've been at 3M for a About 10 years now. And I would say that I've been all over the place. I've had a variety of roles in a variety of businesses. so I've worked in operations, I've worked in, marketing, I've worked as a black belt. I've worked in the scotch light reflective business, the personal safety division, scotch bright, sponges. So all over the place. That's awesome. Yeah, no. So one of the great things about 3M really allowing you to, see a wide variety of different things and a variety of different roles. But, when I had the opportunity to come in and lead the launch of the product that we're going to be discussing today, really couldn't turn it down, this is a super innovative product, new to the world. That really has the opportunity to revolutionize the, how folks package. so figured I'd judge, I would jump at the chance and, really happy to share more about it today and tell the world what it can do.

Cory Connors: 4:14

That's a perfect segue into my next question. can you tell us about this product? what's it called? What's it do? How's it work?

Bryan Hartenberg: 4:22

So it's, it's called the padded, automatable curbside, recyclable mailer material, which usually whenever I say that people are like, wow, that's a really long name, which is why we've shortened it to what you were talking about earlier. So we just call it the PACR mailer material or just PACR for super short. but when we were looking at the packaging industry, there are really a couple trends that, made this. Really critical, really important. And those are that a lot of customers are looking to move from boxes to mailers. So reducing their carbon footprint, going smaller, reducing dim size, things like that. So as they're looking to move from boxes to mailers, want to make sure that they still have something that can provide that protection that they need. And then the other thing is that looking for right size. So a lot of pre made mailers, you have to pick what size you want. And the advantage of our product, which obviously we'll talk about a little bit more later, it can be right sized to exactly what's needed for whatever is being shipped. It isn't a preset size. so those are some of the trends that we saw. there are also regulations that are coming into play, folks looking to, or needing to reduce the use of plastic, more focus on recyclable materials. And so that really led us to. See this gap in the market. So right now, customers have the option of, if they want to automate then and they want the protection, then they really have to go towards a poly solution or a plastic solution. If they're more in that sustainability world and they want to use a mailer that is paper based, then they would have to manually pack it. get a premade mailer, have folks that are really just stuffing mailers, then shipping them out. And that's where we thought that the 3M innovation could really come into play is bringing all three of those aspects together. The sustainability aspect, the automation aspect, as well as the, the protection that you would expect out of 3M. yeah. We'll get into each of those attributes more, I'm sure throughout the conversation, just at a very high level from a sustainability perspective, we're only using a single layer of craft paper that helps it stay lightweight, but still maintain its protective elements. obviously we have a proprietary padding technology, which is really the special sauce of the product that allows us to look towards ISCA 3A, certification from a protection perspective, and then the automation component. So that special sauce that I was talking about, the proprietary padding technology, it allows it to be heat sealable, which is really that, the differentiating factor, I guess I would say.

Cory Connors: 7:00

It's an amazing product and, Cassie did me a favor and sent me some. So I feel like I should do a drum roll here. but here it is. This is what it looks like when a consumer receives it. And, I'm going to open one right here just to show what it looks like on the inside and how easy that was to open. So that is awesome. Fully curbside recyclable. These are some 3M products, some, let's see, paint tips. I think you said something like that, but showed up perfect condition, totally safe. And this is the material on the inside. Maybe Cassie, you could walk us through, it, it can replace plastic bubble, foam, mailers, it's curbside recyclable. What else can you tell us about it?

Cassie Navara: 7:47

Yeah, as Brian was saying, it really fills that gap in the marketplace to provide a sustainable option, while also being protective. One of the things that we did in our development process was, we wanted to test the protective nature of our bubbles that we have. so we actually packaged a glass bottle in the mailer and ran it through the ISTA 3A testing. So we did this through a certified third party. they gave us the report and fortunately the bottle didn't break. so that was really exciting to see that, that we do have a protective product with our innovative design. We've also seen some social media posts online where they have opened a package that contained an unboxed cell phone. So think about a cell phone that you might have. Typically, if you're purchasing it new, it comes in a hard paper box. This had no box at all. It was just the phone in the packaging and there was no damage to the phone screen. it worked just fine after it had gone through that shipping process. So again, very exciting to see.

Cory Connors: 8:54

from

Cassie Navara: 8:54

a curbside recyclability perspective. we did send it through, the Western Michigan University testing. they performed their OCCE or old corrugate container equivalency testing protocol. And again, we passed that test protocol, demonstrating its recyclability. And, our pulp ability re rate was over 99%. Can't get a lot better than 90 99%. So very exciting again.

Cory Connors: 9:21

Well, it's

Cassie Navara: 9:22

also yeah, it's also been pre qualified as widely recyclable and it's not known to contain polyethylene. So very exciting that, It is a very sustainable option.

Cory Connors: 9:33

That's great. Brian, how long have you been working on this process?

Bryan Hartenberg: 9:37

I, as you can probably imagine for a, a product that's so new and so different, it's been in development for quite a while. It took probably over 3 years for it to come to market. It's taken a while. I would say a wide variety of twists and turns, from the original concept to where it ended up. there are a wide variety of different constructions that were considered, we talked about pre made mailers up front. that's something that was considered at one point and then Like I was talking about earlier, really decided that where 3M could come into play from an innovation perspective was this kind of automation component. So after we really narrowed down on that's probably been the last year to two years where we've done an extensive amount of testing and trials to land on the final construction that, you just opened today. all sorts of random things as far as, moisture resistance. How big do the bubbles need to be? how protective can it be? And really balancing all those different metrics so you can bring a really good product to the market. after we finish the construction, where we're focused. Now is really working with machine partners because the automation component is obviously a huge part of it. And so making sure that it runs smoothly on equipment is critical to the success. And so that's really where we're focused now that we have that final construction is working with machine manufacturers. So we can deliver that full solution to customers that are looking, to mail in mailers that need protection. That's

Cory Connors: 11:07

great. I have a, prop that your team gave me. I gotta get it. So this will help me ask. This will help me ask the next question. So they gave me this little tiny roll of the product. So this is how it will come. obviously larger than this, but this is, yeah, this is the mini kind of version to show how it works. And then you put it on the machine and, do you put one like this and then one above it and then the machine, or does it fold it in half? Cassie, can you walk us through. Like how does this make a custom pack every time?

Cassie Navara: 11:43

Yeah, and it's really dependent on the machine that it's being run on how it processes the. The material, so as you demonstrated, we do sell this in a roll stock. We can sell that in a variety of widths, depending on what the customer needs for their items that they're packaging. and, we've worked with many different equipment manufacturers, that some of them use 2 rolls and they create a ravioli style package. Some of them have a center fold. so there's, it's 1 roll creating 3 different seals with a fold. And it really is dependent on the machine. So we've been working with a lot of different equipment manufacturers so that we can capture all of these differences. Most of them have the same general progression. you put. The product on a conveyor belt, there could be something that scans the size of the product. There could the machine may have set dimensions that you can select. for the item being packaged, and then it goes through a heat sealing process. the labels can be added right on to the package as it's going through the machine, and this really helps for increasing that throughput. And again, right sizing is really important for this product. the sensor or the set dimensions help with that. To create that right size of that package, which really helps to reduce that dim weight lowers the shipping costs and lowers. It can reduce the carbon emissions that come out. 1 thing that we found is that seeing is really believing being able to see the material run on a machine is really eye opening. We actually were at Modex back in March of this year, and, Packer was running on a piece of automated equipment. And it was really an aha moment, I would say, for attendees when they came to see the material run, there was a lot of positive feedback and it created a lot of buzz around the product. So very exciting. we also have some machine partners that are stocking their equipment in their facilities. So it makes it easier for end users to come in and be able to run the product on the machine, test it through the shipping process and really get a feel for how it's going to process. It's

Cory Connors: 14:08

incredible. and running on automated equipment, I would think, Brian, can this keep up? Can this, this material run as fast as, say, another material?

Bryan Hartenberg: 14:19

Yeah, we certainly think it should be able to and we've benchmarked it against poly bubble machines. We've obviously compared it with the speeds of manually packing. And, we feel that depending on the machine that someone purchases, it really should, be able to keep up with what customers are looking to do. if you're running a really high speed operation, you might need a more complex machine. If you're running a kind of more simple or kind of varied demand business, I guess you could say you could get a different machine. that's where we're really looking to have a suite of machines that we can offer or kind of pair up appropriately with customers. So if they you. have space limitations, or if they want something horizontal, something vertical, going back to what you were talking about earlier, do they want to a ravioli style, a folded style, what sort of package are they looking for? we really want to be able to meet customers where they are, what they're looking for and have a solution that will work for them, versus just having one that we can offer them and say, Hey, this is what we got. Hope you like it.

Cory Connors: 15:25

You guys keep talking about ravioli. All I can think about is I'm

Bryan Hartenberg: 15:28

getting hungry, but I originally described it as a pancake style until I was told that it's actually a ravioli and it makes a lot more sense because you've got one on the bottom, one on the top, and then it comes together around, the material to fill in. So

Cory Connors: 15:40

yeah, this, we didn't talk about this before, but one of the thing I noticed about it is nothing's, there's nothing popped, it's not, it feels like it still could be almost reused again very easily. Just with a piece of tape. I feel like that's something to consider with this material because oftentimes you'll get those mailers and to open them. You have to destroy them. and this becomes something that could be. Reused many times. that's possible. I think, Cassie, I want to talk to you about pack expo. you mentioned, you, you were at MODX. Will you also be at pack expo showing this in process?

Cassie Navara: 16:16

Yeah, yes, we will be at pack expo. come visit us. We're at booth N 53 18. So happy to talk to anyone that wants to learn more about, The 3M Packer material. we are planning to have an automated machine on site to run the material. so looking forward to that. And we also have some additional sustainable development projects that we're planning to introduce at Pack Expo. So stay tuned for that, but please come visit us. We'll be there.

Cory Connors: 16:47

That's exciting. I can't wait for Pack Expo. It's the largest show in the U. S. 47, 000 plus people, over a million square feet. And, to have something like this is a real draw, I think, for people. So booth in five Three

Cassie Navara: 17:03

one

Cory Connors: 17:03

eight. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right. We'll be there. thank you both. Brian, how do we learn more about this stuff? how do we buy some?

Bryan Hartenberg: 17:12

Yeah. and I think the best place to go to learn more is our website. so if you just go to 3m. com, you should be able to search for Packer PACR. you can obviously search for the full name, but it's a little bit more difficult to remember. So just search for Packer and it should take you to the website and give you a lot more information. beyond that, our Salesforce and our sales reps is obviously, they're a great resource and they should be able to, answer your questions, and then our distribution partners as well. if folks are currently. shipping and boxes, or even if they're currently shipping and mailers, I'm sure they're buying them from a distribution partner out there. We'll be selling through those same distribution partners. wherever you're getting your packaging materials today, ask them about that and get in touch with us. Obviously, you can see my name, as part of this and, feel free to reach out to me directly as well.

Cory Connors: 18:03

Thank you so much, Brian and Cassie. I really appreciate your wisdom and I'll put the links to, your LinkedIn pages and to the website you mentioned, in the show notes. So if you're listening, scroll up and press one of those links and you'll get to learn more about this really cool and new sustainable product. So thank you. Thank you.