Things You Should Know About Water Based Adhesives

Things You Should Know About Water Based Adhesives

There are many scenarios where you should be using be using water-based adhesive. However, with everything there are pros and cons. The first thing to note is that Water-based adhesives can either be natural polymers meaning they are from plant-based sources such as (dextrins, starches), protein based sources (casein, blood, fish, soybean, milk albumen), or even animal based sources (hides, or bones). Water-based adhesives can also be from soluble polymers which include polyvinyl alcohol, cellulose ethers, methylcellulose, carboxymethylcellulose, and polyvinylpyrrolidone.

As previously stated, water-based adhesives can be used for a wide range of industries. Back in the day water-based adhesives were the only option to choose from until hot melt adhesives came along. Hot melts are more common now, but water-based still work for a variety of applications and industries. For example, in the bookbinding and graphic arts industries, water-based adhesives are great for keeping the consistency. The manufacturers we work with are providing us solutions that are very durable, temperature and moisture resistant and have a strong adhesion to an abundance of different substrates.

BC Adhesives has a comprehensive product portfolio formulated to exceed industry standards on specific paper stocks, films and bookcase materials. Beginning with the adhesive and continuing through the technical support and new product development. BC Adhesives we offers:

Water-Based Adhesives For The Food And Beverage Markets:

As stated in a previous blog post, consumers are looking for better and more eye catching food packaging. New brands pop up all of the time, and consumers are always looking for new options. As consumers search the shelves for products often times the packaging implements whether they buy the product or not. Overall, consumers want functionality and convenience factors when it comes to packaging. Some key traits that customers and companies are looking for are sustainable solutions and food safety packaging. BC Adhesives Understands how these regulations extend to adhesives, sealants and functional coatings. Our manufacturers are choosing solutions to protect quality and assure safety to achieve high performance and maximize value of their products.

Navigating these packaging needs, manufacturers are partnering with suppliers who deliver solutions to support their consumer-centric agenda. BC Adhesives, sealants and functional coatings play a key role in beverage and container labeling, end-of-line packaging and metal packaging.

Product Assembly (Furniture Building Processes)

Screws and nails are methods of the past, and water-based adhesives can help produce lighter products, structures, and even improve quality, efficiency and sustainability for your furniture and building components. BC Adhesives supports a variety of wooden parts in many applications in the furniture industry. The team is a top solutions provider to the assembly industry and keeps its customers in mind when making decisions ensuring a true partnership.

Why Use Water-Based Adhesives:

Many industries and applications can benefit from water-based adhesives. Packaging, bookbinding, labeling, and woodworking are common places where water-based adhesives could be used. However, when deciding whether to use a water-based adhesive over a hot-melt we suggest reaching out to and industry leader in the adhesive space, BC Adhesives. The team has been in the industry since inception, and will become a great partner to your organization. The team will walk you through the benefits and drawbacks to water-based adhesives and help you make the decision based off your application. When working with assembly applications water-based adhesives serve an important role especially in woodworking and furniture products. They also work well with the graphic arts industry. Some pros to water-based adhesives are its ability to set quickly and form strong bonds that, unless exposed directly to excess water or moisture, will remain strong for an extended period of time. To find out if water-based adhesives are right for your application reach out to BC Adhesives.

6 Precious Tips To Help You Get Better Adhesive

6 Precious Tips To Help You Get Better Adhesive

Start with application:

There are 10 precious tips that you need to consider when looking for an adhesive/adhesive supplier. It all starts with application. Often times, most people turn to Google to see what would work best for their application, but this is a bit tricky and not always the most accurate way to do it. We recommend contacting an adhesive distributor with years of experience who can run tests to see what adhesive will work best for your application.

Choosing the right distributor for my adhesives:

There are many adhesive distributors out there who work with a lot of the same manufacturers. Often times, it’s best to choose a distributor who also is a great partner to your organization. This would be someone who has years of expertise working with equipment and adhesives. The worst case scenario is buying cheap adhesive from a distributor that doesn’t have much of an idea of how your equipment runs. Everyone can offer you the same adhesive and compete on price, but that may not always be the best option for your company, especially if you are newer and not as established quite yet. As stated earlier, the best adhesive distributors are those who don’t compete on price. They are the ones who will be saving you money in the long run by reducing your downtime and making sure your adhesive is running efficiently at all times.

Work with a team who has a proven track record of success:

Success stories, and testimonials are important factors to look at when deciding what supplier to work with. BC Adhesives, has a wide range of testimonials, and success stories that prove why they are the best adhesive supplier across the globe. It’s important to think of your adhesive distributor as an employee, someone who you would trust to be apart of your team. The BC team has been nothing short from perfect in providing quality adhesives and top notch service. Below is an example, of one of their recent success stories: ” A Plant contacted BC Adhesives Friday night at 7PM. Their pump was sticking on the glue system which made the plant operation go down, costing thousands of dollars. Our sales representative advised on how to lubricate the pump to revive it to get back running. In result, the plant was up and running within minutes. The team also advised on replacements parts to prevent future downtime.” This is what a partnership is. A team that’s willing to help you on their own dime to make sure you are taken care of. If you didn’t notice, this call had nothing to do with the actual adhesive itself, but the equipment.

Important Questions That An Adhesive Supplier Will Ask You:

It’s important to be prepped before talking with a potential adhesive specialist. The first question you should be prepped for is What substrates are you bonding? Following that, they will ask a few others that will give them a better idea as to what adhesive would be best for your application. Some may be easier to answer than others, but as long as you have a general idea on what you’re using the adhesive for, industry experts should be able to provide you a benefit.

A Guide For Adhesive Solutions To Keep Saved:

There are guides for adhesives, all over the internet, but the one below showcases a variety of different applications. Use this chart as a guide to get the conversation going with an adhesive specialist. If you don’t know much about adhesive, this guide is perfect for you!

Service Over DownTime:

We’ve gone through a lot so far, and this is just one drop in the bucket, but it’s important to look at what services an adhesive partner can offer other than just providing you adhesives. It’s more money in your pocket in the long-run if you pay a little extra up front for your product, but have the benefits of a full service team to help you when your in a jam. BC Adhesives, is that full service partner that you are looking for. A team that will be there for you 24/7 to make sure you are running as efficiently as possible. You won’t have to worry about anything when working with BC Adhesives, rest assured as they will be the ones helping you in good times and bad.

Curious to learn how food packaging influences buyer behavior? Check out the “Five Things Nobody Told You About How Food Packaging Affects Consumers”

Five Things Nobody Told You About How Food Packaging Affects Consumers

Five Things Nobody Told You About How Food Packaging Affects Consumers

Packaging Design

Did you know that food packaging has an effect on people’s intent to purchase it or not. It may sound funny, but it’s true and nowadays it’s getting more and more difficult to stand out on a crowded shelf with new snacks and brands forming each day. Today, newer brands need to invest heavily into their packaging design because it’s the most important form of marketing. Not only that, but it’s the first view point consumers see when browsing the shelves at the grocery store. Brands that have terrible packaging often times fail because consumers don’t tend to look at them. It’s the packaging that captures someones attention when walking down the aisle. When deciding what type of packaging you should use or what budget to spend on packaging you should first mock up a design or color scheme that you want to portray to your customers. Color schemes are very important when it comes to catching someones attention. Usually the brighter more vibrant colors tend to work better than generic colors, but it’s important to look at competitors in your space before making the final decision. You must ask yourself a few questions before deciding what design to choose. It’s also important to do a competitive analysis of all the brands that compete for shelf life in your space. Look at their packaging and pick out things you like, don’t like, etc… From there you will have a better idea on how to make yours stand out. Who knew all of these details had to be done before deciding what food packaging design you should create.

The Material

Material is the second most important factor that nobody would think affects their customers decision making, but it’s critical. It’s different for all categories, but some of the most common food packaging material includes trays, bags, boxes, cans, cartons, etc… In most cases trays and cartons are mean’t for plant seeds, meats, and beverages. Bags, boxes, and cans are more common for foods that go on the shelves such as chips, crackers and nuts. Other material that’s important to think about is the actual adhesive that holds each of these together. Adhesives are essential for a variety of food packaging needs. Adhesives aren’t often thought about often, but can have a huge affect on your customer. Generally speaking, you want an adhesive that doesn’t build residue on the outside of the packaging, but also doesn’t give out on you leading to opened boxes. Our recommendation is to consult with an adhesive expert to learn what adhesive would be best for your application. BC Adhesives is an industry leader in the adhesive space for food packaging. The team is very hands on in the process as they will do the dirty work in finding/testing adhesive that will be both attractive, lower cost, and higher efficiency over any other adhesive supplier out there. The team has 100+ years of adhesive and equipment experience, and will come out to your plant anytime to work on the equipment to make sure it runs as efficiently as possible.

The Environment

Food packaging has a crucial impact to the environment, and customers care about it. When deciding to buy from your brand or your competitors brand its important to win them over with green packaging. 70% of people are more likely to switch to a brand that’s focusing on bettering earth. Brands must think of younger demographics in their packaging choice. Studies have shown that packaging is buried in a landfill or becomes litter that is carried out through our environment. You should use recycled or reusable material for your packaging. This not only betters the planet, but also makes your marketing stand out. Besides the physical structure of your packaging, you need to also look at what holds your package together. One of the main ways packages are held is with adhesive. Fortunately there are many sustainable adhesives to work with. BC Adhesives not only educates you about adhesive, but will help you choose the correct one for your product needs.

Size Of Packaging

The size of your packaging is very important. We like to say, the smaller the better. As stated earlier, shelf space is hard to come by, and shipping charges are increasing all of the time. A small, and light design will give you shelf space, and will also reduce shipping costs, and adhesive costs. The FDA lists the different size options for each category. You need to make sure that if you have a small package, that your text/copy is still large enough to see. When people have to squint to read your packaging it’s telling you two things. One, you may be hiding something, or two your packaging design is too crowded. Make sure to try and limit the amount of text that goes on your packaging and make sure the spacing between different sections is enough.

Simplicity & Accessibility

Simple is always better! Don’t over complicate things. One, it could make your packaging look too crowded, and two it can give the consumer a bad read on what you’re offering. Accessibility is also an important trait. Easy open and close technology, no residue from adhesive, and no need for a scissors or knife to open. You may not think this, but it’s important. Implementing technology into your packaging is continuing to increase as it makes it easier for users to open and close. Arrows, tabs, or seals are now necessary to have as they require minimal effort to open. Again, this all comes down to the design of your package. The shape, size, and adhesive have a great impact on making your packaging more accessible to consumers. You don’t want too strong of adhesive, and you also don’t want to underuse adhesive because it will cause your packaging to open too quickly. Contact BC Adhesives today if you’re looking to step up your packaging game for your customers. This will save you money, increase equipment efficiency, and make you run instead of being down for maintenance. Step up your packaging, your consumers care. Increase your margins with BC today!

The History of Hot Melt Adhesive

The History of Hot Melt Adhesive

The history of hot melt adhesive goes back to 1940 when Procter & Gamble, Paul Cope invented the thermoplastic glue as an improvement of water-based adhesives that were failing humid climates. This changed the direction the industry was going. You can now use 100% solid, non-toxic adhesives containing no solvents or water, to provide permanent bonding to a wide range of materials. In the past glue was used for a few applications, but now with the introduction of hot melt adhesive, it now is used in almost every industry in some way, shape, or form. If you think about it, adhesives are essential for most businesses to even function, as there isn’t really an alternative to them. A simple way to learn the functionality of how hot melt adhesives work, check out this video “How Do Hot Melt Adhesives Work”

Hot Melt For Packaging & Assembly

The packaging industry has always dominated the hot melt adhesive usage. Back in the day there were many ways hot melt adhesives were applied. This made it confusing for users to figure out what equipment they should be using. It started with hot melt hand guns. These were used for basic packaging applications. Then it shifted to high power melt sticks, self contained hot melt guns, hot melt tanks, etc… You may be wondering what hot melt system should I be using for my application? This is a common question, and to be honest, it’s different for every industry. However, most hot melts for the packaging industry use Nordson equipment. Whereas, assembly applications could use an automated spray application or extrusion system.

Advantages of Hot Melt Adhesives

We were all using water-based adhesives until hot melts we’re created. Hot melt adhesives were created because it offers many advantages to an abundance of applications that make them better than water-based adhesives. Some advantages include: longer shelf life, no loss of thickness during solidification, lower shipping costs, and it eliminates the drying or curing step. You may be saying to yourself why would people use water-based adhesives anymore? Well, other types of adhesives may be a better choice if you use on substrates that are sensitive to higher temperatures, as well as end-products that can be exposed to higher temperatures, chemicals, or weather conditions where an HMA may offer less bond strength or resistance.

Troubleshooting Your Hot Melt Equipment

As always, when you work with something for a long time there will be a time where issues arise. This happens with everything, and there isn’t really a way to avoid it, unless you are taking care of your equipment and making sure it’s running as efficiently as possible. Most users may not be total experts on adhesive equipment, but have the general gist of how to run the machine. The team over at BC Adhesives are experts at both suggesting you the correct adhesive, and optimizing your equipment so it runs as efficiently as possible. As a general rule of thumb, cold temperatures can definitely affect the performance of pressure sensitive adhesives. We recommend adding a glue pressure gauge to monitor your dispenser’s performance to detect signs of trouble. The BC Adhesives team is happy to train your staff on our dime to show you the best ways to maintain your equipment, so you can improve efficiency, output, and reduce the downtime you have.

Types of Hot Melt Adhesives

There are five main types of hot melt adhesives. These include EVA’s, Polyethylene, Metallocene, APAO, and Polyamides. Each of these adhesives can be used for a variety of different applications. If you are dealing with uncoated paper applications EVA’s would be a better option for you. EVA’s would be better because they offer heat and cold resistance to make it set quicker. If you’re working with carton and case sealing applications then polyethylene would be your best option because it offers excellent thermal stability and are low odor. To learn more, and if you have any additional questions on what types of hot melt you should use don’t hesitate to contact the BC Adhesives team!