Every modern person will agree that life is now simply unthinkable without plastic bags. Such products are used almost everywhere: in grocery and industrial stores, production shops. A considerable number of companies even order such goods to have their symbols and logos applied. Equipment for the production of plastic bags allows production of products in small spaces.
But in the era of new technologies, equipment for making bags is not considered a shortage, so the business through which production produces a type of product has ceased to be a curiosity. Despite the large number of competitors, doing this kind of business is still quite profitable. What equipment to choose for the production of PET bags should be discussed with a specialist.
Scope of use of polyethylene
For the production of polymer film products (plastic bags), special production lines are used.
Plastic bag production line
Such products are used in various industries: everyday life, food, and enterprises.
And polyethylene bags are an irreplaceable thing; they are used in stores, for garbage, for storing anything, for packaging. Plastic bags have become an important part in human life. Nobody even remembers rag bags, the predecessors of bags. Therefore, if you have a desire to start such a business, you should not dismiss this idea; the demand for such a product will always exist.
There is another income niche in the production of PET bags - advertising and brands. Many well-known companies put their name or icon on the package so that people can know about them. For example, when purchasing in a store, a package is offered with basic information - the name, logo and address for making the purchase. In addition to this, they print another one - services, offers, etc.
Polyethylene market
Polyethylene (PE) production accounts for approximately 35% of the global thermoplastics market. Of this, 17% is the production of a functional and dense material, and 18% is a polymer with a looser structure. In recent years, the overall share of polyethylene has decreased, which is due to partial replacement with polypropylene.
If we consider the Russian polyethylene market on a global scale, the volume of this product accounts for only 2% of global output. However, there are certain features:
- the introduction of international sanctions has caused a reduction in imports, as a result there is an active transition to the consumption of domestically produced polyethylene;
- a significant share of polyethylene is produced by several largest manufacturers, setting the general trend;
- Similar to the situation on the world market, prices for Russian polymer are gradually increasing, but no sharp jumps are observed.
Due to the emergence of new production facilities for processing polyethylene for the manufacture of final products, the demand for raw materials continues to grow moderately.
The largest polymer production enterprises are located in Uzbekistan, Russia, South Korea, and Belarus.
In Russia, the leading places are occupied by:
- OJSC Kazanorgsintez is the largest polyethylene producer in the Russian Federation, located in Kazan;
- Sibur Holding is the largest integrated petrochemical company in the Russian Federation;
- LLC "Stavrolen" is a chemical industry enterprise located in Budennovsk, Stavropol Territory
- ZapSibNeftekhim is a petrochemical plant of the SIBUR group in Tobolsk (opened in May 2020);
- - one of the leaders in the domestic market for the production of polyethylene, in the city of Nizhnekamsk.
For the new enterprise, large industrial companies will not be direct competitors. It's worth getting past the smaller manufacturers before considering them as competitors.
Requirements necessary for the production of plastic bags
Those who have decided to engage in such a profitable business must take into account that launching an extruder is only half the battle.
Extruder for plastic
It is necessary to study all the subtleties. According to standard indicators, this production is quite harmful. Therefore, the owner needs to take into account the following requirements:
- The building where polyethylene will be produced should be located away from the residential area.
- The building should be equipped with good ventilation and exhaust hood.
- Craftsmen will have to devote a lot of time to controlling humidity and supplying heat.
- Make sure there is good grounding, a network delivering a voltage of three hundred and eighty volts.
- The height from the floor to the ceilings must be at least eight meters, since the units themselves are six meters high.
- Equipment must be placed in accordance with GOST.
- The premises for small production must be at least three hundred meters.
- Invest in a fire protection system.
Fire protection system
Manufacturing machine
To create garbage bags, two types of machines are used:
- semi-handicraft;
- stationary.
On semi-handicraft type machines, packages of semi-finished products are mainly produced. Such equipment can be purchased at a relatively low price. Semi-handicraft machines are most often used to create the simplest bags that do not require special development (mainly waste bags). The assortment in such cases is not rich. Such machines can otherwise be called mini-enterprises.
machine for the production of garbage bags has a more complex design. They are used to produce a wide range of packages. To put these machines into operation, it is necessary to have premises that will be specially equipped and meet the production rules. Different types of equipment are used together with stationary machines:
- To make a logo on a package or other image, you need to have a flash printing machine;
- an apparatus that turns granules into film for the further production of bags of various types (extruder);
- plastic fasteners will require special installation to facilitate the packaging process;
- a multifunctional machine that can be used to create a variety of bags of any size, as well as plastic bags.
Technological process
The technological process of polyethylene production consists of certain transitions.
Initially, polyethylene tubular film is produced. For this purpose, low and high pressure polyethylene is used. If the final result is a “T-shirt” package, then at this stage the film sleeve is also folded. And if it is necessary to apply a design, the sleeve is initially crowned.
Printing is applied - a similar action is performed using a method such as flexography.
Cutting the sleeve, as well as forming the bottom of the package. But, in the case of making a “T-shirt” bag, one more operation is necessary - two welds are formed, on the side of the handles. It should be noted that cutting the sleeve when applying a pattern is carried out through the use of a special photocell, which determines the location of the print.
The neck of the bag is cut out.
Areas of application of polyethylene
Polyethylene is one of the most widely used modern materials in production:
- packaging, shrink, agricultural and other types of films;
- water, gas and other types of pipes;
- various synthetic fibers;
- containers for various types of liquids;
- a wide range of building materials;
- sanitary products;
- dishes and household items;
- insulating materials for electrical cables;
- parts for cars, machine tools, various equipment, tools and other equipment;
- prosthetics for dentistry and other types of endoprosthetics;
- polyethylene foam.
The wide range of consumer properties of polyethylene is due to a whole complex of chemical, physical-mechanical and dielectric characteristics of this material. Therefore, it is in demand in radio-electrical, cable, chemical, construction, medical and many other industries.
Special varieties of this material, such as polyethylene foam, cross-linked, supermolecular, chlorosulfonated, are effectively used in the production of building materials. Although polyethylene itself is not structural in structure, glass fiber reinforcement makes it possible to use it in structural composite products.
Polyethylene is also used as recyclable material. Its waste is perfectly recycled for further use.
Machines for making bags
The production of PET bags is a continuous process, so automatic lines must be used for the production of this type of product. They consist of the following elements:
- Extruder - equipment responsible for processing raw materials.
- The cutting and soldering machine is designed for cutting sleeves or films into blanks, with special parameters.
- The package is released using the previous two devices.
- Punching press equipment helps produce bags with punched handles or “T-shirt” type bags.
- A flexographic machine is necessary for applying designs and logos to the package.
Making paper bags: technology
Production of blanks
Making a blank - a multilayer paper tube with sizing.
The semi-automatic machine UBT-200M glues a multilayer paper tube. The source material is roll paper. Price 430,000 rub.
The machine for making paper bags produces (pieces per hour):
- 250 - 1 layer,
- 210 - 2 layers,
- 180 - 3 layers,
- 150 - 4 layers,
- 120 - 5 layers.
Blanks include cutting of interlining, fastening and covering tape or crepe tape for stitching.
The semi-automatic machine MKL19RA cuts all types of tape at a speed of 5000 meters/hour. Costs 97,000 rubles.
Printing text and graphics
The UBT-3000 installation can be equipped with flexographic printing: 2-color will cost 400,000 rubles, 3-color - 550,000 rubles, 4-color 700,000 rubles.
The surface of the package contains multi-color printing, which significantly increases the cost of production.
The plant from St. Petersburg “Pakmatika” produces a flexographic machine for printing in 2…6 colors. Working speed - 95 m/min. Costs 700,000 rubles.
Connecting blanks, paper tube and bottom
Semi-automatic machine USD 6M
Gluing, stitching the top flap, the bottom of the bag and the paper tube is the final stage of making a bag bag.
The semi-automatic machine USD 6M appears and performs gluing of the entire paper bag. Capacity: 300 open and 150 closed bags per hour. Costs 218,000 rubles.
Additional equipment for paper bags
Semi-automatic device for final firmware of UPD M3801A. Productivity 20 bags per minute. The device costs 140,000 rubles.
MP-1 machine for applying perforation. Productivity: 15 packages per minute. Costs 157,000 rubles.
The best equipment manufacturers
The highest quality equipment is delivered to Russian and other markets from China, Taiwan and Türkiye.
Mingde Machinery Company, China - offers extruders that produce film; in addition, the company produces machines for the production of bags - T-shirts, bags with a handle-loop. A special feature of the Chinese machine is that it makes it possible to apply a design to polyethylene and produces custom-made devices.
"Hyplas", Taiwan - machines from this company produce bags of all types and have high productivity.
The positive point is that the cost of the device is low compared to other manufacturers. And its simple installation and launch make it even more valuable.
"Gur-is makina", Turkey - an old company producing machines for the production of polyethylene. The machines are popular on all continents. Specializes in the manufacture of devices specializing in special tasks.
Domestic manufacturers should also be placed in a separate category. They have long been mastering the technology of manufacturing devices for the production of polyethylene and products made from it. The most famous is Aleko, which has been on the Russian market for more than twenty years and is the leading developer of equipment of this type.
Paper bag production line
Mini-factories (250 pieces/hour) for the production of bags and paper bags can be equipped with equipment at random, in practice coordinating the productivity of each unit, then high-performance lines must be purchased as a complete set. Such an automatic line can be adjusted to different product formats. The dimensions of paper bags vary: length 35...125 cm, width 15...61 cm. Changing the size of products of a line arranged element by element involves design changes.
Technically, each line includes the following assembly units:
- unwinding unit;
- block for cross-sizing paper layers;
- block for longitudinal sizing of paper layers;
- paper sleeve cutting block, workpiece rolling;
- perforation block;
- element-by-element cutting device;
- block for advancing and cutting paper sleeves;
- conveyors, product receivers.
The line is equipped with flexographic printing and a lifting mechanism P = 1 ton.
Extruders for the production of polyethylene products
An extruder is a special industrial machine used for the production of polyethylene.
It performs the following functions:
- Heating of bulk polyethylene (pellets) to a certain temperature required to produce a whole “sleeve”.
- Mixing hot mass to a homogeneous consistency to obtain high-quality products.
- Cooling the finished “sleeve”.
In industry, all extruders are divided into three types:
- Screw - there are various modifications and many types of plastic are produced.
- Screwless – used for the production of low-quality plastic.
- Combined - works with plastic of any quality and combines the qualities of the previous two.
Making paper bags with logo
- Offset printing. Printing on flat sheets, which is close to printing, can produce large print runs.
- Silkscreen printing. Used for small runs. It is used for small bright drawings, applying logos to a blank or finished product.
- Flexography . Flexographic printing is high-speed rotary printing with liquid, quick-drying inks under low pressure, using several photopolymer cylinders that apply one color sequentially. The print pattern stands out in relief on the cylinder. A stationary unit on one side applies paint to the relief, on the other side the cylinder rotates and transfers paint to the workpiece. Rotary machines are: selection, longline and planetary type.
- Embossing . Expensive method of printing using a stamp.
Flexographic installations are the most popular. “Pakmatika” sections , -6800, -61000 6-color work online (included with the line) or independently (offline) with a modified system for feeding and rewinding the web.
The equipment is characterized by reliability and ease of maintenance and management.
A stabilization system is used and the web tension is automatically controlled. There is a canvas meterage counter; the installation will automatically stop at the specified meterage. The installation has a drying system; during a stop, the drying is immediately turned off.
Shaft diameter is 450 mm, operating speeds are 5...80 m/min, flare thickness is 2.38 mm.
Business plan for bag production
Brief information: with this type of business, monthly profits will start from one and a half thousand dollars per month.
To do this, you need to invest thirty thousand dollars in production. It will fully pay for itself in a year and a half.
When drawing up a work plan, it is necessary to take into account not only the cost of equipment, approximately 2–4 million rubles, but also utility costs, rent of premises, cash payments to employees, and taxes. All this will amount to three hundred thousand rubles per month.
The price that should be charged for finished products depends on what kind of film was used, the size of the product, the shape of the handles, colors, etc. For preliminary calculations, you should take a package measuring forty by sixty.
The production cost will be fifteen kopecks. Sale - seventy-five kopecks. In a full working day of eight hours it is easy to produce thirty-three thousand six hundred pieces, which is eighteen thousand rubles.
Costs and profitability
The business plan must include the cost of equipment (50-300 thousand dollars), registration of permits and enterprises (up to 400 dollars), rent for the first months (from 3 dollars per m2), wage costs, utility bills, taxes , quality examinations. Economists believe that in this area of business, initial investments pay off in two or three years.
Film production can be combined with the production of plastic bags or disposable plastic tableware
Premises requirements
The area of the premises to accommodate the garbage bag production line must be at least 300 m2. In addition to the main production workshop, the following premises are needed: a warehouse for raw materials, a warehouse for finished products, and a staff room. Renting such an area will cost approximately 50-150 thousand rubles per month, depending on the region.
It is necessary to have utilities: electricity, water, sewerage. The room should be well ventilated with an additional ventilation system. Due to the hazard class, such production is located at a distance of at least 300m from the nearest residential complexes.
What raw materials to choose for the production of plastic bags
To produce polyethylene garbage bags, first grade or recycled polymer granules are used. There are two options for raw materials for the production of garbage bags: high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE). To ensure that garbage bags can withstand heavy loads, high-density polyethylene is used for their manufacture.
To produce denser bags for construction waste, low-density polyethylene (GOST 16338-85) is used, which is intended for contact with bulk and dry products. The cost of one ton of granulate is $350-600. The cheapest is South Korean granulate. There are also many domestic granulate suppliers and suppliers from the People's Republic of China.
When producing garbage bags, you can use recycled granulate, as it is cheaper. However, it should be borne in mind that the final product from such raw materials will be of low quality.
Own business: production of packaging film
Opening a small plant for the production of polyethylene film is an excellent investment. Packaging materials will always be in demand. In this case, your clients are any manufacturers who require packaging film. You can also try to find clients among builders or logistics companies - they often buy stretch - a material used to fasten large objects to increase the stability of the load. Film production is a high-tech, interesting and profitable business.
