Seeking the solutions of tomorrow

In recent years pets have become true members of the family. Because pet owners want only the best for their four-legged companions, the standards in respect of packaging solutions and the quality of packaging materials for pet food and care products have risen sharply. "Packaging today is used not only to protect the contents and to advertise the brand. It must demonstrate various functional aspects: good runnability on the pet food producer's machine and convenient, easy handling for the end user are extremely important," explains Christian Kolarik, managing director of Mondi Consumer Bags & Films.Wide portfolioTo meet these requirements, the company offers a wide portfolio of flexible packaging solutions for the pet industry, backed up by technical know-how, in-depth research and powerful production systems. The headquarters of Mondi Europe & International Division and the individual business units are in Vienna. Mondi Consumer Bags & Films focuses strongly on western, central and eastern Europe as well as running some activities in North America. Flexible packaging solutions are produced in seven plants in Austria (two production plants), Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy and Poland. Back-up plants for all key products ensure delivery and guarantee a high level of flexibility. To provide the optimum service to customers, the market is also serviced by a number of sales offices (for example in Spain and Denmark).Multinational customers are often handled by different business units in the Mondi Group in order to provide them with a variety of packaging solutions. Key accounts are looked after by the international key account management to guarantee the best service. The company also has a team of dedicated application engineers, who are responsible for giving technical advice and support during product use and for taking care of customers in the design phase.To be able to offer packaging solutions that protect and market pet food in the optimum manner, the company has had an R & D Centre in Korneuburg near Vienna since 2006. The centre's basic approach is to work with customers and machinery manufacturers right from the early stages of development to develop solutions that are often ahead of the market requirements.The product portfolio of Mondi Consumer Bags & Films covers the full range of films and flexible packaging solutions for the pet market, from film extrusion via printing to the converting of innovative and convenient…