Thermoforming Products Popular in Food Packaging Sector

Thermoforming Products Popular in Food Packaging Sector

Thermoforming packaging has gained widespread adoption in food and beverage packaging (e.g., cups, Trays, and containers) due to its inherent advantages. With rising living standards and fast-paced lifestyles, demand for high-quality disposable packaging has surged. This trend has accelerated the growth of China's thermoforming market, with such products becoming ubiquitous in daily life.

Process Characteristics and Advantages

Flexibility: Provides greater design freedom to enhance brand recognition. Thermoforming molds accommodate diverse shapes - whether round, square, custom profiles, or hybrid designs.

Product protection: Thermoforming packaging ensures hermetic sealing and demonstrates exceptional durability. The formed tray securely holds products between the blister and backing board, preventing damage during logistics. This sheet-based forming process also minimizes secondary contamination risks.

In addition, thermoforming packaging is lightweight, easy to transport, in line with the requirements of green packaging; box without the need for additional cushioning materials; packaged food is transparent and visible, beautiful appearance, easy to promote the expansion of sales of goods; suitable for mechanisation, automation of the packaging, to facilitate the modern management, manpower savings, improve efficiency.

 Thermoforming Products

Comparison of Thermoforming and Injection Moulding in The Application

Recent years have seen growing demand for disposable packaging in food distribution, particularly for fresh produce, ready-to-eat meals, and takeout. Lightweight, hygienic, and cost-effective plastic containers have gained widespread acceptance.

The moulding of thin-walled packaging mainly involves two process methods, injection moulding and thermoforming. In comparison, thermoforming is more popular than injection moulding, and thermoforming rigid packaging accounts for about 90% of the market share. Compared with injection moulding, which is the most common plastic processing method, thermoforming has the advantages of fast and uniform moulding, short moulding cycle, the ability to manufacture products with larger surface area, moulds, as well as less investment in equipment, which is suitable for automation and long production time, etc. Thermoforming products demonstrate a 15% cost advantage over injection-molded alternatives. This process is recognized as the most cost-efficient plastic molding method per unit., and it is considered to be the most efficient processing method in terms of unit cost among the plastic moulding methods. 

Although injection moulded packaging has also seen a lot of development in recent years due to greater design freedom, high quality differentiated appearance and better physical properties, thermoforming technology still occupies an important place in the thin-walled packaging market. Below are three common types of Thermoforming Machines, each producing different plastic products.

Full Servo Plastic Cup Making Machine HEY12
The cup making machine is Mainly for the production of variety plastic containers ( jelly cups, drink cups, package containers, etc) with thermoplastic sheets, such as PP, PET, PE, PS, HIPS, PLA,etc.

Full Servo Plastic Cup Making Machine HEY12

Thermoforming Machine With Three Stations HEY01
This Thermoforming Equipment Mainly for the production of variety plastic containers ( egg tray, fruit container, food container, package containers, etc) with thermoplastic sheets, such as PP, PS, PLA, PET etc.

Thermoforming Machine With Three Stations HEY01

Automatic Lid Thermoforming Machine HEY04A
PVC, PET, PS, as raw materials, changing the mold at one machine to manufacturing lids, covers, trays, plates, boxes, food and medical trays, etc.

 Automatic Lid Thermoforming Machine HEY04A

Sustainability
 
One of the major challenges facing the thermoforming industry today is the public's concern over the recycling of after-use containers brought about by the rapid development of the takeaway market, which is ultimately an issue of sustainable development for the industry. For example, the GtmSmart PLA Thermoforming Machine  exclusively processes polylactic acid (PLA) materials. In the pursuit of a high quality of life, people are more willing to choose products that are beneficial to the environment and health, and thermoforming high-barrier plastic packaging products will become a guidepost for the development of food and catering packaging companies.