Starting your paper bags business?

There are several types of paper bags.

I. Square bottom paper bags

• without handles
• with twisted cord handle
• with flat handle
• with D-cut handles
• SOS (Self open sack) bags
• Laminated gift bags
• Top folded paper bags

II. Flat bottom paper bags

• V-bottom 
• flat bottom
• Envelopes
• Pouches
• Sandwich bags

III. Other kinds of paper bags

• Tamper proof paper bags
• E-commerce paper bags

The above are just the list of most commonly found paper bags across various industries. Depending on your business model and sales strategy, you need to decide which of these paper bags do you want to manufacture.

One thing we need to understand is both technologies are for different type of business models.

If you are an existing paper bag converter who understands the challenges of paper bag production, then yes, you will be in a better position to effectively run a sheet-fed paper bag machine.

However, if you are considering a sheet-fed paper bag machine because you want to keep your sheet-fed offset press busy, then you may want to reconsider your decision.

The paper bag business is not the printing press business. Having said that, you can still opt for a sheet-fed paper bag solution provided your target  segment is the high end luxury paper bags, gift bags or top folded paper bags. Any other sector of paper bags, you will be at a  disadvantage when it comes to pricing and productivity when compared to roll-fed bag machines.

The type of handles are dependent from end-customer to end-customer, region to region, industry to industry. Post pandemic, we have seen an increasing demand for flat handle paper bags and one of the reason being, it gives better control over production and quality when compared to twisted cord handles. Good quality twisted cords need to be outsourced. Though there are machines that can make twisted cords, it is not always easy to get the right strength and flexibility if twisted cord converting is not part of your main business.

Secondly, twisted cord handle machines are relatively cheaper to buy as it has lesser moving parts. Also, there are limited machine manufacturers who make a good quality flat handle machine. Thus many converters take the easy route of starting with a twisted cord line.

In the end, it is a matter of choice. Most of the established paper bag converters have both options available. Having said that, please try to avoid having too many options on your paper bag line if you are going with just one line.

As with all business, there are advantages and limitations to the paper bags business too. We need to understand, paper bags is more of a productivity business and less of a flexibility business. It means, the more bags you produce from your paper bag machine, the higher the chances of you reaching profitability.

One of the common mistakes many new comers in the paper bags business do is to cater to too many customer segments with just one or two machines.

The lesser options you can offer, the more production you can take. The more you produce, the lower your production cost.

As a reference, we do not recommend having more than 4 sizes per paper bag line. 

This way, you can sell your paper bags at a competitive pricing and enjoy healthy profits as per the industry standards.

The other challenge is in the raw material. Always have sufficient paper stocks available. While maintaining stock, please ensure you buy good quality paper that can actually give you the best productivity on your lines. Buying paper not suitable for automatic lines simply because it is cheap is not going to help you save money.

If you need help with setting up your production business, please feel free to reach out to us at sales@carbonprintz.com. 

At Carbon, our primary focus is in helping you build your business model through the business model canvas. The type of machines, material and every other resource comes at a later stage. We first help you establish the scope of the business. We then follow a structured approach to validate the identified scope through questioning, introspection, analysis etc.  

There are cases, where the client would have already done this part before reaching out to us. In such cases, we begin the project at the next level, with technical pre-qualifications, strategy building, resource planning etc. Every project is different. The best way to find out is to reach out to us for an initial project scope discussion and let us discover together how can we help you kick start your project. 

If you need help with setting up your production business, please feel free to reach out to us at sales@carbonprintz.com.