OREANDA-NEWS. Barrier Film Converters is a wholly owned subsidiary company within Astrapak's Flexibles Division. Barrier Film Converters revised its business strategy to expand and grow business within the food packaging market sector. With product characteristics that offer barrier-properties against water vapour, oxygen, carbon dioxide, smells and odours permeability through plastic packaging materials, this Durban-based company is well positioned to do business in Southern Africa and beyond.

Barrier Film Converters' Food Safety Accreditation is pivotal in aligning the company to execute the strategy. The following accreditations are now in place:

DQS-UL FSSC 22000

DQS-UL ISO 22000 : 2005

IQNet ISO 22000 : 2005

Significant investment has been made to upskill and educate people in respect of quality and safety practices, and to upgrade the facilities and production equipment to empower the company to deliver against very stringent customer requirements.

Food Safety is now an integrated part of daily activities at Barrier Film Converters. The culture of continuous improvement to achieve customer requirements of 100% OTIFQ (On Time, In Full and at the correct Quality) is firmly embedded. Barrier Film Converters have embarked on a road to pro-actively engage with customers to jointly develop new and improved plastic packaging solutions to ensure that:

End-users enjoy improved food quality and freshness,

Customers have better presentation and appearance of their product to the consumer, and

Food products have longer shelve-life, resulting in less waste and a positive impact on the bottom-line of our Customers.

Barrier Film Converters' Food Safety accreditation was born from Astrapak's vision for the company to re-position as the leading supplier of multi-layer barrier products within the Southern African market. This key project was undertaken and led by Astrapak Flexible Technical Director Johan Schoeman and Jabu Maseko, Quality Manager at Barrier Film Converters. Their efforts, the support and dedication of local management and the enthusiasm and drive of all employees to successfully implement and maintain the discipline required has resulted in Barrier Film

Converters being able to distinguish itself from competitors and present its Customers with peace of mind in terms of products supplied.

Barrier Film Convertors and Peninsula Packaging, both part of the Astrapak Flexible Division, have both now achieved certification for food contact packaging and can now collectively service all food and beverage related flexible packaging.

This achievement is a significant step in repositioning the company as a leading player within its chosen market segments and will benefit existing and future customers in the food and other traditional markets serviced by Barrier Film Converters.