Jan 31, 2025 - 3-5 minutes
Why Buy From Bostik: Our Trial Capabilities

Find out how Bostik's trial capabilities can help packaging manufacturers optimize new materials, reduce costs, and achieve sustainability goals without disrupting production. Learn about our expert support and advanced testing equipment.
As a packaging manufacturer, you know it's important to conduct trials before implementing new materials on your production lines. These trials help ensure the right materials are chosen and optimized correctly for your equipment so that you can easily accomplish your performance, processing and sustainability goals. However, running a trial on your own can be difficult, because it means you likely need to:
- Halt your day-to-day productions to run trials on that equipment instead, which can reduce your production output and increase costs
- Run a large amount of material on your production equipment, which can add to costs
This may make you less inclined to run a trial, even if doing so can ultimately improve your product’s performance and reduce costs overall. However, when choosing Bostik as your adhesive supplier, our trial capabilities can make it easy.
Our Trial Capability #1: Wide Variety of Trial Equipment
Running a trial on your own equipment can lead to complications in maintaining day-to-day operations. If you need a production line to complete testing, it could take away days or even weeks of regular production time. Further, if the testing turns out results that you do not consider to be a success, it may require additional testing time to achieve the desired results. While another option could be working with a third party to avoid holding up day-to-day operations, similar setbacks in testing results could occur. Both scenarios can lead to costly trial sessions with minimal progress or even reduced profits if regular production must be put on hold.
How Bostik Helps:
Bostik has several locations with in-house pilot equipment to run trials that we will later translate into an efficient process for your production lines. This trial assistance is part of what it means to choose Bostik and is designed to reduce associated costs of pausing day-to-day operations or hiring a third party to conduct testing.
With our team, you’ll work directly with an expert step-by-step in outlining your specific needs and goals. We will assign the technical service representatives who are knowledgeable in running a trial based on the adhesives and substrates you are testing. Some examples of trials you may consider running with us include:
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Determining the right adhesive or coat weight for your applications
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Testing new substrates
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Achieving high end-use performance for a given application
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Finding ways to increase overall sustainability in a package structure
If desired, we can provide hand drawdowns for the first pass so you can review performance before going to the coater/laminator. Otherwise, our team will test your materials with our pilot laminator and coater equipment. We can also help you determine the most suitable option in choosing from a variety of widths, as well as wet nip and dry nip options based on equipment. These options help ensure you are receiving test results from machinery that is like your own equipment. You will receive a full report on our testing with recommendations on how to utilize the results in your own production. If test results do not turn out how you anticipated, we can help identify areas of improvement that can help you accomplish your goals.
Our Trial Capability #2: Trial Materials
When running a trial on your own, it may be difficult to purchase adhesive or other materials that cover the small amount necessary for testing rather than an entire production. If you are not able to use a pail instead of a drum, you may risk purchasing adhesive that is not usable for a full-scale production, leading to material waste and high costs.
How Bostik Helps:
Bostik makes it easy to test new adhesives in your production, helping you to reduce overall costs and prevent wasting material that may not be right for your manufacturing needs. Further, our trial support makes it easier to consider entry into a new market or product line, as you can conduct a trial to test:
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Compatibilities with common substrates or sustainable materials
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End-use performance results
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Versatility on production lines
In a typical trial, we evaluate the following according to your desired materials and adhesives:
- Laminate materials: t-peels, heat seal peels, product resistance testing (such as heat aging a product in pouch form), coefficient of friction
- Coatings: gloss, rub tests, coefficient of friction, blocking, heat seal if applicable
If you send our team printed materials, we can test ink rewet via block testers, helping to ensure there is no interaction with our adhesive and the inks. We can also test adhesion/peel performance in freezer, high humidity or outdoor conditions to determine the right solution. Further, we can test dyne levels of substrates as well as coat weights of coatings or adhesives to provide guidance on how you should run it on your own production lines.
Additionally, we can test small quantities of food packaging to determine any potential food safety or chemical migration risks. You can read more about what this testing entails here.
Other Reasons to Choose Bostik
We also provide:
- Wide portfolio of adhesive solutions: Our innovative solutions include coatings, resins and laminating adhesives for food, non-food and medical applications. This includes a range of FDA compliant options with high application performance.
- Line Assessments: Our team of experts can visit you on site to conduct a line assessment if you are experiencing problems on your production lines. This includes testing bond performance, temperatures, coat weights and ink/film compatibility. If our team finds adhesive-related problems that need to be resolved, we’ll reevaluate product recommendations or adhesive formulations to help make sure the adhesive works properly with your equipment.
Are you ready to work with a flexible materials supplier who can provide in-house capabilities to help ensure your packaging meets your desired performance, processing and sustainability results?
Contact a Bostik Expert Today
Also check out this other blog post in our series: Why Buy From Bostik: Our Food-Safe Packaging Testing Capabilities
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All information contained herein is believed to be accurate as of the date of publication, is provided “as-is” and is subject to change without notice. To review our full U.S. Legal Disclaimer, visit: https://www.bostik.com/us/en_US/privacy-policy/legal-disclaimer.html