Amcor’s Moda Bag combines on-demand bag making, inline printing and vacuum shrink packaging to help meat and cheese processors reduce packaging waste, inventory requirements and operational costs.
Amcor has developed a flexible packaging solution that brings greater automation and production flexibility to vacuum packaging operations. The company’s Moda Bag is an on-demand bag-making and printing system designed for meat and cheese applications, producing vacuum shrink bags directly from rolls of shrink tubing.
The system addresses a common challenge for processors: managing multiple pre-made bag sizes and printed packaging SKUs for products that vary in dimensions and production requirements.
From rollstock to finished bag on demand
Rather than relying entirely on pre-made printed bags, Moda Bag produces bags in-line from shrink tubing as they are required. The system can work with rolls of shrink tubing up to 17 inches wide and creates bags according to the requirements of the product being packed.
This on-demand approach can help processors reduce the number of individual bag SKUs they need to maintain, while also reducing the risk of packaging film becoming obsolete when product specifications or graphics change.
Amcor says the system can reduce packaging waste and costs by up to 30% in certain applications, while also reducing the need to maintain inventories of individual printed bags or labels.
Inline printing eliminates the need for pre-printed bags
One of the key features of Moda Bag is its high-resolution thermal transfer printing capability.
Packaging graphics, production information and other variable data can be printed directly onto the bag during the packaging process. This eliminates the need to stock separate pre-printed bag SKUs for every product or specification.
For processors handling multiple products, this can provide greater flexibility when changing between product sizes, graphics or production requirements.
Amcor has also highlighted the system's ability to provide on-demand printing for production dates and times.
AI-enabled bag sizing
The latest Moda Bag system incorporates AI vision technology to scan products and dispense customized bag sizes. By matching the bag to the product, the technology is designed to reduce unnecessary packaging material while supporting different product formats on the same packaging line.
This is particularly relevant for processors handling a wide range of meat and cheese products, where fixed-size packaging can result in excess material use or require a large inventory of different bag sizes.
Connecting packaging materials with automation
Moda Bag is part of Amcor's broader Moda Packaging Solutions platform, which combines packaging materials with automated equipment and downstream processing systems.
The wider system includes solutions such as the Moda Loader, Moda Vac rotary vacuum sealer, Moda Merge conveyor, and integrated shrink, chill and drying systems. Amcor positions the platform as a turnkey approach intended to improve throughput, reduce labor requirements and lower total packaging costs.
The modular architecture also allows processors to purchase the complete system or individual components depending on their operational requirements and investment plans.
Reducing inventory and packaging complexity
For processors, the potential benefit of Moda Bag extends beyond the packaging machine itself.
Traditional pre-made bags can require manufacturers to maintain multiple SKUs covering different product sizes, graphics and specifications. Changes in artwork or product dimensions can also leave obsolete packaging inventory.
By producing bags on demand and printing information in-line, Moda Bag can help simplify this inventory structure.
The approach could be particularly useful for processors dealing with frequent product changes, short production runs or a broad portfolio of SKUs.
Supporting faster production changes
Flexibility is another important feature of the system. Amcor states that packaging length, printing and graphics can be changed at the touch of a button, allowing processors to adapt more quickly to changing SKUs, product sizes and labeling requirements.
This capability reflects a broader shift in packaging machinery toward mass customization and digital manufacturing, where packaging systems are expected to adapt to production requirements rather than relying on large inventories of standardized packaging components.
Amcor to showcase Moda Bag at PACK EXPO International 2026
Amcor is scheduled to demonstrate its Moda Bag system at PACK EXPO International 2026, taking place October 18–21 at McCormick Place in Chicago. The system will be featured at Amcor's Booth S-3500 as part of the company's portfolio of flexible, rigid and specialty packaging solutions.
The demonstration will highlight the combination of on-demand bag making and printing for vacuum packaging applications, giving processors an opportunity to see how packaging production can be integrated more closely with automated processing.
A shift toward smarter flexible packaging production
Amcor's Moda Bag illustrates how the future of flexible packaging is moving beyond simply developing better films. Increasingly, packaging materials, printing, automation, machine vision and data-driven production are being combined into integrated systems.
For meat and cheese processors, the result can be greater packaging flexibility, lower SKU complexity and potentially reduced material and labor costs.
The innovation also highlights a broader industry trend: instead of manufacturing and storing large quantities of pre-defined packaging formats, processors can increasingly move toward producing the right package, at the right size, with the right information, at the point of production.