At JohnPac, we have tons of knowledge and expertise for the various products and services we offer. We would like to introduce Hans Peckhaus, our Global Technical Director. He is one of our experts on FIBCs also known as bulk bags. He represents many of our customers around the globe. Hans brings valuable knowledge you can benefit from, saving you time and money on common and costly errors.
Below are some questions we asked Hans about his experience working with bulk bags (aka Totes, big bags, FIBCs, etc) through the years.
Interviewer: How many years of experience do you each have in working with bulk bags?
Hans: Decades. I started in the 90s in a customer support role with a high quality company with a few patented designs. I quickly progressed into a sales and technical role as their bulk bag and design expert. I then went to work for a much larger global company with dozens of patented products in a sales and technical role.
This company was bought by the world’s largest bulk bag manufacturing company located in 22 countries with over a hundred patents, where I served as Technical Director, Primary Bag Designer, Salesman and also serviced every large major house account while spearheading production of the same in 4 facilities within North America and several more in multiple Asian countries where I maintained residences. I came to work for JohnPac in 2007 as their Global Technical Director and Salesman, spending about a year in various Asian countries developing and training our supplier base as well as dramatically expanding our American design and production capabilities. My University education pales in comparison to the knowledge I gained spending thousands of hours living and working in bulk bag factories and visiting customer facilities where my boots on the ground philosophy gave me access to operators and engineers who were, AND STILL ARE, my true learning books.
Interviewer: What are the types of FIBCs (bulk bags) we sell and what products go in them?
Hans: We make every type of bulk bag domestically in the Americas as well as various lower cost, longer lead time JohnPac trained Asian locations. JohnPac is one of America’s largest bag manufacturers, and we stand out from the pack in difficult design implementations. The products that go in our bags can vastly vary from the coins in your pocket or purse, the fuel in cruise or ballistic missiles, or even the sand used in bulk bags to prevent catastrophes and save lives, livestock and property. Anything that can flow (and even some that can’t) is suitable for bulk bags. We do it all.
We excel in HAZMAT bulk bags as well as premium Crohmiq Type D and the various Type C bags used in potentially explosive or ignitable environments and atmospheres. Our gold standard baffle bag designs are some of the most stable and remarkable in the entire global industry. JohnPac is unique since we are both a manufacturer and a distributor of all things packaging related above the pallet. We’re a true one-stop-shop with people assets who are experts in every packaging type including but not limited to bulk bags, paper bags, drums, pails, stretch film, corrugated products and countless other containment items.
Interviewer: Tell me a story of FIBC failure you had to overcome and how did you fix the issue to make the customer happy?
Hans: I’ve solved more customer issues (no fault of JohnPac) than the Pope has Catholics…or so it sometimes seems, but the event that sticks out in my head the most in my career was a critical mistake that I made. During my “salad days” when I was green in youth and first started designing bulk bags. I had a customer who had the most awful looking bags I had ever seen…They had 24” of empty space in the top of the bag and empty space is the devil when it comes to package stability. So, I walked in with a bag of rice and tossed it to my customer who caught it and I then asked him to stand it up, which he couldn’t. I took the bag of rice, twisted out the empty space and secured it with a twisty tie and threw it at him. Owwww.. It was like a brick. I placed it on his desk and stood it up. That, I explained was his bag before and after Hans. So I quickly made him perfect smaller bag samples and he ordered and filled 500 of the most beautiful (if there can be such a thing) bags we’d both ever seen.
However, in a week his customer called and was furious that their processes were going to be shut down because the shorter bags hung way above the devise that the discharge spout was to be pulled over and clamped. They would need this fixed by the next day and they were a 12 hour drive. So, I sewed four 48” slings with 10” eyelets and drove them over to allow the bags to hang lower while measuring their equipment and had a local machine shop quickly make a 24” spool piece that I bolted on below the spout attachment, allowing the shorter bags to be used in their facility. The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions and it was a lesson I learned the hard way. To this day both I and JohnPac use a system approach in that we design bags that work for the filling facility AND (most importantly) the end users.
Interviewer: What are some things you wish the customer knew about bulk bags that would make your customer relationship more successful?
Hans: Know your product. Especially where and how your product is going to be used. Among many things, I’ve dealt in pigments my entire career when other salesmen prefer the cleaner products. The problem with pigments is they can often be discharged into a potentially static spark ignitable atmosphere. Filling and discharging bulk bags can create static electricity much like dragging your feet on carpet and touching a door knob, but at discharge levels that can ignite a dust or solvent environment. We’ve all heard of sugar or grain elevators exploding resulting in loss of life. JohnPac works with customers to design some of the most difficult to produce and safest bulk bags worldwide. But, we will at any given time, refuse to work with a customer who doesn’t understand the chain of custody of their bags and how they are used when static ignition is a possibility. Both JohnPac and I sport a perfect safety record of decades with no injuries due to our product design. This alone speaks volumes about JohnPac.
Have more questions you would like to ask Hans in regards to bulk bags? Call and request Hans at (866) 916-2247. You can also complete the Contact Us or Request a Quote form to ask your questions at www.johnpac.com. We look forward to assisting you.
