What Is a VFFS Machine and How Does It Work?
A VFFS (vertical form fill seal) machine makes bags from a flat roll of film, fills them and seals them in one continuous vertical cycle. The film is pulled over a forming tube into a tube shape, sealed down the back, sealed across the bottom, filled through the tube, then sealed and cut across the top — 5 to 60 bags per minute on our standard frames.
What are the main parts of a VFFS machine?
- Film unwind: holds the film roll (up to Ø320–400 mm on our frames) and keeps tension even
- Forming collar and tube: shape the flat film into a tube; the tube width sets the bag width
- Vertical (back) seal jaw: seals the long seam
- Horizontal (end) seal jaws and knife: seal the bottom of one bag and the top of the previous one, then cut
- Servo film pulling belts: pull exactly one bag length per cycle and track the print mark
- Dosing unit on top: auger, multihead weigher, cups or pump
- PLC and touch screen: store recipes and set bag length, temperatures and speed
What happens in one cycle?
The pulling belts draw one bag length of film down the tube while the back seal closes the seam. The end jaws close to seal the bottom, the dosing unit drops the product through the tube, then the jaws seal the top, the knife cuts and the finished bag drops out. On our machines the vertical and horizontal seal temperatures are controlled separately to ±1 °C, so laminated film and PE film both seal reliably.
What can a VFFS machine pack?
Almost anything that can drop through a tube: powders with an auger filler, granules and snacks with a weigher or cups, liquids and sauces with a pump, frozen food and ice with the right feeder. It cannot make stand-up zipper or spout pouches — those are bought ready-made and filled on a premade pouch machine.
VFFS vs premade pouch machine →
Which size VFFS do I need?
| Frame | Max film width | Bag width | Bag length | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 320 | 320 mm | 50–150 mm | 80–200 mm | Small bags, 50–500 g |
| 420 | 420 mm | 65–200 mm | 80–300 mm | Powder and snacks to about 1 kg |
| 520 | 520 mm | 150–250 mm | 80–400 mm | Snacks, frozen food, 1–2 kg |
| 720–1020 | 720–1020 mm | 150–500 mm | 80–800 mm | Large bags 3–10 kg |
Is a VFFS machine suitable for a small business?
Yes, if you pack enough volume to justify a few thousand dollars of equipment. Compact sachet machines on the same principle start from about US$2,600–4,500 on our public listings, and one operator can run them. Below a few hundred packs a day, hand filling or a co-packer is usually cheaper.
Co-packer or your own machine? →
Frequently asked questions
What does VFFS stand for?
Vertical form fill seal: the machine forms the bag, fills it and seals it while the film travels vertically.
VFFS or HFFS — what is the difference?
In a horizontal form fill seal (HFFS) or flow wrap machine the product travels flat along a conveyor and the film wraps around it. VFFS suits products that can be dropped (powders, granules, liquids); HFFS suits solid items such as biscuits or bars.