VFFS vs flow wrap — pick the right platform
Pouch formats vs horizontal wrap for solid snacks.
Vertical Form Fill Seal (VFFS) machines form a pouch from a flat film reel around a forming collar, fill it from above, and seal it vertically — this is the standard platform for powders, granules, and most snack products sold in stand-up or pillow pouches. The collar size sets your pouch width range, so a machine built for 50–200 mm pouches cannot simply be "opened up" to run 500 g family packs without a collar (and often frame) change.
Flow-wrap (horizontal form fill seal) machines lay the product on a moving film web and wrap it horizontally, which suits discrete solid items with a defined shape — soap bars, detergent cakes, biscuits, and similar unit products. Flow-wrap does not suit loose powders or granules well because the product needs to sit on the film without spilling before the wrap closes around it.
If your product range spans both — for example a snack company that also wants to wrap bar-shaped items — you likely need two machines rather than one platform doing both jobs adequately. Buying a single machine and expecting it to flex between fundamentally different form-fill mechanics usually ends in compromise on both product lines.
Decide based on your dominant SKU shape, not on whichever platform your neighbour's factory uses. A VFFS machine bought because "everyone uses it" for a product that is actually a solid bar will fight you on every changeover.