Al-Qadisiyah Pack is a PE film manufacturer in 6th of October City, Egypt, extruding polyethylene film since 1998. We run mono-layer, 3-layer and 5-layer film from 15 to 200 microns, printed rotogravure or flexo up to 8 colours per side.
Two numbers decide almost everything about a polyethylene film: how many layers it has, and how thick it is. Get those two right and the rest of the specification follows. Get them wrong and you find out on your filling line, not in the sample. This guide is the ladder — what each layer count buys you, and every micron rung we actually extrude.
What a polyethylene film manufacturer runs: mono, 3-layer and 5-layer
A polyethylene film manufacturer does not make one thing. The extrusion line either runs a single melt stream into one film, or runs several streams simultaneously so the film leaves the die already built in layers — co-extrusion. The layers are not laminated together afterwards; they are formed together, bonded, and behave as one film.
Our own history is the short version of why this matters. The company started in 1998 producing low- and high-density mono-layer polyethylene rolls. Three- and five-layer film machines were added later, alongside the lamination, printing and slitting lines. Every factory that runs multi-layer film started where we did, so a supplier who only quotes mono is not necessarily a trader — but it does tell you where the ceiling on their barrier is.
Mono-layer PE film
One material, one layer. LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE or a blend, extruded as a single film.
Mono film is the right answer more often than buyers expect. If the product inside has no barrier requirement — no oxygen sensitivity, no moisture migration that matters, no aroma to hold — then extra layers buy you nothing you can measure and cost you money on every kilo.
Where we run it: warning tape (LDPE, 30–140µ, 50–300mm wide), courier bags, liners, and clear film where the job is containment and handling rather than shelf life.
Its limits are structural rather than incidental. A mono film has one seal layer, one strength profile and one surface, because it has one material. You cannot make the inside seal at a lower temperature than the outside tolerates, and you cannot make it stiff on the outside and soft on the inside. Those are the jobs layers exist to do.
3-layer PE film
Three co-extruded layers, and the first point at which the film can do two things at once.
The pattern is the same everywhere it is used: the outer layer handles the surface — print receptivity, gloss, abrasion and machine contact; the core carries the bulk and most of the mechanical strength, and is where recycled or lower-cost resin sits if the specification allows it; the inner layer is the seal, chosen so it seals at a temperature the outer layer survives.
That split is what makes 3-layer the workhorse. It is the structure behind most auto-packaging and FFS film, which we run at 40–150µ in LDPE, LLDPE and multi-layer constructions for powders, tissues, vegetables, rice and legumes. A bag on an automatic filling line has to stiffen enough to open, seal fast enough to keep up with the line, and survive being dragged across the former. One material cannot do all three well. Three can.
5-layer PE film
Five co-extruded layers, which buys two things three cannot.
The first is tie layers. Some materials will not bond to each other directly. With five layers you can put an adhesive tie layer between two that would otherwise delaminate, which opens up material combinations a 3-layer die cannot hold together.
The second is a protected core. In a five-layer structure the functional core sits buried between tie layers and skins, so it never touches the product or the sealing jaws. That is how you get a barrier property without making the barrier material also serve as a seal surface or a print surface.
The practical consequence for a buyer: longer required shelf life pushes you up the ladder. If you need a film that holds a property over months rather than protecting a product over days, mono will not get you there and 3-layer eventually will not either.
One honest limit. Polyethylene on its own — at any layer count — is a moisture barrier, not an oxygen barrier. When a pack needs a genuine oxygen or light barrier, the answer is not a sixth layer of PE: it is a laminate with a different material in the structure, which is a different product line. We laminate PET/PE, PET/Al/PE, PE/PE, BOPP/PE, BOPP/BOPP, BOPP/PET/PE and BOPP/MTZ on a solventless line at 40–150µ. If your requirement is a barrier requirement rather than a strength requirement, that is the page to read.
The micron ladder, rung by rung
Thickness is quoted in microns (µ), and it is not a continuous dial — a factory runs a set of rungs. Here is ours, by product line, so you can check your specification against what actually comes off the line rather than against a marketing range.
| Product line | Micron rungs we extrude | Material |
|---|---|---|
| Auto flexible / FFS film | 40 · 50 · 60 · 70 · 80 · 90 · 100 · 110 · 120 · 130 · 140 · 150µ | LDPE / LLDPE / multi-layer |
| Laminated rollstock | 40 · 50 · 60 · 70 · 80 · 90 · 100 · 110 · 120 · 130 · 140 · 150µ | Seven laminate structures, solventless |
| Liners | 30 · 50 · 80 · 100 · 120 · 150 · 180 · 200µ | PE / multi-layer, heat sealable |
| Courier bags | 30 · 50 · 80 · 100 · 120 · 150 · 180 · 200µ | LDPE / co-extruded |
| Warning tape | 30 · 40 · 50 · 60 · 70 · 80 · 90 · 100 · 110 · 120 · 130 · 140µ | LDPE, 50–300mm wide |
| Cheese packaging | 40 · 50 · 60 · 70µ | Food-grade PE |
| Agricultural films | 80 – 200µ | LDPE / LLDPE, UV-stabilised grades |
Across the catalogue that is 15 to 200 microns, with packaging films clustered in the lower half and agricultural films in the upper. Thicknesses between the rungs, and colours other than those listed, are available on request — but ask, rather than assuming, because a rung that is not on the line is a trial run and should be quoted as one.
Reading a spec like "3-layer, 80 micron"
That is a real, complete, quotable half of a specification — and only half.
What it already tells a manufacturer: co-extruded, three layers, 80 microns thick, which on our ladder is a standard rung on the auto-flexible and laminated lines. What it does not tell anyone is what the film has to survive, and that is the half that moves the price.
To turn it into a quotation, a PE film manufacturer still needs:
- Roll width and core size — a roll that does not fit your machine is scrap, whatever its spec.
- Format — rollstock, bag, sheet or liner, and if a bag, the dimensions and the seal type.
- What is going inside it, and the shelf life you need. This is what decides whether 3-layer PE is right at all or whether you belong in a laminate.
- The filling line — speed and sealing temperature, because these decide the inner layer.
- Artwork and colour count — up to 8 colours per side, rotogravure or flexo. Roto means engraved cylinders: higher setup, better for long runs and colour consistency. Flexo is lower setup and suits bags, liners and laminates at volume.
- Annual volume, which is what makes a run length quotable at all.
On price. You will find "PE film price per kg" quoted online, and it is close to meaningless without the six things above. Two suppliers quoting the same 80µ film can be a long way apart because one assumed mono and the other assumed 3-layer, one assumed 500mm and the other 1200mm. We do not publish a price per kilogram for the same reason we do not publish a blanket minimum order quantity or a lead time: all three move with structure, width and run length, and a number invented to fill a web page is worse than no number. Send the specification and you get a real quote against it.
About Al-Qadisiyah Pack
We have extruded polyethylene film since 1998 from our factory in 6th of October City, Giza, starting with low- and high-density mono-layer rolls and adding 3- and 5-layer film machines, solventless lamination, rotogravure and flexo printing up to 8 colours per side, modern slitting and a stretch line since.
We hold BRCGS for packaging materials, FSSC 22000 version 6, the Global Recycled Standard, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and Halal certification — each covering named products and lines, so ask any supplier, us included, for the scope in writing. Every certificate can be viewed and downloaded on our certifications page.
Our films reach food and beverage producers including Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, and we export to Libya and Saudi Arabia with expansion into the United Kingdom underway.
Everything we produce as a flexible packaging manufacturer in Egypt is listed with its specifications. If you are still choosing a supplier rather than a specification, the companion guide on how to qualify a flexible packaging supplier is the audit to run first.
Factory visits are welcome. To discuss a specification or request a quotation: +20 111 900 4902 or info@al-qadisiyahpack.com. We are at Polaris Park, North Extension, Part 22, Street D, Turkish Zone, 6th of October City, Giza — full details on our contact page.