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Discover a taste of the PACK EXPO highlights, live from the show floor!

Multipacking/shrink bundling/banding

Multipack Can Handle Applicator

PakTech’s CCA MicroPak is capable of applying multipack can handles at speeds to 60 cans/min and is able to accommodate both 12- and 16-oz standard can sizes, making it suitable for emerging brands as well as microbreweries and mobile canning operations.

January 23, 2023

Cca Micro Pak Closeup

Controls & Machine Components

Antares Vision Digitalizes Products for Berry Producer

Antares Vision Group

Antares Vision successfully piloted a Supply Chain Transparency solution for a prominent berry company. It entails the digitalization of over 1.5 billion products, empowering the berry producer to protect, support, and communicate with its customers.

January 23, 2023

Avg Berry Digitalization

E-commerce/D2C packaging

Reath

22 Dean Path Buildings

Edinburgh, Scotland EH4 3AZ

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company

January 23, 2023

Cartons and boxes

Oliver Inc. Acquires Tap Packaging + Design

Oliver Inc. acquired Tap Packaging + Design a manufacturer of custom folding cartons, serving customers in food and beverage, beauty, confection, health and wellness, and consumer goods markets.

January 23, 2023

Converting equipment

Pantone Unveils Color of the Year 2023

Learn about the origins of Pantone’s vibrant and energetic Color of the Year 2023, Viva Magenta 18-750, and how it can be used to create dynamic packaging and graphics.

January 23, 2023

In this year’s Color of the Year selection process, Pantone says it observed a heightened appreciation and awareness of nature represented by countless lifestyle trends.

After Pandemic-Related Innovation Pauses, Smart Packaging’s Back on Track

Andrew Manly of AIPIA, the Smart Packaging Association, catches us up with all things active & intelligent packaging. He gives us a valuable lens through which to view its recent and expected future growth on the back end (hopefully) of the pandemic.

January 23, 2023

Andrew Manly, AIPIA’s communications director

German Supermarket METRO Experiments with Dynamic Pricing

Using smart packaging to track expiration dates on fresh foods, METRO is able to reduce the price associated with a product as the expiration date approaches. Consumers expecting to eat the food immediately get a price break, while others pay full price.

January 23, 2023

As products get closer to their expiration date, prices are dropped accordingly, creating an incentive for consumers to purchase near-expiration fresh foods if they intend to consume them soon. German retailer and wholesaler METRO tested the concept with provider Wasteless and is rolling it out over more stores.

Digital Transformation

Scan from a Distance, Enlarge Product Information for the Blind

Zapvision builds upon a standard QR code to enable scanning from a distance and to deliver relevant and personalized content that adapts to smartphone accessibility settings (for partially sighted or nearly blind people). PW saw a demo at AIPIA in Nov.

January 23, 2023

Stahel demonstrates Zapvision at his booth at AIPIA. The system allows a smartphone to read an on-pack QR code at a distance. For a user with sight limitation, more information becomes available on the screen—in large text or with audio—as he or she moves closer to a product on the shelf.

Sustainable Packaging

Compostable Packaging Degradation Pilot Launched

Led by the Composting Consortium, the pilot will generate data to help shape international standards for field testing compostable packaging and contribute to the launch of an open-source results database.

January 23, 2023

Screen Shot 2023 01 23 At 11 46 17 Am

E-commerce/D2C packaging

Bower Collective Uses Digital Passport for Circular Home Reuse/Refill Model

This D2C home care company invites consumers to scan an on-pack QR for directions, provenance info, and other engaging content. Meanwhile, logistics and performance information is gleaned at each scan, both on the filling lines and upon collection.

January 23, 2023

Bower Collective uses an on-pack QR code to provide provenance information and directions to foster consumer engagement once scanned with a smartphone in the home. Meanwhile, for Bower, logistics and performance information is gleaned at each scan, both on the filling lines and upon collection as the empty pouches are mailed back, forming a reusable, refillable, circular system.

France to Serve as the European Pilot Market for Digimarc Recycle

Digimarc Corp. announces an expansion of the Digital Watermarks Initiative HolyGrail 2.0. Building on successful semi-industrial trials, stakeholders across the packaging value chain selected France as the pilot market for Digimarc Recycle.

January 23, 2023

E-commerce/D2C packaging

Marley Spoon Meal Kits Guarantee Freshness with Sensors

Meal kit services are often at the mercy of third-party delivery services that could mistreat fresh food and produce contents, or allow them out of temperature exclusion zones. Here's how Marley Spoon used smart packaging sensors to overcome the problem.

January 23, 2023

Smart Packaging Illustrates Ongoing Industrial Revolution

The AIPIA World Congress proved smart packaging holds promise for brand objectives like traceability, recyclability, consumer engagement, food waste reduction, and supply chain logistics. Can tech suppliers band together to deliver total solutions?

January 23, 2023

The AIPIA World Congress in Amsterdam was convened in person for the first time since 2019, and given the long interval since we last visited, the technology and had advanced considerably.

Sustainable Packaging

Bacardi, Aldi, and Sealed Air Introduce Material Adjustments For Plastic Reduction

See a few examples of packaging innovations for plastic reduction by Bacardí, Aldi, and Sealed Air from ThePackHub’s December Packaging Innovation Briefing Report.

January 22, 2023

Bacardí removes plastic pourers from bottles in several countries.

unPACKed podcast: CPGs Seek OEM Help with Labor Issues

Listen in as editor-in-chief of OEM Magazine, Stephanie Neil, takes one last look at the hottest trends she saw at PACK EXPO International.

January 20, 2023

Un Pac Ked Podcast Social 99

unPACKed podcast: PepsiCo Wants You!

PepsiCo's Pat Finlay joins unPACKed for its 100th episode, sharing how the food and beverage multinational is delivering the next-gen workforce the value of a packaging and processing career.

January 20, 2023

100th Eps Podcast (1)

Sustainable Packaging

Above & Beyond Pursues ‘Refillable Universe,’ Starting with Lip Balm

U.K. brand above & beyond begins its journey to eliminate single-use packaging by introducing a lip balm in a reusable aluminum case, with refills in a bio-based, compostable pack.

January 20, 2023

A refillable/reusable lip-balm packaging system from above & beyond includes a metallic, dome-shaped case and product refills packaged in bio-based material.