Flexibles

NEC suspends material costs

A new type of suspension pack outperforms its predecessor at a 20% cost savings for NEC Technologies' notebook computers.

April 30, 1996

Package Printing: Page 76

Additives, coatings & inks

Supplier news: Relocations, expansions

BASF Corp. Plastic Materials (Mt. Olive, NJ) plans a 70-million lb/yr expansion for its Freeport, TX, nylon 6 engineering resin plant.

April 30, 1996

Additives, coatings & inks

PEN homopolymer okay for food contact

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a long-awaited regulation permitting the use of polyethylene naphthalate homopolymer for food packaging.

April 30, 1996

Flexibles

Anti-fog film for produce

A new anti-fog film from Roplast Industries (Oroville, CA) enhances shelf presence for fresh-cut produce, including spinach, salad kits, cole slaw and celery.

March 31, 1996

Converting equipment

New high-pressure resins

Three new high-pressure PE resins have been formulated by Mobil Polymers (Edison, NJ) specifically for blow-molding, sheet and foam applications. LYA-003 is intended for LDPE blow-molding applications such as squeezable or sports bottles.

March 31, 1996

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Food fight!

The FDA wants to make it easier for food packs to carry health and nutrition statements. Meanwhile, industry continues to press for even greater latitude for claims.

March 31, 1996

Converting equipment

Cap and liner top Tree Top's switch to PET

Changing from glass to heat-set PET boosts sales of apple juice and cider by 60% on 1-gal bottles. PP closure and EVA liner provide tamper-evidence and eliminate labor-intensive cap inspection.

March 31, 1996

Additives, coatings & inks

Supplier news: Domestic acquisitions, agreements

Quantum Chemical Co. (Cincinnati, OH) has selected Polymerland (Huntersville, NC) to sell its Petrothene® polyethylene resins.

March 31, 1996

Coding, Printing & Labeling

interpack 96: more reasons than ever to go

The world's largest packaging trade show, interpack 96 in Dsseldorf, adds more conferences to its May agenda. But new equipment and machinery from around the world is still the big attraction.

March 31, 1996

Additives, coatings & inks

EC loosens plastic food-contact rules

The European Commission (EC) agreed in principle to reduce the amount of toxicological testing required for plastics additives in food packaging. The reason?

March 31, 1996

Flexibles

Dunnage bags

Reusable, recyclable dunnage bags are now available from Flexseal Intl. Packaging (Rochester, NY). Made of Valeron film, a five-layer lamination of HDPE and LDPE.

February 29, 1996

Additives, coatings & inks

Black colorant

Cabot (Billerica, MA) has developed new black pigments for ink-jet inks that combine the reliability of dye-based inks with the print quality of pigment-based inks.

February 29, 1996

Flexible packaging

Competition nurtures flexible packaging innovation

Like many movie, television and music awards programs, packaging competitions tend to be judged by "experts" who try to assess how well entries meet a given set of criteria.

February 29, 1996