Now Ostlandsmeieriet Hedmark Torrmelk, a Norwegian dairy in the city of Brumunddal, is producing what it calls "a truly aseptic" gabletop container for coffee creamer. The 1/4-L carton, which has a 90-day shelf life, is produced on a Pure-Pak U-S80 A Aseptic(TM) filling machine from Elopak (New Hudson, MI). This marks the first commercial installation of the Elopak machine.
Commissioned in late '94, this modelreplaced an earlier Elopak gabletop system that Elopak describes as more of an "extended shelf life" system than a "true" aseptic system. The difference? The new machine provides a 90-day shelf life, up from 60 days. Impressively, the machine also triples production to 8걄/hr and eliminates considerable downtime experienced with the previous system. Material cost savings are enjoyed, too. The previous system required presterilized carton blanks. In the new system, the seven-layer foil laminate cartons are sterilized with a spray of 2% hydrogen peroxide solution, then exposed to ultra-violet light for drying. Thus Hedmark saves $75ꯠ annually by sterilizing on the machine.
Hedmark is scheduled to produce nearly 10 million TINE-brand coffee creamer cartons this year. PW toured the progressive Norwegian dairy as part of a February 7-8 media event hosted by Elopak.
