Conveying & accumulation

Bottling water for millions

Tak Fat now supplies pure bottled drinking water to eight million consumers in China's Guangzhou area. The next target is the total Guangdong province of 69 million, and then on to the rest of the country. Integrated 5-gal line delivers 400 bph.

May 31, 1997

Beverage: Page 391

Flexibles

Gauging demand for calendered plastics (sidebar)

Calendering developments show steady growth

May 31, 1997

Beverage

PEN polymers lure beverage marketers (sidebar)

Beer in PET, PEN bottles studied

May 31, 1997

Recycling

Can lines to dwindle; can recycling rates up

The number of can lines producing two-piece drawn-and-ironed aluminum cans for beer and beverages in the U.S. will drop 15%, from 178 to 151, between 1996 and 2001.

May 31, 1997

Protective/transport packaging

PEN polymers lure beverage marketers

Superior thermal properties, chemical resistance, and high barrier to oxygen transmission have made PEN and other naphthalate-based materials irresistable for a hot-filled isotonic drink and for citrus juices.

May 31, 1997

Conveying & accumulation

Bottle drinks from the stream of technology

American Beverage Marketers warm-fills its Finest Call cocktail mixes into new PET bottles, then injects liquid nitrogen. The LN2 prevents bottle paneling and helps to extend shelf life. The PET bottle replaces PP, providing greater clarity and appeal for the product's introduction to the retail market.

May 31, 1997

Closures

Ocean Spray restages drink concentrates in wide-mouth PET bottles

Around our way, clear, hot-filled plastic bottles of Ocean Spray shelf-stable juice drink concentrates began showing up on supermarket shelves in late March.

May 31, 1997

Sustainability

Plastics' broken loop

Recycled-content legislation has receded, environmentalists have been quiet and virgin PET is plentiful and cheap. Packagers are divided on whether to continue their commitments to use post-consumer resin in the U.S. market.

May 31, 1997

Labels

Clearly redefined

When Clearly Canadian was introduced ten years ago, it stood apart from mainstream soft drinks on store shelves. Says Jonathon Cronin, vice president of marketing at Clearly Canadian Beverage Corp.: "When we first launched the brand, the slight blue tint to the glass bottles and the ACL decorating were almost revolutionary." Ten years later, shelves are flooded with eye-catching products, and the pioneering beverage company decided that its core brand needed a boost.

May 31, 1997

Converting equipment

Pepsi tells Detroit shoppers to get a grip

In early May, Pepsi-Cola Co., Somers, NY, began testing its Quick Grip PET bottle in four Detroit area supermarkets. "Ease of handling and pouring, that's what's being tested here," says Pepsi spokesperson Larry Jabbonsky.

May 31, 1997

Converting equipment

Applications news

Delaware-based Greif Bros. will expand its blow-molded industrial plastic container business from 55-gal drums to 275-gal intermediate bulk containers. By the third quarter of this year, it will take delivery on a blow molding machine made by Rikutec in Alternkirchen, Germany.

May 31, 1997

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

T&A hitches its wagon to a brand

Already a leading marketer of its own branded, value-added, fresh-cut produce, Tanimura & Antle took its fresh-cut program to a whole new level on April 28.

May 31, 1997

Closures

PET bottle helps Campbell extend V8 brand

Campbell Soup Co. attracted considerable attention in early '96 when it launched a heat-set polyethylene terephthalate bottle for V8 vegetable juice (see PW, Apr.

May 31, 1997