Conveying & accumulation

Data flows from ERP to packaging machines

Just five operators run two lines that span three floors and churn out 600 bottles/min. An automated order system plays a pivotal role in streamlining changeover.

March 9, 2007

Prepared Foods: Page 30

Flexibles

Replacement for #10 can

Cryovac Food Packaging Div. of Sealed Air Corp. (www.sealedair.com) was awarded a Gold for Technical Innovation for its coextruded Flavour Mark™ retort material. Made of an unidentified multilayer coextrusion, the film is intended as a replacement for #10 cans to be used with the Cryovac Onpack vertical form/fill/seal system.

March 8, 2007

Flexibles

Retorted pouch-within-a-pouch protects sensitive yeast products

Wyeast Laboratories, Inc., Hood River, OR, a leading producer of pure liquid yeast products (fermentation cultures) for beer- and wine-making, and Ampac Flexibles (www.ampaconline.com), a unit of Ampac Packaging LLC, have earned FPA’s 2007 Highest Achievement Award, including Gold Awards for both Packaging Excellence and Technical Innovation. These awards are in recognition of the “Smack Pack” 50-mL and 125-mL retortable stand-up pouch packaging system for Wyeast’s home brewer’s and vintner’s lines of products.

March 8, 2007

Flexibles

The ice boxes cometh with repackaged clarity

Boxed trays of premium ‘shelf-stable ice’ as purified water receive a primary and secondary packaging revision.

March 8, 2007

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Frozen treat package mimics energy drink can

Hershey’s Ice Cream, Harrisburg, PA, has co-branded with Hammond, IN-based Swanel Beverages Inc., the manufacturer of an energy drink called Banzai, to create Banzai Energy Ice. The 4 oz treat is packaged in a squeeze-up tube made of solid bleached sulfate from Solo Cup Co. (www.solocup.com). Hershey fills the tubes using a Flex E Fill Rotary Filler from Solo Cup Co. and heat seals them with a thin foil lid, also from Solo Cup.

March 8, 2007

Flexibles

Pizza dough gets custom gas-valve packaging

Nestlé’s subsidiary Leisi, Wangen, Switzerland, is using model R530 thermoforming machinery, custom-adapted by manufacturer Multivac (www.multivac.de), to package fresh, refrigerated Buitoni-brand rolled pizza dough.

March 8, 2007

Additives, coatings & inks

And just like that, packaging for irradiation is broadened

There may never have been a technology quite like irradiation of foods and packaging. Legal clearances for its use keep expanding, but commercial acceptance of it doesn’t appear to be keeping pace.

March 8, 2007

Containers

Frozen treat tube mimics energy drink can

Hershey's Ice Cream cobrands with Banzai energy drink manufacturer Swanel Beverages Inc. to create Banzai Energy Ice in a 4-oz squeeze tube.

February 16, 2007

Coding, Printing & Labeling

The wrap-up: Digitized shelf life at home

As many have learned over the years, avoiding food spoilage is a good thing.

January 31, 2007

Flexibles

Pizza dough gets custom gas-valve packaging

A Nestlé subsidiary in Europe packages refrigerated Buitoni-brand dough with six weeks' shelf life.

January 19, 2007

Dairy

Terra cotta food containers

Arbresa has introduced terra cotta containers for food packaging, offering a warm and elegant appearance that evokes nature and tradition.

January 11, 2007

Flexible packaging

Anaheim gears up for WestPack

Co-located with five other shows, WestPack returns to the Anaheim Convention Center. Medical Device Packaging conference track is chaired

January 10, 2007

Flexibles

Automation is tip-top at Siptop

Two robotic cells may be the main attraction on this Canadian beverage maker’s new line. But home-grown packaging solutions, especially in pouch-filling, are also crucial. To view the first in a series of videos on this packaging line, please click here.

January 10, 2007