Controls & Machine Components

Packaging Automation magazine gets its own website

The popular online magazine gets its own searchable archive site, helping packaging machinery specifiers and builders research innovative, modular machinery and automation trends in the packaging industry

May 21, 2007

Consumer packaged goods: Page 98

Consumer packaged goods

Harnessing the value of a design brief

The package is becoming essential in marketing, and a good brief invites critical thinking earlier from those with packaging savvy.

May 7, 2007

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Six Sigma and pharmaceutical packaging

In this article, Kent St. Vrain of Paxonix reports on Six Sigma benefits, economic justification, and streamlining the process of getting product more quickly to market.

April 26, 2007

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

Baking soda label acts as a freshness timer

Special label eliminates replacement guesswork for a refrigerator air filter.

April 20, 2007

Flexible packaging

Co-packing industry assesses opportunities and challenges

The contract packaging industry has no shortage of opportunities and challenges, and some of them were discussed formally and informally at the Contract Packaging Association’s annual meeting, which concluded April 2 in Tucson, AZ. First, the opportunities. One of the hottest segments of contract packaging today is pharmaceutical products, and it’s promising even more growth for co-packers with the right facilities, capabilities, and certification approvals. Speaking to association members, Bill Sharpless said the $400 billion pharma industry is growing at 3% annually. Sharpless is marketing director of pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and medical packaging at Alcoa Flexible Packaging.

April 17, 2007

Flexibles

New plastomers/elastomers

Dow Chemical has introduced 8 new grades of Versify™ Plastomers and Elastomers, each designed to deliver performance and processing benefits to address specific market needs.

April 6, 2007

Conveying & accumulation

Flexible checkweigher

WeighPack now offers the Striker Checkweigher, equipped to handle weight ranges from 15g to 310g and suitable for a variety of different packaging types including bags, bottles, cans, cartons, and boxes.

April 5, 2007

Consumer packaged goods

UK paint container doubles as a roller tray

ICE Paints markets Gliddens Rollable paint in the United Kingdom in a container that also holds a roller tray. The package functions as a storage unit and also serves as an integral functional component of the product. The Quick-Roll co-polymer polypropylene container, from Superfos Packaging (www.superfos.com), enables consumers to paint directly from the 11” x 65⁄8” tray area, which is melted into the container, without mess or wasted paint.

April 4, 2007

Detergents/cleaners

Cleanser whips up the essence of marshmallows

The central feature on Kao Corp.’s Bioré Marshmallow Whip facial cleanser, distributed in Japan, is a pump foam dispenser. This pump makes a whipped lather that cannot be achieved by using hands. To make a whipped lather, a mesh is installed in the pump and at the tip of the nozzle. Mesh inside the nozzle is designed more finely than for inside the pump. With a round bottle shape and screw cap, the package design resembles a marshmallow.

April 4, 2007

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

Inventive pack marries form, function in household goods

Innovative package design gives Oxi Clean Toss-N-Go an entirely different look in household cleaning products. A thermoformed polyvinyl chloride clamshell inside a conical paperboard sleeve, all produced by Display Pack (www.displaypack.com), bring together critical function and eye-catching form. The package forms a liquid-tight seal, allowing it to double as the mold for the detergent ball inside the sleeve.

April 4, 2007

Sustainable Packaging

Packaging: A convenient truth

All too often it seems that packaging is portrayed as an environmental villain by the media.

April 4, 2007

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

Mueller plant brimming with technology

From laser scanning of cheese blocks to multi-axis servo-controlled case and tray packers, this dairy plant makes automated packaging systems a top priority.

April 4, 2007

Containers

Martin's makes ink and coding concerns disappear

Thermal-transfer printers on baggers at Martin’s snacks improve legibility and accuracy, lower labor costs, and provide coding flexibility.

April 4, 2007