Coding, Printing & Labeling

University of Florida: UF's RFID test portal

The University of Florida's new Research Center for Food Distribution and Retailing now includes five radio-frequency identification portals.

June 30, 2004

Industries: Page 586

Dairy

The wrap up: Now that's l-o-n-g shelf life

British archeologists have unearthed an ancient two-piece metal canister that’s believed to hold a beauty ointment that traces back to the Roman period in London, A.D. 43 to 410, according to a recent report in National Geographic.

June 30, 2004

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Cal Poly's face wash packets

This theoretical development from Cal Poly packaging students is for a convenient, single-used packet of face wash called So Fresh & So Clean that’s ideal for travelers.

June 30, 2004

Flexibles

Report flexes packaging trends and drivers

A snapshot look at the key trends and drivers in retail and institutional food and markets is published in Flexible Packaging Assn.’s 144-page report, U.S. Packaging Industry and Opportunities for Flexible Packaging.

June 30, 2004

Consumer packaged goods

Checklist to reduce changeover time by 30%

Changeover expert Jerry Claunch of Claunch & Associates shares 18 years of changeover improvements with the checklist below that promises to yield a 30% improvement in your current changeover setups.

June 30, 2004

Coding, Printing & Labeling

"Go deeper" on RFID

“Get your toe in the water, get used to it, and then go deeper.” Those words of advice about radio-frequency identification are from J. Michael Wallace, director, process and package development, Ross Products Div. of Abbott Laboratories, makers of nutritional products including Ensure and Similac.

June 30, 2004

Controls & Machine Components

WBF and OMAC are bringing standards to a line near you

A drug maker’s ability to qualify new equipment could be significantly reduced if committee work now being carried out by the World Batch Forum and the OMAC Packaging Workgroup comes to fruition.

June 30, 2004

Beverage

Are you minding the dollar stores?

Packaging machinery OEMs and their customers are bound to be affected by the rapid growth of dollar stores across the country.

June 30, 2004

Flexibles

NatureWorks wins food-contact approval in Japan

NatureWorks™ PLA, a plastic resin made from corn, has won approval for use in food-contact applications from the Japanese Hygienic Olefin & Styrene Plastics Assn., that country’s equivalent to the Food & Drug Administration in the United States.

June 30, 2004

Secondary Packaging

Sentry: first with all OMAC Guidelines

Sentry’s new family of tray, pad, case packing and film overwrapping machines is the first designed in the US around the OMAC Packaging Guidelines

June 30, 2004

Protective/transport packaging

Appliance maker chooses Sonoco as package partner

BSH Home Appliances Corp., Huntington Beach, CA, has entered into a five-year packaging supply agreement with Sonoco.

June 30, 2004

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

A molded-pulp first in cosmetics

When New York-based Estée Lauder’s Aveda unit introduced its Uruku Lipstick a little over a year ago, the firm’s commitment to environmentally responsible packaging led to what is essentially a refillable case.

June 30, 2004

Flexibles

Blue crab in 'Cadillac' package

A zipper reclosable pouch is now making its debut for pasteurized blue crabmeat in a 16-oz pouch sold under refrigeration. The Zip’n Store™ pouch was co-developed by Pyramid Flexible Packaging and by Presto Products, maker of the polypropylene Fresh-Lock® zipper for retort applications.

June 30, 2004