Converting equipment

Covert labels complete drug chain-of-custody

Security papers become pharmaceutical labels with a ‘history’ so that material can be tracked back to the mill.

January 31, 2004

Industries: Page 603

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

Packagers embrace renewable resources

Cornstarch, polylactic acid, and limestone are among the renewable resources used by Cadbury Schweppes for thermoformed candy trays, Biorigin for fresh pasta containers, and Wild Oats for a variety of deli containers.

January 31, 2004

Flexibles

Turkey Hill's cool new label

Following a successful market test of a new insulating label that keeps cold beverages cooler, Turkey Hill Dairy plans a broader use of the novel label come spring.

January 31, 2004

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Terrorism concerns infiltrate packaging

New homeland security program sends packagers scurrying for protective and tracking technologies.

January 31, 2004

Conveying & accumulation

Poore: Snack line conveying to f/f/s

At Poore Brothers, three FastBack conveyors from Heat and Control carry snacks from three fryers to downstream vertical form/fill/seal machines.

December 31, 2003

Conveying & accumulation

Poore: Weigh scales for salty snacks

Cross-feeder conveyors deliver snacks to Ishida 14-head weigh scales from Heat and Control. Individual load cells measure the weight of product in the scales. Integrated controls are used to select the right combination of buckets to release an accurate amount of product into a bottom-sealed tube of film.

December 31, 2003

Bag/pouch fill/seal (pre-made bags)

Poore: Vertical form/fill/seal for snacks

This continuous-motion bagger from Heat and Control uses patented twin heat-sealing jaws that simultaneously seal the top of the leading pack and the bottom of the subsequent pack. These vf/f/s machines produce 1- to 3-oz bags for vending machine and multi-pack sales, at speeds to 150/min. That rate is three times faster than previous vf/f/s equipment.

December 31, 2003

Labels

Royal label redesign

Indiana-based Oliver Winery recently hired [b]Flowdesign[n] to redesign two of the labels for its best selling wine products.

December 31, 2003

Closures

Aesthetic tube packaging

CCL Plastic Packaging recently helped Slatkin & Co., a New York City-based home fragrance marketer, launch its ultra-stylized, personal care products line called Slatkin’s Body Therapy.

December 31, 2003

Cosmetics/Personal care

Security needs in a digital age

With each passing year, marking and coding technology used in the packaging field has grown more digital in nature. What that means fundamentally is replacing a physical object—metal or rubber type, a printing plate, a printing matte—with a print "head" or "engine" or "cartridge" that responds to computer-driven software to imprint whatever message is called for.

December 31, 2003

Converting equipment

Beer in PET gains popularity in Europe

Watch for a lot more beer in PET in Europe. Martens Brewery in Belgium is gearing up with 500-mL PET bottles blown in-house on Sidel equipment and coated with a thin barrier layer of hydrogen-rich amorphous carbon on the inside of the bottle.

December 31, 2003

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Getting operators to comply with packaging SOPs

What do you do when line operators ignore written standard operating procedures (SOPs), preferring to do it their own way?

December 31, 2003

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Best packaging operations anywhere? Here are three...

What’s the most impressive plant you’ve ever been in? World traveler and Hartness Intl. director of market research Neville Cork has been in about 100 plants.

December 31, 2003