Controls & Machine Components

Efector, Inc: Efector, Inc: AS-I controller

ifm efector (Exton, PA) has released a SmartLogic™ unit that operates as an AS-i module with 4 inputs and 4 outputs. Module uses a programmable microprocessor with an 8-kb program memory that adds fast, local control functions to AS-i installations.

November 30, 2001

Industries: Page 679

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Can labeling improves logistics

In Vejle, Denmark, where a company called Tulip operates Northern Europe’s largest meat packing plant, preprinted round cans are giving way to round cans that are decorated in-line via roll-fed labelers.

November 30, 2001

Closures

ESL moves Marigold into multiple markets

In September, Minneapolis-based Marigold Foods introduced five flavored milk varieties in high-density polyethylene bottles. Ultra-high temperature (UHT) processing yields a 65-day shelf life. The 12-oz Kemps®-brand varieties sell in refrigerated dairy cases of supermarkets, as well as in school vending machines.

November 30, 2001

Flexibles

Club stores spawn salmon multipacks

Marketers for San Diego-based Bumble Bee Seafoods heard the call of club stores and consumers alike, requesting a more flashy multipack of its canned salmon. Bumble Bee responded last summer with a colorful film sleeve from Ultrapak (Dunkirk, NY) for two- and four-pack varieties.

November 30, 2001

Flexibles

Teens assigned to Hawaiian Punch

In an effort to give its venerable fruit punch drink a “hip” packaging design, Hawaiian Punch is turning to its core consumers: teenagers. Hawaiian Punch is a brand of Plano, TX-based Dr Pepper/Seven Up, a subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes plc.

November 30, 2001

Flexibles

Cadbury package scores a slam dunk

Adding to its Mr. Big™ candy bar’s already larger than life image, Toronto-based Cadbury Trebor Allan recently added National Basketball Assn. player Vince Carter to the Mr. Big label for a special promotion.

November 30, 2001

Beverage

Beverage Container Growth

A thriving market for PET-bottled water and the proliferation of single-serve soft drink bottles will propel United States demand for all beverage containers, according to The Freedonia Group.

November 30, 2001

Flexibles

Listerine strips made portable, universal

Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, Morris Plains, NJ, introduced in the United States in October ‘01 Cool Mint Listerine PocketPaks™ of tiny hinged plastic “vials.” The vials (see sidebar) contain stamp-sized oral care strips that dissolve instantly on the tongue where they kill germs on contact. A carded blister serves as the secondary package.

November 30, 2001

Containers

Achievements

Arlington Press Pharmaceutical Packaging (Schaumburg, IL), a wholly owned business unit of Impaxx, Inc., has been certified by AstraZeneca to deliver products to its Westborough, MA, facility without incoming inspections.

November 30, 2001

Labels

Single food safety agency proposed

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation to consolidate in to a single independent agency the responsibilities for food safety, labeling, and inspection currently scattered among some 12 federal agencies.

November 30, 2001

Meat/Poultry/Seafood

Does meat packaging meet expectations?

Meat and poultry packaging continues to be a source of frustration for retailers and consumers. That’s according to a report entitled, “Meat Packaging in Transition: Consumer Perceptions and Industry Opportunities,” from The Consumer Network (Philadelphia, PA).

November 30, 2001

Conveying & accumulation

X-ray vision checks inside chocolates boxes

Thorntons in the U.K. uses X-ray scanning equipment to inspect foil-wrapped and boxed chocolates. Software upgrade detects missing chocolates.

November 30, 2001

Flexibles

Labels take bottles from the wine cellar to the trophy case

The annual Tag and Label Manufacturing Institute competition in October celebrated excellence in tag and p-s label design, as well as innovation in converting.

November 30, 2001