Conveying & accumulation

Oriental Motor USA: Economical AC gearmotors

Oriental Motor USA offers its economically priced preassembled BHF Series AC speed-control gearmotors intended for packaging applications such as conveyors.

November 30, 2003

Machinery: Page 834

Controls & Machine Components

Phoenix Contact Inc: Fieldbus connectors for harsh environments

Variosub fieldbus plug connectors for applications in harsh environments are available from Phoenix Contact. The Variosub Family includes connectors for Interbus, Profibus, and CANopen systems.

November 30, 2003

Controls & Machine Components

Rittal Corp.: Control cabinet air conditioners

Sleekly designed by Rittal Corp. with rugged components, TopTherm air conditioners are perfect for the most demanding industrial environments. Designed for cooling electronics in a control cabinet, the units are engineered to overcome problems created by dust and heat, the number-1 cause of electronics failure.

November 30, 2003

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Schneider Electric ELAU Packaging Solutions: Next-generation controllers

Elau PacDrive next-generation Gen3 controllers range from an economical unit to power a simple stand-alone machine to a 1-Hg unit for the most demanding applications.

November 30, 2003

Controls & Machine Components

Festo Corporation: Miniaturized valve terminals

Smart Cubic valve terminals from Festo offer compact size, versatility, and high speed and flow rates to 150L/min with various functions and LED readouts.

November 30, 2003

Conveying & accumulation

Wireless ink-jet coding

A switch from hand-applied, preprinted labels on corrugated shippers to large-character ink-jet printing is reducing labor costs and improving security measures at the Great Northern Wholeaves operation of produce grower/marketer Mills Inc.

November 30, 2003

Converting equipment

PMMI forecasts three years of growth

Improving gross domestic product numbers, rising capacity utilization, and export growth are listed as the primary reasons for packaging machinery sales growth during the next three years by the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute.

November 30, 2003

Converting equipment

Henkel cuts fees with new Sil package

The Henkel Group, Düsseldorf, Germany, has cut the costs of packaging fees on its Sil-brand stain-removing laundry powder by using a new package with a moisture-vapor-barrier built into the box.

November 30, 2003

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Q&A: Corrugated's role in RFID

Andy Kerr(above) is a Development Technician specializing in corrugated packaging at Eastman Kodak, and he’s been re-elected chairman of the End User Advisory Committee at the Technical Assn. of the Pulp and Paper Industry. Here, Andy talks about the RFID program held recently at TAPPI’s October conference in Dallas.

November 30, 2003

Secondary Packaging

Alberto Culver gains global vision with Web-enabled PDM

Alberto Culver sells hair and skin care products, food, and household products in 120 countries through 14 manufacturing sites and four product development/design centers located around the globe.

November 30, 2003

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Companies

Exopack (Spartanburg, SC) acquired the remaining operating assets of Plassein Intl.

November 30, 2003

Coding, Printing & Labeling

FDA sued over health claims

In mid-October, Public Citizen’s Health Research Group and the Center for Science in the Public Interest sued the Food and Drug Administration, claiming the agency broke the law when it lowered its standards for allowing health claims on food labels.

November 30, 2003

Feeding/inserting/unscrambling

Classes of poultry revisions

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is proposing to amend the poultry class standards of identity to better reflect poultry sold in today’s market.

November 30, 2003