Converting equipment

Materials Purchasing: Grocer buys into online shopping

Grocery retailer H.E. Butt Co. procures packaging materials through the INC2inc Internet marketplace. Now it’s persuading its vendors to climb aboard.

August 31, 2000

Additives, coatings & inks: Page 51

Conveying & accumulation

Notable web sites

Materials MarketplacesB2BPKG.com (www.b2bpkg.com) is a packaging materials marketplace that allows users to constuct a private catalog of vendors for online procurement.

August 31, 2000

Converting equipment

Fewer vendors in manufacturers' plans (sidebar)

Internet ordering proves as easy as H-E-B

August 31, 2000

Flexibles

Growth accelerates in flexible materials

Volume of flexible packaging materials continues to outpace growth in both the overall economy and for all of packaging. FPA report does identify some potential problems, however.

August 31, 2000

Converting equipment

Pasteurizable PET bottles

KoSa has developed a PET copolymer packaging resin that may make it possible to bottle and pasteurize beer in plastic.

July 31, 2000

Protective/transport packaging

HP cushions for B2C sales

Hewlett-Packard Corp., Palo Alto, CA, is using a new grade of Arcel® moldable foam from Nova Chemicals (Pittsburgh, PA) for protective cushioning for LaserJet™ Model 4050 printers distributed worldwide.

July 31, 2000

Additives, coatings & inks

Product catalog

Matrix Packaging (Lancaster, NY) has released a new full-color product catalog. A quick overview of stock containers with line drawings, available finish sizes and resins are all provided within the catalog.

July 31, 2000

Conveying & accumulation

Radius brushes away excess costs

Shrink sleeve bundling system enables Radius to unitize plastic cases of its unusual toothbrushes in film sleeves rather than the more costly folding cartons it had used.

July 31, 2000

Conveying & accumulation

Capsule-counting tech comes to NAI

New equipment at this California contract packager includes a tablet/capsule line with the latest in tablet-counting technology. On-line thermal-transfer coding shines, too.

July 31, 2000

Conveying & accumulation

HDPE totes fit Pep Boys

Reusable HDPE totes in two heights with one footprint improve cube efficiency on pallets and lower damage at a Pep Boys distribution center.

July 31, 2000

Additives, coatings & inks

Aseptically filled soup is a first

France's Liebig breaks new ground with four ready-to-serve vegetable soups aseptically packaged in 1-L plastic bottles.

June 30, 2000

Additives, coatings & inks

Polypropylene shows growth potential

Foodservice and retail applications will help drive growth in thermoformed packaging at an annual rate of 5.6%, with polypropylene leading the way with an estimated annual growth of nearly 20%.

June 30, 2000

Flexible packaging

Super marketing through packaging

Products at the Food Marketing Institute trade show in Chicago illustrate how grocery marketers rely heavily on packaging to add convenience and sales appeal.

June 30, 2000