Flexibles

Breakfast, mate?

Ready-to-eat, single-serve combination packs pair cereal with milk (and spoon) in the refrigerated case. The 'eat-from' packs show that innovation is alive and well on both sides of the Atlantic.

May 31, 1998

Additives, coatings & inks: Page 62

Additives, coatings & inks

Color-coded fragrances

Since introducing potpourri items last summer, Candle-lite's Fragrance De-Lite(TM) line now includes six products each available in eight different fragrances.

May 31, 1998

Sustainability

Injection-molding resin

Recently commercialized by Chevron Chemical (Houston, TX), HiD9004 is an HDPE injection-molding resin designed primarily for producing 5- to 7-gal pails and their lids.

April 30, 1998

Closures

Resin for closures

Pro-fax(TM) SV-956 polypropylene resin from Montel (Wilmington, DE) is used to meet tolerances necessary to achieve a balance of stiffness and impact properties for easy-opening, wide- and medium-mouth closures produced by Pano Cap Canada (Phoenix, MD).

April 30, 1998

Additives, coatings & inks

Modular inspection system

New Resina Corp. (Brooklyn, NY) has developed a modular inspection system designed to handle a range of functions-from simple detection of missing cap liners to the full-scale, 100% inspection of capping.

April 30, 1998

Closures

Tubes of the year!

This year's winners of the Tube Council Awards carried a strong health and beauty theme, as well as a focus on innovation.

April 30, 1998

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Federal funding fears

The National Food Processors Assn. worries that the approval of new and safer anti-microbial sterilants for food packaging and revision of irradiation disclosure labeling requirements could be in funding jeopardy.

April 30, 1998

Converting equipment

Water bottle vends like a can

Lancaster, PA-based Cloister Spring Water recently introduced its new H2O Cool spring water as "the first, the only 12-oz PET bottle that vends like a can." This allows the bottle to be sold through vending machines designed for canned soft drinks.

April 30, 1998

Multipacking/shrink bundling/banding

Catching the rays

Packagers seek FDA approval of resins for use in overwrapping and trays for irradiated beef and poultry.

March 31, 1998

Additives, coatings & inks

New definition for 'buying in'

These days, manufacturers need a whole new dictionary to understand all the latest trends preached and proselytized by the gurus of management. "Asset redeployment" or "optimalization" have come to replace "downsizing" or "re-engineering" as terms that denote a plan (ideally) that usually shifts jobs or "labor" off the balance sheet.

March 31, 1998

Flexibles

Recycling on the web

There are now several sites cropping up on the web where packagers and package manufacturers alike can either source or recycle scrap packaging materials.

March 31, 1998

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Catching the rays (sidebar)

Old MacDonald never had this kind of farm

March 31, 1998

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Digital-on-demand printing opens new markets for converter

Two six-color digital offset presses drive Watson Label Products into the packaging market. Machines specialize in short-run production of flexibles used primarily for prototyping and promotional purposes.

March 31, 1998