Conveying & accumulation

New machines and materials fuel prepackaged fresh beef

An unusual foam tray, seven-layer coextruded lidding, a high-speed rotary backflushing/lidding machine, and weigh/price labeling let this Florida meat packer respond to supermarket demand for case-ready ground beef.

March 31, 1998

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials: Page 104

Additives, coatings & inks

Freezer-to-oven CPET trays

A thermoformed tray of crystallized polyethylene terephthalate holds frozen, unbaked muffin batter and can be put right in the oven to allow foodservice operators in Australia to offer fresh-baked goods on-premise.

March 31, 1998

Blisters/clamshells/skin packaging

Changes in drug packaging?

Among the findings presented at a January 8 hearing of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was this disturbing FDA estimate: Some 1.3 million people are injured each year in the U.S.

March 31, 1998

Blisters/clamshells/skin packaging

Mobile blister packager

The EZ Blister(TM) from UK-based Sepha Products (Irvine, CA) is a semi-automatic blister packer for pharmaceutical use. Separate stations form, seal and cut/perforate blisters.

February 28, 1998

Flexibles

Lidding film

A solvent-free PE-laminated rigid vinyl film for use as lidding material with thermoformed trays has been introduced by Klckner Pentaplast (Gordonsville, VA).

February 28, 1998

Converting equipment

Olin takes air out of pool chemicals display

A new line of interlocking modular square containers was designed to meet retailers' needs. Design features, some patented, make containers consumer-friendly as well.

February 28, 1998

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

Coleman's Sheltra packs for convenience

New clamshell packs for smoke and gas detectors went through many versions, but samples were available in time for the buying season. Now the consumer-oriented packs are filling the retail pipeline.

February 28, 1998

Flexibles

Technical achievements shine among FPA winners

A foil-based barrier bag for industrial applications, a multilayer structure for hermetic sealing of silicone gasket strips, and a coextruded sealant film all snare FPA awards.

February 28, 1998

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

Widemouth cups will expand beverage packaging options

We've been looking at the newest generation of Ensure® nutritional supplement packaging and thinking that thermoformed or injection-molded cupsin some advanced stage of developmentcould be beer and carbonated beverage containers (CSDs) in the future.

February 28, 1998

Conveying & accumulation

UV clamshell sealing

PartnerPak (Huntington Beach, CA) has introduced the Simpl-Seal® UV sealing system for double blister and clamshell packages. The system applies a proprietary adhesive, Simpl-Sealant, to one half of the package via a dispensing system.

January 31, 1998

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

Noncontact temperature sensors

Exergen (Watertown, MA) IRt/c(TM) noncontact temperature sensors are said to measure the actual temperature of every packaged product on the line. Rugged sensors can increase machine speeds by 20% while reducing set-up time by up to 90%, according to the supplier.

January 31, 1998

Blisters/clamshells/skin packaging

Porous molding material

Metapor is a micro-porous aluminum for thermoformers from International Mold Steel (Florence, KY). The material is air-permeable and is said to eliminate venting problems in thermoforming, blister packaging and film processing.

January 31, 1998

Protective/transport packaging

Reusable PVC clamshells short-circuit waste for Lucent

Telecommunications component supplier slashes materials and labor costs by shifting to vinyl clamshell packs for printed circuit boards. Now Lucent asks some customers to return them for reuse.

January 31, 1998