Conveying & accumulation

Engineering software quickens product launch

Mary Kay Inc., the Dallas-based global direct-selling manufacturer of skin care and beauty products, is implementing Design-Expert® mathematical software from Stat-Ease (Minneapolis, MN) to help avoid product launch delays and unnecessary rework costs.

December 31, 2000

Closures: Page 105

Conveying & accumulation

Integrator specs laser sensor for aerosol can line

Systems integrator adapts special laser to sense defects in cases of aerosol cans for cleaning products maker. Error detection improves to 99%.

December 31, 2000

Labels

Over-the-top effort solves TE challenges

Arm & Hammer’s p-s TE label for its new HDPE shaker bottle of baking soda uses two types of adhesives. The duo performs tamper-evidence while it meets regulatory requirements for foods.

December 31, 2000

Flexible packaging

Effervescent tablets go 'Airborne' in tubes

Knight-McDowell Labs’ quest for an alternative to foil packaging for its effervescent tablets led to a rigid, polypropylene injection-molded container.

December 31, 2000

Coding, Printing & Labeling

VA hospital tests 'talking' label

Visually impaired patients at a veterans hospital are participating in a pilot program involving a radio-frequency identification labeling system that can read aloud prescription information and instructions for a medicine.

December 31, 2000

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Foreign drugs to require U.S. packaging

Congress allows “reimportation” of cut-rate pharmaceuticals, but labeling and packaging rules for U.S. consumption remain an open question.

December 31, 2000

Blisters/clamshells/skin packaging

Open up and say 'Ah'

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is looking into requiring child-resistant packaging for all over-the-counter cold and cough products.

December 31, 2000

Conveying & accumulation

Aseptic drug filling boasts new type of sterilization

Sterilizing a depyrogenation tunnel by means of vaporized hydrogen peroxide is a first at Organon’s recently installed vial filling line.

December 31, 2000

Closures

Prize figures are 'capped'

from InterBev 2000: Antarctica brand guarana beverage from Brazil-based Ambev has a toy prize inside the hollow 'cap' that tops the shrink wrapped 8-oz PET bottles. Each patented, ring-shaped Cap Container contains one of 40 different Pokémon™ figures.

November 30, 2000

Flexibles

Sporty pouch will be a U.S. first

from InterBev 2000: Following more than two years of development, Hydrade Beverage Co., Dallas, TX, unveiled in New Orleans its 500-mL stand-up pouch for the sports drink category. Intended for on-the-go use, the pouch has a laminated PET/foil/PET/PE structure and a resealable fitment for convenience. Sourced and contract filled overseas, it will debut in four varieties in the U.S. in early 2001.

November 30, 2000

Contract packaging

Getting a handle on salsa packaging

In April, Frito-Lay rolled out its Tostitos™ brand salsa in a 28-oz plastic jug that features an integral handle and a wide-mouth closure. According to David Miller, senior technologist with Plano, TX-based Frito-Lay Corp., the multilayer polypropylene bottle is coextrusion-blown by Continental Plastic Containers (Irving, TX) and incorporates an ethylene vinyl alcohol barrier.

November 30, 2000

Flexible packaging

Sargento to debut in-line slider

In January, Sargento Foods, Plymouth, WI, will become the first user of the Hefty® Slide-Rite® reclosure system on a package produced on a form/fill/seal machine.

November 30, 2000

Closures

Reclosable fitment cashes in for Arm & Hammer

To eliminate the possibility of having opened packages on store shelves, Church & Dwight Co., maker of Arm & Hammer® products, decided to change the packaging for its Carpet and Room Deodorizer.

November 30, 2000