Coding, Printing & Labeling

UK firms are out to shorten time to market

Sainsbury’s will soon implement a sophisticated RFID tag system to better manage its chilled foods distribution, while ICI Paints evaluates digital asset management.

October 31, 2000

Containers: Page 220

Conveying & accumulation

Tums packages sealed with a twist

SmithKline Beecham breaks new ground with an oval-shaped, induction-sealed foil membrane beneath a twist-off cap. Benefits include reduced downtime and less scrap.

October 31, 2000

Cartoning

Filler meets tough standards at Stonyfield (sidebar)

Cartoner delivers downstream

October 31, 2000

Cartoning

Filler meets tough standards at Stonyfield

Stonyfield Farm is so confident about the potential sales of its Yo Squeeze organic yogurt for kids that it’s purchased a second vf/f/s machine. Each machine produces 200 tubes/min, with an unusual ‘butt seal.’

October 31, 2000

Cartoning

Suiza dairy touts 'squishy' bottle

A soft LDPE bottle and ‘sipper protrusion’ make it easy for kids to hold and drink single-serve milks. Suiza’s Country Fresh dairy introduces two distinct brands of milk in the containers.

October 31, 2000

Conveying & accumulation

Coors rolls out the barrel can

Pub barrel cans of Coors Killian’s Red are wrapped in heat-shrink OPP at a rate of 250 cans/min by a cut-and-glue labeling system located downstream from the can shaper.

October 31, 2000

Conveying & accumulation

Quintuplets!

New automated labeling system delivers five labels onto each glass bottle of Labrot & Graham’s premium bourbon whiskey, boosting output, reducing labor costs and improving placement accuracy.

October 31, 2000

Closures

First pasterized, wide-mouth PET

A heat-set PET jar from Vlasic Foods Intl., Cherry Hill, NJ. is produced by Schmalbach-Lubeca. The jar is said to be the first commercial pasteurizable wide-mouth PET food jar.

September 30, 2000

Converting equipment

The softer side of Unilever

Just reaching store shelves nationwide is a redesigned package for 100-oz Whisk, All and Surf laundry detergent brands from Greenwich, CT-based Unilever.

September 30, 2000

Controls & Machine Components

Relocations, expansions

Klöckner Pentaplast of America, Inc. (Gordonsville, VA) has opened a new 54ꯠ sq’ facility in Beaver, WV. The $6 million satellite plant includes a new polyester film extrusion line that will add 16 million lb of film and sheet output.

September 30, 2000

Conveying & accumulation

Crown Candy receives royal wrapper

Candy maker purchases new horizontal flow wrapper for wrapping large, coconut bon bons. The PC-controlled machine reduces changeover, increases line speeds and simplifies the packaging process.

September 30, 2000

Conveying & accumulation

Putting a wrap on enhanced productivity

A new shrink wrapping system has doubled packaging speed and cut downtime in half at this Arizona maker of adhesive lettering.

September 30, 2000

Flexibles

Purchasing moves 'slow speed ahead'

Pharmaceutical/medical and beverage markets will drive packaging machinery spending this year, says a PMMI study. U.S. domestic equipment sales are expected to rise 2% to 3% in 2000 to $4.9 billion.

September 30, 2000