Converting equipment

Twister takes a whole new shape

For its Twister brand juice beverage, Tropicana North America has launched a 1.75-L (59.3-oz) heat-set bottle made of polyethylene terephthalate that the Bradenton, FL, firm describes as "the first heat-set, hot-filled (180°+) rectangular PET bottle" for a juice beverage in the U.S.

February 28, 1998

Containers: Page 239

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Supplier news: Relocations, expansions

CCL Container (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada) is consolidating all of its business entities, now operating as divisions of the company and using the same corporate name and logo.

February 28, 1998

Containers

Drum containment unit

Rand Materials Handling Equipment (Pawtucket, RI) has introduced a 4-Drum Containment Unit with a removable drum pallet that allows the drums to be loaded at floor level and lifted on or off the sump base by a forklift truck.

January 31, 1998

Containers

Extended height containers

Ropak's (Georgetown, KY) Extended Height, reusable, HDPE collapsible containers with a 45" x 48" footprint are an alternative to pallets.

January 31, 1998

Conveying & accumulation

Foam dunnage computes for GT's software

Minnesota is no stranger to snow. But at GT Interactive's Plymouth plant, located in suburban Minneapolis, a far different kind of blizzard was hampering operations.

January 31, 1998

Containers

Reusable pallet strap

AGM (Tucson, AZ) has introduced a reusable pallet strap as a waste-reduction alternative to throwaway banding and shrink wrap. The strapping system consists of AGM's over-center KevLok buckle, high-strength bulked nylon webbing and pallet hooks at each end.

January 31, 1998

Conveying & accumulation

Robotic palletization protects Sandvik

Automated lifting and stacking of heavy boxes onto pallets helps this maker of mining products avoid worker injuries and $120ꯠ of additional labor costs.

January 31, 1998

Cartoning

Eclectic 'sticks' with sealers

A brand new blister packager tied into an automatic collating and case packing system lets this adhesives manufacturer keep up with fast-growing sales.

January 31, 1998

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Smirnoff 1.75 L relaunched in proprietary PET

Hoping to boost sales, United Distillers and Vintners, Hartford, CT, has relaunched its Smirnoff premium vodka in a proprietary 1.75-L polyethylene terephthalate package whose rollout was to be completed this month.

January 31, 1998

Containers

Supplier news: Domestic acquisitions, agreements

Greif Bros. Corp. (Delaware, OH) has signed an agreement to acquire KMI Continental Fibre Drum, Inc., Fibro Tambor, and Sonoco Plastic Drum, Inc., all wholly owned subsidiaries of Sonoco Products Co.

January 31, 1998

Containers

X-ray fill-level inspection

The TapTone (N. Falmouth, MA) Ray Trak fill-level inspection system uses x-ray tube technology to check fill levels in bottles, cans and jars at speeds to 2ꯠ/min.

December 31, 1997

Tamper-evident machinery

Servo control offers labeling latitude (sidebar)

This is the story of the in-line capper that almost got away. When the Nutrilite Div. of Amway Corp. wanted to double the speed of its vitamin packaging line, management was leaning toward a rotary capper.

December 31, 1997

Containers

Hot melt desiccant

From Grace Davison (Baltimore, MD), Flo-Tech(TM) is a hot melt desiccant that is applied directly onto the packaging material, becoming an integral part of the package.

December 31, 1997