Conveying & accumulation

National Manufacturing Week: Notes from the field

Special Projects Editor Dave Newcorn spotted many interesting new technologies, including machine vision, at National Manufacturing Week in early March. Here are some of them.

February 28, 2003

Materials: Page 654

Controls & Machine Components

IMI Norgren, Inc: Pneumatic rotary actuators

From Norgren (Littleton, CO), a new range of pneumatic rotary actuators for packaging applications offer a consistently smooth, accurate, cushioned movement.

February 28, 2003

Flexibles

Flexible packaging tube/pouch

Softube from Switzerland’s Obrinova AG Packaging, a subsidiary of H. Obrist, is available from Construct Packaging Associates (Manchester, MO).

February 28, 2003

Coding, Printing & Labeling

RFID is hot!

In late January in Miami, the topic of Intelligent & Smart Packaging was as hot as the conference location. The Pira Intl. (www.piranet.com) and IDTechEx (www.idtechex.com) Conference and Tradeshow was dominated by electronic product coding, or ePC.

February 28, 2003

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

Pickle tub packs foodservice benefits

A shelf-stable, high-density polyethylene container of sliced pickles from Dean Foods, Franklin Park, IL, ensures that Oakbrook, IL-based McDonald’s operators and its customers are well served.

February 28, 2003

Flexibles

Candy and coffee team up

If Seattle-based Starbucks is synonymous with fine coffee, Brown & Haley, Tacoma, WA, has a similar cachet with its Almond Roca candy. Beginning this year, the two organizations are teaming up as B&H produces Mocha Roca Coffee Buttercrunch in distinctive packaging for exclusive sale at Starbucks outlets.

February 28, 2003

Flexibles

Thermoforming proves swell for Jo-El

“Hardware manufacturers were not known for offering consumer-friendly packaging in the past,” admits Benny Vestergaard, logistics manager of Jo-El Electric A/S, Odense, Denmark.

February 28, 2003

Flexibles

POUCH SALES CONTINUE TO CLIMB

Demand for pouches in the United States is projected to climb nearly 7% per year through 2006 to sales of $4.6 billion, representing 79 billion units.

February 28, 2003

Flexibles

PLASTIC AND PAPER MARKET TRENDS

In its new study Paper versus Plastics in Packaging, Cleveland-based Freedonia Group reports that total demand for paper and plastic in competitive packaging markets is projected to increase 1.6% annually to 21 billion lb in 2006.

February 28, 2003

Flexible packaging

FPA study picks consumers' brains

Qualitative, focus-group research conducted recently by Perception Research Services on behalf of the Flexible Packaging Assn. (Linthicum, MD) arrived at six key conclusions:

February 28, 2003

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Q&A: A bold new world of automated ID

Kevin Ashton is executive director of the Auto-ID Center (www.autoidcenter.org), a research project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.

February 28, 2003

Blisters/clamshells/skin packaging

Web Plus: Sites

New or enhanced Web sites

February 28, 2003

Containers

Web Plus: Online purchasing of corrugated to grow

Representatives of three major manufacturers say that corrugated box makers need to aggressively cut costs because of pressure from the major consumer-packaged-goods companies and the ongoing evolution of online bidding for box business.

February 28, 2003