Materials: Page 753

Additives, coatings & inks

Supplier news: Domestic acquisitions, agreements

M.A. Hanna Co. (Cleveland, OH) has sold its plastic colorant and additive mfg. business in Puerto Rico to New Million Corp. (Carolina, Puerto Rico).

February 28, 1999

Containers

Supplier news: International agreements

Tubed Products, Inc. (Easthampton, MA) has formed a joint venture with the products of Tubepack Ltd. (Auckland, New Zealand) to introduce Tubed Products to the New Zealand and Australian markets.

February 28, 1999

Filling/capping, dry

GEI Intl. Inc: Auger filler

The servo-driven 1100DAB auger filler from GEI Intl. (Exton, PA) uses a bulk-and-trim filling method to hold fill weights to within ±0.25% of the target.

January 31, 1999

Secondary Packaging

Palletizing robot

Soco System's (Waukesha, WI) Pallet Robot has a manifold design that eliminates fragile tubes and fittings. The plate on which the head's vacuum pads are mounted is made as a "sandwich" construction where air is in the plate.

January 31, 1999

Flexible packaging

Profile Packaging, Inc: Profile Packaging, Inc: F/f/s with servo motors

Profile Packaging (Sarasota, FL) now employs ServoSmart(TM) technology that uses servo motors to increase efficiency on Laudenberg FBM stand-up pouch machines, both in simplex and duplex models.

January 31, 1999

Labels

Wine labels drink up awards

Recent competition honors labels used by wineries that realize the importance of presenting an appealing package to the consumer.

January 31, 1999

Conveying & accumulation

Seneca sets its sights on plastic

Seneca Foods was among the first to convert from glass to hot-fillable plastic jars for applesauce. Now it fills both glass and plastic containers on essentially the same line.

January 31, 1999

Sustainability

Bottle-to-bottle PET recycling beckons in Germany

German mineral water and soft drink marketer Rosbacher installs a first-of-its-kind stretch blow molder and seeks to popularize closed-loop recycling of PET beverage containers.

January 31, 1999

Cartoning

Technology 'inches' forward at Oral-B

Oral-B concludes three-year project to develop new brush and creative preprinted package structure. Inks, thermoforming, materials handling, package closing systems all gain in new developments.

January 31, 1999

Flexible packaging

HDPE-bottled dairy beverages 'milk' 90-day shelf life

Canadian dairy products marketer Natrel is the first North American user of an ultra-high-temperature processing/aseptic filling line. The process permits Natrel to launch single-serve milks and shakes with a 90-day refrigerated shelf life.

January 31, 1999

Coding, Printing & Labeling

SmithKline software simplifies specs management

Packaging specifications software helps SmithKline Beecham tame paperwork associated with an unwieldy packaging component inventory.

January 31, 1999

Converting equipment

Colgate-Palmolive clarifies its polypropylene position (sidebar)

Colgate-Palmolive moves to a three-resin strategy

January 31, 1999