Conveying & accumulation

Bottle drinks from the stream of technology

American Beverage Marketers warm-fills its Finest Call cocktail mixes into new PET bottles, then injects liquid nitrogen. The LN2 prevents bottle paneling and helps to extend shelf life. The PET bottle replaces PP, providing greater clarity and appeal for the product's introduction to the retail market.

May 31, 1997

Materials: Page 803

Conveying & accumulation

Wrapping up changeover

Design House's new shrink wrapping line handles packages in various lengths without the need for changeover.

May 31, 1997

Additives, coatings & inks

Supplier news: Domestic acquisitions, agreements

Dock Resins Corp. (Linden, NJ) has been acquired by Landec Corp. (Menlo Park, CA).

May 31, 1997

Closures

Ocean Spray restages drink concentrates in wide-mouth PET bottles

Around our way, clear, hot-filled plastic bottles of Ocean Spray shelf-stable juice drink concentrates began showing up on supermarket shelves in late March.

May 31, 1997

Sustainability

Plastics' broken loop

Recycled-content legislation has receded, environmentalists have been quiet and virgin PET is plentiful and cheap. Packagers are divided on whether to continue their commitments to use post-consumer resin in the U.S. market.

May 31, 1997

Labels

Clearly redefined

When Clearly Canadian was introduced ten years ago, it stood apart from mainstream soft drinks on store shelves. Says Jonathon Cronin, vice president of marketing at Clearly Canadian Beverage Corp.: "When we first launched the brand, the slight blue tint to the glass bottles and the ACL decorating were almost revolutionary." Ten years later, shelves are flooded with eye-catching products, and the pioneering beverage company decided that its core brand needed a boost.

May 31, 1997

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

Applications news

Cranston, RI-based medical and electronics packaging designer Alga Plastics has purchased new thermoforming equipment from Armac Industries, a sister company of Sencorp Systems (Hyannis, MA).

May 31, 1997

Flexibles

Temperature-sensitive film for fresh produce

Apio Inc. Value Added Group of Guadalupe, CA, is among the first companies to use a new technology for fresh-cut produce packaging. Developed by Landec (Menlo Park, CA), the Intellipac(TM) technology is based on an unusual "side chain crystallizable" polymer having an internal "temperature switch." At elevated temperatures, when respiring produce needs more oxygen, the polymer becomes more permeable, allowing the necessary oxygen in.

May 31, 1997

Converting equipment

Pepsi tells Detroit shoppers to get a grip

In early May, Pepsi-Cola Co., Somers, NY, began testing its Quick Grip PET bottle in four Detroit area supermarkets. "Ease of handling and pouring, that's what's being tested here," says Pepsi spokesperson Larry Jabbonsky.

May 31, 1997

Containers

Supplier news: Domestic acquisitions, agreements

Caraustar Industries, Inc. (Austell, GA) and Paccess (Portland, OR) formed an equally owned joint venture to manufacture and sell paperboard tubes and cores in the Northwest U.S.

May 31, 1997

Flexibles

Chemical packaging plant explodes

An explosion followed by a fire at a chemical packaging plant in West Helena, AR, killed three firefighters and caused the governor to declare a state of emergency as the area was evacuated due to toxic fumes.

May 31, 1997

Converting equipment

Applications news

Delaware-based Greif Bros. will expand its blow-molded industrial plastic container business from 55-gal drums to 275-gal intermediate bulk containers. By the third quarter of this year, it will take delivery on a blow molding machine made by Rikutec in Alternkirchen, Germany.

May 31, 1997

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

T&A hitches its wagon to a brand

Already a leading marketer of its own branded, value-added, fresh-cut produce, Tanimura & Antle took its fresh-cut program to a whole new level on April 28.

May 31, 1997