Closures

Plastic brings weight and cost reductions

A plastic-for-glass replacement on a line of high-end cosmetics products sold by Maria Galland of France won DuPont silver for Ileos. Cost savings of up to 20% depending on size were achieved when the switch was made.

August 31, 2005

Leaders (UNIVERSAL TAXONOMY PW): Page 1447

Closures

Integrated corkscrew offers wine bottlers new packaging option

A new wine bottle closure concept called IC3™ (3-in-1 Integrated Corkscrew) is designed to provide ease of opening without a traditional cork screw tool, excellent product protection against oxidation, and easy, high-integrity resealing of unused wine portions.

August 31, 2005

Flexibles

Hospital sterilization pouch

Autopak® is a three-ply structure from Alcan Packaging-Medical Flexibles Americas for in-hospital sterlization of products such as medical trays used for surgery.

August 31, 2005

Flexibles

4-panel stand-up pouch

In search of unique packaging for the launch of its new Energice® rehydration/recovery drinks, the Jel-Sert Company, West Chicago, IL, selected QuadPAK™ side-gusset, 4-panel stand-up pouches from Kapak, an Ampac company.

August 31, 2005

Closures

On-the-go reclosable cup lid

With the Silver-Award-winning Traveler Plus™ lid there’s no more crying over spilled coffee.

August 31, 2005

Flexibles

Quilt packaging enhances microwave heating

Browning and crisping of microwave foods such as baked goods and sandwich breads are enhanced by QuiltWave™ packaging from Graphic Packaging International.

August 31, 2005

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

Plastic pack contains unit-dose blister packs

Child-resistance, senior friendliness, patient compliance, product protection, brand differentiation, and the ability to run on existing blister packaging equipment are the key benefits that earned a DuPont Silver Award for Shellpak™ from MeadWestvaco Healthcare Packaging.

August 31, 2005

Containers

A batch processing approach to packaging

Arla Foods’ automated order system lets production orders flow through its new fresh-milk bottling lines in batches.

August 31, 2005

Controls & Machine Components

Make2Pack sharing session

On November 15, 2005, in Milan, Italy, the Make2Pack Workgroup, with support from Siemens, will be hosting an information-sharing session to explain how the Make2Pack effort will benefit all users and suppliers of factory floor automation.

August 31, 2005

Secondary Packaging

A vote for open standards

The Aagard Group--A Minnesota maker of cartoners, case packers, and other secondary packaging systems--recently shipped a side-seam carton gluer/bag-in-box cartoner/case packer/palletizer that's all mounted on one frame and deploys a single PC to control 36 axes of servo motion. In a telephone interview primarily about the new machine and its controls architecture, Brenton Smith, company president, had some intriguing thoughts to share about machine automation in general.

August 31, 2005

Cartoning

PC/servo bag-in-box solution

This 36-axis bag-in-box system occupies minimal floor space, installs easily, and is controlled by a single PC.

August 31, 2005

Protective/transport packaging

Cylinders help save space on conveyor line

Compact cylinders offer power and efficiency on a filling line conveyor system.

August 31, 2005

Flexibles

Rx distributor turns to internal RFID

Last month, Cesar Castillo Inc. began using an RFID system that marries item identification with storage location to address inventory errors and inefficiencies.

August 31, 2005