Conveying & accumulation

Web plus: A dot-com looks for packaging solutions

Overstock.com offers a variety of name-brand surplus merchandise, such as toys, diamond rings, and TVs, for up to 70% off the retail price. Just like a catalog retailer, this Internet retailer must invest in quality packaging to ship products to consumers.

December 31, 2001

Leaders (UNIVERSAL TAXONOMY PW): Page 1624

Labeling

WebPlus: Sites

New or enhanced Web sites

December 31, 2001

Sustainability

Industry watch: Companies

—BluePrint Automation B.V. (Woerden, the Netherlands), with U.S. operations headquartered in Colonial Heights, VA, held an open house at its Woerden facility as a way to introduce its latest innovations in end-of-line packaging automation.

December 31, 2001

Sustainability

Rules & Regs: Canadian regs not likely to affect packaging

Packaging is likely to get a pass on a new requirement for environmental assessment of products regulated under Canadian Food and Drugs Act. According to the New Substances Notification program under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, as of September 13, 2001, products regulated by F&DA (biologics, food additives, novel foods, personal care products, and cosmetics) must meet environmental assessment standards, as well as health and safety criteria.

December 31, 2001

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Rules & Regs: Country-of-origin labeling1;again

The Senate Agriculture Committee, by a one vote margin, accepted an amendment to the Farm Bill that included mandatory country-of-origin labeling for fresh red meats, farm-raised catfish, produce, and peanuts.

December 31, 2001

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Rules & Regs: GE labeling proposal criticized

Responding to a request from FDA for its views on Codex Alimentarius’s proposed draft recommendations for labeling of some genetically modified/genetically engineered foods (GM/GE), Grocery Manufacturers of America said it continues to urge the U.S. government to categorically oppose any Codex draft that is not wholly consistent with FDA’s science-based labeling policy.

December 31, 2001

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Rules & Regs: Organics and packaging

The U.S.Department of Agriculture established the National Organic Program to set forth the regulations and standards for the production, handling, labeling, importation, and certification of organic products derived from agriculture and livestock.

December 31, 2001

Coding, Printing & Labeling

PipeLine: Size does matter

With apologies to Dr. Ruth, I think you’ll agree that, in many areas, size can be an important advantage.

December 31, 2001

Controls & Machine Components

Baldor Electric Company: Motors brochure

A 48-page brochure from Baldor (Fort Smith, AR) describes Super-E premium efficient industrial electric motors with ratings of 1 to 2000 hp. Enlarged views of the motors show component parts.

November 30, 2001

Controls & Machine Components

Wago Corporation: Power supply unit

A 2-amp/24-vDC power supply unit from Wago (Germantown, WI) has an output power of 48 W. New version is an addition to the DIN rail-mountable switch-mode power supplies already available, including 120-W and 240-W models.

November 30, 2001

Controls & Machine Components

ARC Advisory Group: Device-level Ethernet study

At best, the use of the Ethernet at the device or I/O level is in the “early adopter” stage, with the level of rhetoric vastly exceeding the amount of real-world shipments, according to a new study from ARC Advisory Group (Dedham, MA).

November 30, 2001

Controls & Machine Components

Zontec: SPC software

Zontec’s (Cincinnati, OH) 4.0 Synergy 2000™ statistical process control (SPC) software contains more than 20 new features and program enhancements. Designed for plant computing environments that want an enterprise-wide approach to quality management.

November 30, 2001

Converting equipment

Sonoco buys Smurfit core plan

EXCLUSIVE NEWS FROM OUR EUROPEAN PARTNER: SONOCO, the US-based global packaging company, has purchased Smurfit UK's core and tube converting business from Jefferson Smurfit Group. Click logo for full article.

November 30, 2001