Converting equipment

Paperboard substrate

Forte™, a new packaging substrate from Westvaco (Stamford, CT) is a 36-pt solid fiber board that provides compression strength equal to or greater than F, G, or N mini-flute board.

October 31, 2001

Leaders (UNIVERSAL TAXONOMY PW): Page 1629

Flexibles

Pouched gels prove 'fun and different'

“I think people respond to the package initially because it’s fun and different. But once they use it, they find it’s functional as well.” That’s how Amy Baldwin of Plano Molding Co. of Plano, IL, describes consumer response to the stand-up pouch recently added to the firm’s Caboodle’s Pure Heaven line of bath and shower gels.

October 31, 2001

Flexibles

Pouch replaces Hawaiian Punch box

An unusual, shaped stand-up pouch is now bringing kids the taste of Hawaiian Punch in seven southeast states. Hawaiian Punch is a brand of Cadbury Schweppes plc, packed for Mott’s, Stamford, CT.

October 31, 2001

Closures

Abita tests pasteurizable beer in PET

Abita Brewery next year plans to commercialize beer in a one-way multilayer plastic bottle that’s pasteurizable. Until now, the plastic bottles typically used for beer didn’t have sufficient thermal resistance to withstand pasteurization, so brewers choosing to use plastic have had to rely on some form of cold filtering or flash pasteurization. But the availability of this new tunnel-pasteurizable bottle could make one-way plastic beer bottles a viable option for a lot more brewers. Abita Brewery, based in Abita Springs, LA, is a regional craft brewer.

October 31, 2001

Labels

'Tis the season for apple gum pack

Just in time for the fall season is Amurol Confections’ Caramel Apple Bubble Gum, packaged in a reusable apple-shaped polypropylene cup and a removable acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene lid. A polyvinyl chloride heat-shrink label conforms to the shape of the container, delivering graphics via a modified flexo press.

October 31, 2001

Converting equipment

Coke 'endorses' new mold-making technology

The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, GA, has endorsed new technology for making tooling for injection and blow-molding equipment. The process is patented by Metallamics (Traverse City, MI) and improves the cycle times of, in this case, molding of preforms and plastic soft drink bottles.

October 31, 2001

Flexibles

Notable web sites

Application Service Providers: InterchangeDigital (www.interchangedigital.com) offers Satellite™ 1.0 that gives users the power to access, manage, and unite digital assets from anywhere in the world via an Internet Web browser.

October 31, 2001

Flexibles

Canny cosmetics

In a market where impulse purchases rule, Markwins Intl., has raised the visibility of its cosmetics through unique packaging. The City of Industry, CA-based company’s “glam in a can™” cosmetics that were introduced at select mass merchandisers nationwide in August are packaged in transparent 1-gal paint cans.

October 31, 2001

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Harmonizing U.S. and Canada nutrition labels

Health Canada, our northern neighbor’s counterpart to the Food and Drug Administration, has proposed amendments to its regulations governing nutrition labeling, nutrient content claims, and diet-related health claims.

October 31, 2001

Tamper-evident machinery

Packaging's role in combatting terrorism

Originally, I had intended to overlook the issue of terrorism in this month’s column, recognizing that timing is one of the perils of writing something that won’t be in readers’ hands for several weeks.

October 31, 2001

Conveying & accumulation

X-ray system spices up on-line QA

An X-ray inspection system at Flavor Delite checks for ?anything? out of the ordinary inside canisters of seasonings, including clumps. A ?guardian angel? for the line, the system confirms packaged product weight, too.

October 31, 2001

Conveying & accumulation

Labeler proves 'berry, berry' good for Fabri-Kal

A new clamshell labeling system increases speed while reducing labor costs and downtime at the Greenville, SC, plant of thermoformer Fabri-Kal.

October 31, 2001

Labels

Plastic bottles move toward aseptics

It won’t be a ‘slam dunk,’ but some experts say that aseptic filling of both high-and low-acid products into plastic bottles will gain wider acceptance across the United States.

October 31, 2001