Coding, Printing & Labeling

Steam shrinking shows it's more than just hot air

Using hot air to shrink full-body labels to containers is fairly common. An alternative method, however, seems to be gaining steam. In the past month, Packaging World editors have heard of several applications where steam is the preferred method to shrink-apply labels to containers.

March 31, 2000

Containers & Closures: Page 217

Conveying & accumulation

Red Devil cranks up convenience

Home repair is made easy with caulk and sealants in squeeze tubes. A patented device fitted on the tube’s end allows consumers to roll up the empty end of the tube, thereby ensuring that virtually all of the product can be used. Red Devil uses the tubes for eight SKUs, including kitchen and bath caulk, wallpaper seam repair, tile adhesive and tile grout.

March 31, 2000

Converting equipment

Competition touts top tubes

A shave gel tube that doubles as a razor was named the most innovative among the winners of the 1999 Tube of the Year competition sponsored by the Tube Council of North America (New York, NY).

March 31, 2000

Flexibles

Corrugated comes over the Internet

Building materials supplier Owens Corning is convinced that procurement can be conducted most efficiently and cost effectively via reverse auctions over the Internet.

March 31, 2000

Flexibles

Streaming videos demo equipment online (sidebar)

Capsule reviews

March 31, 2000

Sustainability

Plastic's beckoning to beer

Two European brewers are pushing ahead with barrier coatings on PET bottles while a third is expanding its use of coinjected multilayer technology.

March 31, 2000

Converting equipment

Blow molder comes to Pennzoil's 'Rescue' (sidebar 2)

The art and the angles

March 31, 2000

Converting equipment

Blow molder comes to Pennzoil's 'Rescue' (sidebar 1)

Tough to find suppliers

March 31, 2000

Sustainability

Euro brewer debuts 'glass' inner-coated PET bottle

New technologies for beer in plastic are moving forward. Among the newsiest launches is in Sweden, where Spendrups Brewery of Stockholm in March introduced its Norrlands Guld beer in 500-mL (16.9 oz) high-barrier Glaskin bottles. Developed by Tetra Pak (Geneva, Switzerland), the proprietary Glaskin technology relies on a vacuum deposition process to coat the inside of blown PET bottles with a clear layer of silicon oxide.Spendrups is the first to use the technology on a commercial basis.

February 29, 2000

Flexible packaging

Clever packages take flexibles to a new level

Sleeves for propane cylinders win Flexible Packaging Assn.'s President's award. Other FPA winners include pouches of grease for fifth wheels, recyclable ream paper wraps and protective air cushion packs.

February 29, 2000

Flexible packaging

Flexibles feed on innovation

Keebler’s contour pouch for cookies doubles as a hand puppet, while a wrap for frozen, microwavable sandwiches provides source reduction, and an all-plastic bag offers oxygen and moisture barrier for dry pet foods.

February 29, 2000

Converting equipment

French brewers say oui to plastic

Web exclusive: Brasseries Heineken puts another brand in 1/2-L plastic and introduces a 1-L plastic beer bottle, consisting of three materials in five layers and coinjection stretch/blow-molded by Continental PET Technologies (Florence, KY). Separately, Strasbourg, France-based Kronenbourg commits not only to the unusal step of self-manufacturing its own PET bottles, but to Actis (Amorphous Carbon Treatment on Internal Surface) coating process from Sidel (Norcross, GA).

February 29, 2000

Containers

Appointments, promotions

The Frain Group (Addison, IL): David Eggleston, COO.—LPK (Cincinnati, OH): Jerry Kathman, president, CEO.—Terco (Bloomingdale, IL): Dennis Ahrens, president, replacing David Cull who has resigned.—Alvey Systems, Inc.

February 29, 2000