• Surefil LLC, Grand Rapids, MI, contract manufacturer for the personal care and medical industries, has added back-up and redundant systems to ensure dependable production for the personal care and medical industries. It has upgraded and added USP water capacity. Its purified water system can now product 75 gallons/min of USP 29 water. Additional water capacity allows the system to deliver water to compounding operations at a rate of more than 120 gallons/min. Elsewhere, Surefil has custom-developed a new controls system for the expanded facility, increasing batch repeatability and consistency, and reducing batch production times and scrap.
• A new online shopping feature from Display Pack, Grand Rapids, MI, enables consumer packaged goods companies to shop for packaging solutions for their products. By logging onto www.display
pack.com, they can access the shopping cart feature, request free product samples, and download a PDF of the catalog at www.displaypack.com/shop.
• R.A. Jones & Co. Inc., Covington, KY, has introduced the Ascent™ Robotic Top Load Cartoner, a flexible, intermittent modular cartoner with speeds up to 120 cartons/min. The Ascent Top Load Cartoner blends the elements of traditional cartoning with function-specific robotic devices. It is configurable for various product shapes, orientations, layering, counts, and speeds, by changing the tooling. R.A. Jones also has opened a sales and service office in Monterrey, N.L Mexico. [CP]
• Contract packager and assembler Accel Inc. will co-chair the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council’s 9th annual Women in Business conference June 23-26, in Atlanta, GA. More than 3,000 attendees and 400 exhibitors are expected to attend the event. The annual national conference and business fair is the largest event of its kind in the nation for women’s business enterprises (WBEs).