Secondary Packaging

Packaging's contribution to social equity

Sustainable packaging is widely perceived as a three-legged stool. Packaging professionals focus a lot of attention on two of those legs, the “environmental” and the “economic.” What about the third leg, “social equity?” That’s the one that has us measure a business’s success not only in terms of profit made but also in terms of the positive impact the business has on society in general.

July 11, 2007

Trends: Page 552

Controls & Machine Components

Completing a controls upgrade

Shrink wrap machine manufacturer maximizes machine design flexibility with centralized PC-based controls and industrial Ethernet.

July 11, 2007

Controls & Machine Components

How 'champions' help P&G cultivate a design culture

Brand design is so much more than the artistic veneer it once was. It’s about orchestrating and delivering a total experience based on a deep understanding of what the consumer wants. When orchestrated perfectly, the design provides brand differentiation and delivers an experience that’s positive, memorable, and unexpected.

July 3, 2007

Contract Packaging

Pharma Business Growing At Praxis

Macatawa Holdings LLC-Praxis (www.praxispackaging.com), Grand Rapids, MI, projects that pharmaceutical orders will account for 90% of its overall business in 2007. The pharmaceutical industry always has been a large portion of the company’s customer base, but this year pharmaceuticals sales are expected to exceed all previous years’ sales in this category by 20%.

June 30, 2007

Contract Packaging

Sam's Club Packaging Principles

In the December 2006 issue, Contract Packaging discussed strategies for enhancing the value of packaging for club stores (www.packworld.com/view-22428). Amy Zettlemoyer, director of packaging for Sam’s Club, expands on that article by identifying five packaging principles that consumer packaged goods companies and their vendors, including contract packagers, should keep in mind:

June 30, 2007

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Weber Packaging Solutions: Weber Packaging Solutions: New Version of Weber Label Design Software

Also includes RFID encoding capabilities

June 28, 2007

Bag/pouch fill/seal (pre-made bags)

Precise repeatability for packaging machine changeover

Minimizing changeover time is key for increasing productivity and enhancing competitiveness, especially in packaging machines with small lot sizes, constant format changes and varying product sizes. Demo animation shows how changeover controls can be added to any machine for fast, repeatable changeover.

June 25, 2007

Controls & Machine Components

B&R Industrial Automation: The first open safety protocol for real-time Ethernet

With B&R’s ETHERNET Powerlink Safety Technology the safety functionality is completely integrated in the control system and does not require special cabling resulting in a considerable cost advantage.

June 22, 2007

Controls & Machine Components

B&R Industrial Automation: On-site mobility with the B&R Mobile Panel

Ergonomic, light and extremely impact-resistant. These qualities define the six new handheld operating devices in the MP40 and MP50 lines of the B&R Mobile Panel.

June 22, 2007

Secondary Packaging

General Mills: packaging equipment must be 'worth it'

At the second annual Packaging Automation Forum sponsored by ELAU and other automation suppliers, packagers zeroed in on the supply chain impact of flexible, standards-based automation technologies on the packing floor. The keynote speaker in particular nailed the topic.

June 18, 2007

Secondary Packaging

Pinless metering

The new mid-speed Slipstream™ LS Pinless Metering from Douglas uses electronic motion controls and slipsheet technology to reduce cost and increase efficiency.

June 12, 2007

Secondary Packaging

Langen Packaging Inc: End-load cartoner

New from Langen, the Breeze model intermittent-motion end-load cartoner is suitable for standard cartoning applications in the food and consumer goods sectors.

June 12, 2007

Controls & Machine Components

Renco Encoders Inc: Compact optical encoder

Renco Encoders has introduced a 3.3 V feature for the RCML15 compact optical encoder, which provides signals for brushless motor commutation as well as incremental position feedback in a low profile (.350” high) optical encoder.

June 11, 2007