Converting equipment

The CP moves my cheese

A couple of months ago, I prepared a packaging trends report for the conference program that accompanied the Converting Machinery/Materials Intl. show.

July 31, 2001

Trends: Page 661

Controls & Machine Components

PSI: PSI: Vacuum pumps

Designed for high-flow applications that need only moderate vacuum, pneumatic vacuum pumps in the Low Pressure M Series from Piab (Rockland, MA) deliver up to 27” Hg of vacuum at 50-psi inlet pressure.

June 30, 2001

Controls & Machine Components

Rockwell Automation: Rockwell Automation: Ball bearings literature

Rockwell Automation (Greenville, SC) has published a new brochure highlighting its Dodge E-Z- Kleen ball bearings line for the food processing industry.

June 30, 2001

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Axxis Intl.: Filling & capping

At this contract packager of personal care products, empty bottles in pucks from Advantage Puck move into the 12-head liquid filler from Masterfil. After filling, a three-head capper torques down caps, and then the containers exit the filler and move toward depucking.

June 30, 2001

Conveying & accumulation

Axxis Intl.: Depucking & labeling

At this contract packager of personal care products, once bottles are gripped from opposite sides by a transfer conveyor, pucks, supplied by Advantage Puck, ride down an incline conveyor while bottles are transported toward the labeler.

June 30, 2001

Secondary Packaging

Axxis Intl.: Tray packing and shrink wrapping

At this contract packager of personal care products, bottles are collated in the appropriate pattern so that a pick-and-place head on the Cermex pick-and-place packer can close on them and lift them into a waiting tray. A short distance later, shrink wrapping (from EDL Packaging Engineers) secures the bottles in their trays.

June 30, 2001

Conveying & accumulation

Breakthrough aseptic line at CNP

Two new aseptic lines are capable of filling either 500-mL or 1-L brick pack cartons. FIFO accumulation system and remote robotic palletizing also shine.

June 30, 2001

Secondary Packaging

Bottom taper coddles fruit

This automated case taper has special gear that helps protect delicate fruit during distribution. It runs at a steady 54 boxes/min and can be forklifted from place to place.

June 30, 2001

Controls & Machine Components

McKernan Packaging Clearing House: Product catalog

McKernan Packaging® (Reno, NV) has published a catalog describing packaging products and components available. For example, the detergent/soap packaging selection now features 43-mm, 20-oz HDPE containers.

June 30, 2001

Controls & Machine Components

Weigh-Tronix, Inc: Inventory control software

Weigh-Tronix (Fairmont, MN) has developed Piece Weight Look-Up (PWLU) software that is said to provide accurate, updated inventory counts by linking a part number/piece weight database to as many as 32 networked Weigh-Tronix digital counting scales.

June 30, 2001

Closures

Achievements

Yaskawa Electric Corp. (Waukegan, IL) has been awarded First Tier II Green status, the highest status level from Ford Motor Co., under the guidelines of Ford’s new Reliability and Maintainability program.

June 30, 2001

Converting equipment

A late Father's Day tribute

This is being written in the weeks before Father’s Day—another Hallmark (profit) moment. Although I’m anything but fond of these “created” holidays, this year’s event coincides with one of the more interesting interviews I’ve conducted recently.

June 30, 2001

Cartoning

Sanford counts on oriented bulk filling

Automatic system that replaces manual methods conveys and counts markers for oriented loading into bulk bins. As part of the same integrated system, markers can be cartoned and cased.

June 30, 2001