Beverage

Pints sprout spouts

Pleased with consumer response to threaded, recloseable pour spouts on its 1/2-gal gabletop packages, Johanna Foods has extended its use of the spout to pint-sized cartons for six juice products.

March 31, 2000

Vertical Markets: Page 327

Beverage

Miller launches, Bud in test

Citing “growing consumer and retailer demand” as its motivation, Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Co. has announced the nationwide rollout of its plastic barrier bottles for Miller Genuine Draft, Miller Lite and Icehouse brands in both 16- and 20-oz sizes.

March 31, 2000

Beverage

Packaging Portalmania

Internet “portalmania” for vertical markets has become the rage, and packaging is no exception. (A vertical “portal” is a site that’s designed to be an independent information source with information on multiple suppliers in a given field or industry.) At last count, there were no less than three big contenders for the packaging portal throne: the Packexpo.com (www.packexpo.

March 31, 2000

Bakery & Snack

Net Purchasing: Not Ready for Prime Time

An exclusive survey of Packaging World purchasing readers indicates enthusiasm for buying via the Internet but little actual experience in packaging purchases thus far.

March 31, 2000

Dairy

Streaming videos demo equipment online (sidebar)

Capsule reviews

March 31, 2000

Beverage

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

Meat, Poultry & Seafood

Will e-commerce help or hurt distributors and sales agents?

That’s still a question because readers were sharply divided on the effect e-commerce will have on packaging distributors or sales agents. Survey of purchasing readers in January reports wide range of opinions.

March 31, 2000

Beverage

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

Bakery & Snack

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

Prepared & Canned Foods

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

Beverage

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

Beverage

Welch Foods launches coated PET bottle

Coated monolayer PET bottles are replacing glass for 16-juice drinks, juice cocktails and 100% juices. FDA-approved coating is said to cost less than multilayer barrier bottles. The heat-set PET bottles will be sold in vending and C-store channels nationwide.

February 29, 2000

Meat, Poultry & Seafood

Higher pay, heavier workload

Our second exclusive salary survey finds most readers satisfied with their pay. However, concerns exist about advancement potential and the lack of time to plan strategies or satisfactorily train personnel.

February 29, 2000