Conveying & Product Handling

Square minis shake up a bottling line

When UDV began bottling two new brands of schnapps in its Toronto plant, the square bottle called for new labeling technology.

April 30, 2000

Leaders (UNIVERSAL TAXONOMY PFW): Page 459

Beverage

LCP developments progressing

Superex Polymer pushes onward with development of liquid crystal polymers, which have potential application in multilayer beer bottles and stand-up pouches.

March 31, 2000

Beverage

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

Conveying & Product Handling

Lassonde innovates with Italian aseptic filler

Squared off in shape like its 2-L predecessor, Lassonde’s 420-mL PET bottle is aseptically filled at 400/min. It’s sold in a three-pack format that’s new to North America.

March 31, 2000

Beverage

Engineers express growing dissatisfaction

In PW's latest salary survey, overall job satisfaction among engineers is dropping. Greater responsibilities with little added pay rankles, as do packaging-related budget and staff cuts.

March 31, 2000

Prepared & Canned Foods

Prisma-powered drinks are aimed at adults

An acknowledged leader in aseptic filling of PET bottles, Lassonde Industries is among the first to install a Prisma aseptic packaging system from Tetra Pak. It is used for 236-mL packages.

March 31, 2000

Bakery & Snack

Texas Instruments saves $8 million going 'green'

Through a combination of source reduction, recycling and converting to reusable containers, Texas Instruments has saved $8 million/year in its transport packaging.

March 31, 2000

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

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