Packaging Machinery – News, Technology and Reviews

Nestle UK & Ireland is the first major confectioner to have converted to 100 percent recyclable packaging on its Easter egg confectioneries by replacing hard plastic with cardboard in its mug eggs as Easter eggs are creating 3,000 tonnes of UK waste each year. Nearly 86 million Easter eggs were sold in 2011, a market valued at £280 million ($445 million). According to Nestle, the move is expected to save an estimated 726 tons of plastic waste going to landfill per year. Nestle has reduced the weight of packaging by 30-50 percent for small and medium-sized eggs. In 2009, the company became the first major confectioner to swap non-recyclable plastic with recyclable cardboard packaging in 20 million eggs – which is nearly 80%. Moreover, 100 tons of plastic were removed across the entire line in 2011.

The company in a statement said that the Yorkie, Munchies and Kit Kat Easter eggs which also include a branded mug were the last products to become 100 percent recyclable in its seasonal candy line. Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, The 48 tonnes of plastic used to secure the mug and egg has been replaced with recyclable cardboard and a compostable film for the windows resulting in a 30 percent reduction in packaging in the mug eggs.

Nestle said that the eco-packaging project, which takes away all plastic packaging from all its eggs, is the first major confectioner to complete this task and took six years to complete. The Easter egg packaging news comes after the news that other packaging reduction efforts from Nestle UK which became the first major confectioner to achieve no artificial colors, flavors and preservatives in any of its products. These also include a redesigned refill packet for Nescafé coffee that now requires 50 percent fewer trucks per ton of coffee to transport the goods to retailers.

“Nestle carefully considers the environmental impact of packaging as an essential part of its product design. Since the early 1990s, we have been reducing the amount of packaging we use through our global source reduction program – eliminating unnecessary packaging and reducing weight while ensuring product quality, “David Rennie, Managing Director, Nestle Confectionery UK & Ireland, said.

Manufacturers constantly search for better ways to make their products smaller and comfortable on the eyes of consumers. Packaging design is challenging enough with the everyday evolution of products especially if the design has to provide a solution for current ecological needs as green is still heavy on the mind when it comes to consumer decision-making.

According to a recent study from Perception Research services(PRS), shoppers are interested in choosing eco-friendly packaging is increasing. Perception Research Services, whose clients include consumer products manufacturers such as HP and Johnson & Johnson, has been conducting studies on consumer attitudes about packaging and the environment since 2007. One thousand consumers from across the country were surveyed for the 2011 study on packaging and the environment. Shoppers choosing eco-friendly packaging has significantly increased when compared to 2010 (36% vs. 28%). Nearly 50% of the shoppers polled said they might be willing to pay a premium for packaging that is good for the earth, which was particularly true of shoppers under the age of 40. More than half of the shoppers in the study stated that seeing environmental claims on packaging encourages the consumers to buy more of that brand.

Greener packaging is something consumers are demanding so this has to be well-designed, streamlined, biodegradable and easily recycled or reused. Eco-friendly packaging design fulfills the needs of a business having to connect with its targeted consumers without sacrificing our environment.

The study from the New Jersey marketing firm further revealed that shoppers continue to notice environmental claims at a high level, they are increasingly frustrated by the information provided, One in five shoppers said packaging didn’t include enough environmental information and they don’t know which packages are best for the environment. Many respondents said they are confused by all the different environmental claims. The study also pointed out that “recyclable,” “easier to recycle” or “made from recycled materials,” or if it was marked with a recycling symbol had the biggest effect on buying behavior. Consumers notice recycling claims more than being aware of products that are produced with less material.

Jonathan Asher, Perception Research Services’ executive vice president commented: “We’re seeing a great opportunity for manufacturers to provide truly value-added packaging to their target shoppers by making it more environmentally friendly.”

Meanwhile, Dennis Salazar, president and co-founder of Salazar packaging said that unlike some who always question motive, don’t get worried if a company’s eco-effort is driven by environmental consciousness or by bottom line financial objectives. “I do see a growing interest in using less packaging – period. Consumers like it, manufacturers like it, and we all win,” he stated. Given the opportunities associated with greener packaging, manufacturers who invest in educating both themselves and consumers are sure to reap big rewards for their brands.

Packaging Machinery manufacturer Delkor Systems trying to ensure the company thrives during tough times stuck to its strategic plan which yielded good results.

Dale Andersen, president and CEO of Delkor Systems, a Minneapolis, MN-based manufacturer of cartoning and end-of-line packaging equipment, saw a tremendous opportunity developing in packaging and he understood that his company had to move quickly when the economy was starting to tank in 2009. “At the same time the marketplace was forcing most packaging equipment companies to scale back development, the packaging market’s needs were actually accelerating. However, just like any other capital equipment company, we were faced with a significant drop-off in sales”, Andersen recalls.

Earlier, Delkor primarily was making custom-designed machinery and this was limiting the company’s growth as the engineering resources were channeled into specialized applications. The time for new generation of packaging machinery with versatility and flexibility so it could adapt to this new market environment was thought to be the need of the hour. However, the management decided there would still be need for customized requirements, but within a much more flexible design platform. By listening to the market’s requirements, they began developing a strategic plan together with Delkor’s management team at the time. “We decided on a methodical, step-by-step approach,” Andersen stated.

Delkor Management decided to make some valiant moves to address the situation as they decided to triple its research and development budget. In 2009, Tetra Pak also closed their manufacturing operation in Minnesota, so there was a pool of talented people with considerable packaging knowledge, some of whom were recruited by Delkor. In one of the worst recessions in U.S. history, their calculated moves have paid off as Delkor introduced eight entirely new packaging machines and more than doubled new machinery revenues while greatly expanding its workforce and manufacturing facilities to meet increased demand.

Moreover, Delkor also decided to raise itself from manufacturing just a couple of machines to offering a broad product line and also to meet the changing needs of packagers so that each design has the flexibility to be used in multiple applications. Delkor Systems introduced eight totally new packaging machines in 2011. The company expects to add a similar number of products in 2012.

Meanwhile, Fred Green, vp of operations said that a strategic plan becomes the work plan for the whole organization through action plans that detail how each strategy will be executed, who has responsibility and establishes a budget.

He commented: “The process is that every year we go through the goals and objectives. We tie everybody in the organization into the plan. There is no other work that anyone is doing outside the plan. If they are, it needs to be added to the plan.”

When asked why many companies don’t do this type of planning, Green replies, “It’s hard work. We’d all rather ‘do’ than have to think hard. Delkor is where it is today because we did this”.

Following the proverb “Necessity is the mother of all inventions”, the Redistribution technology was developed to facilitate fan-in area array packaging at a time when very few chips were designed for area array. Since then, this technology has been influential in the development of advanced packaging technologies like TSV based interposers, WLP and chip stacks.

In the early 1990’s all the major players in assembly housing like Amkor, STATSChipPAC and ASE licensed flip chip and Unitive technologies. This move made flip-chip technologies available in abundance.

The early use of FC was marked by the obstacle that there were not many area array designed chips. RDL which consisted of addition of metal layers on the surface of the wafer had an aim which was to re-route the input-output layout. This required the use of thin polymers like Asahi glass and BCP and metallization using Aluminum or Copper. Later discoveries revealed that in low input-output devices the pitch of the chip could be relaxed using RDL. Solder balls of large diameter were used to provide relief for CTE stresses. This was an economical solution which was effective and efficient till a thickness of 5mm. the concept being proposed in 1994 by Sandia Labs by the name BGA.

Later the requirement arose which needed the use of WLP for devices with a large number of input-outputs. Fan out packaging (now known as fan-in) was developed to provide a solution to this issue. Significant industrial attention has been received by Infeneon’s eWLB and Freescale’s RCP.

To improve the performance of the device by improving the delay in gate switching by decreasing the operating voltage IC technology has been shrinking gate dimensions for decades. Scaling down of dimensions has resulted in increase of line resistance and capacitance for wires of small cross section. Hence, ways to improve device performance economically have become less. 3D integration has been found as a solution. It is believed that 3D technology will provide lower risk and cost once infrastructure is installed. Elpida and Samsung have recently commercializing 3D stack memory. Products employing 3D stacked memory have been announced by Xilinx and IBM.

Rigid which is a part of Belgium based VPK Group will install a new machine- PP 10-25 casemaker in year January 2012 at its Desborough site in Northamptonshire. This machine is brought by Latitude’s UK agent GTS (Europe). The installation also marked another investment which is higher-spec latitude at Rigid’s plant in Selby, North Yorkshire last year. Richard Coward, UK Managing director, said that he has planned many more investments at Desborough in coming 12 to 18 months of time. All the investments focus primarily on matching the print quality offered at Selby.

After the installation of Latitude machine at Selby and two in Romania, The Desborough casemaker is the fourth Latitude machine within VPK group. Pre-feeder, end of line palletiser and materials handling systems in this fourth Latitude machine are its key features. Apart from factory renovation and extensions, this new casemaker is a part of investment of £2.5m for Desborough this year. Such advances assure that the company is getting a newer improved direction.

Richard Coward also said that market conditions were “much more buoyant” than ever before and the installation of new casemaker is of great help for the firm as it “drives at the retail-ready packaging market”. Rigid offers the cutting edge services in retail packaging market with improved technology introduced by installation of machines like four-colour Latitude flexo casemaker.

Rigid is one of the largest independent box and container manufacturers in UK based in Desborough, Northamptonshire, Selby and North Yorkshire. Rigid employs 465 people in United Kingdom, 165 people at Selby, 180 people in Desborough and some people in HQ and sales roles. Ranging from high volume transit cases to retail ready packaging, Rigid offers converting services and helps in any kind of box design requirement. The products and services of Rigid include case making, box design, converting, high quality pint, warehousing & logistics and stock management. VPK, parent of Rigid, has sales of £554m and it operates more than 25 sites across the Europe. Also it is an integrated group that manufacturers packaging papers for its own sites and wider market.

Green ICT products are always talked about but packaging used for their delivery is very rarely discussed. ICT companies have introduced many packaging solutions like mushroom based cushioning and boxes that double up as PC cases. There’s a lot of advancement in the method of packaging IT equipments like earlier IT equipments were packed in a huge box cushioned with non-recyclable Styrofoam and bubble wrap and now multiple orders are placed in one box and with improved packaging materials.

In regard to this problem, Dell announced a long term sustainable packaging strategy. It started using bamboo packaging from sustainable resources and later it began testing mushroom based materials which are grown by cotton husks with mushroom spawn and other agricultural wastes. Consequently it was found that bamboo packaging for efficient for smaller products like notebooks and smart phones whereas mushroom cushions are good for heavier products such as desktops and servers.

Yet another approach to eco-friendly packaging is extending the life of packaging by reuse. The Reusable Packaging Association revealed radio-frequency identification or RFID tags are although designed for single use, however the technology used in its packaging allows it to be used for multiple trips. This enables the packaging to be traced back to manufacturer which is a key factor when reuse is considered.

Cebit IT industry came up with a very innovative packaging solution this year. Taiwanese IT Company has set yet another example of packaging solution by developing a box used for shipping motherboards which also doubles up similar to PC case. Most of IT packaging is concerned with PC hardware has led to massive wastages in software packaging. In 2009 through research conducted Microsoft stated that providing its software to consumers online has much more environmental benefits that by any other means. This is evident from the fact that downloading Office 2007 eliminated amount of carbon emissions in packaging and shipping a DVD to about eight times.

Inspite of so many new packaging ideas developed, still there’s a lot more that IT industry can do to create better packaging options for other products. In 2009, sustainable packaging coalition released a web based tool which can be used by packaging designers to assess environmental impacts of their design.

X-RPET, the acronym for expanded recycled PET film series by SUKANO is best known for its sustainable use of the raw material PET in the recycled form. In fact, this comes with complete functionality and would is quite economical.

SUKANO comes with its innovative and cutting edge technology making the most of the recycled PET which has a reduced packaging weight. What adds to the performance and stability of the recycled PET is the use of viscosity enhancer. This also gives it a uniform structure which in turn imparts it the best functional features. It is also equipped with white masterbatch to give it an opaque and optical appearance.

With all such functionalities available at a reasonable price, you cannot deny the contribution of SUKANO. Besides, you also do not need bring any other production equipment as they can be used well on single screw film extrusion lines. Thus SUKANO X-RPET finds its varied applications because of all the benefits and functionalities it offers.

SUKANO X-RPET also finds its application in foamed packaging where it can be used in the food industry, for packaging technical items and other applications such as chocolate packages. These are completely safe as far as food packaging purposes are concerned as they are approved for their use in food products. So you can use these without getting worried in terms of safety.

Thus, with the application of its advanced technology, SUKANO has done wonders in making the raw material PET even better in quality along with providing a perfect blend of features including processibility and better appearance. This has also contributed to the environment since it goes for the re-use and recycling of PET.

Thus, SUKANO with its portfolio of masterbatches has provided the best option in terms of sustainability and value.

Receiving an award for excellence is the dream of every industry. This dream cannot be fulfilled without proper efforts required for reaching that level and appropriate planning for the sustainable growth. Packaging and merchandising is a challenging industry which requires great effort and planning for receiving such big awards. Recently a leading brand Fiskars won NRHA’S highest award for excellence in packaging and merchandising field and for smart propane trimmer discovery. Now a day, the packaging industry cannot think just for profits but sustainable growth is required which takes care of the industry’s interest as well as the consumer’s interest. This kind of excellence is required which gives such respect in the form of award to the industry.

It does not only boost up employees morale but also increases people’s faith in that particular industry. This increases the goodwill of the industry owner which helps in increasing the profits of the industry in a cost effective an efficient manner. The fishkers brand, which invented the smart propane trimmer, uses other sources of fuel which were more environmental friendly and cost effective. Other factors which bring such excellence awards are the service and the quality of products, the designs, innovation and ideas. The selling techniques must meet the present requirements of the consumers which include the way of selling the items, the services provided along with selling such as transportation, better packaging etc.

Additional services are provided along with the sales which enables the manufacturer to earn more goodwill and finally it helps the manufacturer to attract more profits. Providing better products at a reasonable cost keeping in mind the competition prevailing in the market, is the key for getting such excellence awards. These industries have to equip themselves with more environmental friendly advanced techniques like using recycled material for packaging purpose. Thus using alternative sources of fuel instead of using gasoline and other more polluting fuel, is a smart option for this industry. Indeed it is imperative to say that the Fiskars brand has done a remarkable work by inventing the smart propane trimmer which uses environmental friendly fuel other than gasoline.

The leading brand in the field of packaging technology Bosch strongly believes that as competition among the various food and pharmaceutical manufacturers gets more intense, increasing the efficiency is the top priority aim. To support this belief with action Bosch Packaging Technology has introduced its OEE (Overall equipment effectiveness) consulting services. It introduced its consulting services at the Interpack 2011 event at Dusseldorf.

The features of this service are to detect factors which are disturbing the process such as downtime, low machine output and wastage. Roland Pichler, the Manager of the OEE consulting services believes that every minute of production is crucial and so it is imperative for the manufacturers to determine the cause of losses so that the efficiency can be maximized. A methodical approach is required which will identify the main cause of losses; it also suggests improvement and implements solutions. At the OEE consulting services the specialists at Bosch work with the manufacturers, and offer the expertise that they have to ensure increase in productivity and hence overall efficiency also increases.

The first step is the preparation of an audit by the people at Bosch. In this the experts at OEE, Bosch analyse the current process which includes every individual machine and the complete packaging line. They gather data about three main areas related to production, namely: machine availability, performance and the quality of the output. Then the collected data is evaluated by experts at the OEE. The data of machine availability helps in identifying the causes of downtime and correcting it. Assessing the performance helps in determining the percentage of wastage that occurs when the machines are run at a speed which is lower than the optimal speed. Output quality is assessed to know how much time of the total production time was wasted in producing products that did not meet the standards set for product quality. These factors are analysed and evaluated continuously over a period of time and a detailed report is constructed which provides methods for improvement of overall efficiency and also solutions to problems related with the efficiency. This complete procedure helps companies to increase their productivity which is very much required in the competitive scenario.

A significant change can be witnessed in the areas of packaging industries which is creating more difficult situations and challenges to the industry. A considerable change can be seen in the packaging industry according to a survey. The stress is more towards using new techniques and using cost effective methods which should be implanted in this field to ensure the proper functioning of this industry. A number of strategies work for the planned growth and working in packaging industry and it can be named as sustainable packaging.

A single solution cannot improve sustainability but a number of factors are considered while framing the plan for sustainable packaging. As per the respondents who practically work for sustainable packaging, recycling can be a better option regarding this. Use of recycled content can bring a positive change for sustainable packaging. However some respondents also believe in using renewable materials or bio based materials which are not harmful for nature and can bring a balance in this industry. Compostable material can also be used for packaging. A single thing cannot bring a considerable change which the industry wants.

Thus a mixture of the above ideas can be used to bring sustainable packaging. an extensive planning and implementation is required for using such materials which ensures that the product quality remains unaffected, and the material used in packaging must meet the parameters which are required to maintain the balance between the nature and industry. Now a day, the packaging industry cannot think just for profits but sustainable growth is required which takes care of the industry’s interest as well as the consumer’s interest. For packaging, polymers are widely used which are now made from more environmental friendly materials to ensure that it does not affect the nature. These techniques help the industry to promote its good in a better manner and the consumers understand it. This industry needs commitments towards sustainable packaging to ensure the proper growth and development of the industry which every one desires. Goals are required to be initiated in this regard for the industry’s betterment both internally and externally which will satisfy the industry demands and consumers.