packexpo News – Ben Miyares' PMU

Packaging Management Update 07-21-08

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Why bottle water when you can drink it right out of the tap? Why waste precious petroleum resources to make bottles for water? Those are questions plaguing American potable water marketers. In the face of these environmental objections, two bottlers - Primo Water Corp. and Earthpure Organics - are making polylactide bottles the centerpiece of their market entries. It’s an idea that’s been tried before. That the company that tried it first went bankrupt isn’t necessarily an indictment of the concept.

Packaging Management Update 07-14-08

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

With more than 10% of its 60,000 suppliers now entering data into its Sustainability Scorecard, Wal-Mart is advancing towards its packaging reduction goals. Just how close they’ve come - and what the next steps in the evolution of the giant retailer’s sustainability initiatives will be, will be outlined during PACK EXPO International by Amy Zettlemoyer-Lazar, Packaging Director of Sam’s Club and Co-Manager of Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Value Network. Zettlemoyer-Lazar will present a special keynote address on the opening day of PACK EXPO International, Sunday, November 9.

The five-day PACK EXPO International exposition (November 9-13) and four-day Conference at PACK EXPO (November 9-12) take place in Chicago’s McCormick Place.

Zettlemoyer-Lazar’s PACK EXPO keynote this year represents a fourth return to the PACK EXPO keynote platform for Wal-Mart. In 2006, Zettlemoyer-Lazar and Matt Kistler, now Wal-Mart Vice President of Sustainability, first unveiled the company’s packaging sustainability scorecard to the packaging community. In 2003, Simon Langford, then Wal-Mart’s Global Director, RFID, provided details on the company’s RFID deployment plans and in 2002, Ron Reed, then manager of packaging for the retailer participated in a panel discussion about Wal-Mart’s secondary packaging interests.

Details on Zettlemoyer-Lazar’s presentation - and the establishment of a Wal-Mart Sustainability Scorecard Information Center at PEI08 - are being worked out.

Packaging Management Update 07-07-08

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

An engineered nanoscale material (ENM) is one "purposefully manipulated at the nanoscale [that’s in the tiny neighborhood of 1-100 nanometers] that exhibits novel properties and behaviors as a result." That definition is at the heart of an important new study from the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Grocery Manufacturers Association. The thrust of the study - that ENMs could revolutionize packaging but will have to leap over some high regulatory and legal hurdles on their way to becoming, paradoxically, "the next big thing" in packaging - must give eager adopters pause. Before ENMs have a shot at becoming packaging wonder materials they’re going to have to develop an enormous catalog of scientific evidence to assure regulators and, ultimately, the public that they are safe.

Anyone interested in exploring the packaging potential of ENMs will find the report on PEN/GMA’s study - "Assuring the Safety of Nanomaterials in Food Packaging: The Regulatory Process and Key Issues" - a fascinating summer read.

Packaging Management Update 06-30-08

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Trio of keynote speakers from Nestlé, Deloitte and Dow launch the Conference at PACK EXPO with presentations focused on packaging “Change, Innovation & Sustainability.”

Concurrent program of 58 presentations appears is now available for discount registration. Additional program, exhibition details will be released in coming weeks.

Packaging Management Update 06-23-08

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The pilot run of contour two liter bottles for Coke – presumably heavier than the straight walled 2L containers Coke has been using for that size – should remind us that even in these times when sustainability seems paramount, packaging has a number of fundamental roles. It must contain, protect, dispense, transport and merchandise the product. Fail at any of these fundamental requirements and no level of sustainability will save the package in the marketplace.

To be sure, we don’t know the whole sustainable story behind the new contoured 2L bottles. Perhaps they are blown from high levels of PCR PET…perhaps they are blowmolded, filled, labeled, capped, case packed, etc. on machines that need significantly less power and therefore emit a lot less greenhouse gas. Whether any of these things is true, the fact remains that sustainability is only one of the characteristics – and NOT the principal one – that drives packaging success in today’s marketplace, as “green” as it may be.

Packaging Management Update 06-16-08

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Method Products has been pushing the envelope of packaging innovation and creativity since its products first appeared on Target shelves some five years ago. They’re doing it again - this time figuring out a way to use 100% PCR PET to produce clear, trigger-spray bottles for its line of eco-friendly household cleaners. The market being what it is, Method is probably paying more for these bottles than the easier to produce-and-acquire virgin PET bottles that would be the default choice in the US. But, teaming up with Amcor, the company figured out a way - and is blazing a path that other green-leaning companies can follow.

From what we know, Method relies mostly on contract packagers to put up its products, and no one’s yet saying what changes, if any, to the packaging line, are being made in the interest of sustainability.

Packaging Management Update 06-09-08

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Another functional beverage line – this one in sleekly sheathed panel-less PET bottles – arrived in our inbox. Help us to better understand that these specialized drinks are what are in Asia, and were in an earlier age in America, called “tonics” or “elixirs” – drinks that purport to do something for you besides quench your thirst. The FUZE line is moving out of glass containers and into the PET bottles. Why? “…practicality, safety and convenience in today’s ‘grab-and- go’ culture,” says Bill Meissner, VP of Marketing for FUZE Beverage, LLC, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. The lightweight plastic bottle also makes it easier for the company to penetrate the airline market. Barely detectable horizontal ribs around the bottle’s base, midpoint and neck base help it resist paneling or ovalization as the hot filled liquids cool in the sealed bottles – a nice blend of design and engineering to serve the product’s marketing needs.

Packaging Management Update 06-02-08

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We’re not exactly sure what “functional water” is. But, we can see that the packaging chosen for this enigmatic beverage by Y Waters, Inc. is functional in a couple of ways. Naturally, it contains the product. And a new copolyester resin is used, suggesting that the conventional stuff just wouldn’t do for these special vitalizers for tots. The container also functions to set the drink apart from any other. Resembling a set of nubby jacks, the containers playfully suggest their secondary use as toys.

Hopefully for the kids, Y Water’s first lineup of formulas – bone, brain, immune and muscle – isn’t an indication of the flavors of these potable liquids, but rather a hint at just what parts of the human ectoplasm they’re designed to enhance. If fish is brain food and spinach builds muscles maybe it’s a good idea that Y Water isn’t being more direct about the flavors of its waters. Eye water from Y Water would presumably be carrot-flavored water…

For all the distinctive lines of the multipodal Y Water containers, the filling-labeling-capping-case packing of them is probably pretty straight forward, although we wish we could have been there to see the look on the face of the production manager when the marketing folks first excitedly revealed their packaging idea.

Packaging Management Update 05-27-08

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Breakfast cereal is a packaging challenge. Usually, the challenge is faced with a bag-in-carton format.

But Target Corp., the retailer known for championing consumer-friendly packaging -- the Method brand dishwashing detergent bottle and Target’s unique Rx vials are two standouts -- thought they could do better than the b-i-c format for its Archer Farms upscale private label cereals. Working with a Sonoco Products design, the retailer opted for a composite canister with a rounded rectangular footprint, a film membrane providing barrier protection for the cereal and a flip open/close overcap.

The carton/canister concept for cereal has been around for at least ten years, reminding us, again, that good design alone doesn’t guarantee a package a slot on the retail shelf. A prototype Wheaties® carton/canister drew a flurry of interest during at least one packaging conference a decade or so ago...but General Mills, the Wheaties®/Cheerios® brand owner, passed on the idea, which lay dormant until the Target/Sonoco team resurrected it.

Others have tried carton/canisters for various other dry goods but, until now, the economics/productivity vs. more conventional options hasn’t played out. Sonoco and Target won’t be the only ones watching this interesting cereal packaging dentry.

Packaging Management Update 05-19-08

Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Until the last few years, the flexible packaging converting industry pretty much operated on a country-by-country basis. Finished structures were sold in the countries where they were converted. In some instances, where geography made it fairly easy to get to multiple national markets in less than a four-day drive (Europe comes to mind), markets expanded beyond national borders.

But some time in the 1990s converted flexible packaging structures began to take to the sea and air to reach distant markets. The flexible packaging market today - like much of the packaging materials market - is a global one. A small organic snack food marketer in Hawaii locates a converter in the UK who can produce and deliver a unique biodegradable and home compostable film that fits the product needs and philosophy of the organic snack foods manufacturer.

And, as long as the customer devotes more than a "price check" interest in the distant supplier...as long as the composition and manufacturing quality of the delivered film meets the composition and performance specs of the customer, verified continuously by the customer’s quality control/quality assurance procedures, things should work well.

Packaging Management Update 05-12-08

Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In one of the latest packaging sustainability initiatives in the CPG sector, Pepsi-Cola North America is lightweighting its non-carbonated beverage bottles.

Like most earlier packaging weight loss programs, the Pepsi push is focused exclusively on the container – its thinner walls, shorter/lighter neck finish, grams of resin not needed and energy that will be saved in the next year. And, like most of the earlier announcements, Pepsi doesn’t say whether the PROCESS behind the lightweighting is more or less resource conserving. Did the secondary packaging have to be beefed up in anyway to compensate for the loss of vertical compression strength? Pepsi points out that the bottles have 10% smaller labels and 5% less shrink film on the 12- and 24-count multipacks. The label size reduction was, no doubt, something the marketing folks did not give up easily; and presumably there was SOME cost to redesign the label graphics and copy and adjust the labeling system. The shrink film reduction is something the supply chain folks will be keeping a close eye on. Will less film mean more damage, higher unsaleables, more spilled product waste? Is more or less energy consumed for the “enhanced nitrogen dosing system” that gives the thinner-walled bottles the desired rigidity? Have provisions been made to eliminate the eruption/spilling/waste of liquid when the nitrogen-pumped bottles are opened? And, what adjustments/changes to the bottle blowing, filling, labeling, capping, casing equipment did the new, lighter spec require?

Packagers who enthusiastically point to their packages on the shelf and proudly proclaim the energy/resource savings of their “sustainable” packages without acknowledging that the savings that are visible on the shelf are not without costs on the production line – or impacts in the distribution chain – are walking a thin line here. Touting the savings without tallying the costs is an almost irresistible temptation for retailers to ask that the claimed savings be passed along to them.

And that, ultimately, is not a very sustainable business model.

Packaging Management Update 05-05-08

Mon, 05 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The new pasta sauce pouches from Unilever are being marketed to consumers as more convenient than their glass jar predecessors. Yet, if you consider the energy required to produce, fill, seal, label, pack and transport the pouches its evident there is a huge sustainability play at work here. The energy needed to produce glass jars, metal vacuum caps and paper labels is significantly greater than that required to convert polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate into printed flexible film and subsequently into stand-up pouches. And, the energy needed to ship a truckload of glass containers from wherever they were produced - we think they come from Mexico) to the facility where they're cleaned, filled, capped and labeled is very likely greater than that needed to convert the requisite raw materials into film, ship the rolls to wherever they're made (and probably filled and sealed) into pouches. The lighter shipments of pouches from point of filling to distribution centers and grocery outlets no doubt consumes less energy than that required to transport an equivalent volume of tomato sauce in glass jars. Traditionalists will see the switch from glass jars to flexible pouches as a decision made for marketing and economic reasons. What's sustainability got to do with it?, they might ask. But the truth of the matter is that anything you do to extend your ability to continue is a sustainability initiative. And Unilever's migration into flexible pouches for sauce is an effective sustainability packaging strategy. Whatever the motivation, the move to lighter packages will definitely be seen as a positive sustainability play.

Packaging Management Update 04-28-08

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Since the first Earth Day (April 22) in 1970, it's often passed almost without notice. Not this year. The flurry of announcements from consumer packaged goods companies, packaging converters, trade associations and others show what a strong increase there has been in concern about the environment. In fact, figures from the Grocery Manufacturers Association indicate 75% of consumer goods companies say that sustainable packaging is more important this year than last, 62% expect to change their packaging within the next year with sustainability being a key consideration.

Another telling indicator of the importance sustainable packaging has gained is the shift by DuPont to instruct judges of the 20th DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation to select winners based solely on sustainability criteria. It appears to be time to go green.

Packaging Management Update 04-21-08

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Cosmetic eye masks aren't the first product that comes to mind when someone says "recloseable stand-up pouches" but that's a category breakthrough for aluminum foil, and probably the underlying reason for Quies Sarl's "Beauty Purse(R)" eye masks pouch being honored by the European Alumininium Foil Assocition with the 2008 EAFA Trophy. The pouches, and other winners in the annual competition will be on display at this week's Interpack show in Duesseldorf, Germany. If you're there, stop by the PMMI stand in Hall 12, F01. See you there!

Packaging Management Update 04-14-08

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

For years now a sector of the US pharmaceutical industry has been promoting "regimen packs" for prescription drugs sold in the US. Such packages are the standard format for medications in other parts of the world. So far, despite market acceptance/preference for such packs in Europe and elsewhere, "unit-dose" or compliance packages have failed to get much traction here. Why? Among other things, some US doctors oppose them, believing that the packages would limit their ability to prescribe medications as they see fit. The Healthcare Compliance Packaging Council (HCPC), among the staunchest proponents of compliance packs, chooses to demonstrate - by choosing to honor and recognize creative unit dose packs with their Compliance Package of the Year Award - that compliance packs are in the best healthcare interest of patients. Will HCPC's efforts ever win over the medical establishment? Doubtful. But if enough patients recognize the benefits of regimen packs, they might prompt manufacturers to offer more such packages for medications.

Packaging Management Update 04-07-08

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A "packaging solution that has the potential to impact the productivity, profitability and sustainability initiatives of manufacturing and consumer products companies around the globe" is how Hartness International immodestly, but we believe accurately, describes its new, Uvaclear organic ink labeling and decorating process for glass and plastic containers.

This week, Hartness Inks, a division of Hartness International formed to realize the full container decorating potential of its Uvaclear inks, will start talking publicly about the first of a number of Uvaclear glass and plastic container decorating developments - a high speed, high-resolution, energy-conserving alternative to Applied Ceramic Labeling for direct to glass labeling/decorating.

Customer announcements are expected by mid-year, and additional Uvaclear developments - including one with the potential to dramatically simplify the recycling of all glass containers - are in the works. Stay tuned.

Packaging Management Update 03-31-08

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In the face of volatile economic conditions, pharmaceutical manufacturers are continuing to invest in technologies to enhance productivity, quality of pharmaceutical packaging operations and raise defenses against counterfeiting. Robots are being pressed into service to improve operating performance.

Packaging Management Update 03-24-08

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The landscape of packaging - particularly in the containerboard sector - will be dramatically transformed with International Paper's acquisition of the containerboard ops of Weyerhaeuser. A giant among giants emerges. How this will affect secondary and tertiary packaging markets, prices and technologies remains uncertain, though the consolidation is bound to alter all three. Stay with us and watch.

Packaging Management Update 03-17-08

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

It's St. Patrick's day here in the States, but the only green being worn by the winners of the 2008 Flexible Packaging Achievement awards are the environmental/sustainability claims being cited in their supplier credits. This is an impressive array of innovative packages - some foreign to the American judges who chose them, others the latest lightweight architectures. For a complete lineup of this year's Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) winners, go to http://www.flexpack.org/ACHIEV/Winners/2008_winners.asp.

Packaging Management Update 03-10-08

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A Pennsylvania mother of two picked up the phone and called the customer service number listed on the carton of frozen fish fillets. The carton, she told the customer service people, held more than fillets - at least three pills - that she, her son and daughter found as they were eating the fish.

She was unhappy enough about the reactions she got to her call and subsequent visits to to the hospital and police department that she posted her experience on snopes.com.

Authorities are trying to determine how the pills made it onto the woman's plates. The company has initiated an 11 state recall of the fishy product package. A forensic exam of the carton may be able to determine if it was opened before it reached the PA home.

It's hard to imagine that three pills could have accidentally fallen into a single carton on the production line. It's also hard to believe that a tamperer would have spiked the fish without making any demands. Investigators are on the case and, if they can't nail the culprit who pushed the pills into the fish, they will likely be able to eliminate as suspects the processing, packaging and people who might have legitimately touched the product on its way to Pennsylvania.

Packaging Management Update 03-03-08

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Packaging operates on a global basis, or so goes the common understanding. Still, when a technical and marketing packaging development debuts in Europe, it does not automatically mean that the idea will fly in the US, Asia, Africa, or anywhere else. Technology may be global, but markets are unique. Europeans, weaned in a market where refrigeration has been later in coming than in the US, have come to appreciate the quality and taste of aseptically processed/packaged milk and dairy products. In the US, most consumers will tell you that aseptic milk has a "funny" (some say "almond-like") taste. Parmalat spent millions trying to convince Americans to try and rebuy its aseptic offerings with less than universal success. So, when a packaging breakthrough or processing development makes it big in one market, that doesn't mean it will make it big in another. Only time, and a testing of the market waters, will tell.

Packaging Management Update 2-25-08

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Elevators in public buildings in the U.S. typically have Braille-coded buttons to assist visually impaired riders. Packages here usually don’t.

In Europe, it’s different.

There, pharmaceutical packagers as well as marketers of wine and other consumer products, emboss packages with Braille labels to help blind consumers identify the contents of their packages. Printed and embossed Braille coding technologies that apply the tactile codes on carton blanks before they’re erected have been around for some time. Now, in addition to those technologies, packagers can choose 3-D codes applied as dots of hot melt glue at the end of the unit packaging line. Still, packager resistance because of the cost of applying the codes and the requirement to slow down the line to apply some codes, suggests it will be some time before Braille-coded packages will be as common as Braille-coded elevators.

Packaging Management Update 2-18-08

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In the context of today's discourse on the environmental sustainability of packaging, we probably shouldn't be talking about "end of life" scenarios.

"End of FIRST life" would be more fitting.

After all, "end of life" implies a single useful existence for the material. A better term for the life of virgin material might be "first life" which, when it comes to an end might lead to an "after life.” This would be the basic "cradle to cradle" paradigm. In its ideal embodiment, cradle to cradle manufacturing generates no waste. The effluent of the first process would be used as the feedstock for subsequent processes. It's nature's way. Birds drop seeds from the berries they've eaten and new berry plants sprout up.

Unfortunately, most cradle to cradle packaging material process flows are resource compromised in some respect. The after life of virgin paper and board packaging is characterized by shorter fibers and a diminishing of strength. And the resources expended to collect, transport, clean and reprocess metal, glass and plastics back to the point where they can be used to contain food can approach the amounts used to process first life, virgin packaging materials.

Absolute sustainability consists of comprehensive resource conservation and replenishment – not just the husbanding of visible materials. Since we can’t think of any manufacturing process – packaging or otherwise – that’s absolutely sustainable, we have to accept as valid every honest claim of sustainability being made today. Even those that offer no improvement over the past at least establish a base from which future progress can be measured.

Package Management Update 02-11-08

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Prospects for a lower number of US food safety incidents – and speedier FDA clearance of new food contact materials – increased with President Bush’s proposed budget for fiscal 2009. Still, most analysts believe 5.7% bump in FDA’s fortunes won’t be enough to enable FDA to get its hands around the issue of food safety while continuing its other work. Meanwhile, Government Accounting Office (GAO), others note that responsibility for assuring safety of US food supply is diffused among 15 Federal agencies with little or no overall coordination. If this suggests to you that there’s a “food safety tsar” in our future, with command and control of the government’s disparate interests in food safety, you are not alone.

Packaging Management Update 02-04-08

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Food and Drug Administration’s food safety assurance ability has fallen… and it can’t get up – at least not the way it’s currently staffed, organized and funded.

That’s hardly a surprise to those who’ve been watching the agency grapple with the challenges of an increasingly complex and international food supply chain. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) – official Congressional watchdog of all government goings on – weighed in on the subject last week, telling the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the FDA is currently overwhelmed and offering several recommendations for fixing things – including putting a Chief Operating Officer or Chief Management Officer in charge of FDA’s food safety assurance mission. And, with 15 government agencies with fingers in the food safety pie, GAO calls on the President to reconvene his Council on Food Safety to straighten out the mess by facilitating interagency coordination on the issue.

Packaging Managemenet Update 01-28-08

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Beverage packaging is constantly striving for shelf distinction and none stands out on the shelf more than the PET “canister” for Coke’s NOS energy drink.

In the crowded retail market, the look of a nitrous oxide canister surely will stand out, garnering double takes and perhaps some shelf grabs. What’s inside, of course, will determine if customers come back for another shot.

Packaging Managemenet Update 01-21-08

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We’d call meeting customer and consumer needs in a package that reduces material consumption a win, win, win.

For ConAgra’s Hunt’s catsup and Constar International, customer satisfaction certainly ranks as the best win. Still, they’ll probably happy to add another win to their trophy case – this one the first 3M Sustainable Packaging Award, launched as part of the 2007 AmeriStar awards of Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP).

Packaging Management Update 01-14-08

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Two new studies suggest that today’s consumer, unlike some earlier generations, would actually pay more for so-called “green” products – those made of recycled or renewable materials or having some other environmental pedigree. If that can be borne our by realities in the marketplace – if sales of recycled content legal pads sold at Office Max sell as well as or better than their less pricey virgin duplicates – the current wave of environmental enthusiasm could initiate a sea change in the marketplace. On the other hand, if the KPMG and NYT pollsters are no more discerning than their political counterparts were about the New Hampshire primary, the “green” color of the sustainability movement may fade and disappear, leaving only economics as its driver. In the end, economics, not environmentalism, is the engine that’s driving operational sustainability.

Packaging Management Update 01-07-08

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If report out of Singapore is correct, China is on the cusp of exerting major environmental impact on global packaging operations.

According to analysis from EP Resources Pte, Ltd., draft Method for Administration of Recycling Packaging Materials legislation requires packages for domestic/export markets to be recyclable, recoverable or degradable. New law puts packaging materials into three categories: Encouraged, Restricted or Obsolete (banned).

Legislation is seen as another move on China’s part to bolster its position in world market.

Packaging Management Update 12-17-2007

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Food continues to be the largest market for packaging and, contrary to what some observers think, the market sector continues to be a source of innovative packaging ideas - gabletops with threaded closures for infant cereal, fluted steel food cans, RFID-tagged pallets of produce... the list unfolds daily.