Packaging

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Flexibility and lean manufacturing are driving the growth of robotics, but mechanical motion still rules high-volume packaging.

Burst tests, leak detection and other package-integrity testing remain largely lab-based, manual processes, even as the machines that produce those packages accelerate their output capabilities.

Healthier eating trends are sometimes cited for declining sales of carbonated soft drinks, but at least one juice maker believes the key to increased sales requires effervescence.

The battle over green cred is pitting PLA-based plastic against conventional PET resins mixed with additives that cause the plastic to decompose when landfilled.

Modified atmosphere packaging has been a game-changer for many foods and beverages, though until now the technology was the domain of industrial users.

Calling it the firm’s biggest beverage introduction in a decade, Kraft Foods executives talked about their new MiO concentrated flavoring in the same breath as their power brands at February’s Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) conference, weeks before the tiny bottles began appearing on store shelves.

China has a hybrid economy, and its food sector also borrows the best approaches to both packaging and production.

Slip sliding away applies to both glass bottles and workers in many bottling departments because of the need to keep conveyor belts lubricated and containers upright while they twist, turn and accumulate.

Sealed Air’s Cryovac division began introducing Grip & Tear bags for different food applications in 2007, with varying degrees of acceptance.

For manufacturers who would rather take out the air than add in preservatives, a combination of vacuum and modified atmosphere packaging provides an option.