Canadian Packaging December 2019

RISE UP RISE UP!

New bottling line rises to the occasion for Montreal-based functional beverage innovator Story on page 11

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UPFRONT

ONLINE PACKAGING MAGIC A PIPE DREAM

DECEMBER 2018 VOLUME 71, NO. 12

SENIOR PUBLISHER Stephen Dean • (416) 510-5198 SDean@canadianpackaging.com EDITOR George Guidoni • (416) 510-5227 GGuidoni@canadianpackaging.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Alanna Fairey • (416) 510-5228 afairey@canadianpackaging.com MEDIA DESIGNER Brooke Shaw • (519) 428-3471 bshaw@annexbusinessmedia.com ACCOUNT COORDINATOR Barb Comer • (888) 599-2228 ext 210 bcomer@annexbusinessmedia.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Anita Madden • (416) 442-5600 x3596 AMadden@@annexbusinessmedia.com VICE PRESIDENT Tim Dimopoulos • tdimopoulos@annexbusinessmedia.com PRESIDENT & CEO Mike Fredericks ANNEX BUSINESS MEDIA 111 Gordon Baker Rd., Suite 400, Toronto, ON M2H 3R1; Tel: 416-442-5600.

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eveloping functional and attractive packaging that did its job of protecting the product and moving that product off the store-shelves into passing shopping carts used to be a fairly straightforward proposition. Not always easy to execute, mind you, but easy enough to grasp what a brand had to do to win over the hearts and minds in the grocery aisles.

Naturally, some companies did it better than others, but with package manufacturing, printing and converting technologies being widely available to anyone willing to pay for it, the business of packaging was never really the kind of an industry that required relentless everyday innovation and groundbreaking ingenuity to retain its commercial viability and practical necessity.

But things have changed dramatically since the start of the 21st Century, as global competition with low-cost offshore manufacturers, the onset of Big Box retailing, heightened awareness of worldwide environmental degradation and, of course, the digital technological revolution have made the CPG (consumer packaged goods) marketplace a vastly more unpredictable and volatile battleground for both producers of packaging products and their end-use customers.

It is both a credit and testament to the packaging industry’s resilience and flexibility that it has so far coped with this Perfect Storm of new paradigm shifts in an admirably stoic fashion—turning challenges into opportunities and accelerating the pace of technological innovation to keep up with the fast-changing times and demographics.

But it probably would not be stretching truth that none of the aforementioned disruptors to the traditional packaging ecosystem have carried the risk of existential obsolescence to the same extent as the rapid

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surge in growth of e-commerce in mainstream consumer markets.

As a timely new industry report from PMMIThe Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies perfectly points out, “E-commerce is not only changing the rules of the game, it’s starting a whole new game.”

While it’s no use to blame packaging producers for not seeing this new seismic change coming in time to get ready for it—frankly, no other traditional industry did any better in this respect—there has never been a more urgent time than now for packaging professionals of all stripes to ramp up the pace of innovation to unprecedented heights in order to accommodate the profound changes in consumer behavior unleashed by e-commerce and all its digital technology trappings.

If early product return rates of up to 30 per cent are any indication, as cited in the 2018 E-Commerce: Think Inside the Box report, packaging designers and suppliers are not exactly inspiring much confidence that they are fully up to speed on what they must do in an increasingly brief window of opportunity.

Ditto for the increasing vocal collective chorus of complaints about the excessive amount of packaging being shipped to households for the amount of goods actually delivered there—creating a whole new set of packaging waste disposal challenges that did not exist before.

As one packaged designer quoted in the PMMI study observes: “There is no magic wand for e-commerce, no standardized solutions. Every company that works with e-commerce has had to rethink their strategy.”

And by extension, a whole lot more rethinking yet to come in the years ahead, rest assured.

George Guidoni, Editor

COVER STORY 11 RISE TO THE OCCASION by Alanna Fairey

Innovative Montreal beverage producer installs cutting-edge bottling line to keep up with demand growth for its novel beverage sensations.

Cover photography by Daphne Caron

RISE UP R ISE UP!

New bottling line rises to the occasion for Mont real-based functional bever age innovator Story on page 11

ANNEX PRIVACY OFFICER Privacy@annexbusinessmedia.com Phone: 800-668-2374 DISCLAIMER: No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. ©2018 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. This publication is for informational purposes only. The content and “expert” advice presented are not intended as a substitute for informed professional engineering advice. You should not act on information contained in this publication without seeking specific advice from qualified engineering professionals. Canadian Packaging accepts no responsibility or liability for claims made for any product or service reported or advertised in this issue. Canadian Packaging receives unsolicited materials, (including letters to the editor, press releases, promotional items and images) from time to time. Canadian Packaging, its affiliates and assignees may use, reproduce, publish, republish, distribute, store and archive such unsolicited submissions in whole or in part in any form or medium whatsoever, without compensation of any sort.

We acknowledge the [financial] support of the Government of Canada

DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS FEATURES

3 UPFRONT By George Guidoni 4 NEWSPACK

Packaging news round-up.

5-6 NOTES & QUOTES

Noteworthy industry briefs.

7-8 FIRST GLANCE

New technologies for packaging applications.

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ECO-PACK NOW The latest on packaging sustainability.

10 imPACt

A monthly insight from

PAC, Packaging Consortium 35 PEOPLE

Career moves in the packaging world.

35 EVENTS

Upcoming industry functions.

36

CHECKOUT By Shannon Kaupp Joe Public on packaging hits and misses.

INSIDE: PACKA GING FOR FRESH NESS

16 FARM FRESHNESS Vacuum second-skin packaging enables organic chicken processor to spread its wings in the Big Box grocery retail segment.

22 MEAT AND GREET! A preview of next month’s 2019 IPPE meat and poultry industry showcase in Atlanta, Ga. 24 SQUEEZE TO PLEASE By George Guidoni Venerable Quebec manufacturer of plastic tubes makes a quantum leap with next-generation digital inkjet printing technology.

27 PLENTY OF FISH By Alanna Fairey Quebec seafood processor charting new course for future growth with robust thermoform packaging technology.

32 SEALED AND DELIVERED By George Guidoni Toronto machine-builder takes to high seas with a custom-made shrinkwrapping solution for a leading fresh salmon processor.

DECEMBER 2018 • CANADIAN PACKAGING WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM • 3

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NEWSPACK

INNOVATIVE NEW MILK BRAND PACKING VASTLY BOOSTED PROTEIN CONTENT Despite intense competition from trendy plant-based dairy beverages that have cluttered the grocers’ dairy aisles almost beyond recognition in recent years, regular f luid milk still remains the go-to choice for most Canadian consumers, according to a major national survey commissioned by leading Canadian dairy products group Saputo Inc. of Montreal.

In fact, 87 per cent of Canadians surveyed for the study still drink or cook with milk regularly and 40 per cent consume it daily, with 43 per cent choosing milk for its protein content.

And while more than half of Canadians have tried plant-based milk alternatives in the last five years, mostly out of curiosity, 75 per cent of them switched back to milk.

That said, 27 per cent of Canadians taking part in the survey said they wished milk had more protein than the average eight grams contained per 250-ml serving— even though that’s more than twice the three-gram average for alternative milk products.

To address this wish, Saputo has just launched a whole new range of JOYYA ultrafiltered milk products that contain 75 per cent more protein and 25-per cent less sugar than regular milk—serving up to 16 grams of protein per 250-ml serving.

Packaged in special one-liter BPA (bisphenol A)-free PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic containers designed to ensure 120-day shelf-life (14 days after opening), the ultrafiltered JOYYA milk is a proudly 100-percent all-Canadian product that is fully endorsed by Canada’s leading regional dairy brands Neilson and Dairyland, according to Saputo.

Said to be two years in the making, the hormone- and additive-free milk is processed through as series of specially-designed filters that separate milk components to concentrate the nutrients already found in milk, such as protein and

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calcium, while reducing lactose, the naturally-occurring sugar in milk.

“JOYYA ultrafiltered milk is more than milk, it is ‘ultramilk’!,’’ says Kim-Tuan Nguyen, Saputo’s vicepresident of strategic business development for f luid, bottling and culture products.

“It’s a simple choice that is packed with unique and quantifiable benefits,” he adds.

“We know Canadians crave more out of life,” Nguyen states, “and therefore expect more from their milk.

“By adding a new premium product to the milk category, JOYYA ultrafiltered milk is providing more of the good and making dairy relevant again,” says Nguyen, adding Saputo conducted extensive consumer testing to develop the new plastic bottle, which gathered high praise for its ergonomic design, appealing shape, and a sealed cap with a wraparound sleeve to ensure optimal food safety.

Currently retailing at community grocers and independent specialty stores, the JOYAA milk brand is available in four varieties—Skim Milk, Partly Skimmed Milk, Whole Milk and Chocolate Dairy—each decorated with lively color-coded brand graphics created by the Mississauga, Ont.-based package design specialists Bridgemark.

ICONIC LAUNDRY DETERGENT BRAND RIDES THE RISING E-COMMERCE TIDE With e-commerce widely hailed as the next big frontier of packaging innovation, global consumer packaged goods powerhouse Procter & Gamble is wasting little time establishing itself at the forefront of new packaging development for omnichannel shopping—using one of its best-known brand to set the pace.

Launched last month, the new Tide Eco-Box has reimagined the iconic liquid detergent brand with a new ultra-concentrated formula packaged in a sealed, shipsafe cardboard box containing a sealed bag of the ultracompacted Tide liquid detergent. The pack also contains a dosing cup and a specially-designed ‘no drip’ twist tap that pops out after consumer peels off a perforated cardboard f lap on the front panel of the Eco-Box package.

To make dosing simpler on f lat surfaces, the box includes a pull-out stand to raise the height of the box so the cup fits easily beneath the tap.

“We know that the ‘last mile’ remains the biggest challenge both economically and ecologically in e-commerce,” says Isaac Hellemn, brand manager for e-commerce innovation at P&G’s Fabric Care group.

“The Tide Eco-Box is designed to keep the convenience of online shopping for the consumer, but also reduce the overall impact of that convenience on our environment,” says Hellemn, adding the Eco-Box name was chosen as a nod to both e-commerce and the lighter shipping footprint these packages are designed to drive.

According to P&G, the new Tide Eco-Box: • Contains less packaging, 60 per cent less plastic, and 30 per cent less water than the current 150-ounce Tide press-tap assembly: • Doesn’t require any secondary re-boxing or bubble-wrap; • Is lighter because of its ultra-compacted formula; • Takes up less space because of its boxed design, which means more loads of laundry can fit on fewer delivery trucks.

“For the first time, we have designed a package ‘eComm-Back,’ beginning with the unique challenges and opportunities the e-commerce environment presents,” says Sundar Raman, vice-president of P&G’s North America Fabric Care business. “This is a fundamentally different approach than we’ve taken in the past and represents our relentless obsession with delighting consumers—wherever they want to purchase our brands.”

According to Hellemn, consumers will see many more such innovations in coming months as P&G continues to accelerate its efforts in adapting the company’s popular product offerings for omnichannel retailing.

“We have some pretty exciting e-commerce projects we’re working on, and that shouldn’t be surprising,” Hellemn states. “The fact is that e-commerce isn’t a trend anymore, it’s a reality, and we’re excited to keep innovating for it.”

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NOTES & QUOTES nLeading recycled paperboard converter P a p e rWo r k s Industries, Inc. of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., picked up the prestigious Gold Award in general category of the 2018 Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) carton competition for the triple Grab N’ Go carrier the company developed for leading fast-food chain KFC Canada. Designed for transporting three 54-ounce buckets of KFC chicken, the innovative structure uses carrier’s base and two additional platforms to create secure and stable placement positions for each of the three buckets in a stacked arrangement that promotes the brand, enables venting, assembles quickly at point-of-purchase, and offers an easy way for consumers to transport the food home. nBrampton, Ont.-based independent poultry processor Maple Lodge Farms has been selected as the winner of 2018 Food Safety Excellence Award of NSF International, Guelph, Ont.-based food safety consulting, auditing and certification authority for Canada’s food and beverage producers. According to NSF’s Food Safety Recognition Awards committee, “Maple Lodge Farms is being recognized for its positive food safety culture and the leadership role it’s taking on inf luencing food safety policy and issues.” In the individual category of the award program, Gordon Hayburn, vice-president of food safety and quality at Trophy Foods Inc., Mississauga, Ont.-based snack-foods processor, has received the 2018 Food Safety Excellence Award for “leads the company’s food safety efforts and the team responsible for Trophy Foods’ AA+ BRC (British Retail Consortium) rating at its Mississauga and Calgary facilities.”

ther develop how we work with our customers, so this move is a necessary step in our growth and the ongoing improvement of our functionality across a number of platforms,” says Meech USA general manager Matt Fyffe. With 50 per cent more office space than at its previous location in Norton, Ohio, the company plans to recruit additional quality control and technical support staff for higher levels of customer service and enhanced engineering support, Fyffe explains. “We want to retain and build both employee and customer loyalty,” he says, “and we are confident that this move will assist us in doing so.” nLeading German beverage production line equipment manufacturer Krones AG has completed the acquisi-

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tion of MHT Holding AG (MHT), supplier of injection molding tools and services for PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic industry based in Hochheim, Germany. According to Krones, the acquisition of MHT— which employs 125 people and generates annual revenues of nearly €25 million ($38 million)—will enable it to offer a broader portfolio of PET capabilities for customers in the beverage industry, who increasingly demand integrated solutions. “Acquiring MHT enables Krones to close the PET cycle, from PET preform manufacturing and stretch blowmolding all the way through to PET recycling, and then back to the manufacture of a new preform,” says Krones, adding the new business will continue to operate at Hochheim under existing current management.

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NOTES & QUOTES nFranklin, Tenn.-headquartered Resource Label Group, LLC has completed the acquisition of Best Label Company, which operates two label manufacturing facilities in California to supply a diverse range of clients in the food, beverage, health and beauty, pharmaceutical, automotive, agricultural and chemical industries. “Best Label brings a group of talented individuals, a high level of product quality, and innovative packaging solutions to our organization,” says Resource Label Group president and chief executive officer Mike Apperson, adding the new facilities significantly expand the company’s presence in the U.S. West Coast region.

“I look forward to working closely with the team to continue to serve our growing customer base across North America.”

nImaging technologies supplier Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, N.Y., has reached a definitive agreement to sell its Flexographic Packaging Division business to private venture capital group Montagu Private Equity LLP in a transaction estimated at about US$390 million. According to Kodak, most of the net proceeds from the deal will be used to pay down the company’s long-term debt. “This transaction is an important turning point in our transformation and is a significant, positive development for Kodak,” says Kodak’s chief executive officer Jeff Clarke. “The sale of the Flexographic Packaging Division unlocks value for shareholders and strengthens our financial position by providing a meaningful infusion of cash which allows us to reduce debt—improving the capital structure of the company and enabling greater f lexibility to invest in our growth engines.” nLeading European packaging products manufacturer Coveris has once again received the award for Flexible Plastics Pack of the Year at this year’s UK Packaging Awards competition for its Freshlife MAP avocado packs developed for leading U.K. grocery retail chains Tesco and Waitrose. Developed in partnership with leading British produce grower Greencell Ltd, the packaging combine Coveris’ innovative modified atmosphere (MAP)HalfPageAd_Dec.pdf film with Greencell’s patented UV FORTRESS_CPKG_ 1 11/20/2018 10:53:14 AM

technology to deliver at least two-plus days of shelflife and a 25-percent quality improvement in ripe and ready-to-eat avocados. This significantly reduces instore waste, according to Coveris, while improving consumer satisfaction and product availability. “We are extremely proud to have won this award, for this product and category in particular,” says Coveris sales director for film Simon Buswell. “Given the unprecedented media attention on plastics and the changes we have experienced as a business in the past year, this product is a fantastic demonstration of plastics doing a sustainable job to significantly reduce food waste and environmental impact.”

nLeading Finnish paperboard packaging producer Metsä Board Corporation has been awarded the coveted international Red Dot Design Award for design excellence and creative achievement in recognition of cutting-edge innovation involved in the development of the Lidloc paper beverage cup. Developed as an extension to a standard paper cup, the Lidloc is designed for easy folding and assembly in to an integrated lid, with the one-piece construction eliminating the need

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for a separate plastic lid. In addition, LidLoc offers extra branding possibilities because it can be printed as one piece with the rest of the cup, according to Metsä Board. “The Red Dot Award is one of the most recognized design awards within the packaging industry [and] we are delighted to see our patented Lidloc cup getting this recognition, as we believe it offers a more sustainable alternative to single-use plastic lids,” says Cyril Drouet, Metsä Board’s packaging services director. “We are going to start testing of Lidloc with selected customers in the coming months, and after careful testing we will be ready to bring the design more widely into the mainstream markets.” nWayne, Pa.-headquartered plastic packaging group Tekni-Plex, Inc. has completed the acquisition of Beyers Plastics, leading Belgian extruder and converter of polyethylene (PE) film for pharmaceutical, medical an other advanced industrial applications that will now operate as part of Tekni-Plex’s Tekni-Films business unit. “The acquisition of Beyers Plastics allows us to expand our portfolio of cleanroom-produced pharmaceutical and medical f lexible packaging products,” says Joe Horn, global general manager for Tekni-Films. “For the first time, we will have bag converting capability as well as PE blown film extrusion to support our goal of expanding our offerings in the pharmaceutical and healthcare space.” nLondon, England-headquartered DS Smith plc has been selected as the UK Packaging Company of the Year at the recently-held UK Packaging Awards competition, as chosen by an authoritative panels of industry expert and business leaders, designers, technologists and consultants active in the global packaging industry. According to the panel, DS Smith was chosen as the ‘clear winner’ for being at the forefront of packaging development, its commitment to investing in state-ofthe-art technology—particularly in the field of e-commerce packaging solutions—and its strong financial performance. “We’re extremely proud to win this award and receive recognition from the industry for all our fantastic team members across the U.K., who do amazing things every day for our customers,” says DS Smith managing director Chris Murray. “It’s been a challenging 12 months in the packaging industry due to a variety of factors, but we have risen to that challenge, adapted as industry leaders, and are set up for a great future.” nOwens-Illinois, Inc. (O-I), the world’s largest manufacturer of glass containers headquartered in Perrysburg, Ohio, has acquired a 49.7-percent stake in Empresas Comegua S.A., a leading manufacturer of glass containers for the Central American and Caribbean markets operating one production plant in Costa Rica and another one in Guatemala.

According to O-I, which paid US$119 million for the purchase, Empresas Comegua serves many of O-I’s global strategic customers in the food, soft drinks, beer, spirits and pharmaceutical markets.

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FIRST GLANCE ADVANCE FORWARD! The new IndraDrive Cs ADVANCED drive series from Bosch Rexroth Canada features both a sercos master interface as well as increased processing power—making it possible to connect up to nine slave drives, as well as additional external input/output modules. According to the company, sercos allows users to use the high-efficiency ECONOMY versions as slave drives on the new ADVANCED device, even in hard real-time environments, while the optional drive-integrated motion logic control system IndraMotion MLD allows IndraDrive Cs ADVANCED to act as a master to control independent drive packages, thus handling a wider range of drive tasks. The small drives and their universal communication hardware support all standard Ethernet-based communications interfaces such as sercos, PROFINET IO, EtherNet/IP and EtherCAT, and users can configure the desired communication protocol for the multi-Ethernet interface themselves using the software. In addition, the innovative multi-encoder interface also supports a wide range of standard encoder systems—including EnDat, Hiperface, SSI encoder, simple TTL incremental encoder, sinus cosinus encoder, resolver, and the serial encoder system for Rexroth’s exceptionally compact MSM motors. Moreover, IndraDrive Cs also support different linear motor versions by using electronic communications and/ or analog and digital hall sensors. Using an additional fieldbus interface, the new version with connected slave drives can be integrated into nearly any control environment as an intelligent subsystem.

feet in length—and they can be mounted anywhere along the conveyor’s sidewalls or leg supports, or even mounted remotely from the conveyor. Additionally, the new motor has achieved an IP66 degree of protection for its watertight performance—allowing it to be used in high-moisture applications.

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BEAT THE HEAT Designed to ensure reliable object detection in temperatures up to 230°C, Balluff’s new family of high-temperature proximity sensors are designed and tested to provide reliable non-contact object detection in high-temp applications such as hot metal stamping, glass manufacturing, steel and aluminum manufacturing, steel forging, steam curing, etc. The face of each sensor is composed of a heat-resistant LCP (liquid crystal polymer) material, according to the company, while the head of the sensor contains only the passive, non-electronic components of the device that are less susceptible to heat. The electronic amplifier portion of the sensor is located at the far end of the five-meter cable to allow users to place it outside the high-temperature zone, while the cable jacket and insulation, made from heat-resistant PTFE material, is specified to withstand the same temperature as the sensor head.

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TOUCH OF THE POUCH Designed for cost-effective feeding of desiccants or oxygen scavengers at rates of up to 150 pieces per minute, the new portable Econo pouch feeder system from Omega Design Corporation features a patent-applied-for (PAF) dispensing head that uses a stepper motor to cut pouches from a strip quickly and accurately. Requiring no air, the all-electric feeder is capable of single or multiple pouch drops into containers, bottles, trays, diagnostic kits, etc. After an operator loads a pouch desiccant reel onto its spindle and then feeds the desiccant strip into the dispensing head.

The automatic feeder cuts the pouch desiccants from their strip, dispenses the desired quantity, and verifies the exiting of the desiccants from the dispensing head.

Part of the company’s new IMPACT series of pre-configured machines, the Econo pouch feeder comes with a variety of options, including a bottle control handling system for tricky bottle profiles; a down bottle reject system to offer redundancy protection for bottles exiting the machine; a dual-pouch reel storage system for enhanced accessibility and convenience; a machine status software package; and a validation support package to detail documentation for validation requirements. Featuring an anodized aluminum frame, slim line dispensing head, and integrated color touchscreen HMI (human-machine interface), the feeder accepts pouches from all major manufacturers, according to the company.

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FIRST GLANCE LOADED TO PERFORM Designed for reliable packing of cases, trays and flat pads at packing speeds of up to 200 containers per minute, the new compact Performance Loader case-packer from Delkor Systems Inc. is equipped with pack-and-place gantry robotics and an innovative infeed system that allows it to pack tapered cups, bottles, and a range of other rigid container shapes and styles into multiple secondary packaging formats. Designed to fit into tight plant lay-

outs and requiring virtually no infeed accumulation, the top-loading machine’s modular design and offset infeed conveyor allow for ultra-compact layouts with an optional integrated case-erector and/or case-sealer, or it can seamlessly integrate with a plant’s new or existing case-erectors, sealers and wrappers. The new Performance Loader is fully servo-driven for speed, precision, and quick format changes through pre-programmed product recipes, with servo-driven infeed system and optional servo-driven case flap control further maximizing case-packing efficiency in packing rigid containers inside trays or tray-shrink packaging; standard ‘brown box’ shipping cases; retail-ready Delkor Turbo case packaging; and the cost-effective Delkor Spot-Pak packaging.

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THE PERFECT DATE

The new high-speed tna intelli-date 5 thermal transfer overprint (TTO) date coder from tna solutions Pty Ltd. features an airless design and integrated print code verification technology for continuous high-quality printing on flexible bags. Equipped with intelligent motion technology and a twin-belt electronic printhead, the new tna intelli-date 5 does not require any compressed air and provides more precise printhead pressure for consistently high-quality prints, according to the company. Due to the date coder’s airless design there is no more intervention needed by the operator to adjust the air pressure, while the date coder’s unique printhead can be changed in less than 30 seconds—maximizing production uptime. In combination with a simple easy-to-load cassette, there is no need for any additional mechanical devices to control ribbon tension, which facilitates maintenance and eliminates many potential failure points. Moreover, the date integrated iAssure technology with real-time image processing capabilities enables the tna intelli-date 5 system to automatically detect any common print defects, including those caused by ribbon creases, overprints, or worn print surfaces. tna solutions Pty Ltd.

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The new highperformance X5 Pipeline model X-Ray inspection system from Loma Systems is designed for reliable and efficient removal of foreign debris early in the process from pumped products such as processed meat, poultry, sauces, jams and slurries. Incorporates Loma’s Adaptive Array Technology (AAT) that tailors resolution, depth and scaling to provide unrivalled inspection performance, the X5 Pipeline offers highly accurate detection of a wide range of foreign body contaminants, including ferrous and non-ferrous metals, stone, ceramics, glass, bone and dense plastics regardless of their shape, size or location within the product. Built for 24/7 operation, Loma’s X5 Pipeline offers automated set-up, remote diagnostics, and an easyto-use, intuitive full-color touchscreen with multiple language options.

Loma Systems (Canada) Inc.

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ECO-PACK NOW

KEG MANUFACTURER MOVES FORWARD TO ADVANCE CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRINCIPLES

While many companies are just starting to wrap their heads about the aims and goals of the fledgling Circular Economy, Dutch beverage packaging product manufacturer Lightweight Containers is forging straight ahead into the new era of packaging circularity with its innovative KeyKeg and UniKeg plastic kegs made primarily (81 per cent) from reused plastic.

Founded in 2006, Lightweight Containers has grown into a market leader in the production of environmentally-friendly kegs for breweries, winemakers and producers of soft-drinks and other beverages across all six continents—operating production facilities in the U.S., Germany, U.K, the and the company’s native Netherlands, with two new sites scheduled to open up in Italy and Spain in the next year or so.

According to company’s chief executive officer Anita Veenendaal, “KeyKeg and UniKeg are the only kegs that, from the start, are designed with circularity in mind.

“In fact, KeyKeg is now reusing plastics to create their grip-rings and base cups, made of 100-percent PCR (post-consumer recycled) content.

“Beverage producers now favor KeyKeg and UniKeg because its double-wall technology provides the only sure way to operate kegs safely in countries where the temperature is high— retaining the beverage high-quality standards as set by producers in sectors such as brewing wine, kombucha and nitro coffee, to name but a few,” Veenendaal says.

Although traditional metal kegs are claimed to be perfectly recyclable and reusable, Veenendaal contends that the reality is quite different in many parts of the world.

“Recycling of large containers in traditional wastestreams is technically possible, but in general not applied,” she states, “as kegs often end up in landfill or are incinerated when left to the traditional waste stream, despite all the lofty claims that are made in the market.”

To address this, Lightweight Containers has launched a One-Circle campaign aimed at promoting the use of the company’s cradle-to-cradle kegs by collecting all the KeyKegs and UniKegs used at major festivals in The Netherlands, Belgium, France and the U.K.—creating fully operational collection networks.

According to Lighweight Containers, similar collection programs will soon be unveiled in the U.S. and Asia.

“In markets such as Japan, the KeyKeg and UniKeg are already processed by the local wastestreams in line with country specifications,” Veenendaal states.

COFFEE PODS FOR AT-HOME COMPOSTING

With coffee pod recycling still presenting a challenge to waste management experts worldwide, Austrian plastic packaging products manufacturer ALPLA has come up with the world’s first fully biodegradable coffee capsule that consumers can dispose of in their home compost— eliminating the need for collection altogether.

Featuring unique construction comprising an organically based material and ground natural fibres from sunflower seed shells, the capsule and filter fleece can biodegrade in a garden compost within a maximum of six months, according to ALPLA’s partner Golden Compound GmbH, which has been has been developing and producing innovative materials from sunflower seed shells since 2014.

According to Golden Compound, the sunflower seed shells are used as a reinforcing compound in the Golden Compound green material—developed by golden Compost to protects fossil resources and reduce the carbon footprint. Composting the capsule generates humus, according to Golden Compound, and the coffee grounds contain valuable plant nutrients such as potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen.

First used by Austrian coffee roaster Amann Kaffee, the Nespresso-compatible capsules are available in several colors, and contain no aluminum or any GMOs (genetically-modified organisms), according to ALPLA.

FLEXIBLE PACKAGING POWERHOUSE ALIGNS WITH KEY CIRCULAR ECONOMY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Constantia Flexibles, the world’s fourth-largest producer of f lexible packaging products and a signatory to The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment agreement championed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, has announced plans to make Alexander all of tis packaging products Baumgartner, CEO, Constantia 100-percent recyclable by 2025.

Flexibles “As a global f lexible packaging producer and a company committed to sustainability from the very beginning, we have of course recognized the importance of actively contributing to the circular economy,” says Constantia Flexibles chief executive officer Alexander Baumgartner.

“Taking part in the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment is one aspect of our strategy for more sustainable packaging,” says Baumgartner, whose company is one of 250 global organizations to have signed the Global Commitment treaty unveiled on Oct. 29, 2018, at the foundation’s Ocean Conference in Bali, Indonesia.

One of the most important targets of the Global Commitment vision is transitioning from linear to circular packaging models, whereby participating

companies and organizations have made the commitment to focus on developing packaging innovations which ensure easy and safe reuse, recycling or composting “To achieve these goals, we are focusing on those products which are already currently recyclable in practice and at scale,” says Thomas Greigeritsch, the company’s vice-president of group sustainability.

As Greigeritsch explains, the company’s new Ecolutions line of packaging products was developed specifically to meet these and other sustainability requirements, while offering all the properties required protecting the packaged products.

For example, the company’s EcoLam mono PE (polyethylene) laminate is already fully recyclable due its mono-material structure, while its EcoPouch f lexible packaging is made with a high content of renewable resources.

For its part, the company’s ultra-thin EcoCover aluminum lidding offers 50-percent carbonfootprint reduction compared to traditional aluminum lids, according to Constantia, through lightweighting and the use of a solvent-free UV

f lexo printing process.

According to Constantia, the product is characterized by high corrosion resistance, a wide range of sealing temperature and easy peeling properties—making EcoCover the perfect lidding choice for yogurt cups and many other food and pharma products.

“These are just some of our solutions aimed at making our packaging, including our plastic packaging, 100-percent recyclable,” states Greigeritsch.

“The real question is not whether a world without plastic pollution is possible,” he says, “but what we will do together to make it happen.”

According to a recent consumer survey commissioned by Constantia Flexibles, 80 per cent of end consumers prefer eco-friendlier packaging over a regular packaging, and would pay up to 15 per cent more for recyclable and compostable packaging.

Says company president Baumgartner: “Our packaging line for more sustainability will continue to be extended. At the moment, we are already working on compostable solutions for small packaging products such as stick packs, which can hardly be efficiently recycled due to their tiny size.”

DECEMBER 2018 • CANADIAN PACKAGING WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM • 9

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A WORLD WITHOUT PACKAGING WASTE

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Being a PAC Packaging Consortium member gives you access to PAC NEXT and other valuable programs and initiatives.

For more information, visit www.pac.ca/benefits

PAC NEXT is an exclusive program of PAC Packaging Consortium that focuses on sustainability, the circular economy, and developing solutions for the next life of packaging.

Ocean Plastics

What the packaging industry can do

We recently partnered with Ocean Wise to take a collaborative crosssectoral approach to finding real solutions to ocean plastics.

Read the report at www.pac.ca/oceanplastics

10 • WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM For more information, contact Rachel Morier at rmorier@pac.ca CANADIAN PACKAGING • DECEMBER 2018

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d e so o s.

COVER STORY

RISE ABOVE THE REST Kombucha tea innovator leveraging superior packaging execution to fuel market demand for its novel hydration creations

BY ALANNA FAIREY, ASSISTANT EDITOR PHOTOS BY DAPHNÉ CARON

A

s more and more Canadian consumers are moving away from sugary, fizzy drinks in favor of organic and other ‘better-for-you’ alternatives, companies like Montreal-based RISE Kombucha are finding themselves at the forefront of a relentless healthand-wellness trend unfolding in today’s food-andbeverage industries.

Founded in 2009, primarily as a side project of a larger vegan foodservice enterprise launched by a local entrepreneur group including Julian Giacomelli, the tea-based fermented kombucha beverage stirred up enough local interest and demand to convince the company’s founder that this was a product well-deserving of his extra time, effort and focus.

“We are seeing a growing number of people being attracted to better-for-you products like this,” Giacomelli told Canadian Packaging in a recent interview.

“I think that we are right on-trend, because kombucha is probably one of the most important examples of something that started in the ‘healthy’ food aisles and is now making its way into the mainstream.

“The fact is that 10 years ago the better-for-you product category was a tiny, tiny place,” he says, “where health-food stores were essentially corner stores selling patchouli.

“But now you go to any major supermarket in North America and there’s bound to be an organic section there, and maybe even a RISE beverage in that section,” Giacomelli says.

“I really believe that we are at the heart of one of most important categories of crossover foods that five years ago nobody would have heard of.”

Above: Company founder and president Julian Giacomelli proudly displays and samples a bottle of Hibiscus & Rose Hips flavored kombucha, one of six all-natural and organic flavors that RISE Kombucha manufactures at the company’s production facility in Saint-Leonard, Que. Right: Bottles of RISE Kombucha being transferred to casepacking along a dry-running Regal Beloit conveyor comprising NGE831K325 chain and NGE2151 belting.

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COVER STORY

Produced by leading German beverage line equipment manufacturer Krones AG, the Modufill HRS filler-rinser-capper and Autocol labeler have quickly become the heart and soul of the RISE Kambucha facility’s production process.

RISE Kombucha machine opeartors apprreciate the user-friendly iPanel CID terminal displaying all the curent machine status indicators for the Modulfill HRS system.

Headquartered in Montreal’s Saint-Leonard borough, the company’s 40,000-square-foot facility—including a 10,000-square-foot on-site fridge room—employs about 100 staff across Canada, with over 80 in Montreal.

The fast-growing RISE Kombucha brand comes in six different flavor varieties that include ginger, lemongrass, mint & chlorophyll, hibiscus & rose hips, rose & schizandra, and blueberry & maple.

Currently producing 12 SKUs (stock keeping units) packaged in 414-ml and one-liter glass bottles, the RISE Kombucha plant employs the recently-installed Modulfill HRS filler-and-rinser and Autocol labeler at the heart of its bottling process, with both

Bottle Corporation, the clear glass bottles used to package the brand are depalletized and placed onto a conveyor in a single lane that runs through the Autocol labeling system from Krones.

The Autocal labeling system then applies a clearfilm wraparound self-adhesive product label—designed by Fluid Creative and produced in rollstock by branding specialists Labelink—onto each passing container at high speed with upmost precision, making sure that the name and logo always appear in the exact same place along the bottle’s profile.

After labeling, the bottles travel into the wet-room portion of the Krones system for rinsing, filling and capping, where the Modulfill HRS will immediately

state-of-the-art machines produced by the leading German beverage line equipment manufacturer Krones AG. After years of manually bottling the product while growing the business, the new automatic machines are a dream come true for Giacomelli.

“All of the equipment works so well together that I can’t really separate one piece of machinery from the other,” Giacomelli extols.

“It’s a wonderful set of equipment that was provided to us by a great team of knowledgable experts,” he adds.

Supplied in bulk by the Montreal location of leading glass packaging distributor Consolidated

Manufactured by O-I and supplied in bulk by Montreal-based Consolidated Bottle, RISE Kombucha intentionally uses clear glass bottles as part of its commitment to full product transparency, purity and authenticity.

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The Autocol labeling system from Krones using rolls of self-adhesive wraparound plastic film labels from Labelink, featuring white fonts and typeface on clear see-through background, to decorate each glass container prior to filling with unerring accuracy.

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COVER STORY perform an auto-correction for any overfilled or underfilled bottles.

After emerging from the Modulfill HRS System, the bottled product is conveyed further down the line to be inspected by staff and manually placed inside corrugated shipping cases supplied to the plant

by Kruger Inc. According to Giacomelli, the Krones equipment has been working like a charm, allowing the facility to fill, cap and label 350 bottles per minute for their 414-ml varieties at a maximum rate.

Boasting a Food Safety GMP (good manufacturing practice) certification from leading club store chain Costco, the bright and cheery facility promotes a friendly “people-forward” approach that Giacomelli believes provides an accurate reflection of the wholesomeness of the natural product they make.

With a wide reputation as an effective aid in promoting gut health, stress relief and energy enhancement, kombucha is widely touted as a far healthier alternative to soda, energy drinks and coffee, all of which can have a negative impact on the system when consumed in excess.

With no GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in its formulation, Giacomelli says that the naturally vegan beverage has a lot of appeal for three main targeted demographic groups: urban athletic individuals, trendy foodies, and the urban creatives.

As Giacomelli explains, these consumers share one major commonality: they want a drink that will give them mental or physical stimulation that does not come in the form of their fifth coffee of the day.

Giacomelli also shares there is intentionally no excessive froufrou when it comes to the brand’s flavors, as he wants the drinks to be simple and straightforward.

“We try to make flavors that are approachable to the everyday person, even though kombucha is something they have probably never tried,” Giacomelli explains. “We focus a lot on color because they’re all-natural beverages, with no coloring tricks involved at all.

“All the colors come from the teas and the ingredients,” says Giacomelli, noting that the company is very focused on the brand’s premium overall presentation and clear product transparency.

“We have selected a clear bottle on purpose, so the color of the product plays into the overall packaging presentation,” he states. “That’s the result we’re looking for when we add new flavors to our portfolio—choosing colors that really complement it or work well with it.”

As Giacomelli relates, the process of making kombucha closely resembles that of producing beer, whereby fermenting the ingredients converts carbohydrates to alcohol or organic acids, using yeasts or bacteria under anaerobic conditions.

The principal ingredient for kombucha tea, harvested by RISE Kombucha internally, is analogous to the sourdough or yogurt starter that is produced by the blending of yeast and bacteria.

The end result is a living cellulose that reproduces itself to reach enough mass for producing Kombucha.

“Kombucha is not just a brewed tea with an extra ingredient,” Giacomelli points out.

“You take a brewed tea, like a green, black tea or white tea, and you introduce some sugars to activate the fermentation process,” Giacomelli explains.

Once labeled, the glass bottles are placed onto another converyor belt and are swiftly transferred down the line to begin the rinsing, filling and capping process.

Freshly filled and capped bottle of the RISE Kombucha beverage pass through a high-speed inspection system to verify precise filling volume for each and every passing bottles, automatically rejecting any underfilled or overfilled containers of the line.

A close-up of the HRS short-tube filling system designed to provide reliable fill level determination via the vent tube and to ensure precise fills with specially-designed electropneumatic filling valves to perform low-oxygen filling with intermediate gasflushing.

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COVER STORY

Loaded corrugated shipping cases passing by the Markem-Imaje model 2200 print-and-apply labeler that quickly attaches a paper product lable to the side of each box prior to palletizing.

“Once the fermentation takes place, the body on which the fermentation has occurred transforms into the symbiotic culture of yeast and bacteria,” says Giacomelli, adding this key ingredient must be kept in top shape and refrigerated on-site.

To produce the final kombucha product, “Our staff essentially make a tea, add some of this kombucha culture, some water and some sugar and then ferment that mixture to create this new drink.

“It’s not just adding an ingredient,” he says. “The tea and the microbial content from the yeast and bacteria actually ferment and create a new product that is bubbly.”

According to Giacomelli, RISE Kombucha goes to great lengths to sources high-quality, fair-trade and organic teas and herbs from a number of different regions of the world, including Asia, while the sugar comes directly from an organic co-op in Paraguay.

As he explains, the fermentation process has a lot of science involved, making it necessary to monitor the process closely to ensure the product does not get spoiled along the way.

Since kombucha is a brewed and fermented product made without pasteurization, it naturally produces trace amounts of alcohol.

According to Giacomelli, the trick is to make sure that the alcohol contents always remains strictly below 0.5 per cent, as anything more would classify kombucha as an alcoholic drink.

Another important consideration during production is using the right amount of sugar, so the final product does not have zero residual sugar.

“It wouldn’t really be drinkable,” he states, “but you don’t need to have anywhere near the sugar what a can of soda contains.

“There is a certain level of sugar required for fermentation and then a little bit more to make it palatable,” Giacomelli says.

Says Giacomelli: “Making sugar water runs counter to our whole movement of providing an alternative to sodas.”

“Currently, we bottle one flavor per day, and switch out the size each day,” Giacomelli relates. “For example, we will do one batch of Blueberry Maple in one day, whereby at some point in the day the workers will switch from the small-bottle format to the large format on the same line.

“They’ll switch the labels and the box sizes as they go along, so we end up emptying out one batch of one flavor each working day.”

Giacomelli says he is very encouraged by the steady rise in the sales of RISE Kombucha in the Canadian market, adding that he hopes to replicate that success south of the border, where the company has recently opened up to distribution locations in Vermont and New York City.

As Giacomelli explains, the brand’s clear and transparent packaging that lets the color of the finished product do most of the talking is a perfect complement to the product’s purity and authenticity.

“I think that our continued evolution, focus and scrutiny is core to who we are as a brand,” Giacomelli proudly states.

“We have won awards in the past and we hope to continue to be recognized for our innovative and attractive packaging, which is a big part of what differentiates RISE from some of the other kombucha companies, in my opinion.”

While Giacomelli says the company may consider some product experimentation down the road—citing cannabis-infused kombucha as one possibility for future new product development—it is not a priority for the time being.

“One of the things that could be difficult for us is certifying the use of actual cannabis, and I don’t think that would be the case for us here,” Giacomelli says.

“We would look at what might be possible in a partnership,” he says, “but for now we’ve got a lot on our plates in just continuing to optimize production and ramping up our marketing development and research.”

As he concludes, “There is still plenty for us to do in pushing the limits of what we need to do to become a truly great manufacturer of kombucha, and our new Krones equipment is the perfect ingredient for us to get there.”

SUPPLIERS An inline capper integrated into the Krones Modulfill HRS bottling line expertly performs high-speed application of aluminum screw-cap closures onto the filled bottles of RISE Kombucha beverages.

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Krones Machinery Inc. Kruger Inc.

Labelink Consolidated Bottle Corp.

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PACKAGING FOR FRESHNESS

FARM FRESHNESS

Innovative skin packaging system helps organic chicken processor make a big score in the Big Box grocery retail segment known for challenging packaging standards

F

ounded five years ago in Harrisonburg, Va., Shenandoah Valley Organic, LLC (SVO) is a family-run organic chicken company with a deep-rooted commitment to environmental stewardship and unwavering focus on providing consumers with a healthy, high-protein source of nutrition through the most humane, clean and safe processes possible.

Starting out with a small flock of 300 organicallyraised chickens, the company’s founder and chief executive officer Corwin Heatwole is a life-long farmer who spent the early part of his career working for some large integrated poultry enterprises that paid only nominal lip service, at best, to the welfare and well-being of the chickens they raised and slaughtered.

Turned off by the experience, Heatwole bought his first chicken farm in 2005 at the age of 23— eventually turning it into an all-organic enterprise that became a springboard for SVO’s entry to market.

After starting up a new processing plant in 2014, SVO quickly established a firm foothold in local and regional markets with the company’s Red Wheelbarrow and Blue Ridge Tail brands of chicken raised to the highest ethical and humane standards in the industry.

With consumers quickly rewarding the brands’ socially responsible ethos with sales that exceeded all initial expectations, the company decided to become a 100-percent organic enterprise in the following year.

To mark the occasion in style, SVO proceeded to launch an all-new new Farmer Focus brand of premium fresh chicken products—including whole, wings, drumsticks, thighs and breasts—made from 100-percent organic and free-range birds raised at selected nearby farms sharing SVO’s own high principles and standards for pesticide-free pasture areas, and reduced-density housing.

To validate the brand’s credentials, SVO worked tirelessly to obtain four key trusted third-party certifications—including non-GMO Project, Certified Humane, Global Animal Partnership and USDA Organic—that allow it to use the respective certification labels on its packaging.

As the company’s reputation for high product quality grew, it was able to extend its reach beyond the smaller local groceries to the so-called Big Box retailers.

While moving to larger retailers meant new opportunities, it also meant new challenges in a rapidly growing, fiercely competitive organic U.S. chicken market that has averaged double-digit growth rates over the last five years.

With more than 26,400 certified organic opera-

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The innovative Cryovac Darfresh tray/skin vacuum packaging system from Sealed Air Food Care is made up of a recyclable food-grade plastic tray that can conveniently be used as a seasoning tray (top picture) and two layers of easy-to-remove film that virtually eliminates the need for the consumer to touch the product until it has been cooked and readied to serve.

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PACKAGING FOR FRESNESS tions nationwide—producing more than 20 million certified organic broilers—U.S. producers sold about US$750 million worth of organic chickens in 2016.

Due to the relatively short production cycle, lower price premium and more integrated production, organic chicken is by far the most widely available organic meat in the U.S. markets—well ahead of both pork and beef.

Moreover, a major recent industry report titled Power of Meat—jointly put out by the American Meat Institute (AMI) and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI)—found that 24 per cent of organic meat consumers cite reduced environmental impact as the main reason for switching to organically produced meat products.

All this adds up to a fiercely competitive market at the retail shelf level— especially so at the Big Box stores, with their strict standards for extended product shelf-life, intolerance for product leaks, and optimized merchandising attributes.

While SVO already had the product quality they needed to compete in the Big Box segment, the company also knew it had to update its packaging to communicate both product quality and recyclability of its packaging to achieve better product differentiation at the crowded shelves.

Happily for SOV, it already gained a lot of useful packaging knowledge earlier in the game by having worked with the Food Care food packaging division of Sealed Air Corporation on its earlier product packaging projects, with very successful results.

As Sealed Air Food Care’s senior marketing manger Sean Brady recalls, “From farm to home, every member of the SVO team is totally committed to delivering products with unbeatable quality.

“This clear focus has been the key driver behind their rapid growth,” Brady adds, “and also the main reason they stand above the competition in the competitive organic market.”

As brand-owner of the widely renowned Cryovac range of meat packaging solutions and technologies, Sealed Air’s own extensive market research reveals that U.S. consumers think more highly of stores (81 per cent) and brands (78 per cent) that help them reduce food waste, with more than half (57 per cent) of consumers also appreciating stores that promote their use of packaging to extend product shelf-life and enhance product quality.

Leveraging those insights with keen understanding of SVO’s needs, budgets and market positioning, Sealed Air worked closely with SVO to identify the recommended Cryovac Darfresh tray/skin vacuum packaging system as the best Big Box solution for the chicken producer’s needs.

In a nutshell, Cryovac Darfesh is a process that utilizes two films to create a vacuum package that has a “second skin” appearance—thereby creating a unique three-dimensional package with a premium look perfect for merchandising.

The Darfresh materials used in this process are highly effective in preserving the color, flavor and integrity of the product that they envelop to deliver extended shelf-life in refrigerator, according to Sealed Air, while providing an easy-to-open package that virtually eliminates the need to touch the product until it is cooked and ready to serve.

According to Sealed Air, some of the Darfresh tray/skin vacuum packaging solution’s most important benefits for the Farmer Focus’s brand include: • Extended shelf-life (up to 21 days) for case-ready fresh poultry; • Smaller trays that, unlike foam trays, are recyclable; • Easy-open, leak proof packages that are freezer-ready; • Banded-label product that can be labeled as needed—creating greater operational efficiency when producing both private-label and branded products.

Since being launched into the market earlier this year, response to the Cryovac Darfresh tray/skin vacuum packaging has been overwhelmingly positive from retailers large and small.

As SVO’s vice-president of sales and marketing Jack Coleman relates, “People we showed it to have largely responded, “That’s exactly what I’m looking for!

“The smaller trays give retailers a more consistent product with longer shelf-life and reduced shrink,” Coleman says, “while the vertical display capabilities allow retailers to stock more in a case and reduce restocking frequency.

“In fact, retailer adoption has set a new pace record us,” he adds.

“We’ve never had a product that was met with such overwhelming acceptance,” says Coleman, citing an almost fourfold increase in retail sales.

According to Coleman, SVO’s new packaging is delivering the quality per-

ception that organic shoppers look for when choosing their products.

Not only do shoppers get an unobstructed 360-degree view of the chicken product, says Coleman, but the reduction in physical packaging and elimination of soaker pads resulted in less overall waste and better recyclability.

As a result, “We are gaining new customers as well as increasing repeat shoppers,” Coleman states.

According to SVO’s executive vice-president of sales and marketing Jefferson Heatwole, the instant success of the new packaging format almost caught the company off-guard.

“We knew it was a success waiting to happen,” he says, “but we didn’t anticipate the rapid ramp-up in sales and struggled to keep up with the demand.”

Once again, the Sealed Air tem quickly sprang into action, helping SVO restructure its inventory planning to ensure faster delivery of both trays and the clear packaging film.

“We were very pleased with the Cryovac team’s response to our inventory issues and their assistance in getting trays and film in so we could keep up with demand,” Heatwole states, adding that the stellar success of the new packaging has already more than offset the cost of new equipment.

Says Heatwole: “As we look at expanding their product offering down the road, we will continue to partner with Sealed Air to get the best packaging solutions in place right from the start.”

SUPPLIERS Sealed Air Food Care

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PRE-SHOW REPORT

MEAT AND GREET!

Atlanta to welcome thousands of 2019 IPPE visitors and exhibitors to world’s largest poultry, meat and feed industry event

M

eat lovers, rejoice! The International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) is coming back for a triumphant return in Atlanta, Ga., to give attendees and exhibitors the opportunity to network and become better informed on the latest technological developments and concerns facing the poultry, meat and feed industry.

Due to Atlanta also hosting the 2019 Super Bowl game in the first week of February, IPPE will be held two weeks later than in previous years, running from Feb. 12 to Feb. 14, 2018.

As in previous years, the show will be hosted at the esteemed Georgia World Congress Center, conveniently located in the heart of the city’s lively downtown scene.

Jointly produced by the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY), North American Meat Institute (NAMI) and the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), the 2019 IPPE will offer guests and exhibitors alike over 140 hours of education programs and sessions, innovative technology demonstrations and engaging activities.

With over 32,000 industry leaders and professionals expected to make an appearance, attendees will have no shortage of opportunities for networking and intermingling.

In fact, 2019 IPPE is already shaping up to be the most impressive show in IPPE’s illustrious history, surpassing 590,000 square feet of exhibit space and procuring more than 1,315 exhibitors from around the world.

Having been previously acknowledged as one of the fastest-growing trade shows in the U.S., according to the authoritative Trade Show News Network (TSNN), the 2019 IPPE is certainly living up to the hype.

“We are pleased with the expanded show floor square footage and the level of exhibitor participation,” state IPPE show organizers. “This is going to be an exciting show that you will not want to miss.”

As with previous shows, leading international production and processing industry groups will be exhibiting their businesses, answering any questions that potential buyers may have about their work, and offering insights on all pertinent industry developments.

The businesses that will have booths exhibiting this year include 3M; ASI Industrial; AT Packaging Inc.; BASF Corporation; Cargill; Delacon Biotechnik Gmbh; Elanco Animal Health; Foodmate; Gainco, Inc.; Humane Animal Farm Care; iNECTA; JAX INC.; Kohshin Engineering Co., Ltd.; Linde LLC; Meritech; Novus International; Octopus Robots SA; Pro Water Parts; Red Dragon Torches & Equipment; Safe Foods Corporation; Triangle Package Machinery Co.; United Promotions, Inc; VETANCO; WTI Inc.; XACT Fluid Solutions and Zip-Pak. There will be no shortage of education programs and wittingly named TechTalks hosted by a number of different exhibitors who will host short educational presentations over the course of 2019 IPPE

regarding issues critical to all aspects of the feed, meat and poultry industries.

New to this year’s show is an educational program—titled The High-Performance Sow–Rethinking Nutrition and Health Interactions—developed

by AFIA’s Nutrition Committee.

Taking place on Feb.13, the program will give attendees new information on the industry’s under-

2019 IPPE SHOW STOPPERS

NO LEAKAGE

Showcasing its non-destructive leak detection technology to the North American meat and poultry market for the first time at IPPE, INFICON is proud to introduce the Contura S400.

Easily integrated into any manufacturing environment, the Contura S400 is gas independent, which helps to eliminate the need for meat and poultry manufacturers to make any unnecessary adjustments to the packaging lines.With its stainless-steel housing and dirt-resistant protective caps, the Contura S400 is appealing for its commitment to satisfy desired hygienic requirements.

Booth # B-8552

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PRE-SHOW REPORT

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standing of sow health and will also showcase new advancements in technology and ongoing research on the matter.

“This educational program provides a new opportunity to bring monogastric nutrition and management expertise together to discuss current research and best practices when it comes to managing sow health and nutrition,” says Paul Davis, AFIA’s director of quality, animal feed safety and education.

“AFIA’s Nutrition Committee pulled together a terrific agenda with some of the leading researchers in pork production.”

Page 1 Pressing topics of interest to be discussed at this program

N O T H I N G S AY S

F R E S H like FABB R I PAC KAG ING Fabbri Automatic Stretch Wrappers produce highly attractive packages that make your products look fresh and “just packed”. Fabbri Stretch Wrappers use stretch film to package fresh meat products in preformed trays to provide an in-store wrapped appearance. They employ four-way stretch technology to produce tight, over-the-flange, wrinkle-free packages with securely sealed bottoms and a superb case presentation.

And here’s something you might find even more attractive: Fabbri Stretch Wrappers can help increase your profitability.

Fabbri packaging is produced using low-cost packaging materials. And when you factor in its Best in Class low cost of ownership, the Fabbri Stretch Wrapper is your most economical and affordable packaging solution.

Compact and robust servo-driven Fabbri packaging machines are built for speed, versatility and the highest levels of productivity. Fabbri Stretch Wrappers can handle a wide range of tray sizes with no changeovers, producing up to 62 packs per minute. All models feature a user-friendly full-size control panel for easy operation and maintenance. Test the Fabbri at our Reiser Customer Center and see for yourself how it can improve your packaging. Contact Reiser today.

also include how to maximize the lifetime production of sows through highly efficient feed; understanding how today’s production systems affect sow health; and how mycotoxins and the gut microbiome can impact sows and their offspring.

Humans will not be the only ones that will reap the benefits from attending the 2019 IPPE. Launching on Feb. 12, the 12th annual Pet Food Conference will touch on a number of hot-button issues in the pet food industry, such as trading pet food products internationally and the rising concerns about canine health in relation to their diets and overall lifestyle.

“Today’s marketplace for pet food is changing rapidly, and industry experts need to stay on top of the latest consumer trends and policy issues impacting their ability to do business in the United States and abroad,” says Louise Calderwood, AFIA’s director of regulatory affairs.

“AFIA’s Pet Food Conference is an affordable way for attendees to engage with some of the industry’s leading experts and roughly 300 of their peers in this unique segment within the animal food manufacturing industry.”

With the topic of sustainability becoming an ever-present topic of interest, the annual Animal Agriculture Sustainability Summit will return for 2019 IPPE. With a sponsorship from show producer USPOULTRY, the Animal Agriculture Sustainability Summit will dedicate the majority of their program to current sustainability topics that are especially relevant to the animal agriculture industry.

Industry professionals from a number of different companies–including Tyson Foods and JBS USA–will be providing insights on the great lengths that their companies have gone through in advancing their environmental processes and practices.

Scheduled to take place on Feb. 12, the program will also include an update on the newly formed Poultry & Egg Sustainability and Welfare Foundation and the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs.

To wrap up the Animal Agriculture Sustainability Summit, the winners of USPOULTRY’s Family Farm Environmental Excellence Awards for 2019 will be announced in the program’s closing ceremony.

For more information or to register, please go to: www.ippexpo.org

Visit Reiser at IPPE 2019 Booth 6335 Hall B

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www.reiser.com Reiser Canada Burlington, ON • (905) 631-6611 Reiser Canton, MA • (781) 821-1290

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PRE-SHOW REPORT

2019 IPPE SHOW STOPPERS WRAP IT UP

Leading processing and packaging equipment supplier Reiser will make an appearance at IPPE, using it as an opportunity to showcase their line of Fabbri Stretch Wrappers. These reliable machines manufacture eyecatching packages that make food products look fresh and “just packed.” Using stretch film to package fresh meat, poultry, seafood, and produce products in preformed trays, the Fabbri Stretch Wrappers provide customers with a professionally wrapped appearance.

Fabbri Stretch Wrappers employ four-way stretch technology to produce tight, over-the-flange, wrinkle-free packages with securely sealed bottoms and a superb case presentation. Thanks to its low-cost packaging materials, the Fabbri package has the lowest cost-per-pack, according to Reiser.

Booth # B 6335

SAFETY FIRST

Designed for the meat and poultry industries flocking to IPPE, the Eagle RMI 400 X-ray inspection system from automation dynamo PLAN Automation offers superior bone and contaminant detection, where daily sanitation and hygiene necessities are severe.

Meeting all of the standards of the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), the RMI 400 overcomes the material handling challenges of inspecting raw, unpackaged poultry and other meats. In an effort to lessen the number of surfaces product comes into contact, the RMI 400 incorporates an innovative inclined infeed and out-feed conveyor, which eliminates the need for radiation shielding curtains helping to reduce the time operators would require for sanitation cleaning. Combined with SimulTask PRO imaging software and a user-friendly touchscreen, the RMI 400 will rewrite the book on contaminant detection for bones, metals, glass and stone functionality. The system also offers checkweighing, and has outstanding traceability competencies.

Booth #B-6001

A GRAND PERFORMANCE

PLATFORMER PERFORMER

Making its debut this year is the brand spanking new G. Mondini Platformer (pictured), an inline rigid tray thermoforming machine courtesy of Harpak-ULMA Packaging. Showing a commitment to sustainability, the Platformer helps to reduce packaging material costs by about 38 per cent. In addition, the Platformer also reduces warehousing and labor costs by 66 per cent. The Platformer cuts roll-stock film into rectangular sheets and forms trays from the cut sheets using proprietary technology. The Platformer utilizes 98 per cent of the forming material with only two per cent scrap loss and outputs up to 200 trays per minute, depending on the film thickness and tray design. A believer that more is always better, Harpak-ULMA will also be showcasing a TFS-407 Thermoformer skin-pack machine, a VTI 640 vertical wrapping machine with venturi evacuation assist, and a Pacific Master Bag 55, which comes complete with a Galaxy stretch wrapper and a DIGI labeler.

Booth #B-8107

VC999 Packaging Systems will put the ‘P’ in performance when they put their new p-Series roll stock thermoformer to the test at 2019 IPPE. The latest high-performance technology in the p-Series rollstock machine creates new possibilities for product packaging to make rigid and flexible, plus skin, vacuum and MAP packaging in all-in-one machine without major adjustments. The machine features stainless-steel construction for excellent washdown exceeding IP69 cleanliness standards. All pSeries machine and safety features are controlled by a lightningfast human-machine interface (HMI) that is both user-friendly and flexible.

PUMP IT UP!

To beat the spread of foodborne bugs and bacteria accumulation in the industrial meat processing environments, meat detection specialist Fortress Technology will unveil the Meat Pump Pipeline for the first time at 2019 IPPE. Notably, its IPPE launch will coincide with the new BRC Global Food Safety Standard Issue 8 audits inaugurating in February. Both IP69Krated and USDA-compliant, the Meat Pump Pipeline has been designed to be an aid to meat food processors examining high-viscosity meats to optimize hygiene standards and tackle cross contamination, without compromising metal detection sensitivity. The system has the capability to inspect sausage patties, red meat and poultry, pates, broths, gravies and sauces. Thanks to the absence of obtrusive support frame and external boxes, the Meat Pump Pipeline reduces surface area and makes minimal use of fasteners, meaning that there are fewer places for meat residue, water ingress and bacteria build-up.The metal detector can easily be maneuvered to upstream processing lines where it can be linked firmly and simply to vacuum fillers, as it is not fixed to the floor or ceiling. Also on display at IPPE will be Fortress’ Interceptor metal detector, designed to inspect conductive products including meat, poultry and fish, with the aim of eliminating false rejects.

Booth #B-8427

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PACKAGE PRINTING

Plastube machine operator using the extra-large touchscreen control panel display to make on-the-fly adjustments to the print run being processed on the new state-of-the-art digital inkjet press that arrived to the Granby facility this past summer, providing Plastube with the most technologically advanced tube decorating capabilities in North America.

SQUEEZE TO PLEASE

Venerable Canadian tube manufacturer invests in next-generation digital inkjet printing technology to raise the bar for package decorating excellence

BY GEORGE GUIDONI, EDITOR PHOTOS BY PIERRE LONGTIN

F

or most modern-day consumers, their first packaging experience of the day occurs the moment they brush their teeth after getting out of bed— blissfully oblivious to the fact that the cylindrical package containing their toothpaste of choice is just one of a multitude of other plastic tubes they will use by the day’s end.

Lightweight, leak-proof, durable, portable and non-breakable, plastic tubes may not always get the recognition and acclaim they probably deserve in the grander scheme of packaging’s natural pecking order.

But as with many necessities of life, their mere ubiquity is a worthwhile enough reward in its own right.

Making plastic tubes has certainly provided a rewarding way to earn a living for the hardworking folks at Plastube Inc., Granby, Que.-based designer and manufacturer of high-quality tubes for numerous high-profile clients in the health-and-beauty, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, food and other CPG (consumer packaged goods) industries.

Founded back in 1963, the company has undergone through numerous ownership changes throughout its 55-year history.

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From Left: Plastube president and co-owner Gilles Decelles, vice-president of sales and marketing Steven MacPhail, BDG & Partners managing director Christian Turgeon, and Plastube vice-president of operations Eric Garant sharing a light moment.

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PACKAGE PRINTING However, its most transformational passing of the torch took place relatively recently in 2016, when it was acquired by a Quebec-based consortium comprising private equity funds BDG & Partners Financial Corporation and Fonds de solidarité FTQ, along with private investors Marc Beauchamps and company president Gilles Decelles.

Since taking over, the new owners have initiated a series of extensive capital investments at the leased 85,000-square-foot production facility that employs about 130 full-time people, many of them with over 20 years of experience under the belt.

Totalling about $9 million, the capital upgrades included the purchase of a state-of-the-art, made-inGermany digital inkjet printer that arrived to the facility this past summer.

“We now have the most advanced decorating technology available in the North American market,” Decelles told Canadian Packaging in a recent interview, adding the new $5.5-million press has significantly boosted the plan’ annual manufacturing capacity to about 120 million tubes.

“Our new digital ink jet printer provides us with an impressive amount of innovative print options,” he relates, “along with and the ability to supply customers with much lower order quantities and superior speedto-market capabilities.”

Measuring about 70 feet in length, the new digital inkjet press is a fitting addition to the company’s already extensive production machinery arsenal that includes five plastic extrusion lines; three laminating lines; three offset printing presses; three silkscreen presses; two labelers and two hot-stamping machines.

Because the new digital inkjet press is so new—being only one of two such presses in operation worldwide at the moment—Plastube is currently reluctant to share much detail about the equipment’s manufacturer or exact point of origin.

“Suffice it to say that it is by far the most expensive single piece of equipment that Plastube has ever invested in,” says Plastube’s vice-president of sales and marketing Steven MacPhail.

“What makes it so really special compared to all other tube printing equipment is its unique ability to print directly onto the circular surfaces of the tube after the tube sleeve has already been formed into its cylindrical shape,” MacPhail states.

“This is a big technological advancement for the tube industry.”

While the highly automated machine can achieve throughput speeds of up to 110 tubes per minute, roughly 35 per cent faster than the traditional offset printing equipment, the primary reason for the hefty investment was its unrivalled flexibility in handling small production runs of 2,000 to 3,000 tubes with minimal changeover downtime.

“The press offers immense flexibility,” MacPhail states. “In fact, we can even program a small mini-run within a small run on this press with virtually no interruption, as long as there is no change in the tube’s diameter,” MacPhail extols.

“It’s all done with a flick of a command on the screen,” says MacPhail, noting it only takes four to five seconds for the press to revert back to its original print job.

As MacPhail relates, “We see a lot of our future growth coming from the many new ‘indie’ brands springing up in the marketplace, who simply do not need large quantities of packaging during this entry-

The new $5.5-million digital inkjet press purchased by Plastube from a German manufacturer boasts unique one-of-a-kind capability to print directly onto round surfaces, rather than of flat plastic blanks that are then rolled into cylinders.

Plastube has made a significant financial investment in employee training for all staff working with the new inkjet digital press to ensure the company obtains maximum productivity and efficiency yields from the next-generation technology.

to-market stage.

“With the new press, we are now probably the bestpositioned tube manufacturer to serve this indie brand segment,” MacPhail reasons.

“Not only do we have the most tube structures to offer, we now also have the most advanced decorating technology available to provide them with the small MOQs (minimal order quantities) that they need at an attractive price-point.”

Says MacPhail: “The new press enables us to personalize a lot of packages for these indie brands to the extent that we just could not do before.

“So for someone wanting to hip their products to

multiple nations, I can just run the press and change the language of the text instantaneously right on the machine’s control panel,” MacPhail elaborates.

“Aside for being so flexible, the press offers extraordinary quality consistence, so that there is really no wasted materials in the process,” he says.

“With this press, the first package you print on a run will look as good as the millionth tube coming out.”

As MacPhail points out, plastic tube packaging also happens to be exceptionally well-suited for the burgeoning online shopping e-commerce segments, which many of the aforementioned indie brand startups use to enter the market.

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PACKAGE PRINTING

A close-up of the high-tech componentry assembled inside the state-of-the-art digital inket press that offers unrivalled flexibility for the smaller production runs requiring high levels of customization and personalization on tube packaging.

Plastube plant’s management and engineering team proudly pose in front of their company’s new state-of-the-art digital inkjet press capable of direct-printing up to 110 round plastic tubes per minute.

Cosmetic and personal-care product brands account for the lion’s share of production at the busy Plastube plant that now has manufacturing capacity to produce over 120 million tubes for its loyal and growing customer base.

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“Tubes travel very well compared to many other types of packaging that are susceptible to breaking or coming apart during transit,” MacPhail explains, According to MacPhail, Plastube has only commenced shipping finished tube printed on this new press to customers a few weeks ago, but the early customer feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We are very encouraged,” says MacPhail, praising the exceptionally high print quality enabled by the machine’s 1,200-dpi print resolution.

“We are also sending samples of tubes printer on our new press to many existing and prospective customers,” he says, “and we are confident that we’ll see a positive response.

Boasting the ISO 9001:2008 international standards certification for quality management, the busy Plastube facility operates a three-shift schedule to turn out a comprehensive range of tube sizes and structures for

its clients—exporting about 85 per cent of its output to the U.S. markets.

Because cosmetics and personal-care products account for about 80 per cent of the company’s production volumes, according to Decelles, visual aesthetics and top-quality decorating capabilities are of paramount importance to Pasture’s business.

“We pride ourselves on our decorating abilities,” Decelles states.

“We sell to some very well-know brands of leading CPG companies,” he says, citing Unilever’s TIGI hair-care products, Bayer’s Coppertone sunscreen lotions, Avon cosmetics, and Henkel’s Joico range of professional hair-care products as some of the company’s more prominent long-term clients.

“In addition, we have good knowledge on both the extrusion and lamination processes,” Decelles adds.

“We have a technical leader assigned to each technology, and they are involved with the assessment of any project if required.

“We work closely with our suppliers to keep abreast of the latest decorating trends and changes in plastic technology,” Decelles says, “and we have partnered with our closure suppliers to develop some very unique offerings.”

As Decelles relates, the Plastube facility can run the four most common tube diameter sizes—including 30-mm, 35-mm, 39-mm and 49-mm—and can customize tube length from 75-mm to 215-mm as required.

“We also offer a choice of five different tube sleeve constructions, including monolayer PE (polyethylene), multilayer PE with barrier properties, aluminum barrier laminate, plastic barriers laminate and, most recently, PCR (post-consumer recycled) resin materials,” Decelles relates.

“Offering such a wide variety of tube structure enables us to follow any line extensions or formula changes our clients may launch in the market,” he points out.

“Our facility is very well organized so that we may decorate the tubes with multiple applications without long set-ups, with much shorter lead-time and lower MOQs—something our competitors can’t provide.”

For all the technological investment, Decelles also cites the company’s highly personalized level of customer service as a strong competitive advantage.

“We have has a full team of customer service representatives with years of experience to guide our customers through the process, which is greatly appreciated by our customers,” says Decelles, pointing to the company’s three core guiding values of agility, innovation and reliability.

“Regardless of the industry, be for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, industrial or food, we know that the aesthetics of the tube packaging plays a decisive role in consumers’ choices,” he says, citing the company’s mission statement, ‘Make your brand Shine!’

“Having this new digital press at our plant is a real statement of intent about just how serious we are about making our mission not just a promise, Decelles concludes, “ but an everyday reality for both ourselves and all our loyal customers.

“It will certainly play a big role in all our future successful endeavors.”

SUPPLIERS Plastube Inc.

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PACKAGING FOR FRESNESS

PLENTY OF FISH Seafood processor reels in its biggest catch of the day yet with a reliable modern thermoform packaging solution

BY ALANNA FAIREY, ASSISTANT EDITOR PHOTOS BY PIERRE LONGTIN

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here may be plenty of fish in the sea, but for seafood processing hub Cowie Inc., only the very best that sea has to offer is good enough to end up on its customers’ plates and menus.

Founded in 1985, the lively 45,000-square-foot operation in Granby, Que.—strategically positioned halfway between Montreal and the U.S. border—is a seafood lovers’ dream come true.

Sourcing its raw products predominantly from Canada and Chile, Cowie’s mouth-watering seafood

delicacies include Japanese-style tournedos, salmon meal kits, salmon wellington, bacon-wrapped scallops and, above all, the company’s one-of-a-kind salmon tartare.

Distributed across Canada by leading retailers like Metro, Sobey’s and Loblaw’s, the company’s culinary creations are largely sold as its retail customers’ private-label brands, with about a quarter of its output marketed under the processor’s own Cowie’s banner.

“We have a lot of SKUs (stock-keeping units) because we are producing on-demand, and because we are very flexible in our production,” says Louis

President and general manager of Montreal-based Cowie Inc. Louis Levesque (inset) credits the seafood processing hub’s commitment to producing healthy and ready-to-make fish products for its marketplace success.

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PACKAGING FOR FRESHNESS

Manufactured by Multivac Canada Inc., the Multivac Baseline F 100 thermoforming packaging machine is designed to fit into compact spaces and can also be easily integrated into the facility’s packaging line systems and components.

Customers often buy products like shrimp in bulk and will request Cowie workers to repack their products in 340-gram retail bags, along with the customer’s logo attached to the packaging.

Levesque, president and general manager of Cowie.

As Levesque relates, the company employs about 50 full-time staff over a twoshift schedule throughout most of the year, but it has enough built-in capacity to be a three-shift operation, if and when the market demand requires.

“The production volume is pretty stable over the year,” Levesque says.

“When we do have a peak in business, we can work with a staff agency to increase the number of employees,” he says, “and we can also do weekend shifts if absolutely necessary.”

Boasting a globally-recognized BRC (British Retail Consortium) certification for food safety, the Cowie plant naturally faces a lot of competition in the highly contested food sector, says Levesque, especially from the lower-priced meat protein options like red beef and poultry.

According to Leveque, convincing retail customers that there is a sufficient

market demand for higher-end, value-added premium seafood products is an ongoing challenge.

“The discussion always turns around to pricing at some point,” Levesque says.

“Yes, pricing is is important,” he states, “but buying quality fish is more expensive than many other protein products.”

The Cowie plant currently houses six production lines, according to Levesque, who acknowledges the need to add more automation to the facility’s current production process, as the existing set-up requires a lot of manual labor.

“Operating the machines manually is good because we are flexible,” he says, “but at the same time it’s a challenge because we can not optimize our costs.

“Our vision for the facility is simple—we would like to have three production rooms automated and three operating as ‘flexibles’ for testing new product concepts,” Levesque told Canadian Packaging in a recent interview.

A Cowie Inc. facility employee pre-loading the flexible retail bags with 340-grams of shrimp before running them through the Multivac Baseline F 100, a change of pace from the facility’s days of manually packaging the products themselves.

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Y F

Manufactured to fit into small confined spaces, the Multivac Baseline F 100 is also designed for operators at the facility integrate a packaging system and has been praised for its user-friendly handles and operations.

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CPK_Ezi

PACKAGING FOR FRESNESS “Right now we are defining which products we want to be automated.”

Some of that transition to more automated production has already been set into motion thanks to the plant’s recent work with meat processing and packaging machinery group Multivac Canada Inc. over the last year.

Specifically, the project involved an installation of the Multivac Baseline F 100 entry-level thermoforming packaging machine at the facility on a trial basis.

“We presented a rental program to help Cowie enter the market while minimizing the initial financial investment,” says Richard Tremblay, regional sales manager at Multivac Canada.

“The launch was so successful that Cowie soon purchased the machine outright,” he says, “and they haven’t looked back since.”

Featuring a compact-footprint design to fit into confined spaces, the F 100 & R1xx thermoformer series has the ability to process flexible and rigid film with a thickness of up to 500-µm and a film width up to 459-mm, according to Multivac, while providing a maximum forming depth of up to 130A close up of packaged salmon fillets (pictured above) and shrimp vacuum packed by the Multivac Baseline F 100 thermoforming packaging machine.

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Branding | Packaging | Advertisement | Sales promotion | Marketing | Strategy | Web

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PACKAGING FOR FRESHNESS

The PL200G lidding machine from automation powerhouse Control GMC applies a film lid to a package of salmon tartare prior to distribution.

All the finished retail packages coming off of the Multivac Baseline F 100 are passed through a high-sensitivity Loma IQ2 metal detector to check for any possible contaminants that may have inadvertently made their way into the package before it is deemed ready to be shipped for retail sale.

Cowie Inc. sales representative Alex Breault proudly displays a packaged box of salmon tartare prior to distribution.

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A sampling of Cowie’s retail salmon tartare packages made using controlled atmosphere techniques to extend product shelf-life, avoid freezer burns and guarantee overall product freshness.

mm and a maximum cut-off length of up to 500mm.

Designed for an easy integration with other key packaging line systems and components, the F 100 machine also proudly features a highly sanitary design to help maintain the Cowie plant’s BRC certification compliance.

“With its superior hygienic design, the Multivac F 100 assists in reducing the chance of product contamination for customers,” says Tremblay.

“Moreover, its user-friendly control platform enables Cowie to improve their packaging efficiency and throughput, as well as reducing ‘leaks’ and being able to redeploy their staff to other areas of the business,” Tremblay explains.

“Most importantly, it produces an attractive final package that fits in perfectly with the high-quality seafood products that Cowie produces.”

Levesque full-heartedly agrees.

“We are not producing low-cost types of products: we are producing some of the more highend, value-added products in the seafood industry,” Levesque asserts.

“Hence we often need to explain why our products are typically more expensive,” he relates.

“We are selling quality, so our packaging is often the first point contact with the consumer to convince them that this product also equals quality,” says Levesque, “The thermoforming machine helps to ensure a great quality of packaging.”

Adds Levesque: “All of the staff working around the machine are tasked to ensure that the machine

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PACKAGING FOR FRESNESS always has a product flow running through, and that everyone keeps up with the pace of production.”

According to Levesque, one of the machine’s biggest impacts has been its ability to produce high-quality vacuum-sealed packages of finished premium products and meal kits, which are also vacuum-packed with sauces and vegetables for a full ready-to-eat meal solution.

Having such capabilities enables Cowie to offer its retail customers value-added customized packaging and transformation services for their private-label products to improve their shelf appeal.

“With a conventional retail bag, you have ice build-up after few weeks, so the product quality is not as good anymore,” he says. “But a vacuum bag significantly improves the look of the product, and ensures perfect product quality for a very long period of time.”

In addition, this type of packaging also helps to minimize the handling of the product, which typically arrives in bulk boxes and needs to be re-packed into smaller 350-gram retail bags, with retailers’ stickers attached, before shipping to customer, who then may rebag that product in even smaller portions at their end.

“For years, that’s just the way we were doing it: putting the product in a small plastic bag, and then send it out to customers who would repack it again.”

Having the Multivac machine in place also enables Cowie to highlight its processing capabilities better for the retail customers, according to Levesque, as well as provide more transparent packaging for consumers choosing their private-label products.

“We get very positive response when people understand what they are getting for this price,” Levesque says.

“We offer healthy products with a short list of ingredients, with nothing artificial added in,” he says, “which healthconscious consumers really appreciate.”

Naturally, Multivac’s Tremblay is delighted with Cowie’s positive experience with the F 100 thermoform packaging system so far.

“We remain in constant contact with Cowie for the supply of both top and bottom films that run on the machine,” Tremblay says, “and we routinely sit down with the Cowie team to show them many innovative packaging ideas both for their own brands and those of their retail customers.”

Opened up in 1985, the 45,000-square-foot facility has about 50 full-time employees working a busy two-shift production schedule throughout the year in an effort to process, package and ship healthy and chemical-free ready-to-eat seafood meals.

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PACKAGING FOR DISTRIBUTION

SEALED AND DELIVERED

Canadian packaging machinery manufacturer takes to high seas with a customized heavy-duty shrinkwrap system for a leading global salmon producer

Allen Muresan, director of engineering, R&D and custom products at Plexpack Corp. poses in front of a custom-made Damark shrinkwrapping machine built for a major global salmon processor.

BY GEORGE GUIDONI, EDITOR PHOTOS BY NAOMI HILTZ

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ith an estimated two-thirds of the world’s fish stocks believed to be either fished at their limit or overfished, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), turning to sustainable aquaculture practices like fish farming is as much of an economic necessity as it is a noble conservation effort for countries like Chile.

Ranking as the world’s second-largest producer of salmon after Norway, the country’s exports of this increasingly popular and sought-after source of healthy protein totalled over US$4 billion in 2014, making it the nation’s second most valuable export commodity after copper.

Naturally, serving the country’s primary export markets in the U.S., Japan, China and Europe requires a highly efficient supply chain and distribution network, along with highly durable and reliable packaging machinery to get its valuable product to global customers in pristine condition.

To take care of the packaging side of things, the country’s largest salmon farmer and producer has recently turned to the Toronto-based Plexpack Corp., a

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Located in Toronto’s northeast, the 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility operated by Plexpack Corp. employs about 50 people to produce over 500 high-performance packaging machines per year for end-users in the food, beverage and other consumer goods industries.

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PACKAGING FOR DISTRIBUTION

The fully-automatic Damark B34/180 HS-SS-N4 shrinkwrapping system manufactured by Plexpack is designed to 27 Styrofoam containers, filled with varying loads of fresh salmon and blocks of dry ice to keep the fish fresh during transit, per minute.

well established family-owned business enjoying industry-wide respect for the highquality design and construction of its Emplex range of automatic bag and pouch sealing systems, and the Damark brand of shrinkwrap packaging equipment.

With a proud track record of over 5,000 successful equipment installations worldwide to date, the company’s equipment has been used to tackle a diverse range of tough and unique packaging challenges in the past, but being asked to build a giant custom-made shrinkwrapping line for one of the world’s largest vertically integrated fishing and aquaculture groups was always going to be a truly titanic endeavour in terms of size, scale, scope and strategic importance.

Despite the magnitude of the challenge, the Plexpack team rose to the occasion in every aspect of the project from start to finish—in an eagerly anticipated shipment and startup of a heavy-duty, custom-made Damark B34/180 HS-SS-N4 shrinkwrapping line at the customer’s fish processing facility last month.

Designed specifically for shrinkwrapping of large-sized, high-strength foam cooler containers packed with salmon carcasses of varying weights—headless or with head attached—the entire line was assembled well within the project’s 20-week lead-time.

“This machine is very important for Plexpack because it opens up many new doors to markets where we were not present before,” says Maria Alejandra Casanova, Plexack’s senior director for international sales and marketing manager for the Latin American market.

“Being part of such a big global industry, where Canada is also a major player, is a really big deal for us,” Casanova told Canadian Packaging during a recent visit to Plexpack’s 50-empoyee operation in Toronto’s east end.

“This is our first machine installation for this particular geographic market,” Casa-

The custom-made Damark shrinkwrapping line uses the company’s proprietary continuoussealing technology to wrap the protective polyolefin film layer around each foam container in a highly secure cross-seal pattern to ensure complete coverage around all sides.

Featuring user-friendly machine controls and status indicators (inset) to facilitate simple plug-and-play operation, the custom-made Damark machine wraps the Styrofoam containers with high-strength clear polyolefin film before transferring them into the heat tunnel.

nova relates, “and it was designed for a very specific, highly demanding application.”

As Casanova recounts, Plexpack’s local sales representative in South America was initially approached by the customer about half a year ago.

A few conversations later, Plexpack sent one of its engineers to the costumer’s processing facility to take stock of the available space, environmental conditions, and other factors impacting the proposed project’s feasibility.

CONDITIONAL APPROVAL “Proper machine design requires a full understanding of operating conditions such as temperature, humidity and all other key environmental factors,” says Casanova, holder of chemical engineering degree from the Central University of Venezuela in her native Caracas, and a master’s degree in chemical engineering earned at the Technical University of Munich in Germany.

“It was also important to determine the speed at which the client wanted these boxes processed, as well as providing full enclosure for the contents.

“It is a fully customized machine, designed specifically for this one application,” says Casanova, citing the system’s sanitary stainless-steel construction designed to withstand high humidity and frequent rigorous sanitary washdowns.

Combining proprietary Emplex continuous sealing technology and Damark wrapand-shrink systems, the custom design begins with an infeed conveyor that transfers the loaded foam containers of product—typically packed in 70-, 40- or 35-pound loads—to be wrapped inside a layer of clear high-strength polyolefin film, after which they pass through a high-efficiency heat tunnel to seal the film tightly around the entire container, without any unsightly creases or air bubbles.

After being fully wrapped around all sides with the protective film, the Styrofoam containers make their way into the system’s high-performance heat tunnel to have the film shrunk tightly around all of the container’s contours without any tears or air bubbles.

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PACKAGING FOR DISTRIBUTION

The Damark shrinkwrapping system manufactured for a leading South American salmon producer incorporates leading-edge automation components and controls, such as the high-efficiency servo drives from B&R Industrial Automation (inset), to provide the client with a highly robust and reliable end-of-line packaging solution.

Plexpack’s marketing coordinator Jackie Irvine cites the company’s strong custom engineering capabilities as one of key reasons for its remarkable success in global markets.

“The client specified polyolefin film because it has a very nice finish that compliments the image that the company projects with the logo and graphics displayed on the side panels of the boxes,” Casanova notes.

“Even though the boxes are eventually disposed of, the client wants to maintain good presentation throughout the entire distribution process because it’s very important to them from brand image perspective,” she states.

While product protection and tamper evidence are the primary reasons for applying the shrinkwrap film all around the container, “It also helps to keep the white containers from getting dirty during transit,” Casanova points out.

“It is very important for the client to be assured that the shipment will get to the customer looking in the same condition as it was when it left their processing facility,” she says.

According to Casanova, the high-speed Damark B34/180 HS-SS-N4 system is designed to process up to 27 foam containers per minute—providing an effective alternative to traditional strapping methods used to keep the containers’ lids tightly in place during transit.

“The market has been asking for an extra layer of protection to go along with the traditional strapping methods,” says Casanova, “and we are happy to deliver a solution that fits the client’s needs.

“The client chose to work with us because we could completely customize the machinery to their exact requirements,” she says, “while meeting all the requirements for being water-resistant and food-grade.”

According to Casanova, the entire machine can be typically operated and monitored by just one person.

“There is definitely a big productivity payoff for the client in terms of reducing all the manual labor required to strap and wrap the containers manually,” Casanova points out.

Boasting a NEMA 4 enclosure rating to allow the shrinkwrapper’s use in corrosive and extreme industrial environments, “The entire machine was built from scratch at the Toronto facility,” relates Casanova, noting that Plexpack is always keen on controlling its manufacturing and assembly process from start to finish.

•

Please see a video of the Damark B34/180 HS-SS-N4 shirnkwrapping system in operation on Canadian Packaging TV at www.canadianpackaging.com

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“As much as we can, we always strive to provide the client with a ‘plug-and-play’ solution requiring as little modification at their end as possible,” she notes.

Shipped in a custom-made, giant crate built to keep the machine secure throughout its 45-day sea voyage to South America, the custom shrinkwrapping system is easily the biggest machine Plexpack has built in recent years, Casanova relates.

As such, it will continue to enhance Plexpack’s stellar reputation and hard-earned market share growth that the company has enjoyed in Latin America in recent years.

“We have installed quite a few sealing systems across Latin America, particularly in the bakery and fresh produce industries,” Casanova notes. “We have also sold some bag-closing machines in this market, typically used for producing retail packages of frozen salmon and other fish products for export markets.”

According to Casanova, Latin America currently accounts for over 20 per cent of the company’s total sales, with the U.S. and Canada still remaining the largest markets for Plexpack.

BUILT TO LAST All in all, Plexpack produces round 500 machines over the course of a year at its Toronto facility, with the Emplex brand of bag and pouch sealing systems accounting for the largest share of the facility’s production.

Expertly engineered to provide consistent, strong hermetic seals to keep various types of food products pure, fresh and secure, the Emplex sealers feature flexible modular designs that facilitates seamless connectivity to various optional add-ons such as barcode printers, gas-flushing systems, conveying and robotic handling, among others.

The comprehensive Emplex portfolio of continuous band sealers—ranging from heavy-duty to tabletop models—is available in vertical and horizontal configurations to provide superior performance sealing for a diverse range of product types and sizes packaged in stand-up, gusseted, wicketed, zippered and other bag types.

The Emplex brand portfolio comprises: • a range of vacuum-sealers for extended shelf-life and MAP (modified atmosphere packaging) applications in the food industry; • hot-air sealers for creating strong seals polybags used to pack dusty bulk products such as salt, flour, gravel and powders;

fully-automatic bagging systems to create bags from plain or pre-printed rollstock film by using side-sealing and cross-sealing techniques to form snug-fitting bags around products of any length or shape.

For its part, the Damark product portfolio comprises a comprehensive range of shrinkwrap and bundling solutions covering the whole gamut of packaging applications, including single products, multipacks, bottles and jars, trays and boxes, and all manner of oddshaped and hard-to-wrap products.

Many of these systems incorporate high-precision Damark brand L-Bars and shirk tunnels to provide plug-and-play combination systems designed to facilitate quick changeovers, easy film loading, intuitive controls, and precise seal and wrapping adjustments to create strong, reliable and accurate packaging for all sorts of products.

In addition, Plexpack’s VacPack range of impulse vacuum sealers offers food, electronics and medical product companies a comprehensive offering of robust vacuum and gas-flush packaging solutions—available in floor-stand and tabletop versions—to handle a broad range of package sizes, including those for extrawide and heavy products.

With equipment installations in over 50 countries, Plexpack operates a closely-knit global network of distributors around the world to market its high-performance systems, offering sales and service support in 19 different languages.

Headed by chief executive officer Paul Irivne, the company is a long-time active member of leading industry organizations such as PAC Packaging Consortium, PMMI-The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA)—all of which strongly enhances its solid reputation as an elite Canadian machine-builder with world-class manufacturing competence and mindset.

As Casanova lightheartedly sums up: “From the beginning, our customer was very excited about getting its hands on the system we agreed to build for them— sort of like a bear waiting for the salmon to rise from the water.

“I am sure this will be the beginning of a very happy business relationship.”

SUPPLIERS Plexpack Corp.

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PEOPLE n Global packaging products group Amcor Limited of Melbourne, Australia, has appointed Eric Roegner as Roegner President of the company’s Amcor Rigid Plastics business, based in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Byström

n ESKO, leading prepress software systems designer headquartered in Ghent, Belgium, has appointed Mattias Byström as company president.

n Leading pallet pool operator CHEP USA of Atlanta, Ga., has appointed Jake Gilene as senior vice-president of sales and customer service.

Gilene

n Flexible packaging products converter Flexible Pack of Quincy, Ma., has appointed Nicole Laroche as business development executive.

Laroche

n Jackie Irvine, marketing manager of Toronto-based packaging equipment manufacturer Plexpack Corp., had been named as one of 10 recipients of the inaugural Irvine On the Rise Awards of the Emerging Leaders Committee of PMMIThe Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. n IFCO, Tampa, Fla.-headquartered distributor of reusable plastic shipping containers for the fresh produce industries, has appointed Dan Martin as President of IFCO North America. n Hartland, Wis.headquartered industrial conveying systems manufacturer Dorner Mfg. Corp. has appointed Scott Kelley Kelley as vice-president of sales for U.S. operations; and Carlos Cassaretto as sales manager for the company’s Dorner Latin America Cassaretto business unit.

EVENTS 2019

Feb. 12-14

Jan. 16-17

San Francisco, Ca.:Sustainable Foods Summit,international sustainability conference by Ecovia Intelligence. At the Hilton San Francisco Financial District. To register, go to: www.sustainablefoodssummit.com

Jan. 23-24

Atlanta, Ga.: International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), international meat and poultry industries trade show and conference by the North American Meat Institute (NAMI). At the Georgia World Congress Center. To register, go to: www.ippexpo.org

Feb. 27-28

Barcelona, Spain: Maximizing Propylene Yields 2019, global summit by ACI (Europe). To register, go to: www.wplgroup.com/aci/event/

Rotterdam, The Netherlands: European Food & Beverage Plastic Packaging, conference and exhibition by ACI (Europe). To register, go to: www.wplgroup.com/aci/event/

Jan. 27-30

Feb. 27-28

Cologne, Germany: ProSweets Cologne 2019, international supplier trade show for the sweets and snacks industry by Koelnmesse. At Koelnmesse fairgrounds. To register, go to: www.prosweets-cologne.com

Jan. 29 – Feb. 1

Moscow, Russia: Upakovka 2019 packaging technologies exhibition and Interplastica 2019 international plastics and rubber exhibition by Messe Düsseldorf GmbH. Both at AO Expocenter Krasnaja Presnja exhibition centre. To register, go to: www.upakovka-tradefair.com or: www.interplastica.de

Jan. 30-31

Paris, France: ADF & PCD Paris 2019, comprising Aersosol Dispensing Forum (ADF) and Packaging of Perfume Cosmetics & Design (PCD) conferences. Both by Easyfairs Oriex. At Parc des Expositions, Porte de Versaille. To register, go to: www.easyfairs.com

Feb. 4-6

Las Vegas, Nev.: The Packaging Conference. By The Packaging Conference LLC. At Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas.

To register, go to: www.thepackagingconference.com

Feb. 5-7

Coral Springs, Fla.: Polyethylene Films 2019, conference

by Applied Marketing Information LLC (AMI). At the Ft. Lauderdale Marriott Coral Springs Golf Resort. To register, go to: www.ami.international

Los Angeles: Luxe Pack Los Angeles, luxury products packaging exhibition. At Barker Hangar, Santa Monica.

To register, go to: www.luxepack.com

Feb. 27-28

Birmingham, England: Packaging Innovations, Empack and Label&Print exhibitions by Easyfairs. All at the National Exhibition Centre. To register, go to: www.easyfairs.com

Feb. 28 – March 2

Bangalore, India: drink technology India, beverage, dairy and liquid food industries trade show by Messe München GmbH. To register, go to: www.messe-muenchen.de

March 4-6

Guangzhou, China: Sino-Pack 2019, China international exhibition of packaging machinery and materials by Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd. Concurrently with Sino-Label 2019 exhibition. Both at China Import and Export Fair Complex. To register, go to: www.ChinaSinoPack.com

March 17-19

Boston, Ma.: Seafood Expo North America seafood marketing exhibition, jointly with Seafood Processing North America. Both at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. To register, go to: www.seafoodexpo.com/north-america

18_2174_CN PCKG_DEC_CAN Mod: October 24, 2018 9:48 AM Print: 11/19/18 2:41:56 PM page 1 v7

π OVER 2,100 LABEL PRODUCTS IN STOCK

n Maxcess International, Inc., Oklahoma City, Okla.-based manufacturer of controls and other automation technologies for web handling process Quinn applications, has appointed applications, has named Tim Quinn as vice-president of global supply chain. n Birmingham, Ala.–based Motion Industries, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Company, has appointed Hal Midkiff Midkiff as product sales manager for process pumps and equipment.

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PACKAGING HITS ALL FESTIVE HIGH NOTES

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ith the holiday season upon us it is the time for gift-giving for family, friends, teachers, coaches, co-workers and all those random gift exchanges where cute packaging is the order of the day.

What says holiday parties more the cookies in cookie tins? This gift may mimic the tradition of the Christmas cookie tin, but in this case of edible treats are replaced with they fizzy bath bombs!

This Fizzy Bath Bomb Gift Set from Ginger Lilly Farms contains six separate three-ounce bath bombs in different holiday “f lavors” in a festive tin.

The lid contains a plastic see-through window so you can see the colourful treats enclosed. Each bath bomb is individually wrapped with colourful paper and labeled. A cardboard divider holds each ball neatly nestled in a base of shredded paper to ensure that the recipient receives their gift whole. The underside of the tin clearly lists the ingredients for each f lavor of bath bomb, so there are no unexpected surprises.

The Bone Rattler Hot Sauce by Modern Gourmet Foods of Irvine, Ca., may be better suited for Halloween, but I think it’s a perfect gift for the hot sauce lover in your life any tine of the year! Packaged in a 450-ml glass skull, it immediately leapt off the shelf at me as I strolled by. Once the hot sauce is consumed, it well definitely make a great drinking vessel or decoration for next October’s Halloween festivities. The label tied to the lid is simple and eye-catching, with a recipe for a wicked Deadly Bloody Mary cocktail printed on the backside.

mation on the all-natural ingredient list and directions for use. All in all, this is a perfect ‘zero waste’ gift for anyone on your list.

The Cuddle Critters collection of stuffed animals from the Mississauga, Ont.-based TheraWell certainly makes bedtime more fun for the little children, and the Aromatherapy Eye Mask— packaged in a cardboard box decorated with a theme that matches the critter mask inside—is a wonderful little contraption for getting kids to snoozeville in a hurry.

For the Hugo the Shark set, the eye mask comes in a seashell-themed box with a colorful rope for better product placement in store— ensures the lightweight boxes aren’t falling all over store shelves. According to TheraWell, the enclosed eye mask is made with lavender, an herb well-known for relaxation and sleep—an added bonus for parents who just want their kids to go to sleep.

PHOTOS BY SHANNON KAUPP

CHECKOUT SHANNON KAUPP

T I

While Tide Pods may not be a holiday product per se, it can come in exceptionally handy during the holiday season, with all its little spills, drops and other accidental mishaps leaving stains all over one’s clothes, bedding, etc.. Now made safer than ever with the new Child Guard Zipper resealable closure running the full width of the stand-up pouch along the top, the one-kilogram pouch features clearly printed and illustrates instructions on how to activate the closure properly to obtain the contents—using a special red plastic pull tab on top—although it does take a little practice before getting full hang of it, which is precisely the point of this exceptionally thoughtful and well-designed safety feature.

Shannon Kaupp is a licensed doctor of naturopathic medicine living in Toronto.

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX For the eco-friendly person on your list, Plant Life Natural Body Care has an aromatherapy soap & scrub combo comprising 12 ounces of bar soap and an exfoliating soap bag. The company’s packaging is faithfully true to its name: the soap is packaged in a small burlap bag, stamped with the company’s name and logo, and the attached soap bag is made of unbleached natural fibres. The red bow tying it all together is a nice subtle nod to the festive season. The attached cardstock label provides infor-

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Engage Technologies Corporation (Squid Ink)...................................................20 ezi studios....................................................29 Fortress Technology Inc.................................6 Harlund Industries Ltd...................................5 Heat and Control............................................7 Plan Automation............................................4 Plan Automation....................................18, 19 Plastube........................................................2

Regal Beloit America, Inc.............................15 Reiser / Robert Reiser & Co..........................22 Schubert Packaging Machines................... IBC Thermo Fisher Scientific...............................31 Uline Canada Corporation............................35 Veritiv Canada, Inc....................................OBC Videojet Canada.............................................1

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Weber, Inc.....................................................8 Weighpack Systems Inc............................. IFC

CANADIAN PACKAGING • DECEMBER 2018

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EN_Schube CPK_Sch

PHOTOS BY SHANNON KAUPP

THE NEW LIGHTLINE SERIES: IT’S TIME TO EASE INTO THE FUTURE.

Easy ordering, short delivery times and totally affordable: with Schubert’s new lightline machine series, you’ll capitalize on countless benefits in no time at all. Take advantage of our expertise and our experience – pre-configured and ready to go. lightline flow packer, lightline carton packer, lightline picker line www.schubert-na.com

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