Packaging World August 2020

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AUG2020 packworld.com

24 SPECIAL REPORT

Robotic Applications Proliferate in Packaging 20

Brands Reevaluate Racially Charged Mascots 36

One Line for Glass and Plastic in Eight Sizes 44

COVID-19 Survey Update: Packaging for the ‘New Normal’ 48

Streamlined E-comm Cleaner Packs Say Less is More

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New robotics technology is enabling CPG companies to meet changing consumer shopping behavior, including mass customization for omnichannel applications, and changing market conditions that require greater competitiveness and cost efficiency. Shown is new technology from Gerhard Schubert GmbH, its T5 pick-and-place delta robot with a fifth axis that allows for high performance in small spaces.

36

FEATURES 24 COVER STORY Robots Drive the Manufacturing Revolution

44 SPECIAL REPORT Packagers Stay the COVID-19 Course

New innovations in robotics for the packaging industry enable greater flexibility, efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness for those CPGs looking to automate a range of applications.

Packaging professionals adjusted early to the ‘new normal’ of a pandemic and have been maintaining for months now, a fresh Packaging World survey reveals. Three months on from our first survey, we see improvements in CAPEX freedom and a reduction in hiring freezes.

36 A Line Designed for Container Variety 48

When your growing contract packaging business has you using one line for filling glass and plastic in eight sizes and applying both lug and CT caps, that line had better be versatile.

48 E-COMMERCE Packaging Carries Heavy Load for E-Comm Brand Extension E-commerce retailer Truman’s optimizes packaging to serve the sometimes competing purposes of securing product, making a good first impression, and staying sustainable.

42 AUTOMATION End-of-line Specialist Moves Toward Condition Monitoring Fallas Automation places an even greater emphasis on integrating early warning systems for predictive maintenance since COVID-19 set in.

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DEPARTMENTS 18

packworld.com VIDEO

COLUMNS

5G, Augmented Reality, and Virtual FATs

7 Lead Off 20 The Big Picture 22 Sustainable Packaging 56 Looking Forward

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NEWS/EVENTS

8 News 16 Quotables/By the Numbers 53 Industry Watch 22

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Sustainable Labels on Neolithic Water

INTERVIEW

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18 First Person PRODUCTS

43 Automation Technology 54 Technology

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Packaging Robotics Playbook

ADVERTISING

55 Advertiser Index

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EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Aladin Alkhawam Director, Packaging Operations, Par Pharmaceutical Jan Brücklmeier Technical Application Group Packaging Technology Expert, Nestlé David France Packaging Research Fellow, Conagra Foods Patrick Keenan R&D Packaging Engineer, General Mills/Annie’s Organic Snacks Mike Marcinkowski Principal Engineer, Keurig Green Mountain Paul Schaum Chief Operations Officer, Pretzels Inc. David Smith, PhD Principal, David S. Smith & Associates Brian Stepowany Packaging R&D, Senior Manager, B&G Foods, Inc. Jasmine Sutherland President, Texas Food Solutions; Vice President, Perfect Fit Meals Robert Weick President, Packaging Business Solutions, LLC

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Connect with us:

www.packworld.com/leaders

Packaging World® (ISSN # 1073-7367) is a registered trademark of PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. Packaging World® is published monthly by PMMI with its publishing office, PMMI Media Group, located at 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611; 312.222.1010; Fax: 312.222.1310. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL, and additional mailing offices. Copyright 2020 by PMMI. All rights reserved. Materials in this publication must not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher. Applications for a free subscription may be made online at www.packworld.com/subscribe. Paid subscription rates per year are $200 in the U.S., $285 Canada and Mexico by surface mail; $475 Europe, $715 Far East and Australia by air mail. Single copy price in U.S. is $20. To subscribe or manage your subscription to Packaging World, visit Packworld.com/subscribe. Free digital edition available to qualified individuals outside the United States. POSTMASTER; Send address changes to Packaging World®, 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611. PRINTED IN USA by Quad. The opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of PMMI. Comments, questions and letters to the editor are welcome and can be sent to: editors@packworld.com. Mailing List: We make a portion of our mailing list available to reputable firms. If you would prefer that we don’t include your name, please write us at the Chicago, IL address.

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EDITORIAL

PMMI MEDIA GROUP

Matt Reynolds Editor Patrick Reynolds Vice President, Editor Emeritus @Packcentric Iris Zavala Managing Editor Anne Marie Mohan Senior Editor @PackagingTrends Aaron Hand Editor-at-Large Jim Chrzan Vice President, Content and Brand Strategy Kim Overstreet Content Strategist, Alignment Eric F. Greenberg, Ben Miyares, Sterling Anthony Contributing Editors

Joseph Angel President, Publisher Susan DaMario Director, Marketing Amber Miller Senior Marketing Manager Bea Greany Brand Operations Manager Sarah Loeffler Director, Media Innovation Janet Fabiano Financial Services Manager Lloyd Ferguson Founding Partner

ART David Bacho Creative Director Packaging World • PMMI Media Group

AUDIENCE & DIGITAL David Newcorn Senior Vice President, Digital and Data Elizabeth Kachoris Senior Director, Digital and Data Jen Krepelka Director, Websites & Digital Design Strategy

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7

LEAD OFF

VISION-GUIDED

Volatility Breeds Leaps Forward I may have mentioned it here before, but one of the advantages of reading every issue of Packaging World from cover to cover is the speed at which I can pick up on trends or recurring themes.

Another theme walloped me over the head this month, and though it’s found in several of the stories within, it’s most succinctly—albeit narrowly for my purposes—summarized on page 24 in Anne Marie Mohan’s expansive Robotics Special Report.

Robert McElmurry, Business Development Manager for Fanuc Fulfillment Group, advises that “[when it comes to e-comm packaging capabilities] the time is now.” Presenting during a Fanuc webinar titled “E-Commerce Fulfillment Solutions,” McElmurry said, “We’re seeing a ton of investment in this space, especially given current events, things have really transitioned at a rapid pace. … if you’re not acting in this space, or at least thinking about how you’re going to automate robotically, it probably means you’re behind, and it’s time to get started.”

E-commerce is naturally a charged topic at this pandemic moment, where the omnichannel is roiling and its constituent parts—retail, foodservice, institutions, and e-comm among them— are either adding or losing share. The new landscape on the other side of COVID-19 will require refitting, investment, and rethinking to match and serve the new omnichannel mix.

But e-comm is just one example of a larger sense among many brands that there’s fresh, previously unattainable opportunity to be found in the volatile marketplace we have today. As my PMG colleague (and apparent reincarnated California gold rush 49er) Jim Chrzan likes to say, “there’s gold in them thar’ hills.”

The sharp Michigan minds at brand packaging consultancy PTIS expand the range of this sentiment and spill an entire page of ink on where to find “good VUCA” (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity). “Packaging is in a transformational state, driving disruptive innovation across the industry,” they begin on page 56, following with all of the platforms upon which this disruptive innovation can be founded.

So experts agree that there’s a chance for innovative, agile brands to be first movers on infrastructure, brand positioning, and hiring practices that will give them an advantageous spot in this fabled (and by now, cliché) ‘new normal.’ And are there resources for this kind of reinvention in such a high VUCA environment?

According to responses from our second survey surrounding packaging in the COVID-19 era, there seem to be. As charts and commentary on page 44 indicate, much of the uncertainty that clouded crystal balls in March, at the time of our first survey, has cleared by June. When asked in March about their expectations for changes in capital buying due to the pandemic, 57% said it was too early to tell. That figure dropped by more than 20 percentage points to 36% in June, indicating that brands and packagers are really getting their footing in the new environment and are better equipped to make predictions. Also in March, 17% of respondents expected CAPEX to stay YoY neutral, and a meager 5% expected there to be an increase in expenditure. Those figures vaulted to 27% and 18% respectively by the time we asked again in June, with less than one in five brand respondents predicting that CAPEX will actually shrink in the coming year. This is an optimistic sign for transformational technology and machinery investments. And despite the possible economic fallout from the pandemic chaos, only a third of brands responding in June report a hiring freeze—half of respondents were under a hiring freeze back in March.

Taken together, the factors and expert opinions above indicate that there’s real opportunity once we’re through the looking glass. Forward-thinking brands have already begun planning and are laying the necessary foundation, via infrastructure, people, and technology, for what’s to come. Out of the pandemic crucible might come accelerated change, and revolution instead of incremental evolution. And as Fanuc’s McElmurry says above, if you aren’t already laying the groundwork, you may have to play catch-up. PW mreynolds@pmmimediagroup.com

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NEWS

Reduced Material E-comm Play for Henkel Henkel’s organic-certified beauty brand N.A.E. (Naturale Antica Erboristeria) is piloting an e-commerce project in cooperation with Amazon. With reduced packaging material and optimized supply chain methods, the brand says the program further enhances its commitment to sustainability. Naturale Antica Erboristeria is Italian for “natural traditional herbalism.” At least 97% of the ingredients are natural in origin, including lemon, mandarin, thyme, grape-seed oil, and rosemary. With its plant-based tubes and recycled PET bottles used in other of its products, the brand says it is a frontrunner in sustainability.

In cooperation with Amazon, the brand is now launching a plasticfree product packaging system. The N.A.E. Solids Box, a ship-ready carton is composed of printed E flute corrugated with Kraftliner cardstock, and with an inlay of the same material to hold and display the product. Each box contains a solid face, body, and shampoo bar, as well as a reusable cloth pouch for the soaps. The pouch is unique to the e-comm product package and is designed to complement the soaps as a complete gift pack.

“We are very pleased that we were able to realize this project together with our partner Mondi,” says Euan Dykes, Packaging Engineer at Henkel Beauty Care. “The pandemic has presented us with challenges, but we were nevertheless able to develop the new packaging for N.A.E. in a timely fashion. We were very satisfied with the flexible and professional cooperation with Mondi.”

In the Solids Box, the three bars come “naked,” without any additional plastic film encasing them. By printing instructions, ingredients, and all other messaging on the corrugated carton itself, there’s no need for an additional pamphlet, booklet, or insert, thus saving paper. The pack is double-sided printed with green over a white and the inlay is single printed in green only.

Check out page 48 to see a similar treatment of a streamlined e-comm shipper.

“Both the box and the inlay are made from the same E flute grade,” says Dykes. “Any thicker grade would be challenging to fold, therefore we decided on this solution. The flat boxes are printed and die-cut at Mondi and shipped to local level co-packers, where the boxes are hand folded, products hand placed, paper tape sealed, and placed on a pallet ready to ship. All boxes are manually folded and held together with tangs and cutouts based on the Fefco 0427 design and Mondi’s expert design team.

A paper tape is used to seal the box providing tamper evidence for the satisfaction of our end consumer.”

Packaging material is being reduced outside the box as well. The corrugated packs are ready for shipment without using any secondary packaging from Amazon, so it’s deemed SIOC-ready (ships in own container).

The corrugated is entirely Forest Security Council (FSC)-certified.

Only an address label, to be affixed by Amazon, is needed so that the cases, which fit into any regular mailbox, are ready to be sent to consumers. Plus, the packaging is considered “frustration-free” meaning that it is easy to handle and–more importantly–that all its materials are 100% recyclable. The plastic-free packaging and water-reduced formulas of the solids make this project a great example of accelerating sustainability, the company says. —Matt Reynolds

Conducting Virtual FATs: Brand-New Guidance Addresses Critical Need During COVID-19 Pandemic The OpX Leadership Network released best practices and leadership guidelines for executing virtual factory acceptance tests (vFATs), to address the changing operational landscape brought on by COVID-19.

This addendum to the existing Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) work product tackles how to most effectively use communication and connection technologies to allow consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to interact remotely with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

“The pandemic has required new methods be established for executing FATs, which are likely to become standard procedures in the post-pandemic ways of working. This document provides the guidance both CPGs and OEMs need to successfully implement these new processes,” says Bryan Griffen, Director of Industry Services, PMMI. “The OpX Leadership Network’s unique perspective blending CPG and OEM input makes these best practices

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critical learning for anyone interested in virtual FAT options.”

The OpX Leadership Network was founded in 2011 by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, to ensure CPG companies and OEMs are well-connected and wellprepared to solve common operational challenges, make smarter decisions and achieve operational excellence.

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Ice Age-Era Water Taps Mother Nature for Product, Packaging Ice Age Water Ltd. of Heinola, Finland, sells its unique natural mineral water sourced from the last Ice Age under the Vellamo brand. With the product awash in sustainability—the 10,000-yearold glacier water adheres to the strict standards required for an

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“Vellamo is one of Mother Nature’s perfect creations,” says Ice Age Water CEO Petteri Ahonen. “We have taken great measures to ensure our unique taste, purity, and sustainability for the health of our customers and planet by achieving a carbon-neutral footprint across production, packaging, and logistics.”

Vellamo, its name pronounced “vel-emo” and originating from the goddess spirit of water in Finnish mythology, uses packaging that conjures the water’s origins while

Watch a video on Vellamo and its packaging at: pwgo.to/5673 using materials—glass and wood—that come from equally natural sources.

The Scandinavian-design glass bottle is sculpted to look like a block of ice, with a crisp blue color that invokes the blue of the glaciers from which the water is sourced.

According to the company, “The flowing water element from the top to the bottom tells how the water ran through the glacier all the way to the Nordic soil. When you place Vellamo face down on her side, you can find the canyon, her home.”

The label material used for the bottle is where innovation really comes into play though. The material, Forest Film PP™ from UPM Raflatac, is “the world’s first and only” polypropylene plastic label material, says the supplier. Forest Film PP is constructed from UPM BioVerno naphtha, a 100% wood-based solution made from crude tall oil, a residue of the pulp production process originating from sustainably managed forests. According to UPM Raflatac, the label material has the same quality and properties as traditional PP labels.

The label offers another aspect of transparency as well. It features UPM Raflatac’s RafMore, a smart label solution that allows consumers to scan the label unique to every Vellamo bottle to access real-time product lifecycle and carbon footprint data.

Vellamo is available in 50- and 75-mL bottles in the U.S., where it launched in February 2020, as well as in Finland and Canada.

—Anne Marie Mohan

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OMAC To Develop Remote Interface Guidelines OMAC, The Organization for Machine Automation and Control, has formed a workgroup to be comprised of end users and service providers to create a comprehensive best-practices handbook for remote monitoring services.

The new workgroup focuses on the procedures of timing, safety and security when allowing inbound connections that link to specific ma-

chines and automation systems. This work is important because inbound connections are more complex and hold more risk than the more common outbound connections.

Many automation vendors, system integrators, device suppliers, and OEMs are promoting remotely managed services for their equipment.

Adoption of remote access by manufacturers started slowly but growth has been recently accelerated by both digital transformation as well as the recent COVID-19 pandemic. With the increasing number of manufacturing companies allowing remote access to the machines and automation systems on the plant floor, OMAC believes a collaborative review is needed to create a set of guidelines that will help companies on all sides.

“The OpX Leadership Network has published an outstanding work product outlining the pros and cons of various methods for achieving remote equipment access. These methods define how machine builders can securely access information on their machines through their customer’s firewall,” says Bryan Griffen, PMMI’s Director, Industry Services. “OMAC is now taking that access a step further to define the rules and best practices around what activities are allowed once the connection is made through the firewall. This guidance will help to ensure operator safety, maintain data security and secure intellectual property.”

OMAC will enlist the support of its members to join the workgroup and will be polling a wider group of manufacturing companies, equipment suppliers, and service providers to gain insight on the topic. OMAC has selected member ei3 who has over 20 years of experience in remote connectivity to head up the workgroup.

Representing ei3 as the workgroup’s team leader is Mark Fondl who brings his more than 40 years of experience in industrial automation and networking. The workgroup Fondl puts together will create documentation to increase awareness of the various requirements of automation and control systems, as well as best practices for safe and secure remote access and monitoring.

Additionally, the workgroup will: • Benchmark the current environment for remote connectivity • Segment the various activities using remote connectivity • Establish safety and security standards for interfacing with control systems • Define organizational relationships and responsibilities • Create standards for multi-vendor interactions —Jim Chrzan

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Moxie Cannabis Makes Move from Plastic to Paper—at a Cost Long Beach, Calif.-based Moxie, the first licensed commercial cannabis business in that state, has made a move to switch from plastic packaging to paper for the bulk of it cannabis products, despite having to pay more for the materials. “The packaging is more costly than the previous packaging we had,” confirms Moxie Chief Marketing Officer Tessa Adams, “but environmental sustainability is more important than profits.

“At Moxie, we feel it’s our duty to protect the Earth, which provides us the life we all enjoy.

Sustainability is an essential part of our business, and we strive to be the leaders in these efforts.”

Moxie is certainly a leader in other business aspects. Its products are distributed in more than 350 dispensaries across seven states, including Arizona, Florida, Michigan Nevada, and Pennsylvania, in addition to California. It also has a retail license in Utah. Its products are also sold online through its delivery service in Southern California. Its cannabis products are the result of proprietary formulas and an extensive genetic library of more than 300 strains, and include concentrates, flower, vape cartridges, and edibles, as well as CBD vapes, topicals, and sublinguals.

As regards sustainability, Moxie’s vision is to become the first fully-integrated, carbon-negative cannabis company. Its move to paper is part of that initiative. Replacing plastic and paper sleeves for all of its products (with a few exceptions), the company now uses cartons made from paperboard that is 100%-recyclable, Forest Stewardship Council-certified, and chlorine-free. For its MX line of live resin products, Moxie uses cardstock.

For its edibles, the company is in the process of moving products from tins to recyclable bags.

Says Adams, environmental sustainability, including consumers’ growing awareness around it, was the only consideration in making the switch. “Things such as cost or supply hurdles were secondary because without caring for the Earth, we won’t even be in a position to make a choice like that.

“Cannabis consumers are increasingly paying attention to the sustainability practices that producers engage in, and it’s been an emerging hot topic over the past months. We feel that

consumers should hold companies accountable for sustainable practices, and that it should be an industry norm. Consumers, not just in cannabis, are becoming aware of the purchasing power they hold, and we think this will be an increasingly important piece for companies to pay attention to.” —Anne Marie Mohan

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Bacardi Personalizes Bottles with Direct Digital Print digital print technology comes from Dekron.

Simone Kockelmann, Customer Marketing Manager BACARDí Europe, says, “Consumers are looking for personalized brand experiences. The digitally printed bottle, together with our AR experience and the Snapchat lens, transport the user to the homeland of BACARDÍ, the shores of the Caribbean. We previously used sleeves for our limited edition bottles, but O-I : EXPRESSIONS gives a much improved look and feel to the packaging and is a more sustainable alternative.”

The brand’s Caribbean spirit is the heart of the promotion, starting with the bottle’s graphic design. On the shelf, the bottle stands out through its 360° full-color print of palm leaves and tropical flowers. Through the selective application of design elements in O-I : EXPRESSIONS RELIEF, a tactile effect was added to the BACARDÍ bat motif and the brand name along with selected leaves and flowers. An innovative Augmented Reality (AR) experience and a Snapchat lens can be unlocked via the Snapcode on the bottle. This is the first time BACARDÍ has offered an AR experience through Snapchat and the first time it has used O-I: EXPRESSIONS. Replacing the sleeve with direct-to-bottle digital printing that relies on organic inks improves the environmental footprint of the product and reduces its use of plastic. The limited edition launched on July 1 in Austria, Italy, and Denmark. A second wave for Germany, Ireland, Croatia, Romania, and Slovakia follows in autumn to The simplicity of pneumatics combined with the advantages of capitalize on the vital pre-Christmas sales period. electric automation Melianthe Leeman, Global Innovation Leader for O-I, says, “O-I : EXPRESSIONS has been The Simplifi enthusiastically embraced by the wine industry positions with a reduced number of parameters. and we were confident that it was an equally de• Operation without any software based on the plug and work principle sirable solution for spirits brands. The BACARDÍ • Easy and quick commissioning without a computer, software or other accessories rum limited edition is a great demonstration of • Connection via IO-Link for enhanced functionality including diagnostics how limited editions are increasingly important • Simple control with 2 digital inputs for basic functions or enhanced control with in maintaining brand relevance with consumers.

IO-Link for additional functions We are working with the brand and several other spirits producers on a range of projects which will further demonstrate the appeal of our latestage differentiation and customization services.”

—Pat Reynolds BACARDÍ rum, the number one rum in Europe, has launched a limited-edition glass bottle that uses direct digital printing to bring an Augmented Reality experience to consumers.

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Lawn & Garden Brand Walks the Walk with Bio-based Pouch Espoma Organic, a lawn and garden brand based in Millville, N.J., continues to showcase its commitment to the environment by replacing fossil-fuel-derived polymers in their packaging with more sustainable alternatives.

In response to the company’s mission to “develop the finest organic gardening products that work in harmony with nature, grow beautiful gardens, and make a greener world for the future,” it partnered with Amcor to innovate more sustainable packaging and launch a new biobased polymer package. The polyethylene film contains 25% bio-based material, derived, in this case, from sugar cane.

“Espoma’s values are strongly rooted in responsibility to the environment and sustainability. Using a renewable and sustainable source of plastic allows us to continue our long-standing tradition of industry leading innovation while reducing our carbon footprint,” says Jeremy Brunner, General Manager of Espoma Organic.

Amcor Flexibles Research and Development Senior Director Priscila Troian explains that the choice is both better for the planet and matters to consumers.

“We know consumers increasingly are paying attention to product packaging as they make purchasing decisions,” says Troian. “The use of renewable materials in packaging offers brands a new way to stand out on store

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shelves while driving down the total carbon footprint of their products.”

Amcor continues to develop and use bio-based materials to reduce reliance on fossil-fuel-derived plastic packaging. Its bio-based PE solution is recycle-ready and may be recycled at store drop off locations when clean and dry. It also delivers similar technical properties and product protection to traditional plastics while lowering carbon emissions.

In addition to packaging lawn and garden products, applications for the film include pet care products, wipes, confectionary, and more. The bio-based resin is produced from annually renewable sugar-cane feedstock, diminishing dependency on fossil resources and carbon footprint.

—Matt Reynolds

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BY THE NUMBERS

20X

The number of times more sanitizer produced by Lysol maker Reckitt Benckiser in July 2020 versus July 2019; it adds that sales for its disinfectant products rose 50% YOY in Q1-20

24

The number of hours per day all of McCormick & Co.’s plants will be running by year-end 2020 to handle increased demand for its products, brought on by an uptick in home cooking resulting from the pandemic

52%

The percentage of people who will pay extra for products if they like the packaging, according to DesignRush, a B2B marketplace connecting brands with agencies

$ 102.62 billion The projected value of the global packaging automation market by 2026, up from $51.58 billion in 2018, growing at a CAGR of 8.94% from 2019 to 2026, according to a study from Verified Market Research

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QUOTABLES

“We acknowledge the brand [Aunt Jemima] has not progressed enough to appropriately reflect the confidence, warmth and dignity that we would like it to stand for today. We are starting by removing the image and changing the name. We will continue the conversation by gathering diverse perspectives from both our organization and the Black community to further evolve the brand and make it one everyone can be proud to have in their pantry.”

–Kristin Kroepfl, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Quaker Foods North America, in a statement to NBC News and reported in an article, “Aunt Jemima to remove image from packaging and rename brand,” on Today.com

“We expect many consumer habits formed during the pandemic, like cooking and at-home eating, to continue in a post-pandemic world. Meal kits offer a more convenient, sustainable and affordable dinner solution for home-cooked meals than a supermarket can, and we expect meal kits to continue filling this need for fresh ingredients delivered to your doorstep.”

–A spokesperson for meal kit company HelloFresh in an article from SmartBrief.com, “Meal kit industry shines during pandemic”

“In the months ahead, we expect to see value brands in the long tail of the beer market be divested in the same way that Constellation Brands is selling off a swathe of its low-priority, sub-premium wines to E&J Gallo. … It has become a truism of late that the coronavirus is accelerating existing trends. In beer, premiumization—which has already been barreling along for a while in beverages—is about to get supercharged.”

–Olly Wehring, Managing Editor of GlobalData, in a press release, “Carlsberg’s H1 Sales Brewers should offload value assets - GlobalData Comment”

“Our research shows that 1 in 5 Americans have used CBD, which demonstrates a major jump in consumer interest in the sector. While this phenomena is taking root across many other regions such as Europe and Latin America, the United States continues to represent the largest CBD market. Understanding its CBD consumers is therefore a priority for enterprises within both the legal cannabis industry and a multitude of mature sectors such as Food & Beverage or Health & Beauty.”

–Giadha Aguirre de Carcer, founder and CEO of New Frontier Data, in an article, “86% of Consumers Know of CBD, Survey Finds,” from Cannabis Products, a supplement to Prepared Foods and Food Engineering

7/21/20 2:42 PM

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7/21/20 2:44 PM

18 PW AUG2020

FIRST PERSON

Absolut Sustainability Karin Ekroth, Senior Manager of Communications & Sustainability for The Absolut Company, shares how the world’s sixth-largest international spirits brand—with production of nearly 26 million gallons in fiscal year 2018/19—is working toward an entirely circular packaging process by 2040.

Packaging World:

Does The Absolut Company’s sustainability goals mirror those of its parent company, Pernod Ricard, or have you tailored them specifically for the brands under Absolut?

Karin Ekroth: As part of the Pernod Ricard Group, our sustainability and responsibility strategy is aligned with the 2030 roadmap, Good Times from a Good Place, which was launched in 2019. The essence of Good Times from a Good Place captures an idea that sits at the heart of our heritage as company—a simple commitment to do the right thing, whether it is for each other, our consumers, our business, our society, or the environment. This strategy covers four big ambitions: Nurturing Terroir, Valuing People, Circular Making, and Responsible Hosting.

While these strategic pillars are all relevant at different stages of our business, we are focusing on Circular Making, demonstrated by our ongoing commitment to a truly circular economy and ecosystem.

Regarding packaging, The Absolut Company’s 2018/19 sustainability report includes goals such as increasing the use of recycled content in your packaging and using less cardboard.

Do you have specific numbers attached to these goals?

Yes we have a variety of goals tailored to the brands within The Absolut Company. In April 2020, Malibu included 30% recycled PET plastic in our U.S. bottles, exceeding our goal and the commitment set by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to achieve a target of 25% by 2025. We are excited and proud for this first step, but we won’t stop there in our efforts to have a real impact. In the next one to five years, we will further increase the percentage of rPET use in plastic containers, as using rPET over virgin polymers drastically cuts carbon footprint.

Also, our goal for Absolut Vodka is to have an entirely circular process by 2040, and using recycled materials is part of that. The recycled content within our Absolut Vodka glass bottles is currently around 47%, and we plan to increase this 1% at a time to see how far we can get while maintaining the clarity of the glass.

We encourage using materials in a responsible way and encourage

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others within the sector to join us in this pledge. Not only does this mean rethinking and reducing the packaging we use, but also being conscious of the unintended consequences of any changes or actions we take as a business.

What are the challenges in using recycled content in a glass bottle?

How have you overcome these challenges?

There are several challenges, one being the complexity. Impurities in recycled materials cause the glass to have a greenish tint, so we are working closely with our supplier, Ardagh, to increase our percentage while evaluating color and quality throughout the process.

Another challenge is sourcing the recycled materials. Not all glass is recycled, and not everything that is recycled can be used due to impurities or insufficient quality. Around 60% of all clear glass recycled in Sweden is reused in packaging, and the rest is for various building materials. We have a good system in Sweden, with 95% of glass being recycled by consumers. However for us to reach our goal of a circular process by 2040 and push the spirits industry further, we need consumers in other countries to start recycling their empty bottles more often.

Can you provide an update on the project Absolut is involved with to create a paper bottle?

We’re hoping to create our preliminary batch of bottles, ready in September. So far, we have been working very closely with Paboco [a joint venture between paper packaging material developer BillerudKorsnäs and bottle manufacturer Alpla] and our community partners [Carlsberg, L’Oréal, and The Coca-Cola Company] to finalize our paper bottle prototype.

What is The Absolut Company’s goal for the paper bottle?

The paper bottle initiative is a step-by-step journey to reduce and replace the need for polymers. In the long term, the paper bottle will become completely bio-based and biodegradable and, if successful, is something that we hope will spark a real movement for change—not just limited to the products within our own portfolio, but extending to all brands within the spirits industry. —Anne Marie Mohan

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20 PW AUG2020

THE BIG PICTURE

By Sterling Anthony, CPP, Contributing Editor

Brands Keep Pace

by Eliminating Racist Packaging Imagery figured, apron-wearing woman. Of late, critics claim that the bottle is The May 25, 2020 murder of George Floyd is powering a tsunami remindful of “mammy” imagery. I was not aware of that association movement against racism, along with its symbols, including those on at the time of my 12/9/13 article, “Lifetime achievement awards packaging. According to press releases, the brands, Mrs. Butterworth’s, for packages,” in which, I made Mrs. Butterworth’s an awardee. My Cream of Wheat, Uncle Ben’s, Aunt Jemima, and Eskimo Pie, will unchanged opinion notwithstanding, all packages are subject to the undergo packaging changes. manta, “Perception is reality.”

Matt Reynolds’ 6/23/2020 article “Packaging No Spectator in the Aunt Jemima (introduced in 1889) likely is the most cited example Social Movement” (pwgo.to/5680) provides an industry insider’s of racist imaging. The mascot’s original depictions inarguably were perspective. He reminds that packaging, through its imagery, of a mammy slave, and none of the subsequent “airbrushing” has communicates societal/cultural norms and that, therefore, packaging divorced her from her roots. Unlike other mascots, Aunt Jemima is imagery should keep pace with changes in those norms. an adjective; for example, a black female There’s another perspective: that would bristle if called an “Aunt Jemima;” of what kinds of changes are feasible.

A takeaway for corporations its servile connotations evident. Even if Beset brands variously have described going forward: avoid brand the mascot were retired, the brand name forthcoming efforts as review, retire, and names and mascots that are would remain a thorny issue. evolve. Even without additional details, it’s Eskimo Pie (introduced in 1921) has a safe to say that the brands face different based on minorities when name and mascot that, in combination, options, in reflection of the nature and allegations of racism are cast the brand’s future in doubt. “Eskimo” extent of their racial insensitivity. What is a term disowned by the indigenous the brands face in common, however, is a reasonably foreseeable. peoples of the Artic; furthermore, the new type of package research and design, mascot is a cartoonish stereotype of those peoples. If the brand wherein names and mascots are liabilities and expendable. proves unsalvageable, the owner might find solace in the fact that the Months prior, Land O’Lakes’ packaging was revised with the concept of a frozen delight lends itself to other expressions. Polar Pie, removal of the Native American woman. Yet to be seen is whether maybe? other brands, such as Red Man tobacco and sports teams from the And of certain brands that have not issued press releases, a professional ranks on down ,will abandon the mascoting of tribes reckoning might nevertheless await. Chiquita brand individually who collectively were driven to the brink of genocide. The Land stickered bananas are an example. The name is Spanish, having O’Lakes approach, nonetheless, doesn’t lend itself to all brands faced among its definitions petite, cutie, and little girl—not inherently with removing racist imaging from their packaging. racist. Some argue that those definitions demean the mascot, a Cream of Wheat (founded in 1893) has as its mascot a toothsomely shapely, overtly-Latina adult wearing a fruit-loaded headdress. A smiling black man in servant-white attire, holding a steaming bowl of companion argument is that the mascot stereotypes Latinas in cereal. The mascot should be removed because there is no revamping addition to stoking unflattering thoughts of a “banana republic.” that can rewrite its racist origins. The decision of whether to retain A takeaway for corporations going forward: avoid brand names the brand name rests on whether the mascot is regarded as the lone and mascots that are based on minorities when allegations of racism offender. Uncle Ben’s (dating back to the 1940s) also has as its mascot are reasonably foreseeable. While such advice these days qualifies as a black man. Different here is that the mascot doubles as the brand common sense, it is vulnerable to the blind spots of otherwise wellname. Over the decades, the mascot has received makeovers meant intentioned non-minority decision makers. to be less antebellum. Those efforts are unacceptable in this era that Lastly, corporations should not take a piecemeal approach; clamors for the mascot’s removal. Question: are brand and mascot corrections must be adequate at launch. And corrections must inextricably linked, such that the former can’t survive separation from come relatively soon, otherwise corporations could be accused of the latter? procrastinating. The movement sweeping the globe can’t be thwarted.

Mrs. Butterworth’s (introduced in 1961) gained prominence due Brands have a choice: be part of the solution or be swept aside. PW to being marketed in an amber bottle shaped as a matronly, full-

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7/21/20 8:38 AM

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7/21/20 8:39 AM

22 PW AUG2020

SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING

By Dan Felton, Executive Director of AMERIPEN

The Five Packaging Bills Before Congress Historically across the U.S., waste and recycling policies related to financing have been driven at the state level. This is primarily a result of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) from 1976 that gave states the authority to manage their own waste streams. RCRA granted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a supportive but non-regulatory federal engagement role for all non-hazardous waste. This means there has been minimal federal policy related to the management of packaging and its disposal and its related funding since RCRA was enacted.

Over the last year, however, as plastic marine pollution and challenging recycling economics have dominated headlines, interest in related federal policy has grown. We currently have five bills before Congress related in one way or another to packaging and its end-oflife management.

As we look to the future in a post-COVID world, the status of these bills is uncertain. On one hand, interest may grow because some of these bills offer much needed stimulus funding to states and could help create jobs and/or help resolve concerns around the future of recycling—a key environmental priority for many consumers.

On the other hand, in a time of severely constrained state and local budgets and a possible economic recession, waste and recycling issues may lose steam as governments choose to prioritize limited funding toward key priorities in health, safety, and education.

Prior to COVID-19, we saw several state legislatures exploring the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging, where producers would be required to help pay the costs of end-of-life management of their products. Now, as local budgets have become even more strained, we anticipate this interest will grow, and the likelihood of new state laws for some sort of shared financial responsibility to include brand owners and/or packaging producers is highly probable. We also believe that while COVID-19 has helped increase public awareness of the value of packaging, both consumers and producers remain committed, perhaps even more so post-COVID, to balancing that value with a more circular packaging economy where more packaging formats can be reused or recycled.

Success with these objectives will require efforts to help create demand for recycled content, innovation for new end markets, and safer working environments for the waste management industry.

These structural changes can help drive efficiencies and create needed jobs, but they will also require investment and an examination of policies to help create the environment to support and advance these

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objectives. Federal policy could play an instrumental role in helping to harmonize these efforts, reduce administrative and regulatory complexities, and help drive economies of scale.

In examining the five federal bills currently under consideration, AMERIPEN notes that each taps into elements valuable to advancing a circular economy for packaging. But none, in and of themselves, provide a complete strategy across the entire recycling system.

Understanding what these federal bills offer can help the packaging industry better frame our own strategies to ensure we are a proactive solutions provider and are able to shape the future of federal policy in this area.

RECOVER Act (H.R. 5115) The Realizing the Economic Opportunities and Value of Expanding Recycling (RECOVER) Act is a bill to support the advancement of recycling infrastructure. RECOVER proposes $500 million over five years in matching federal grants, as part of a national infrastructure investment strategy to help communities invest in upgrading recycling infrastructure and support consumer programs and education.

The RECOVER Act has bipartisan support in Congress and is supported by many in the packaging industry. But it has been criticized by the environmental community, which argues against the idea of government—not industry— paying for recovery, and which prefers to see the elimination or reduction of certain hard-to-recycle materials in packaging rather than direct money to identify new infrastructure solutions to recycle these materials.

RECYCLE Act (S.2941) The Recycling Enhancements to Collection and Yield through Consumer Learning and Education (RECYCLE) Act would create an EPA educational grant program for residential and community recycling programs and provide federal oversight to help increase consumer participation in recycling and ultimately reduce contamination.

This act has strong bipartisan support in Congress and has more support from the environmental and waste communities, which view the reduction of contamination as a necessary step to advance recycling.

Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Act (H.R. 7228) Introduced on June 17, the Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Act (see pwgo.to/5649) would require the Office of Science and Technology Policy to establish a Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling

7/22/20 10:53 AM

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Program to improve the global competitiveness of the U.S. plastics recycling industry, ensure U.S. leadership in plastics waste reduction and recycling research, ensure U.S. leadership in national and international standards development, and reduce the harmful effects of plastic waste. The bill also includes language to require the office to develop definitions for “recycle” and “recyclability,” and for the Department of Energy to support research and other activities on chemical recycling and recyclability-by-design. Funding to carry out various provisions in the bill would be authorized for $85 million in 2021 and increased each year for four more years.

This legislation has bipartisan support in Congress and has garnered strong industry support within the plastics sector.

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Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act (S.3263/H.R. 5845) In the hopes of reducing plastic pollution, the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act (see pwgo.to/5650) touches upon packaging design by mandating the use of recycled content, thus potentially stimulating increased demand for recycled material. It also addresses consumer behavior by attempting to standardize recycled materials across the country and seeks to provide for infrastructure investment by requiring producers of single-use plastics and all packaging to be responsible for the costs of managing their products at end of life (EPR). It also includes a phased ban of certain single-use plastics and would pause the establishment of new plastics facilities in the U.S. Finally, it would establish a national bottle bill program.

This Democrat-sponsored bill has strong support from the environmental community but has not been endorsed by industry. Funding would predominately come from industry paying the costs of curbside programs.

Save Our Seas 2.0 Act (S.1982) This bill is an extension of the first Save Our Seas Act enacted in 2018 that extended the Marine Debris Program for an additional five years and also revised the Marine Debris Program to require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to respond to severe marine debris events. With a focus on reducing plastic marine debris, the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act proposes the establishment of a federally funded marine debris foundation that would help educate and direct programs to reduce plastic debris. In addition to funding a foundation overseen by a collaborative of stakeholders, the foundation would also fund and oversee a genius prize aimed at innovating for end-of-life solutions to plastic waste, and would help provide education and incentives for innovative and entrepreneurial communities to help identify new ways to reduce plastic marine debris. Lastly, the bill provides for several studies to help inform future policy, such as identifying innovations for plastic recovery and best methods to help certify a process of assurance for circular polymers. Programs and studies included in bill would be led by the EPA. This bill has strong bipartisan support in Congress and broader support from both industry and the non-profit community. It is widely seen as the most likely of all the bills to pass this Congress.

A hybrid vision?

None of the above bills addresses the full set of objectives needed from a recovery system to create a circular packaging system in the U.S., and the majority require some level of federal investment to realize success. While AMERIPEN supports a number of these bills, we believe today’s economic and political instability will make it more difficult for them to pass into law.

We also recognize that there is room for further dialogue and an opportunity to reframe or redesign policy opportunities to be inclusive of all the objectives needed for success. PW Learn about AMERIPEN’s recently published principles and objectives for financing packaging recovery at: pwgo.to/5651

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24 PW AUG2020

SPECIAL REPORT

Robots Drive the Manufacturing Revolution New innovations in robotics for the packaging industry enable greater flexibility, efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness for those CPGs looking to automate a range of applications.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Robot innovations

Vision technologies

Cobots

E-commerce

By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor

Mass customization demands flexibility

1 In 2019, a business intelligence report, Robotics, Innovation 2 Implementation, from PMMI, the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, proclaimed, “Robotics is no longer just a tool, it is a force in the industry driving a revolution of change in manufacturing.” This change has become increasingly vital for packagers, who are facing massive shifts in consumer buying behavior and changing market conditions—changes that in some cases have rapidly accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Packagers grappling with mass customization, a shortage of labor (particularly skilled labor), more rigorous food safety standards, greater competition, and the quickening pace of e-commerce, are turning to robots to address these challenges. And robotics suppliers are responding, with innovations in hygienic features, vision systems, and ease of programming, as well as more palatable price points and greater flexibility.

While innovations overlap in terms of robot types, applications, and features, most of the drivers remain the same: less reliance on manual operations, greater productivity, efficiency, 2 flexibility, and reduced costs.

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For Consumer Packaged Goods producers today, remaining competitive means boosting efficiencies and cutting costs, while at the same time producing the increasing number of SKUs needed for the growing omnichannel environment. Mass customization demands that packagers be able to produce a range of package formats and sizes quickly and cost efficiently. Packaging automation that provides that flexibility through easy programming and fast changeover is therefore highly desirable.

New from BluePrint Automation (BPA) is the Spider 200i (1), a robotic case packer specifically engineered to enable CPGs in the snack industry to service different supply channels, including Direct Store Delivery (DSD) and Centralized Distribution (CD), from the same line. The Spider 200i uses a multi-axis robot to pick snack bags on-the-fly and vertically case pack them into a cassette that forms a vertical pack pattern.

Says BPA, “The Spider 200i provides snack manufacturers more versatility by allowing various product sizes and case types to be run on the same packaging line, including RSCs, reusables, and 1x display cases.”

Optimizing the end user’s footprint, the system enables case erecting, packing, and sealing in one compact machine.

Another new system designed for flexibility is Epson Robot’s IntelliFlex™ 530 feeding system (2), with a feeder size that can accommodate parts from 30 to 150 mm. The system supports simple to complex parts, as well as delicate materials, and offers an alternative to traditional bowl and flexible feeder solutions. The IP 530 comprises an Epson® SCARA robot (a number of robot models are compatible with the system), the company’s IntelliFlex software, and either its Vision Guide CV2 or PV1 vision system. Applications include mechanical and electronic assembly, kitting, palletizing, tray loading, and material handling.

Cama’s new IG robotic case packer (3) for flow-wrap packs of sliced cheese offers flexibility both in the collation configurations of the packages and in the case types, and can pack multi-flavor combinations in smaller volumes. Part of Cama’s new BT Generation Systems, the line includes the Cama FA forming

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Vision Enables Cosmetic Tube Picking & Placing at 160/min A recent project by ESS Technologies, Inc. involved the integration of three Fanuc SR-3iA SCARA robots equipped with Fanuc’s iRVision and ESS-designed end-of-arm tooling (EOAT) to collate more than 160 cosmetic tubes/min for feeding to a case packer. Named the TaskMate Robotic Systems® high-speed SCARA robotic collation cell, the system can also handle pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, consumer goods, and medical devices.

ESS engineers programmed the three robots using Fanuc’s iRPickTool software, which it explains simplifies the setup of picking-and-packing conveyor tracking applications. iRPickTool supports camera tracking applications using integrated iRVision software and also provides a means of setup so that robots can share work using multiple load-balancing methods.

The software allows the robots to pick from fixed stations, standard conveyors, and indexing conveyors.

In the tube collation application, a camera above the flat-belt conveyor provides the robots with the location of the tubes as they enter the robotic cell. ESS used the software to program the three robots to pick tubes from a moving flat-belt conveyor, correctly orient the tubes, and progressively load the case packer’s infeed indexing timing belt conveyor. Tubes not picked by the first or second robot are picked by the third, allowing the infeed system to orient and place over 160 tubes/min.

The indexing timing belt conveyor flows to a case-pack

pattern-forming station where a Fanuc LR200iD six-axis SCARA robot with ESS-designed EOAT picks tubes and places them in a staging tray in an 18- or 36-ct case. Staged tubes are then case packed, including robotic partition insertion, using ESS’s Model V30 case packer. Shares ESS, the tube collation system allowed the manufacturer to pack up to 8.5 18-ct cases/min. PW

Vision for the future

3 machine, Cama’s model IG vision-guided robotic unit with four Cama delta robots, and a double-head lidding machine.

During operation, the line collects flow packs from two lanes and loads them into boxes in several different layer configurations according to customer requirements. With an infeed rate of 120 products/ min from each of two lanes, the system can load both small shelf-ready packaging (SRP) cases, as well as larger trays and reusable plastic crates.

And from Fallas Automation is its newest robotic pick-and-place case packer, the R700R (4), which uses the company’s four-axis Adabot robot. For this model, Fallas has reduced the height of the robot by 30% for plants with height restrictions. According to the company, the shorter frame allows for 15% more picks per minute.

Flexibility comes into play with the case-packer’s semi-automatic changeover, interchangeable pick heads, and range of end-of-arm (EOAT) options that allow for different case-packing needs. Fallas notes that “these features also allow for future product development, ensuring that the equipment remains functional even as packaging trends change.”

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Advances in vision systems offer packagers one of the biggest opportunities for improving productivity. Many packaging applications make use of 2D machine vision, where grayscale or color imaging creates a two-dimensional map that allows for easy detection of anomalies or variations in part contrast. As this type of vision increasingly becomes cheaper and faster, its use in packaging continues to grow, particularly in functions associated with inspection, barcode reading, surface marking detection, and basic positional verification.

Now, with innovations in 3D vision, broader applications are becoming possible. Whereas with 2D applications, where objects being scanned must be on a flat surface and of a consistent size and shape, 3D vision gives insight into product depth and height and can therefore

4

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26 PW AUG2020

5

be used for random situations, where items are located haphazardly or stacked in a bin with varying orientation.

One example that capitalizes on both 2D and 3D vision is Syntegon’s Pack 102 horizontal flow-wrapper with three Fanuc robots (5), designed for small- to medium-sized bakeries and other food companies. At PACK EXPO Las Vegas in fall 2019, the system was demonstrated loading meal kits (pictured). Explains Syntegon, each robotic platform detects and prioritizes six independent production flows simultaneously and in sequence, operating from one HMI on the flow wrapper.

Using 2D vision and dual conveyor tracking, the first robot, a Fanuc SR-6iA four-axis SCARA robot, detects and prioritizes products from two low-friction flat-belt conveyors. The second robot, a Fanuc M-1iA delta robot, precisely detects product location from two side-by-side indexing conveyors using 2D vision. The final robot, the LR Mate 200iD six-axis articulating robot, picks product from two different bulk bins using 3D vision and places the assortment into the product infeed of the Pack 102.

Palletized Frozen Foods Protected with Cobot-Placed Top Sheets In spring 2020, a frozen foods manufacturing facility out of Jackson, Ohio, installed two collaborative robot cap-sheet placers from Pearson Packaging Systems. The project followed the installation earlier in the year of 12 Pearson robotic palletizers with conveying at the same facility— fully automating what was previously an entirely manual end-of-line operation.

Shortly after the palletizing system was installed, the food manufacturer introduced a new, tear-open case into its mix of RSC and bulk-pack boxes to meet the shelf-ready requirements of retailers.

Accounting for about 30% of the facility’s total production volume, the new box styles incorporated a cutout top intended to help shelf stockers easily grasp and open the cases for freezer display. Unfortunately the opening also allowed dust and other particle contaminants to enter the cases during transit and storage, so the manufacturer returned to Pearson for a top-sheet dispensing/application solution.

The layout of the existing equipment and conveying was extremely limiting—especially since conveying transition junctures would need to remain accessible. Hence, fitting traditional slip-sheet dispensers and pick-and-place robots in the available space along with the necessary guarding to keep workers safe was not possible.

To fit within the available footprint while remaining compliant with safety guidelines, Pearson turned to cobots.

The resulting dual-cell solution is able to handle the four palletizing lines dedicated to the new case, along with two additional lines, when needed. Each cell fits snugly between

Robotics_SpecRpt.indd 26

the existing pallet transport and takeaway conveying and houses a floor-mounted cap-sheet magazine, an automatic sheet dispenser, and a Fanuc CR-35iA cobot, with a payload capacity of 35 kg, designed to safely work in proximity to humans, without the need for guarding.

The mechanical sheet dispenser picks the topmost corrugated or chipboard cap sheet from the floor-mounted magazine, placing it on a receiving plate for the robot.

When a complete pallet stack arrives at one of the loading stations, the robot picks the cap sheet and places it on top of the pallet stack. The pneumatic vacuum tool was designed with rounded corners and edges as an additional precautionary measure for people working nearby.

“These collaborative robots are coated in a soft rubber material and operate at slow speeds to be able to stop without causing injury if they come in contact with a person,” explains Thomas Halish, Vice President of Robotic Integration for Pearson. “Our programmers specify application-specific data for payload, inertia rates, etc., and built-in force sensors execute a gentle stop if the robot comes in contact with anything outside of what it is expecting to encounter. A simple reset will trigger the robot to resume operation.”

Halish shares that the greatest challenge of the project was dialing in the tolerance of the robot base. “These robots are extremely sensitive to force, but by using an optimized Fanuc mounting plate, the adjustments we had to make to get it properly positioned were minimal.” PW

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Big data is the new currency According to the PMMI robot report, “The future of robotics in the manufacturing space will be defined by big data and the ability of AI systems to analyze and act on production information.” It adds that, “Future factories will utilize big data collection and analyzation to empower robots to make on-the-fly decisions in the middle of production, even when presented with unfamiliar scenarios.”

Gerhard Schubert GmbH is among those companies that have embraced big data by developing a solution for its modular, robotic packaging systems that it says provides meaningful analysis of the key figures and 100% protection against Internet attacks. Now integrated into every new robot-based TLM packaging system—which offers both primary and secondary packaging capabilities—is its GS.Gate industrial gateway. GS.Gate allows detailed evaluations of system productivity to be called up, and the results can be viewed either on the GRIPS.world customer platform or on the machine operating terminal. From this analysis, Schubert says, “potentials and possibilities can then be derived as to how the OEE [Overall Equipment Effectiveness] ratio of the line and therefore the added value can be improved.”

Also operating in the new currency of big data is Kawasaki Robotics, with its Trend Manager failure prediction software, designed to help companies avoid unexpected downtime by allowing them to predict failures and fix issues before loss of production. The software, which allows users to maintain control of their information, monitors motor current and robot condition during operation and generates a failure prediction date using the data. When Trend Manager detects an abnormality, a warning alarm is sent to the user via email, saves the data, and logs it for reference.

6

Food-contact solutions emerge Until recently robots used in the food and beverage industry were limited to secondary and tertiary packaging tasks, such as palletizing, as they could not met the necessary standards for direct food contact.

The use case is now changing as manufacturers are increasingly developing robots suitable for handling unpacked goods and subsequent washdown, creating new opportunities for the direct and indirect handling of foods.

The new Flexible Robotic Loading System (6) from Quest, a product brand of ProMach, is one such system developed specifically for the

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primary packaging of meat and poultry products. The system was first demonstrated at IFFE (the International Production & Processing Expo) in January 2020, pairing the loading system with the ReeForm E40 thermoformer from Ossid, also a product brand of ProMach.

The system uses a Fanuc LR Mate 200iD/7LC robotic picking system, which was developed specifically for cleanroom environments, to load, orient, stack, and group products into thermoformed trays. The six-axis SCARA robot can grip hard-to-handle products, such as poultry and meats, as well as virtually any other product shape. The Quest system is U.S. Department of Agriculture-compliant for direct food contact and features a washdown design with easy access to all components for cleaning.

7 Another system, the Peregrine™ robotic cartoner (7) from JLS Automation, offers features that make it suitable for placing naked or packaged products into cartons—a part of the packaging process often performed in areas where there is moisture. Says JLS, the Peregrine is designed to get wet, shed water, and eliminate any pooling. “And, with proprietary, sanitary Vacuum On Board™ technology, sanitation is as simple as an end-of-arm tool changeover—no cleaning needed.”

The system also scores high in flexibility. JLS describes the process of changing from one carton size to another or changing products cartonto-carton as being “as easy as a simple push of a button.” Automatic changeover is done in seconds by selecting a setting on the HMI. The Peregrine’s vision-guided delta robots offer flexibility in handling different sizes, shapes, and styles of products and packaging, including placing thermoformed pouches, flow-wrapped packs, and flexible bags into tri-seal and other carton styles.

Stäubli’s solution for the food industry is the TS2 HE four-axis SCARA pick-and-place robot (8). Food industry-specific features include a pressurized arm that prevents microorganism penetration and avoids condensation; a hygienic design with smooth, rounded, 8 and tilted surfaces that eliminate liquid retention; full compatibility with NSF H1 food-grade lubricant; protection against lowpressure jets of water (IP65) and immersion (IP67); and a design for use in wet environments and full washdown applications.

7/22/20 6:16 AM

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9

Cobots continue to advance One category of robots that continues to gain traction and generate enthusiasm is collaborative robots, or cobots. Compact, movable, and affordable, these robots are suitable for all size operations and can lower the cost of a workstation on lines with shorter runs or unusual package configurations. Because of this, they are predicted to see some of the most significant growth in robotics over the next five years, especially with slow-speed, niche applications. According to PMMI’s robot report, cobots accounted for about 3% of all robot sales in North America in 2017; by 2025, that number is expected to increase to 34%.

In fall of 2019, Columbia/Okura LLC announced a strategic alliance with cobot manufacturer Universal Robots to develop the miniPAL™ (10), a mobile palletizing cobot integrating Universal Robot’s UR10e.

The cobot has a maximum payload of 10 kg and a 1,300-mm reach.

10

Addressing labor shortages can ‘help feed the world’ PMMI’s 2019 robotics report cited a lack of qualified and available labor in the workforce and the need to increase throughput as the key trends driving the expansion of robots. Most recently, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, robots have come to the fore as a way for manufacturers to more safely keep workers socially distanced on the factory floor and maintain operations.

According to Premier Tech, one industry particularly suffering from a shortage of labor is agriculture—specifically, nut producers. To address this problem, as well as mitigate the issue of food distribution and availability in order to “help feed the world,” it has developed the PSR robotic solution (9) to speed the sorting of nuts at the final stage of the conditioning process.

According to the company, the equipment’s components are all integrated within a compact structure to enable shorter start-up times.

The system has been successfully tested with almonds and pecans, and trials with other types of nuts are in the pipeline. “Our goal is to help the nut industry with the labor shortage they are facing for the tedious and difficult job that is nut sorting,” explains Curt Davis, Sales Director for the agriculture market at Premier Tech. “The dual M1 Fanuc robots have been able to sort up to 3,000 pounds of almonds per hour in our lab, and we are very excited to test it under real conditions to see how it adapts.”

Says Columbia/Okura President Brian Hutton, “The partnership between our two companies allows Columbia/Okura to provide a safe and economical palletizing solution to clients who are facing labor shortages, many of whom may also be new to factory automation.”

The system includes all of the benefits associated with this style of robot: quick setup, easy programming and operation, flexible deployment, and the elimination of guarding. According to Columbia/Okura, the average payback is eight to 10 months, depending on application and industry.

PMMI Guidance on ANSI Standards for Robotics When getting started with robotics, a question often arises as to which standard(s) apply to a machine. Or stated differently, “Is this a robotic system that does packaging, or a packaging machine that includes a robot?”

PMMI recommends that machinery users apply the ANSI B155.1 standard for packaging and processing systems to the packaging system as a whole, and make use of the type-C standards, which deal with detailed safety requirements for a particular machine or group of machines, as guidance to meet the requirements of B155.1. By applying the B155.1 as the

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base standard and drawing on the specific applicable requirements of R15.06 (a U.S. national adoption of the international standard ISO 10218-1 and -2), machinery users can achieve the best of both worlds—packaging and processing machinery with automation.

Knowing how to apply the industry standards can assist in developing productive, safe, and effective solutions. PMMI can assist. Contact Tom Egan, Vice President of Industry Services for PMMI, the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, at tegan@pmmi.org. PW

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Cobots: Automation Reinvented Universal Robots, the leader in collaborative robots, delivers advanced robotic automation without the traditional added costs associated with programming, set-up, and dedicated, shielded work cells. Unlike traditional industrial robots, UR’s lightweight robots can be moved around, automating high mix/low volume production runs. They are surprisingly affordable, easy to program, and handle payloads up to 16 KG (35 LB), perfectly suited for packaging and palletizing applications. Request a cobot demo today!

844-462-6268 | www.universal-robots.com

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Case Packer for Croutons Saves Dough on Corrugated While Lancaster Colony Corp. may not be a household name, many of its specialty food products for the retail and foodservice markets most certainly are. Among them are products sold under their various brands, including Marzetti®, which offers salad dressings, veggie dips, fruit dips, and croutons; New York Bakery™ brand, with items such as Texas Toast frozen garlic toast and breadsticks and Texas Toast croutons; Sister Schubert’s® frozen dinner rolls; and several other well-known brands.

According to Lisa Rathburn, Vice President of Engineering and Continuous Improvement for T. Marzetti Co., internal investment to support the growth of its existing business is the Westerville, Ohio-based company’s first priority. The recent purchase in February 2020 of a robotic case packer for pouches of croutons at its Chatham Village, Mass., facility—one of 16 it operates in the U.S.—is a good example of this strategy. Not only did the addition of the equipment allow T. Marzetti to keep up with its upstream packaging operations, but it also enabled the company to switch to a new shelf-ready package (SRP) that saved on corrugated costs, as well.

According to Zach Edwards, Project Engineer for T. Marzetti, the new MSP-200 case packer from Delkor was a replacement for an existing machine. “The goal was to increase throughput

11

Another new palletizing cobot is the M version of Sidel’s CoboAccess™_Pal line (11). The palletizer features a Yaskawa HC20 cobot, with a 14-kg payload and a “very significant” reach of 1,700 mm, says Sidel, “thus addressing the two most sought-after factors for palletizing.”

The cobot can build pallets up to 1,900 mm at speeds to six cycles/min. Says Florian Marlot, Product Manager for the CoboAccess_Pal platform at Sidel, “Cobotics is an increasingly crucial asset in end-of-line operations. It reduces end-of-line production costs, while improving the operators’ working conditions, freeing them from very strenuous manual palletizing tasks.”

New from Yaskawa is what it says is the industry’s first IP67rated cobot, the HC20XP six-axis robot (12),, which is equipped for continuous use in damp or splash-proof environments. Made

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by keeping up with the front end of the line,” he says. “This case packer specifically was a machine that could handle the flexible packaging at the rates we desired.”

Packaged on the line are 5-oz stand-up pouches, measuring 7 in. W x 9 in. H, with a 3-in. gusseted bottom, for croutons, primarily for its New York Bakery brand. While speed was one of the main requirements for the new machine, ease of changeover was the other—T. Marzetti runs six-, eight-, and 12-pack case configurations.

During operation of the machine, pouches enter the case packer and pass under a backlit vision system that analyzes the skew of the pouches’ orientation. Dual vision-based Fanuc M-2iA/3SL delta robots using custom-designed suction cup endof-arm tooling adjust for this skew and place the pouches on a pattern-building conveyor in perfect orientation. The conveyor then hands the rows and columns of products to a gantry robot, which loads as many as six SRPs at a time. The cases then exit the MSP-200 and enter a Capstone 550 case closer from Delkor, which seals them with hot melt glue.

Answering T. Marzetti’s requirements, the MSP-200 features semi-automated changeover, which allows it to convert to different case configurations in less than 10 minutes. “Delkor also allows custom centerline adjustment within their HMI for

of cast aluminum for durability, the model features an easy-to-clean surface, allowing it to be used in sanitary environments, where wipe or wash is required. NSF H1 food-grade grease is included as standard, in case of incidental food contact.

The HC20XP has a 20-kg 13 payload and a 1,700-mm maximum reach, making it suitable for a range of material handling, machine tending, or assembly tasks. The cobot’s range also enables it to reach full 80in. pallets without requiring an elevator or lift mechanism.

Another new cobot on the market is the 10 kg-payload Fanuc CRX-10iA cobot (13).

An interactive demonstration scheduled for an upcoming trade show will feature the CRX-10iA mounted on a lightweight, mobile structure to show how easy it is to move the robot around a work cell. A 2D iRVision camera mounted to the end of the CRX’s arm will highlight the ro12 bot’s easy user interface. In addition, a gripper using the robot’s plug-in feature will emphasize the CRX’s simplicity and easy setup. Also on display will be the cobot’s manual guided teaching and a new tablet pendant that features a modern, intuitive user interface.

For all robots, including cobots, the correct end-of-arm tooling

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simplified changeovers,” Edwards adds. The system accommodates the front-of-line speed, operating at 150 pouches/min., comfortably below the case packer’s engineered output of 180/min.

Victor Vieira, Plant Maintenance Manager for T. Marzetti, says the company was able to make the business case for replacing an existing machine with the new MSP-200 based on the savings in corrugated and other benefits resulting from the new case that runs on the line—Delkor’s Cabrio Case® single-piece tray-hood SRP. The case has a tear-away hood with a variable-height back, offers single-, double-, or triple-facing options, and opens with a single motion, saving shelfstocking time.

With the Cabrio Case, product is loaded and shipped flat, which according to Dan Altman, VP Sales & Marketing for Delkor Systems Inc., provides three benefits. First, he says, it’s far easier to automate pouch loading when you don’t have to upright the pouches before loading them into a case, as they’re usually moving down a conveyor lying flat. Second, by loading

14 is essential for a successful application. Recently Piab enhanced its piCOBOT® vacuum-operated EOAT (14) to be configurable with any cobot. The end effector is now available with a generic electrical interface as well as in several options for mechanical mounting plate dimensions, in accordance with the ISO 9409-1 standard. The piCOBOT EOAT, which, with gripper weighs just 1.59 lb and can lift objects weighing up to 15.4 lb, comprises a vacuum pump unit and a gripper unit fitted with suction cups.

Says Jan Schieche, Global Product Manager Automation for Piab, “piCOBOT can now be used to extend the reach of all cobots regardless of brand, making collaborative robots even more collaborative, and in doing so, promoting more user-friendly and productive working environments.”

E-commerce requires dedicated solutions One of the most significant consumer trends transforming the packaging landscape is e-commerce. Growing at a steady rate before the

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flat, the product is distributed horizontally and doesn’t bunch up in the bottom of the pouch, eliminating product damage and/or clumping at the bottom of the pouch. And third, stacking the pouches horizontally saves space in the case, allowing the depth of the case to be reduced, thereby reducing the amount of corrugated material.

On average, the Cabrio Case reduces corrugated usage by 30%, particularly when compared to two-piece tray-hood packages. Says Altman, “The Cabrio case almost always saves money versus tear-away RSCs, but it saves significant dollars when compared to two-piece SRPs. Not only is there much more corrugated [with a two-piece SRP], but end users are also required to stock two SKUs of products, which is costly. A single-piece blank is by far the lowest cost solution.”

Concludes Edwards, “The project was justified with corrugated savings and transportation savings—more efficient case sizing allowed us to save material and put more product on a pallet. There was also a small amount of labor savings.” PW

COVID-19 lockdown, e-commerce sales exploded at the end of Q1-2020.

According to an article in Forbes, U.S. retailers’ online year-over-year revenue growth was up 68% as of mid-April. As of April 21, there was a 129% YOY growth in U.S. and Canadian e-commerce orders and a 146% growth in all online retail orders. While these numbers will no doubt decrease somewhat after COVID-19, most agree that they will remain higher than before the pandemic.

When it comes to investing in e-commerce packaging capabilities, Robert McElmurry, Business Development Manager for Fanuc Fulfillment Group, advises that “the time is now.” Presenting during a Fanuc webinar, titled “E-Commerce Fulfillment Solutions,” McElmurry said, “We’re seeing a ton of investment in this space, especially given current events, things have really transitioned at a rapid pace. … if you’re not acting in this space, or at least thinking about how you’re going to automate robotically, it probably means you’re behind, and it’s time to get started.”

For e-commerce applications, ABB has announced that at the end of 2020, it will launch the IRB 390 FlexPacker™ delta robot (15), which supports customized packaging, vertical packing, and high-speed, high-variation sorting and on-demand picking in logistics and e-commerce fulfillment centers. The IRB 390 is recommended for second15 ary packaging and higher-payload applications, with the speed and flexibility to support SRP and Retail Ready Packaging (RRP). According to ABB, manufacturers will be able to build a complete solution for pre-sorting and

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VERTICAL CONVEYOR SOLUTIONS

Download the Playbook For more information on trends in robotics, download Packaging World’s new 2020 Packaging Robotics Playbook, 2020 Edition, at pwgo.to/5677.

group packing by combining the IRB 390 FlexPacker with the company’s IRB 360 FlexPicker pick-and-pack system.

From MHS is a new robotic singulation solution (16) specifically designed to address the growing e-commerce order volumes, packaging variety, and labor challenges facing distribution centers. Suitable for parcel processing operations handling large quantities of smaller packages, the system consists of a five-axis delta robot that uses proprietary vision software and algorithms to pick individual items from bulk flow, then orient and place them in a single-file stream for downstream sortation. The robot uses a vacuum-based end effector to handle the variety of packaging types found in e-commerce and parcel processing environments, including corrugated cases, polybags, and bubble mailers.

Delivering a “cobotic” e-commerce handling solution, Universal Robots’ Quick Deployment Kit (17) is 17 a scalable solution for parcel induction, case packing, and goods-to-person tasks developed by systems integrator MDCI Automation and Plus One Robotics. Using a vision engine powered by PlusOne’s PickOne software and the UR10e cobot, the QDK identifies the pick points for items in a pick zone and sends the points to the UR cobot, which then picks and places each item onto a place zone/conveyor. Says Universal Robots, the QDK can keep up with fast-moving conveyor speeds and is able to “learn” to pick targets via human assistance through a remote alerting technology.

Soft Robotics, a pioneer soft robotic automation systems that can grasp and manipulate items with human hand-like dexterity, has also engineered a system for the e-commerce market—the SuperPick™ Polybag Picking System (18). The SuperPick provides e-commerce operations the ability to automate the handling, scanning, and loading of outbound orders and returns of polybagged items or self-sealing mailer bags.

The system combines 3D vision and data processing, with gripping technology that can handle items that include those with the highest degree of variability. Says 18 Soft Robotics, “Handling the variety and the nature of unstructured items in polybags is something that traditional automation has not yet been able to reliably address. The SuperPick can pick, scan, and deliver identified products of varying size, shape, fragility, and weight to any material handling system on the market.” PW

16

Spirex™ •

Compact solution to elevate, or lower, a variety of products

•

Small footprint creates flexibility in floor space usage

•

Ideal for fragile products that cannot handle impact or gripping

•

Configured in a variety of in-feed and discharge height combinations

•

Modular design with multiple slope angles and chain width options

•

No changeover needed for varying product sizes and shapes

conveyor systems www.nerconconveyors.com 844-293-2814 Robotics_SpecRpt.indd 34

7/22/20 6:23 AM

PRECISE AND CONSISTENT DETECTION WITH INDUCTIVE PROXIMITY SENSORS

Although inductive proximity sensors are used often in food and beverage packaging, not all are built alike.

Sensors using the proprietary Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) pack more functionality while being small in size and consume less power and dissipate less heat. A SICK inductive proximity sensor that uses our proprietary ASIC technology can help you improve processes associated with close-proximity metal targets, including position detection, gear tooth detection, foil seal detection, and valve position control. With these sensors, you can do more with less. We think that’s intelligent. www.sick.com

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A Line Designed for Container Variety When your growing contract packaging business has you using one line for filling glass and plastic in eight sizes and applying both lug and CT caps, that line had better be versatile.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Quick-change features

Labeling versatility

By Pat Reynolds, VP Editor Emeritus Located just north of Toronto in North York, ON, Lynch Foods is a family-owned food manufacturer supplying specialty food products to both foodservice and retail accounts. Their Customer Service Model is to provide specialty batches in short runs on short notice. Flexibility and quick change over is the Operations priority.

The firm recently decommissioned a liquid filling line whose packaging equipment had clearly outlived its useful life and replaced it with a flexible new line that’s notable for at least four reasons: • it handles no less than eight different-sized containers ranging from 250-mL to 1-L • containers filled are glass, PET, or HDPE • both continuous-thread (CT) and lug closures are applied • lug closures come in two sizes and CT closures come in six sizes While depalletizing at the front end and case packing at the back end are still handled manually, automated solutions for both these tasks are currently being evaluated. Meanwhile, at the heart of the line is a monoblock filler/capper consisting of a 14head Elmar volumetric piston filler and an Arol 6-station rotary capper.

“According to Elmar and Arol, there may not be another manufacturer in the country with that kind of variety in container size, container material, and cap style,” says James Darcy, Maintenance Manager at Lynch Foods. When asked why such versatility was needed on the line, Darcy says it was driven by the firm’s thriving contract manufacturing and packaging business. Responding to customer requirements, no matter how much one varies from another, is a fundamental requirement under such circumstances.

The products being filled on the line are also quite varied, ranging from a Caesar Mix to Aioli Dipping Sauces to corn syrups to chocolate syrup. Filling is done at temperatures ranging from 100 to 175ºF. “The Elmar Model RPE-714/6 RH is an outstanding piece of equipment,” notes Darcy. “We added in a Mokon water heater supplied by Elmar to

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The shrink-sleeve labeler features servo drive technology and applies either a full-body or a neck label (left).

7/21/20 8:52 AM

Each of the following market-leading companies* participating in Packaging World’s 2020 Leaders in Packaging Program are named sponsors of PW’s Future Leaders in Packaging scholarship.

This year’s recipient is the University of Florida Packaging Engineering Program.

We appreciate the support of all participants on behalf of packaging education.

M *These logos represent some of the recent Leaders in Packaging Participants. Sponsor recognition will alternate every other month. ©2020 PMMI Media Group

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The 14-head filler and 6-station capper (left) accept an impressive variety of bottle types (above) as well as either a threaded or lug closure. keep the filler bowl at the required filling temperature,” he adds.

All products filled on the line are shelf stable. The ones getting lug caps are all hot-filled glass.

The first piece of equipment on the line is a single-filing conveyor system supplied by Barlow Manufacturing that feeds a Bevco bottle rinser that was kept from the old line. Bottles are then conveyed into the infeed screw of the Elmar filler.

Filled bottles are transferred by starwheel directly into the Arol capper, which is distinguished by a number of features to help keep

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changeover time to a minimum. Perhaps the most important of these is the fact that it incorporates two separate cap sorting/feeding systems.

One is for CT and the other for lug caps. “This eliminates any need for Lynch to remove one and install the other,” says Steve Locker, VP General Manager at Arol-North America. “It’s just a matter of changing a starwheel and the guides on the pick-and-place device that is responsible for putting individual caps into the capping heads. Changeover can be done in minutes with no tools, and it’s done by operators, not by a highly skilled technician.”

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‘Cap-in-head’ capper Locker describes the Arol machine as a “cap-inhead” capper. “With some cappers the cap is picked up by the bottle as it is conveyed beneath the capping chute,” explains Locker. “But in our case the caps are sorted, fed, and then presented to each head, and it’s the head that brings the cap to the bottle.”

For C-T caps the capper uses a technology called independent spindle-speed control that makes it possible to change at the HMI the spin rate of the capping spindles. This means Lynch does not have to change gears or belts or other mechanical parts when going from a two-thread to a three-thread cap, for instance.

Once again, it’s all about streamlining changeover.

Locker also notes that supplying a single machine designed to apply both CT and lug closures was not historically all that common until about 10 years ago or so. It was around that time that contract packagers began to assume such a prominent place in the food manufacturing and packaging scene. When Arol recognized this trend, managers made sure that cappers like the one just installed at Lynch Foods became a regular part of Arol’s machine-building business.

One important piece of ancillary equipment that’s essential to applying a lug-style cap is a steam injection system that softens and sanitizes the plastisol lining inside the metal closure. Darcy says the system installed at Lynch Foods is a steam system that includes 5-micron culinary filters, thermostatic traps, and separators to keep the low-pressure steam as clean and dry as possible before it arrives at the steam injection device and chute assembly.

Just downstream from the monoblock filler/capper is an Enercon Superseal Touch 500 Model LM5609-97 induction sealing system. When lug closures are being applied, this device is turned off and bottles simply convey straight through it. But all CT closures come with an inner liner that is induction-sealed to the land of the neck finish.

Labeling versatility, too Next is labeling, and once again the firm’s approach to this aspect of the new line was shaped by the need for versatility that comes with being a contract packager. Rather than having one labeler, the firm installed both a shrink-sleeve and a pressure-sensitive labeler.

First comes the shrink-sleeve machine, which was supplied by Tripack. The Model MSA-245 features Rockwell servo drive technology as well as Rockwell’s touch screen HMI for recipe-driven size changeovers.

“We had a Tripack MSA 180 on the line we replaced, and we were very happy with the way it ran,” says Darcy. “When we saw at PACK EXPO Las Vegas that the newer model had an automatic film feed with two rolls on the film stand that allows for more

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The front-and-back pressure-sensitive labeler features two digitally controlled stepper drive label applicators and synchronous overhead bottle hold down.

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efficient roll changes, we decided to go with that. It was exactly what we were looking for, and in our experience Tripack builds a highly reliable piece of equipment.” Worth noting is that when a production run calls for pressuresensitive as opposed to full-body shrink sleeve labels, the Tripack system is still pressed into service because it is used for the application of a neck label/tamper evidence band prior to the pressure-sensitive label being applied.

As for the automatic film feed, Darcy says that when one roll of labels is nearly depleted, a sensor from SICK detects this condition and causes an input to go to the alarm light on the top of the machine that turns it to red. This alerts the operator to prepare for a label roll change. “In the past, without this feature, we wasted a fair bit of time stopping the machine for 10 minutes or so to put a new roll of labels in place,” says Darcy. “Now we have it ready to go and we get the new roll on in about 60 seconds.

“We also added some extra lighting,” he continues, “to give it that show machine look.

The other component that’s involved here is a

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DuraCode continuous ink-jet printer from Inkjet, Inc. that applies the date code onto the sleeve as the film travels down the mandrel before it is applied onto the container.�

As for the pressure-sensitive labeler, that machine comes from Universal Labeling Systems. The Model CP 2000 front-and-back labeler features two digitally controlled stepper drive label applicators and synchronous overhead bottle hold down. According to Darcy, changeover to a new bottle size is a simple matter of removing the wrap belt system and moving both peeler plates into position with some small adjustments. He notes that this machine also incorporates a duraCode ink-jet printer.

Manual case packing comes next, and then the corrugated cases pass through a Universal Labeling Systems UPA-ll thermal-transfer printand-apply labeler equipped with a print head from Sato. Darcy notes that when circumstances require it, sometimes the print engine is turned off and pre-printed labels are applied.

After a few delays caused by the uncertainties of the pandemic-related lockdown, the line is now running as routinely as Darcy and company had hoped and planned. He gives one final nod to

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The thermal-transfer print-and-apply labeler brings the line to a close.

Industrial Controls Integration. Their experts worked closely with the major OEMs represented on the new line on the all-important element of systems integration. PW

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AUTOMATION

OEM APPLICATION NOTE

End-of-line Specialist Moves Toward Condition Monitoring Fallas Automation places an even greater emphasis on integrating early warning systems for predictive maintenance since COVID-19 set in.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Simplified troubleshooting

Real-time access

Pat Reynolds, VP Editor Emeritus Fallas Automation is a well-known producer of end-of-line packaging equipment, case packers in particular. Its machine designers have been aware for some time that customers today are struggling to find and retain personnel technically qualified to operate and maintain complex packaging machinery. So a key goal has been to design machines easier and less technical to operate and troubleshoot.

“We also want plant management to have real-time access to machine information and to increase Fallas’s role in predictive analytics,” says Dan Maeyaert, Vice President of Manufacturing Operations. Echoing him is Jacob Cox, Vice President of Electrical Controls: “There are many things that we can do to improve the operation of our end-of-line

machines without having to jump across a wide technology gap. Everyone would have been much further along if we had had these early warning and simple-to-operate systems in place before the pandemic.

There would have been a far higher assurance of faster issue resolution, especially during the lockdowns that limited travel and entry into plants. Machines that are easier to operate could mean fewer people in the plant and increased flexibility in assigning staff.”

Fallas was able to complete a number of installations during the pandemic without needing to send a tech into the plant. Phone support, obviously, played a key role. “But we also heavily prepared the customer with videos and pre-training on what to expect during installation,” says Maeyaert. “We also, on occasion, used augmented reality apps and

OAN_Fallas.indd 42

video calling to aid in clarifying some problem areas.

Because of the prep and phone assistance we were able to complete installs and start-ups with no on-site techs, saving time and money for our customers.”

Fallas’s ease-of-use initiative focuses on capturing data already in the machine and turning it into actionable information. In the area of pneumatics, for example, since the beginning of this year Fallas has standardized on the Festo MPA-L/CPX Valve Terminal, a “smart” design compared to previous machine design. “It’s Ethernet-based, whereas before we were just wiring it up with individual wires,” says Maeyaert.

“This lets us get a lot more data out of it, like service-life data in the form of cycle counts that can be used to move toward predictive analytics and condition monitoring. For example, as a count indicates a component is nearing the end of its service life, the HMI can notify the operator that it’s time to replace that component and also pinpoint where the component is located on the machine and how to replace it. It also simplifies machine design and installation because countless hours of wiring connections are eliminated.”

Other strategies Fallas is exploring include the use of vibration sensors in AC motors to monitor the condition of motor bearings. If vibrations trend higher, it’s usually a sign of trouble ahead, trouble that can be proactively avoided if the vibrations are monitored.

Rockwell Powerflex 525 variable frequency drives contain data that can be collected, too. “We can collect the current that’s being used, the amount of time it’s on, the alarm frequency and history—we can get all of that into the PLC via Ethernet.”

At the end of the day, mining the data that is already there and then turning the data into usable information is at the heart of the Fallas initiative. “It’s kind of trial and error,” says Maeyaert. “We have to be careful about displaying so much information to the operators that it becomes something they don’t listen to anymore. So we look to display just the important info, the info that helps them keep the machine running and helps maintenance be able to see what they need so that they can maintain it predictively instead of when things break.” PW

7/22/20 5:41 AM

Go to the link at the end of each item for more info.

43

AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY

Frame Grabbers Matrox Imaging adds the Matrox Rapixo CL Pro to its Matrox Rapixo series of frame grabbers.

Matrox Imaging pwgo.to/5668

Aluminum Pneumatic Cylinder Emerson Industrial Automation offers the Aventics TM5 TaskMaster aluminum pneumatic cylinder designed to increase reliability and productivity and reduce vibration and noise.

Emerson Industrial Automation pwgo.to/5669

Dynamic Reference Diffuse Sensor The DRT 25C dynamic reference diffuse sensor from Leuze is ideal for confectionery and baked goods packaging machinery. It works with three light spots and uses reference technology. It can detect objects with different shapes and surfaces.

Leuze pwgo.to/5670

Wexxar Bel’s Semi-Automatic Form, Pack and Seal Systems allow 1 operator to do the work of 3 people more quickly, effectively and efficiently. Manual hand-pack lines without the use of machines can

Smart Condition Monitoring of Gear Drives

be deceptively expensive with the abundant amount of people, space

Rexnord Series 1000 Smart Condition Monitoring System, power by DiRXN, brings proven maintenance savings, increased uptime, and enhanced safety.

without error, resulting in less wastage and superior product protection.

Rexnord pwgo.to/5671

and time required. With the use of a BEL semi-automatic packaging solution, an operator can create perfectly formed and sealed cases

Wexxar@ProMachBuilt.com 1.888.565.3219

www.Wexxar.com

Automation_Technology_0820.indd 43

7/23/20 9:36 AM

44 PW AUG2020

SPECIAL REPORT

Packagers Stay the COVID-19 Course Packaging professionals adjusted early to the ‘new normal’ of a pandemic and have been maintaining for months now, a fresh Packaging World survey reveals.

Three months on from our first survey, we see improvements in CAPEX freedom and a reduction in hiring freezes.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Remote access adoption amid pandemic

Uptick in CAPEX expectations

By Matt Reynolds, Editor Packaging World first surveyed its readership about their immediate reaction to the pandemic, as relates to packaging, in late March 2020.

Answers were thus collected just as COVID-19 began to impact CPGs, mainly via safety-based consumer behavior changes, restrictions to foodservice rocking the omnichannel, new in-plant health regulations, and destabilization in the supply chains that support CPGs. Responses came in just as a ripple of uncertainty spread across logistics and supply chains. Meanwhile, the omnichannel shifted from the pre-COVID status quo mix of retail, foodservice, institutional, and e-comm channels that got packaged products to consumers, to a ‘new normal.’ It remains to be seen how permanent the emerging omnichannel landscape will be.

Three months later, in June 2020, we asked our readers the same questions again to see if attitudes or strategies have changed as we settle into the pandemic world. Note, these aren’t the same respondents, so it’s not a direct, 1::1 comparison of the same people asked twice. Instead, it’s a look at any change in sentiment in view of a new set of responses.

I personally was anticipating big shifts since the velocity of change between March and June, in my consumer experience, seems to have accelerated. But in fact, packaging professionals responding in March were both ahead of the game, and prescient about what the future held for their industry back then. By late March 2020, during the first survey, CPG respondents were already a pretty long way down their path toward the existing landscape, and June’s responses often mirror March’s.

Same factors keeping CPGs awake at night

What’s your biggest COVID-19 worry, now that it’s June?

Employee health/safety Meeting demand Supply chain disruption Labor attendance/absenteeism Other worries Lack of demand Travel restrictions Outbreak will close plant

23% 18% 16% 11% >1% >1% >1%

challenge. Special concerns within this category include difficulty social distancing in a plant setting (16%), worker compliance to safety protocols (5%), and a lack or shortage of necessary PPE for employees (5%).

A significant portion of people also are concerned about meeting demand (18%). Considering most respondents are in food and beverage, and consumers continue to eat at a similar clip to pre-COVID levels, this means that downstream supply chain issues that hinder keeping up with demand—like upstream supply chain disruptions—continue to be a sore point. Said one respondent,

“Packaging demand mix changes are making it difficult to keep up with demand.” And another, “We’re essentially changing from a foodservice provider to a retail provider.”

Just as it was in March, health and safety is the biggest factor on the minds of respondents as their primary COVID-19 challenge. Of all respondents, 23% point to some factors of health and safety as the major

Finally, workforce struggles with absenteeism and disrupted engagement continue to bother respondents. Said one,

Results of Packaging World’s first COVID-19 Response Survey were revealed in the May 2020 issue, reflecting data acquired in late March 2020. Visit pwgo.to/5678 to check out the original survey results, see what has changed, and what has evolved since then.

“We are considered an essential business, but have allowed employees to stay home if not comfortable coming to work. Our biggest challenge has been staffing.”

COVID_SurveyPt2.indd 44

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45

Supply Chain Disruption Flat, but Lead Times Grow March 2020

Yes

47%

Have your supply chains been disrupted?

53%

No

Yes

June 2020

46%

54%

No

What supplies are you missing?

What supplies are you missing?

23% Raw Material/Ingredients 11% Packaging Materials 9% PPE, Masks, Gloves, Etc. 2% Spare Parts, OEM Vendor Supplies

29% Raw Material/Ingredients 23% Packaging Materials 11% PPE, Masks, Gloves, Etc. 7% Spare Parts, OEM Vendor Supplies

Note: Above percentages are of all 111 respondents, not just the 47% reporting supply disruption

Note: Above percentages are of all 56 respondents, not just the 46% reporting supply disruption

Still working from home at the same clip

Upstream supply chain challenges enumerated

The work-from-home mix hasn’t changed; 61% of respondents are still going into the office or plant, flat from 62% in March. It should be noted that the lion’s share of respondents, both then and now, have been in food and beverage manufacturing, which tend to present very hands-on job requirements. The preponderance of food and beverage respondents was about the same in June (78%) as it was in March (81%), so what was happening in late March has largely held constant for food and beverage manufacturers.

Roughly half of all respondents, both in March and in June, report supply chain disruption. The happy half who reported no supply chain disruption changed from 53% in March to 54% in June, so once again, the figure remains flat. This consistency continues to demonstrate how mature and advanced packaging professionals and CPGs already were on their COVID-19 journey by March 2020; very little changed in terms of attitude toward supply chains by June 2020, though among those who are experiencing disruptions, the number of supply inputs being disrupted is growing.

The types of supplies that are causing problems remain quite similar to those reported in March. Raw materials/ingredients remain the top culprit of supply chain disruption, with packaging materials the next most mentioned category. It should be noted, particularly as it relates to packaging materials and PPE, that many CPGs are not experiencing as many shortages of packaging materials or PPE, rather they are experiencing longer lead times that can be countered with temporary inventorying of packaging materials and PPE.

Rush to produce PPE levels off As of June, 20% of CPGs and brands that responded have added or are considering manufacturing PPE in the form of masks, hand sanitizers, and gloves. This figure was 19% in March, so once again, the percentage remained flat. There is a certain, finite number of industries that are wellsuited for PPE production. Distilleries and cosmetics companies were already well-prepared to make the switch to hand sanitizer and added that capacity early on in the pandemic. Same goes for companies with strong material supply chains, especially those with access to thermoformers, blow molders, or other molding or forming machinery. These brands were already were on board with PPE production in March, so there haven’t been many new brands adding a line for PPE manufacturing since then.

COVID_SurveyPt2.indd 45

“Lead times on sanitizers and some packaging materials have been extended, though we have not faced shortages,” said one respondent.

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46 PW AUG2020

Respondents More Optimistic on CAPEX, Hiring Brands Hiring Again

Capital Expenditures Coming Back

Are hiring and interviewing on hold?

March 2020

June 2020

March 2020

June 2020

Yes 49%

Yes 33%

Yes 55%

Yes 48%

No 51%

No 67%

No 45%

No 52%

“We have seen longer lead times for packaging and ingredients, but for the most part, have been in stock on our core items,” said another respondent.

Finally, of those experiencing supply chain disruptions in June, 38% report that the disruptions are primarily domestic, 23% report that disruptions are primarily internationals, and the remaining 38% claim disruptions are a mix of foreign and domestic

Remote access’s time to shine?

Many stakeholders have observed that, due to production facilities closing their doors to outsiders during the pandemic, now may be a moment where the immense potential for remote access and monitoring for troubleshooting and vendor support might finally be realized. We asked of our audience a new question in June (not on survey in March) if

CAPEX Expectations Rebound

5% March 2020 June 2020

18% 21%

Yes, we’ll do less of it

18% 17%

No

27% 57%

Too soon to tell 0%

36% 10%

20%

30%

40%

June 2020

Regular masks Take temperature at entry Gloves Completion of internal questionnaire upon arrival Written approval from their company

84% 80% 69% 65% 49%

“New restrictions due to COVID-19,”

and “Not having in-person tech support.”

50%

60%

Uncertainty over CAPEX is diminishing as we become more mature in the post-pandemic environment. Nearly half (45%) foresee the same or more new equipment expenditures in the post-COVID-19 landscape.

COVID_SurveyPt2.indd 46

How are you protecting workers at packaging facilities?

they allow vendors into their facilities for maintenance, etc. To our surprise, 78% of responses allow vendors into their facility as of June 10th, leaving only 12 respondents saying they do not let vendors in.

That means our sample size of possible remote monitoring/access converts is limited to only 12 individuals out of 56 total responses. Of those 12 respondents, five already allow machinery builders and other vendors remote access to their machinery. Another four do not and never will, according to them. This leaves only three respondents in the 56-respondent set who had not allowed remote access prior to the pandemic, but are more open to it now. While this doesn’t illustrate a groundswell of new support for remote access capability, necessity has convinced at least a few that they should be looking into remote access.

When asked their reasons for changing their attitude toward remote, the two write in responses said:

Do you foresee changes to capital buying due to the pandemic?

Yes, we’ll do more of it

Are capital expenditures on hold?

The jury is still out on if this pandemic will result in accelerated remote monitoring adoption. If only in two of the responses, there were certain mentions of increased openness to remote. But the relative openness to vendors and suppliers coming into plants for maintenance and troubleshooting, even during COVID-19, kept the sample sizes too low to extrapolate. We continue to follow remote access adoption rates. PW

7/22/20 11:11 AM

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7/22/20 11:15 AM

48 PW AUG2020

A starter kit from Truman’s contains two printed corrugated cartons and one printed paperboard carton tightly packed in a printed corrugated shipper.

Packaging Carries Heavy Load for E-Comm Brand Extension E-commerce retailer Truman’s optimizes packaging to serve the sometimes competing purposes of securing product, making a good first impression, and staying sustainable.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Streamlined pack minimizes weight

Printed corrugated replaces inserts

By Matt Reynolds, Editor Truman’s brand of household cleaning products launched in 2019 as an e-comm-only play, urging consumers to quit single-use PET bottles in favor of durable ones and quit shipping water in favor of adding water to concentrates (read PW’s coverage on the launch at pwgo.to/5601).

The concept netted a 2019 Dow Packaging Innovation Award for its efforts. In spring of 2020, Truman’s announced a new line of non-toxic laundry, dish, and toilet cleaners in bar form, functionally the same as other popular detergent pods. All three are focused on simplicity and sustainable packaging, specifically designed for home delivery via the e-comm channel.

Trumans_PW.indd 48

“When an Amazon search for laundry detergent yields more choices than a Cheesecake Factory menu, it’s time to simplify,” says Truman’s Co-Founder Alex Reed. “Our new products expand on our mission to take the clutter and waste out of cleaning. We’re eliminating single-use plastic bottles and making it convenient with direct shipping.”

Laundry and dish detergents are two of the largest categories under the umbrella of cleaning products, so they were certainly in the longterm plan when Truman’s launched in 2019. But the brand opted for a phased rollout of new product lines.

“Before we tackled a new category, we really wanted to understand

7/22/20 6:52 AM

49

our consumer,” Reed says. “We really wanted to understand the market dynamics before we committed. We didn’t start putting pen to paper on these product introductions until about four to six months into running the company. We really took that first period of time to understand what it is that our customers love, what they wanted to see more of, and how we could run the business in a better way. I think that was important.”

With tens of thousands of customers in the concentrated cleaner subscription program, the company last fall raised $5 million in a round of investment targeting expansion, which helped quicken the development. Each product uses a proprietary anti-microbial technology that provides a deep clean without toxic chemicals. Like Truman’s spray cleaners, they ship directly to customers’ doorsteps in all-new, fully recyclable and compostable packaging.

Packaging a differentiator from the status quo “What we observed in our first two years was that our packaging really highlights the difference between us and traditional cleaners, because it’s so stark,” Reed says. “People are accustomed to the giant orange bottle on the laundry detergent shelf in the supercenter. Some of the brands are iconic. But across the spectrum of options, the format is consistently single-use plastic packaging, even if it’s super concentrated. A lot of that’s because of the way the industry operates: large pallets of product being sent to a retailer’s warehouse and ultimately landing on the shelf where they

The two corrugated cartons containing the laundry and dishwasher bars are flexo printed on both sides with quippy, fun instructions, forgoing the need for inserts and ensuring each bar is used as intended.

Trumans_PW.indd 49

need to grab attention. The packages need to be informative, and all the information anybody would hopefully want needs to be there on the product itself. It’s a much different customer experience with Truman’s.”

The company has always approached product development, and attendant packaging design, through a lens of minimalism. That’s not only in simplicity of choice, but simplicity of material and the way it’s delivered. It involves eliminating dead space or eliminating extra elements, like inserted instruction guides and pamphlets.

“We really worked hard to not have anything in the package extra besides the product, but still create enough cushion that they could be delivered safely,” Reed says.

All new packaging format The original line of concentrated liquid refills wasn’t too difficult.

Each pack of four tough, rigid high-density polyethylene cylinders only needed a printed paperboard carton for adequate protection all the way through the many-touch e-comm channel right to a customer’s doorstep.

But the new bars, composed of thin film-bound powder detergent, are far more susceptible to damage via rough handling or moisture. The challenge was to maintain the familiar minimalism, but make sure that the bars could be delivered securely without moisture ingress or punctured film.

“It started with the product itself and making sure that the film holding the physical concentrate is not so tight that any bump or bruise is going to cause it to rupture,” Reed says. “It’s about starting upstream with the consideration that we’re not going to have a ton of excessive packaging. We wanted to make sure we were using the right form factor and preparing the actual product for its journey, not just letting the packaging carry the whole burden.”

Two of the bar products—dish and laundry detergents—each use an E flute corrugated primary carton of their own. The toilet cleaner is packed in 100 PCW kraft paperboard. Refills for each variety can be ordered and shipped separately, sometimes in polybags or other individual shippers. But most subscriptions begin with the full packaging system, a starter kit called a Home Care Membership Bundle.

In it, the three primary packages are arranged in a pattern that fits them tightly together in a three-dimensional rectangle avoiding any wasted space (“shipping air” is anathema to Truman’s) and are enclosed within a master printed E flute corrugated shipper that acts as secondary packaging. The secondary shipper’s most important function, beyond carrying the shipping label, is as another layer of corrugated between the pack’s contents and any moisture or rain.

“They are small form factors, so usually, they’re going to go in mailboxes. They’re going to go under front porches or in mail slots,” Reed says. “They’re not going to sit out in the rain in 99 percent of cases. But even just preventing that trip from mail truck to mailbox on a rainy day, preventing any excessive moisture from getting in, was important.”

Both primary and secondary packs use an ear-lock mailer structure, and printed tape is added to close them at both levels. The secondary pack usually acts as the shipper, but some individual refill products can ship in padded mailers.

7/22/20 6:52 AM

50 PW AUG2020

Quippy Attitude Drives Unboxing Brand Experience Messaging for Truman’s cleaning packs has always taken a lighthearted tone, and the new line is no exception. Flexoprinted directly to the corrugated or kraft paperboard is fun messaging that serves a purpose in eliminating external directions. A starter kit contains all three applications for the new bar line. The bundle or kit is 3 lb. 8.8 oz, and 10.5x8.94x2.81 in., and its constituent cartons are as follows: •G et a Load of This—1lb 7oz, 9 x 4.72 x 1.25 in., 30 bars per carton. This zero-waste laundry bar has no toxins, artificial scents, or dyes. “It’s no frills... unless your shirt has frills, then there will be frills,” says the company. Get a Load of This is septic-safe, handles all laundry types, and works just like pods. Price: $14.50 for 30 bars or $11 as part of the company’s Home Care Membership Bundle.

Having the three different products packaged together led to another challenge: making sure they’re clearly differentiated and independent from one another, easily separated, and equipped to go their separate ways. Dish bars are meant for the kitchen, laundry for the laundry room, and toilet bars for the bathroom. To resolve this, each of the internal primary packages is color coded, and the instructions for each different application are flexographically printed directly to the carton, forgoing

MATERIAL MASTER™

• Your Dish Is My Command—1lb 7oz, 9 x 4.72 x 1.25 in., 30 bars per carton. These non-toxic dishwasher bars offer a spot-free shine without any synthetic fragrances or colors, according to the company. Price: $14.50 for 30 bars or $11 as part of the company’s Home Care Membership Bundle.

• Reporting for Doodie—.48 oz, 6.75 x 3.38 x 2.38 in., six bars per carton. Each of these non-toxic, septic-safe toilet bars keep harmful bacteria at bay, a factor with heightened importance these days. “Just drop one in your bowl weekly.

All come in waste-free compostable packaging, because the only waste we like to see is human. OK, that came out wrong,” according to company copywriters. Price: $9.50 for six bars or $7 as part of the company’s Home Care Membership Bundle. PW

external directions that could get separated from the package. This prevents dishwasher detergent from ending up in the laundry, or vice versa.

An unforeseen benefit of the bar form factor was that it’s now widely familiar and doesn’t require the same level of instruction as its cartridge refill predecessor. That’s important since there are three different detergents in one Home Kit shipper that’s roughly the same size as the original liquid cartridges’ paperboard carton. Each corrugated or paper-

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STICK HAPPENS

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The toilet pods are the only pack in the starter kit system to use kraft paperboard, printed on one side in this case, since the fivepanel design isn’t meant for a larger display, and explanation isn’t required for a one-per-week frequency product.

For a fully-automated solution with seamless integration, call 262-814-8500 or visit www.GlueDots.com/StickHappensSD

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“With packaging being such a “small” industry, options for higher education or accreditations are limited. IoPP’s Certified Packaging Professional (CPP) program is the only designation you can obtain to indicate your commitment to the packaging industry.

Once I earned my CPP, not only did I receive executive recognition at work, I also received a promotion shortly after. Maintaining my designation by getting recertified every three years serves as motivation to stay engaged in the packaging industry and IoPP. I am pushed to continue to learn through webinars, conferences and higher education, while also staying up to date on market trends. Achieving my CPP designation gave me the professional advantage I was looking for.”

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52 PW AUG2020

PFLOW INDUSTRIES ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS FOR THE PACKAGING INDUSTRY SINCE 1977

board primary package in the new bar line is maybe a third of the size of its paperboard predecessor, so onpack printing space is comparatively limited.

Overall, packaging for the new line entailed taking that same design mentality from the first line and applying it to a new form factor with the same goals in mind: no packing peanuts, no air cushions, no extra padding, and no dead space. To validate all these packaging decisions, Truman’s employed a third-party supply chain company to test and optimize the packaging system.

“Philosophically, for us, it’s less about being a sustainability-first brand, and it’s more about just minimizing waste where you can,” Reed says. “It’s practical, too, considering shipping rates and their relationship with dimensional weight. If you’re able to do it, why not do it? Since we’re taking a fresh approach to these cleaning products, it gives us a license to rethink how we want to package and deliver them.”

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Packaging design priorities were function first— getting the product through the channel intact—then form and consumer interaction with the packs (see sidebar on quippy messaging, page 50). Sustainability was really the last piece of the equation. Truman’s had a structure and a form in mind, the last step was to go out and find sustainable material that could still accomplish those first two goals.

The new product line’s packaging, both paperboard and corrugated, is 100% post-consumer recycled content. A first for Truman’s, they are entirely compostable, too. While the material selection for the corrugated and paperboard is unique to this new bar line, Reed says it’s instructive for all of the packaging, and Truman’s is going to take a look at how well the compostable material will work for the existing line.

“There are so many new technologies with material, especially within shipping and e-commerce, that we’re always looking for ways where we can reduce our footprint,” Reed says. “This was a cool process for us because it was only a year on the heels of launching our first product, and we were already able to show some improvement that was also economically feasible for us.

We’re a startup, and we have to be cost-conscious. But I think we’ve got more flexibility, both with the ingredients that we choose and also the packaging materials we source, to be able to pay a little bit extra to achieve our goals without putting ourselves in a position where we’re making a niche product that has to be priced way above the rest of the market and then ultimately inaccessible to a lot of people. It’s not that we’ve hit a finish line with this current packaging. I think we’re always going to evaluate it and certainly look for opportunities to minimize impact anywhere else we can.” PW

7/22/20 6:53 AM

INDUSTRY WATCH

Companies C-P Flexible Packaging acquired Genpak Flexible.

53

BETTER DRYING

Chroma Color Corp. acquired Epolin Chemicals LLC. Brown Machine Group acquired aXatronics’ robotics capabilities business.

Heat and Control, Inc. celebrates its 70th Anniversary this year.

Universal Robots supports the OPC UA protocol for use with its robots.

ProMach acquires Modern Packaging expanding its filling machinery product range with additional capabilities for viscous food and dairy products.

Mold-Rite Plastics broke ground to begin construction on an addition to its manufacturing facility in Twinsburg, Ohio.

TC Transcontinental’s Recycling Group acquired the assets of Enviroplast Inc.

LABEL ADHESION Paxton’s CanDryer and CapDryer replace conventional air knives to improve label adhesion and packaging.

Sun Chemical and its parent company, DIC Corp., entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Digital Inks Business from Sensient Technologies Corp.

People Ana Pryor joined Schubert North America as Director of Finance.

David O’Keefe was named Director of Sales for EDL Packaging Innovation.

Rajiv Banavali was hired as Senior Vice President, Science and Innovation for WestRock.

Adrian Hermosillo was promoted to Sales Manager for Plexpack Corp.

Erik Blom was appointed Managing Director of Food Processing EMEAI for Duravant.

Hank Lee was appointed West Region District Manager for Beckhoff USA.

In Memoriam John Kowal, Director of Business Development at B&R Industrial Automation, passed away in July 8, 2020 after a long battle with cancer. Kowal was one of the most influential figures in packaging automation over the past two decades. In the ’90s, Kowal authored a book on PC vs PLC control. Joining the servo division in the late 1990s of what is now Bosch Rexroth, Kowal evangelized the potential for servo control for the packaging machinery industry at a time when there was resistance to the new technology. As part of this effort, Kowal was instrumental in propelling the then-sleepy OMAC organization into the packaging community in the late ’90s, giving it a sense of purpose and vitality that put it on the map. (At the time, OMAC stood for Open Modular Architecture Controls but was later renamed to Organization for Machine Automation and Control.)

In 2002, Kowal was tapped to join Elau, a then privately-held German servo control manufacturer that wanted to take on entrenched competitors in the highly competitive U.S. motion-control market. John spearheaded what was considered to be the one of most audacious marketing programs in the field of packaging automation at that time. Elau grew its presence in the U.S. rapidly from a standing start until it was eventually acquired by Schneider Electric in 2005.

Its marketing was a big part of that. Kowal moved on to B&R in 2010, handling marketing for B&R’s global automation business, where he remained until his passing this July.

Throughout this period Kowal became an increasingly active and influential member of PMMI, serving on its board of directors. During John’s 20+ year career in packaging automation, he relished the promotion the latest motion control technology to help OEMs make their machines better for the end customer.

CODING QUALITY Paxton’s POWERDRYTM Drying System efficiently eliminates any moisture and debis from the cap and neck to improve coding quality.

INDUSTRY LEADING WARRANTY Paxton Products protects their customers with the Paxton industry leading blower warranty. Unlike other blower warranties that only last one year, Paxton is confident in the long term quality and reliablity of Paxton blowers.

800-441-7475 WWW.PAXTONPRODUCTS.COM

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Go to the link at the end of each item for more info.

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TECHNOLOGY

Stretch Wrapper Signode offers the Octopus C automatic rotary ring stretch wrapper that can wrap up to 40 loads/hr, depending on load size and wrap pattern.

Signode pwgo.to/5660

Print-and-Apply Labeler

Hot Melt Dot Applicator

Videojet Technologies upgrades its 9550 print-andapply labeler featuring a 6-in. printhead option and a design that eliminates the mechanical adjustments, wear parts, and failure points that can cause everyday operational problems.

Meler’s adhesive applicator’s microprocessor-controlled timer and driver combine immediate signal response with device precision to apply 8,500 dots/min.

Videojet Technologies pwgo.to/5661

Meler USA Corp. pwgo.to/5659

Compact Print-and-Apply Labeler Spouted Pouch Filler, Capper The Bossar BCF-2 dual-lane linear system from AlliedFlex can fill and cap a variety of products and spouted pouch formats at speeds from 120 to 140 pouches/min.

AlliedFlex Technologies, Inc. pwgo.to/5653

Robotic Packaging System The Flex-Bot System from Engineered Vision is an automated packaging system designed for filling trays, counting parts, and packing cases through vision guidance and a vibratory feeder for high-mix, lowvolume applications.

Engineered Vision Inc. pwgo.to/5662

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FOX IV Technologies introduces the Model 5411 compact printand-apply labeler designed for low- to medium-volume automated labeling applications such as labeling pallets and order fulfillment with an automated bagger.

FOX IV Technologies pwgo.to/5657

X-Ray Inspection Machine The Eagle Pack 430 X-ray inspection machine with MDX technology from Eagle Product Inspection is designed to remove difficult-to-find inorganic contaminants such as glass, small pieces of rock, dense rubber, and plastic.

Eagle Product Inspection pwgo.to/5655

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AD INDEX Search Packworld.com for additional information on any of the advertisers listed or visit their website directly

Stainless Steel Tape Head

ADVERTISER WEBSITE PAGE

ABB Motors & Mechanical www.baldor.com

Dekka, a product brand of ProMach, updates its V3 stainless steel tape head to include improved cutting and toolless tension adjustment, making it suitable for use with recycled corrugated and underfill applications.

OBC

AMAC Technologies www.amactechnologies.com Amcor Flexibles North America www.amcorr.com

11 Targeted Cover

Buskro, Ltd. www.buskro.com

39

BW Integrated Systems www.bwintegratedsystems.com Targeted Cover

Dekka pwgo.to/5654

Vertical Drop Metal Detectors Xtreme vertical drop metal detectors from Eriez are designed to detect the presence of ferrous, nonferrous, and stainless metal contaminants in gravity free-fall applications such as food processing, packaging, pharmaceutical, and plastics/rubber.

Eriez Magnetics pwgo.to/5656

Oil Filtration System for Fried Foods The OilSaver oil filtration system from Heat and Control can extend the life of frying oil with continuous filtration down to 10 microns.

Delkor Systems, Inc. www.delkorsystems.com

27

FANUC America Corporation www.fanuc.com

29

Festo Corp. www.festo.us

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Glenroy, Inc. www.glenroy.com

21

GLUE DOTS International www.gluedots.com

51

Heat and Control, Inc. www.heatandcontrol.com ID Technology www.idtechnology.com Intralox, Inc. www.intralox.com

IBC 5 1

Institue of Packaging Professionals www.iopp.org

51

ITW Air Management www.paxtonproducts.com

53

JLS Automation www.jlsautomation.com King Plastic Corporation www.kingplastic.com/ KlĂśckner Pentaplast Pharma, Health www.kpfilms.com Label-Aire, Inc. www.label-aire.com

7 6 IFC 12, 13

Material Transfer & Storage www.materialtransfer.com

50

Nercon www.nerconconveyors.com

34

P.E. North America www.penorthamerica.com

15

Packaging World www.packworld.com

37

PDI Packaging Distributors, Inc. www.pdimachinery.com

40

PFlow Industries www.pflow.com

52

PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies www.pmmi.org Serpa Packaging Solutions www.serpapackaging.com SEW Eurodrive, Inc. www.seweurodrive.com

17, 47 39 9

SICK, Inc. www.sick.com/packaging

35

Sidel Group Americas www.sidel.com

10

Smithers Rapra/Smithers Pira www.smithersrapra.com

38

Specialty Equipment www.specialtyequipment.com

23

Bulk Bag Discharging System

Standard-Knapp, Inc. www.standard-knapp.com

52

Material Transfer’s bulk bag discharging system is designed for discharging various food ingredients into an existing process.

Heat and Control pwgo.to/5634

Triangle Package Machinery Company www.trianglepackage.com

3

Universal Robots www.universal-robots.com

31

Valco Melton www.valcomelton.com

41

Van der Graaf www.vandergraaf.com

00

Verst Logistics Packaging www.verstlogistics.com/pack WestRock www.westrock.com Wexxar Bel www.wexxar.com

19 OFC 43

Material Transfer pwgo.to/5658 Connect with a Leaders in Packaging supplier and support packaging education!

www.packworld.com/leaders

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56 PW AUG2020

LOOKING FORWARD

By Michael Richmond, PhD, and Brian Wagner, PTIS LLC

Redefining the Packaging Organization of the Future Packaging is in a transformational state, driving disruptive innovation across the industry. With so much in flux, there is a clear need to help remove noise in the system and move from bad VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) to good VUCA. We will identify what is important for packaging organizations and corporate leaders going forward. It’s all about good VUCA. Our goal is to help provide foresight in developing strategic packaging pipelines and recommend platform approaches to help navigate a successful journey.

Packaging continues to gain importance across the value chain.

Based on our foresight research, as well as leading consultants like Deloitte and McKinsey increasing their focus on packaging, we see a bright future for packaging globally. Preparing for the future will be critical.

PTIS World Class Packaging Organization Model© 2017-2020 In order to lead, organizations need to have multi-year technical and strategic platforms, with near-term through 10+ year, long-term action plans. The long-term pipeline should include a variety of focus areas that they may choose to monitor, rather than actively invest in and work on. But they can readily backburner some and pull forward others based on trends, transformations, and disruptions. The year 2020 is one of those times to pull forward, prioritize, and accelerate.

Platforms are a best practice at many leading organizations since they help focus innovation and research resources on key areas, rather than being diluted among many less focused areas of interest.

The goal of platforms is to be able to take the technology/benefit across multiple applications and opportunities to deliver enhanced growth, speed to market, and cost optimization. Frankly, most companies, and even many “leaders,” do not have early state/stage packaging pipeline programs to align with brand strategy and product development timing. Packaging needs this as an adjunct to stage gate process.

In order to move towards good VUCA, organizations across the value chain need to know what their best bets are, choose what not to work on, and start working on the top priorities. With these choices come the need for new skill sets, resources, and collaboration opportunities. In many cases, technology is allowing us to do far more, with greater efficiency and effectiveness. The time may not have been right a year, or even six months ago, but is now! Some platform examples: • Digital Transformation: AR/VR, smart packaging, IoT, Industry 4.0, robotics, sensors, blockchain, etc.

• Consumer understanding and insight for package design, requiring new methods such as online ethnographies

• Artificial intelligence linked with modeling and simulation, digital twins, etc.

• Omnichannel, e-commerce, direct 2 consumer: Center of store sales are up, as is grocery delivery, and some things will not revert post-pandemic. For example, Microsoft and Kroger digital store collaboration (pwgo.to/5674) • Health, safety, security, authenticity. Packaging is helping consumers through the pandemic. What expectations will stick?

Visual indicators? Sensors?

• Managing packaging supply and next generation supply chains, including reshoring, near shoring, and far Shoring. For example, the CEFLEX circular model for flexible packaging (pwgo.to/5675) • Foresight, scenario planning for future extreme possibilities • Infrastructure ¢ Brand purpose and stakeholder capitalism: Hundreds of companies committing to putting all stakeholders on equal footing with shareholders, including Blackrock’s commitment and the Closed Loop Fund ¢ Sustainability, and driving towards a circular economy, including 2030 Corporate commitments to Ellen McArthur, waste reduction, etc. ¢ Design thinking and new design initiatives will require a focus on thinking circular ¢ Virtual meeting tools: web meeting capabilities have been available, but with limited use until March 2020. Quick companies force attention on applying them and driving improvement and adoption. Zoom and MS Teams have been at the forefront. ¢ Automation and contract packaging: Machinery and equipment are more prominent in packaging, so asset strategy is more integral and needs to be bigger part of the conversation Both traditional and non-traditional collaboration is crucial in terms of speed to market and advancing in areas new to packaging.

Brand owners, suppliers, and others across the value chain should: • Identify platform opportunity areas that make sense for your business, now and in the future • Review one anothers’ strategic platforms to identify opportunities for common interest, synergies, and collaboration • Create or participate in pre-competitive, and/or non-competitive consortia opportunities Building a long-term strategy with the key elements described above will help your company be prepared for the future, and to take and make packaging a core and differentiating element in the organization of the future. PW

PTIS, LLC is a leading business and technology management company focused on Creating Value Through Packaging©.

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Decades of science, imagination, and commitment that help bring your best products to market Heat and Control has been on a mission to modernize equipment solutions since our founding in 1950. For 70 years, our passion for advancing the food, pharmaceutical, and other industries has guided our work. From the machinery we

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manufacture and the customers we serve, to our process breakthroughs and the partnerships we develop, we have always found new approaches, believed in bold ideas, and put people ďŹ rst. That is the essence of who we are and how we lead.

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info@heatandcontrol.com Learn more > heatandcontrol.com/alwaysinnovating

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Improves productivity

Eliminates unplanned stops

Increases employee safety

— Condition monitoring For mechanical components

The ABB AbilityTM Smart Sensor for mechanical products is an easy-to-use, wireless sensor which monitors the health of mounted bearings and gear reducers. The sensor provides warnings when health status declines, reducing the risk of unplanned downtime. In addition, connectivity and trend data allow maintenance to be planned proactively instead of reactively, and remote monitoring capabilities keep employees away from areas that are difficult or dangerous to access.

Operate safely. Reduce downtime. Improve reliability.

new.abb.com

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