PET
PROJECTS
A proud Canadian pet foods manufacturer blends product excellence with packaging innovation to remain one of the industry’s top dogs Story on page 13
INSIDE:
Our special OCB report begins opposite page 16
LOVING THEIR CRAFT
Toasting Ontario’s Craft Brewers
WE FILL
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UPFRONT
YOUTHQUAKE ROCKING THE STATUS QUO
OCTOBER 2018 VOLUME 71, NO. 10
SENIOR PUBLISHER Stephen Dean • (416) 510-5198 SDean@canadianpackaging.com EDITOR George Guidoni • (416) 510-5227 GGuidoni@canadianpackaging.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Alanna Fairey • (416) 510-5228 afairey@canadianpackaging.com MEDIA DESIGNER Brooke Shaw • (519) 428-3471 bshaw@annexbusinessmedia.com ACCOUNT COORDINATOR Barb Comer • (888) 599-2228 ext 210 bcomer@annexbusinessmedia.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Anita Madden • (416) 442-5600 x3596 AMadden@@annexbusinessmedia.com VICE PRESIDENT Tim Dimopoulos • tdimopoulos@annexbusinessmedia.com PRESIDENT & CEO Mike Fredericks ANNEX BUSINESS MEDIA 111 Gordon Baker Rd., Suite 400, Toronto, ON M2H 3R1; Tel: 416-442-5600. Canadian Packaging, established 1947, is published 10 times per year except for occasional combined, expanded or premium issues, which count as two subscription issues.
W
ith all due apologies to the great wordsmith Bernard Shaw for taking a little creative license with one of his many eternal witticisms, it really is a great pity to see youth being so wasted on young people in this day and age. It is in fact one of life’s bigger ironies that today’s aging Baby Boomers, raised in the heyday of profoundly liberating societal transformation throughout the Western World, are now the most socially conservative segment of the North American population. Which really makes one wonder what things will be like when today’s Millennials, raised and schooled in a world so dominated by social media and other trappings of the Internet Age, ultimately morph into the new future ruling class. The are many leading futurists offering some fascinating hypothetical scenarios on how it may all play out, but if the current trends in today’s global retail and CPG (consumer packaged goods) manufacturing industries keep trending as they are, the word “disruption” will be a quaint understatement of trying to sum up the game-changing paradigm shifts to come. It’s no secret that most of today’s leading CPG brand-owners are struggling mightily to maintain their once unassailable market share in the Millennialcentric marketplace driven more by social media inf luencers than traditional advertising and marketing strategies that once served these companies so well. Nowhere is this new normal more readily apparent than in the so-called Big Food sector, where former blue chip stalwarts General Mills, Campbell
Soup, Hershey and Pepsi are all bleeding market share and stock valuation as their legacy brands continue to f lounder—despite intense efforts to rejuvenate them through countless packaging makeovers centered on recreating their once ‘cool’ vibes. Alas, working too hard at being cool rarely results in a genuinely cool end product—at least not in a population segment displaying more affinity for the likes of Red Bull and Monster energy drinks than the aforementioned Pepsi and Coca-Cola. According to a recent survey conducted by the U.S.-based Morning Consult, the five brands most adored by today’s young adults, in descending order, are YouTube, Google, Netflix, Amazon and Sony, with Hershey the sole food company in the Top 10 in a tie for sixth with Pixar. According to Morning Consult’s chief executive officer Michael Ramlet, “Millennials expect more from brands. From the shoes they wear to the coffee they Instagram, brand choices are increasingly used to project values in public and online.” As children of the Great Recession, Millennials are an extremely financially cautious bunch that places more value on access to product than outright ownership of it, Ramlet points out, hence the rapid emerge of the so-called sharing economy. “Millennials prefer distinctive shopping opportunities, and derive value from the experiential,” Ramlet asserts. “Accustomed to perfectly tailored social media feeds, they expect retailers to meet their needs with precision.” So far, it seems, those retailers are not yet up to the task, but that’s not a reason or an excuse to stop trying. There’s simply too much at stake not to.
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13 ANIMAL ATTRACTIONS by George Guidoni
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DISCLAIMER: No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. ©2018 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. This publication is for informational purposes only. The content and “expert” advice presented are not intended as a substitute for informed professional engineering advice. You should not act on information contained in this publication without seeking specific advice from qualified engineering professionals. Canadian Packaging accepts no responsibility or liability for claims made for any product or service reported or advertised in this issue. Canadian Packaging receives unsolicited materials, (including letters to the editor, press releases, promotional items and images) from time to time. Canadian Packaging, its affiliates and assignees may use, reproduce, publish, republish, distribute, store and archive such unsolicited submissions in whole or in part in any form or medium whatsoever, without compensation of any sort. We acknowledge the [financial] support of the Government of Canada
A proud Canadian pet product excellence foods manufacturer blends with packa remain one of the ging innovation to industry’s top dogs Story on page 13
DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS FEATURES
3 UPFRONT By George Guidoni
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PET
PROJECTS
Venerable Montreal pet food and pet-care accessories manufacturer ramps up its production capabilities with high-performance pouchmaking and sachet filling machinery. Cover photography by Pierre Longtin Publication mail
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INSIDE:
Our special OCB report begins opposite page 16
LOVING THEIR CRAFT
Toasting Ontario’s
4 NEWSPACK Packaging news round-up.
33 SUNNY DIPOSITION Leading product inspection technologies manufacturer opens up a new chapter it its breathtaking growth in spectacular fashion.
5-6 NOTES & QUOTES Noteworthy industry briefs.
36 BEYOND THE FILM The critical importance of testing before shipping.
8-10 FIRST GLANCE New technologies for packaging applications.
38 A BETTER SLICE OF LIFE By Alanna Fairey Meat slicing equipment manufacturer aim to carve itself a bigger share of the Canadian market.
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ECO-PACK NOW The latest on packaging sustainability.
12 imPACt A monthly insight from PAC, Packaging Consortium
Craft Brewers
41 CHIPS OFF THE OLD BLOCK Swiss potato chips manufacturer upgrades its safety automation with new-generation technologies. 44 BRINGING HOME THE BACON By Alex Love Making the case for fully-automatic bacon packaging.
47 EVENTS Upcoming industry functions. 48 CHECKOUT By Megan Moffat
SPECIAL REPORT Our special tribute to Ontario’s craft-brewing industry begins opposite of page 16.
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SPECIAL REPOR T
THE NEW BLACK By George Guidoni THE MORE THE MERRIER THE MIRACLES OF SCIENCE By George Guidoni METHOD TO THEIR MADNESS
Ben Morris, Canning Line Operator, SESSIONS CRAFT BREWING Daniel Barnes, Canning Line Operator, SESSIONS CRAFT BREWING
UPWARDLY MOBILE Toasting Ontario’s craft brewers
S3
THE NEW BLACK By George Guidoni
S8
VIEW FROM THE
TOP S10
DOWN TO SCIENCE By George Guidoni
SEPTEMBER 2017 • CANADIAN PACKAGING WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM • 3
NEWSPACK
KRUGER LEVERAGES TRUE PATRIOT LOVE TO MARKET ITS TISSUE PRODUCTS With Canada-U.S. trade relations tested to the limit in recent months, the notion of ‘buying Canadian’ is quickly becoming the preferred shopping option for many Canadian consumers. In fact, a new Ipsos Omnibus survey reveals that Canadian consumers want to put their money where their f lag is, as many are coming to the realization that Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports have strong potential to hit them where it hurts the most: their wallets. According to the 2018 survey, 83 per cent of Canadians would choose a madein-Canada product over one made in the U.S. when it comes to purchasing grocery products of equal quality and price. Additionally, 62 per cent of Canadians are now more likely to choose Canadian-made products compared to a few months ago. For Kruger Products, Canada’s leading tissue manufacturer of popular consumer brands such as Cashmere Bathroom Tissue, SpongeTowels, Scotties and Purex, this profound shift in public opinion is a significant trend welcomed with open arms. “It surprises us that so many Canadian consumers are unaware of the fact that our brands are proudly made in Canada, which is in fact displayed on all our brand websites and packaging,” says Kruger Products chief marketing officer Nancy Marcus. “Kruger Products is a third-generation, Canadian family business with more than a 100-year history in this country,” Marcus points out. “We are proud that our leading brands are made in Canada: by Canadians for
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Canadians.” Operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of privately-owned paper products group Kruger Inc., Mississauga, Ont.-headquartered more than 2,000 Canadians at manufacturing plants in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. Headquartered in Montreal, Kruger Inc. also owns a large containerboard packaging subsidiary operating under the Krupack Packaging banner, along with the Kruger Publication Papers division, a wine-and-spirits business, and the Kruger Energy subsidiary specializing in renewable energy. By buying Canadian consumers are not only helping to support local jobs, economies and communities, Marcus explains, they are also supporting numerous organizations and charities through noble philanthropic corporate initiatives like the company’s annual Cashmere Collection, with all proceeds donated to the Canadian Cancer Society. “Buying Canadian is a choice,” says Marcus. “Given the current political and economic climate, it only makes sense to support Canadian businesses committed to investing in our next generation by creating jobs and bettering the lives of Canadians through the ‘greater social good’ initiatives like Cashmere Collection.”
QUICK RISE INTO THE BIG LEAGUES While humans have consumed fermented tea for thousands of years, its arrival to North America is a fairly recent development, albeit greatly aided by the likes of Montreal-based RISE Kombucha. Founded in 2009 by company president Julian Giacomelli, RISE Kombucha has made the most of the public’s growing demand for healthier beverage alternatives by stressing its proclaimed health benefits—including gut health, stress relief and energy enhancement— and developing sleek contemporary packaging to make the product stand out on the shelves. Leveraging the input of over 100 expert brewmasters and scientists, the company has quickly established itself as the market leader in the f ledgling kombucha product category, with its current product line-up comprising innovative f lavor varieties such as Ginger, Lemongrass, Hibiscus & Rose Hips, Rose & Schizandra, and Blueberry & Maple. Made from certified organic, fair-trade and high-quality carefully selected ingredients, RISE Kombucha beverages are packaged in high-quality custom glass 474-ml and one-liter bottles supplied by the Montreal-based Consolidated Bottle, and decorated with clean transparent shrinksleeve labels—designed by Vancouver-based Fluid Creative—produced by Labelink in Montreal. According to Giacomelli, the brand’s elegant packaging presentation has been such a resounding success that the company last month announced the expansion of its business into the U.S. with the opening of two new distribution locations in Vermont and New York City. “More than ever, we’re noticing that consumers are swapping sugary drinks for natural beverages that not only taste good but are good for them,” says Giacomelli. “At RISE Kombucha, we have crafted an optimized kombucha that is authentic, raw, unpasteurized and oddly delicious,” says Giacomelli, noting that the recent opening of the company’s new production plant in Montreal has enabled it to increase production to levels making the U.S. market entry feasible.
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Please note that a caption for one of the pictures featured in a story titled The Roman Feast (pages 17-20, October 2018 issue) contained erroneous information about the origin of the corrugated boxes appearing in the corresponding photograph. For the record, the stack of corrugated boxes depicted in that picture were supplied to the Roma Food Products plant by Mitchel-Lincoln Packaging Ltd., Montreal-headquartered manufacturer of corrugated boxes operating four manufacturing facilities across the province of Quebec in St-Laurent, Drummondville, Vaudreuil and St-Pie. The Canadian Packaging magazine sincerely regrets the error.
CANADIAN PACKAGING • OCTOBER 2018
NOTES & QUOTES nPlant-Based Foods of Canada (PBFA) is a new national organization comprising some of the country’s leading manufacturers of plant-based met substitute products catering to the growing vegetarian market in Canada, according to the new industry group. “Canadians want, and deserve, plant-based food choices that align with current food trends,” says David Johnston, vice-president and general manager of Mississauga, Ont.-based Pinnacle Foods Canada. “Plant-based foods are an important source of protein for many Canadians, and it is important to us that they continue to be a nutritious, delicious and exciting option for all.” In addition to Pinnacle Foods, other founding members of PBFA—a division of the Foods & Consumer Products of Canada (FCPC) group—include Daiya Foods, Danone, Earth’s Own Foods, GreenSpace Brands, Hain Celestial, Pinnacle Foods, Ripple Foods, Lightlife Foods and The Field Roast Company. According to PBFA, the group will work to “help support the regulatory and market interests of plant food companies in Canada that make and market vegetarian products that are similar to traditional animal protein products.” Recent Nielsen market research data shows that the sales of meat and dairy alternatives derived from plant have grown by eight per cent in Canada last year, now topping $3 billion per year. nResource Label Group, LLC, Franklin, Tenn.based producer of pressure-sensitive labels, shrink-
Ink Jet Printer
sleeves and RFID/NFC tags the packaging industry, has competed the acquisition of Toronto-based Ingenious Packaging, a full-service provider of pressure-sensitive, cut-and stack-and in-mold labels, as well as shrinksleeves and banding products, to the food-and-beverage, health-and-beauty, spirits, nutraceutical, distribution, tobacco and pharmaceutical industries. “I am honored to welcome the talented team at Ingenious to our growing family,” says Resource Label’s chief executive officer Bob Simko. “Resource Label will provide the support to meet both the current and future growth needs of Ingenious’ customers throughout North America, with special focus on our foundation of Canadian customers,” says Simko, adding the company has already placed an order for a new 17-inch-wide Mark Andy f lexographic press to be installed at the based Ingenious Packaging facility. With this acquisition, Resource Label now employs about 1,1000 people at 14 production facilities in the U.S. and Canada, including the A1 Label custom label manufacturing plant in Toronto. nWest Essex Graphics (WEG), Fairfield, N.J.-based provider of package design, prepress and f lexographic platemaking services has completed the expansion of its Fairifield production facility to accommodate the installation of the company’s third inline plate processor (see picture) and an additional dryer/ light finish-
ing unit. According to the company, the expansion has enabled it to switch over to a threeshift, around-the-cock platemaking schedule in order to accommodate its growing list of clients across various time zones. “With our continued growth, the availability of 24/7 platemaking, based on need, is highly importantly for us,” explains WEG vice-president of operations Ron Rex. “The additional equipment allows us to continue turning plates around on very short notice, which has proven to be vital to our clients.” nLeading German beverage production line equipment manufacturer Krones AG has completed the acquisition of Shanghai Xiantong Equipment Installation in Shanghai, China, as part of its ongoing strategy to expand its global footprint. Located in the Fengxian District of southern Shanghai, the company will operate under the Krones Processing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. corporate name going forward, serving as Krones’ first wholly-owned production site for brewing equipment and other process technology solutions in China—focusing on delivering turnkey process technology solutions, especially for breweries, around the globe.
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OCTOBER 2018 • CANADIAN PACKAGING WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM • 5
NOTES & QUOTES nCincinnati, Ohio-headquartered packaging machinery group ProMach has completed the acquisition of FLtècnics, Girona, Spain-based manufacturer of a comprehensive range of high-speed horizontal form-fill-seal pouch (HFFS) pouching machinery for f lexible packaging applications in the food, beverage, cosmetics, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. “Five years ago, we saw a growing need in the North American marketplace for a single-source provider of a full range of f lexible packaging solutions,” says ProMach president and chief executive officer Mark Anderson. “We have invested in this space through product development, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships with companies like FLtècnics,” says Anderson, noting that ProMach has been selling and supporting FLtècnics products in the North American
market since 2014. “They are a technology leader in the horizontal form-fill-seal pouch space,” he states, “and we are excited to invest in their continued product development to bring new innovations and new technology into the global marketplace.” nMonoSol, LLC, Merrillville, Ind.-headquartered manufacturer of water-soluble films for detergent, agrochemical and other packaging applications requiring the use of quick-dissolving packaging solutions, has broken ground on a new US$72-million manufacturing facility the company is building in Lebanon, Ind. Operating as a subsidiary of Tokyo-based chemical manufacturer Kuraray Group, LTD, MonoSol expects to complete construction of the 150,000-square-foot facility—its fourth
MonoSol president Scott Bening (fourth from left) leads the groundbreaking ceremony for the company’s new manufacturing facility in Lebanon, Ind.
in Indiana and sixth worldwide—in late 2020, creating about 90 new full-time jobs at the plant. “MonoSol serves many of the largest consumer products companies in the world,” says MonoSol president Scott Bening. “Building this new facility in Lebanon positions our company to continue growing alongside them, while also proving that world-class companies can be born and grow right here in Indiana.”
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nLeading global adhesives, sealants and coatings manufacturer Henkel Adhesive Technologies has commenced the construction of a new $198-million Innovation Center at its parent company’s headquarters in Düsseldorf, Germany, where it will employ about 350 full-time people upon scheduled completion of the facility in late 2020. “The Innovation Center will support our ambition to offer innovative solutions and comprehensive service to our customers by taking our innovation capabilities for adhesives, sealants and functional coatings to the next level,” says Jan-Dirk Auris, ex ecutive board member for the Adhesive Technologies business of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA. “Our goal is to improve the cross-team collaboration and knowledge exchange among our employees within a state-of-the-art and inspiring work environment and, at the same time, use the new building as an interactive customer center,” Auris explains. “We want to excite our customers by experiencing our innovations and technologies firsthand and to develop new high-impact solutions together.” According to Henkel, the seven-storey building will house numerous labs, research and testing facilities, office space and conference rooms spread out over an area of about 50,000 square meters.
6 • WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM
THE FUTURE HAS NEVER BEEN THIS ACCESSIBLE. Flexible, efficient and so simple: Packaging systems from Schubert
Schubert is a world-leading provider of TLM packaging systems. For more than 50 years, we have been developing cutting-edge solutions that are as easy to operate and maintain as they are efficient. Cost-effective in operation, highly flexible and backed by 24/7 service. Packaging systems from Schubert always deliver on their promise and that includes great return on your investment. Find out more at www.schubert-na.com
FOOD
CONFECTIONERY
COSMETICS
BEVERAGES
PHARMACEUTICALS
TECHNICAL PRODUCTS
FIRST GLANCE THE FUTURE IS HERE
analyzed and managed in a Cloud environment. Bosch Rexroth Canada
CENTER OF X-CELLENCE!
Billed as the Factory of the Future, Bosch Rexroth’s extensive range of Industry 4.0-ready automation solutions for the packaging industry comprises advanced modular technologies such as distributed drive and control components, connectivity modules, compact and versatile linear products, innovative chain conveyors and a wide selection of structural framing to make it possible to expand packaging machines and systems as necessary in a modular fashion to suit ever-changing production requirements. Aimed to help manufacturers to reconfigure their plant floor within hours in response to shorter production lifecycles, smaller batch sizes, and individual product designs, these scalable technologies incorporate decentralized automation designs using distributed intelligence and interoperability to achieve greatly reduced machine set-up and changeover times, according to the company. As a central component of this Factory of the Future, the company’s IndraDrive Mi motor-integrated drive technology can significantly reduce machine footprint of packaging and processing machines thanks to reduced components—generating savings with up to 90 per cent less wiring, along with reduced cabinet size and energy consumption. Ideal for all packaging, factory automation and motion logic applications, the intelligent IndraControl XM platform features high-performance real-time data processing capabilities, while and Rexroth’s Open Core interface allows their integration into a wide range of systems. For their part, Rexroth’s connectivity modules allow end users to communicate with their equipment, production lines and manufacturing facilities, implementing factory-wide data collection the new SCD (Sense Connect Detect) range of easyto-integrate sensors generation of sensors that are particularly easy to integrate, with the collected data than
Designed to deliver improved detection sensitivity for error-free product inspection, the new model X34 X-ray inspection system from Mettler Toledo can identify very small contaminants in a quicker and more reliable manner, thanks to its advanced advanced software that enables automated product set-up—dramatically decreasing the chance of human error and greatly reducing the number of false rejects. Featuring a 100W Optimum Power generator that automatically maximizes detection sensitivity, the X-34 is a single lane X-ray system designed for the inspection of a wide range of small and medium-sized packaged products—enhanced with an advanced 0.4-mm detector for highly accurate detection of very small contaminants. These technologies ensure that power and contrast levels are optimized for every product. This state-of-the-art X-ray system comes with advanced ContamPlus inspection software that further enhances detection capabilities, helping food manufacturers achieve zero FRR (False Reject Rate) performance for reduced cost-ofownership and higher OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) scores. The X-34 can be equipped with the Mettler Toledo’s new ProdX advanced data management tool for optimized production efficiency and quality control by storing the images body contamination, which can be viewed remotely. The system also features a highly responsive capacitive touchscreen— allowing users to increase the viewing angle of stored images while maintaining optimal image consistency. Mettler Toledo Product Inspection
HANDLE WITH CARE Made from 100-percent post-consumer recycled resin, PakTech’s diverse range of color-coded carrier handles features a minimalistic design that perfectly compliments many canned beverages’ graphic artwork and design, while virtually eliminating the need for secondary packaging and printing. Available in more than 30 different colors, the 100-percent recyclable handles are easy to apply manually or by the company’s automated applicators. According to PakTech, the manufacturing of these handles at it plant in Eugene, Ore., helped to divert more than 81 million emptied plastic milk jugs from U.S. landfills last year, with these jugs being used to produce the PCR resin used to manufacture these carrier handles. PakTech
ALWAYS ABLE TO LABEL Designed or easy reconfiguration to fit into just about any packaging line, the new ALPHA HSM (High-Speed Modular) label applicator from Weber Marking Systems
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comprises a drive module, a label detection module, a dispensing module, an unwinder module, a rewinder module, and an adapter module, which can be assembled according to customers’ specifications using Weber’s configurator to create the perfect label applicator for their product line—handling multiple speeds and label sizes at line speeds of up to 500 feet per minute. Weber Marking Systems Canada Ltd.
FLEXXING ITS MIGHT
The new SOMIC-FLEXX III multicomponent packaging machine from Somic America, Inc. was specifically designed to provide a high-performance solution to the new North American retail challenges with a new concept that that combines the ability to pack primary packages in a flat, nested position or a standing display orientation. According to the company, the machine is designed to utilize both single and multicomponent packaging: one-piece corrugated blanks for standard wraparound shipping cases, and twopiece tray-and-hood format for retail-ready product presentation. Equipped with the latest generation of industrial automation components from Rockwell Automation, the high-speed flexible machine can easily collate, group and pack stand-up pouches, flow-packs, rigid containers and other packages in open or wraparound trays, paperboard cartons, trays with covers, and many other packaging formats. Somic America, Inc.
IN FINER PRINT MULTIVAC Marking & Inspection GmbH & Co. KG has expanded its printer portfolio with the addition of a new versatile MULTIVAC TIJ thermal inkjet printer for use in both direct web printers and label dispensers. In the thermal inkjet process, water in the ink is heated—causing tiny bubbles that squeeze the ink drops from the nozzle. In contrast to continuous inkjet printers, TIJ printers operate with printer cartridges, in which the printing heads are integrated. The low-maintenance cartridges can be changed easily and quickly, and are capable of achieving up to 600-dpi print resolution in highaccuracy printing of extremely small text and compact barcodes, according to the company. The new and versatile TIJ printer is available in the IP 65 version as an option, as well as in a zero-downtime mode—operating with two printing heads. Multivac Canada Ltd.
CANADIAN PACKAGING • OCTOBER 2018
Laser coding on beverage cans Tough enough for the harshest conditions ◆ IP65 rating – ready for the humid, sugar-laden beverage environment ◆ Non-stop
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readability and traceability
WHAT’S HIDING IN YOUR PRODUCTS?
FIRST GLANCE COLORFUL EXPRESSIONS
STAINLESS STEEL PARTS
GLASS CONTAMINATION
METAL STAPLE
The new Kiaro! series QL-120 digital label printer from the QuickLabel business unit of AstroNova, Inc. combines high resolution of up to 1,200-dpi with the industry’s fastest print speeds to provide smaller business owners a powerful tool to produce professional-quality color labels inhouse and on-demand, at a fraction of the cost and time of outsourcing. Built on AstroNova’s proven industry-leading Kiaro! digital color label printing technology, the second-generation new QL-120 delivers enhanced print quality, performance and reliability, according to the company, along with 50-per cent higher speed compared to the original models. Offering ability to print narrow widths as small as 12.7-mm, seamless networking capabilities, extended printhead life and color range, and ability to print on a wide variety of labeling materials, the high-resolution printer ensures that even the smallest font sizes and images look crisp by optimizing superior color management capabilities to generate brilliant, true-to-life images. QuickLabel (Div. of AstroNova, Inc.)
UNDERFILLED OR MISSING ITEMS
Inspection equipment from LOMA SYSTEMS® identifies contaminants and product defects, giving you peace of mind.
DOMINO EFFECTS The new F720i Beverage Can Coding System from Domino Printing Sciences was developed to offer a reliable and consistent alternative to conventional inkjet printers in high-speed canning applications in various beverage production environments by perfect codes and expiration fate on every can, with virtually zero maintenance and zero hazardous fluids, to provide optimal traceability capabilities. According to Domino’s laser product marketing manager John Hall, “The Beverage Can Coding system offers clean and clear indelible marking that is ideal for compliance purposes and brand protection on aluminum cans. Further, Domino’s system can achieve codes on concave surfaces with high quality and a high speed, whereby one system can mark up to 100,000 cans per hour, with over 20 characters per can, with consistently excellent print quality—even with condensation present on the can. Domino Amjet Inc.
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Said to be the lightest-weight six-axis robot in the industry, the new MotoMini robot from Yaskawa Motoman weighs only seven kilograms to facilitate easy transportation and installation—making it ideal for tabletop-, floor-, ceiling-, tilt- or wall-
10 • WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM
mount installations to conserving valuable plant floorspace.Equipped with the highest acceleration in a small-sized robot, MotoMini is 20-per cent faster than comparable small robots, according to the company, while its 0.5-kg payload supports a unique variety of tooling and sensors to fulfill diverse project needs. Controlled by Yaskawa’s new ultra-compact YRC1000micro robot controller, the MotoMini It is ideal for applications such as assembly, dispensing, inspection, kitting, machine tending, material handling, packaging, parts feeding and sorting—all done at exceptionally quiet noise levels of less than 65 decibels at maximum load and speed. Yaskawa Motoman
PETTY LITTLE THINGS Designed specifically for fully secure ecommerce distribution of liquid or semi-viscous products, the first-of-itskind Dromo PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottle system from PTI offers a highly effective transport packaging solution for personal-care, household chemicals and a wide range of other products. According to the company, the main objective behind Dromo’s development was to create a bottle/dispensing system that would support growing e-commerce product demands, survive the distribution channel with limited secondary packaging, and reduce dependence on raw materials. Said to be 75-percent lighter that traditional personal-care PET bottles, the refillable 16-ounce bottles can be used with several rigid, reusable dispensers specially engineered with specific features to address varying brand preferences. PTI
LOOKING SHARP The new Sharp MAX-PRO 18 automatic bagger from the Sharp Packaging business unit of Pregis LLC is especially well-suited for large e-commerce and manufacturing operations with high production volumes, according to the company. “We believe that the Sharp MAX-PRO 18 is the most advanced bagger available and the first with predictive maintenance,” says Sharp Packaging’s director of engineering John Hubert. “It utilizes the Maxwell intelligent interface featured on other Pregis on-demand systems. The diagnostic abilities mean the system is constantly checking data such as run rates and other usage metrics so that it is able to notify a technician that there might be a potential service issue down the road. The ability to send that alert in advance of an actual problem results in no, or minimal, downtime.” Designed for use with 18-inch-wide Sharp E-Z Bags, the bagger also features an intuitive user interface and thermal printing technology for printing barcodes, graphics and alphanumeric fonts directly onto the package. Sharp Packaging (Div. of Pregis LLC)
CANADIAN PACKAGING • OCTOBER 2018
ECO-PACK NOW
NEW CARTON AIMS TO KEEP CONSUMERS SMILING Making the world smile is a tall order for any one package, but the new SIG combismile aseptic beverage carton developed by Swiss packaging group SIG has too many good things going for it not to brighten up anyone’s day. Developed to respond to the modern consumers’ demand for high-quality, authentic, and convenient packaging solutions that are easy to use, enhance their experience, and reduce their impact on the environment, the company’s new generation of the-go packaging for today’s RTD (ready-todrink) beverages Making its North American debut at last month’s Natural Products Expo East trade show in Baltimore, Md., the combismile drink box is designed for enhanced drinking comfort with its curved shape and easy-grip corners— formed directly inside the combismile filling machine at speeds of up to 24,000 cartons per hour—while offering a choice of a straw or a reclosable screwcap for extra “good to go” mobility, according to SIG. Leveraging aseptic filling technology to provide optimal protection to the RTD beverage’s health and nutritional value, the combismile packs—offered in ‘small’ and ‘big’ footprint versions— made from renewable materials as certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, verifying that the processed wood fibers used to produce the raw paperboard come from responsibly managed, FSC-certified and other controlled sources. Fully recyclable in both Canada and the U.S., the combismile cartons have already been embraced by its first major U.S. end-use customer Steuben Foods, Inc., Elma, N.Y.-based producer of dairy, soy, almond and coconut milk products. Says Steuben Foods senior vicepresident Jeffrey Sokal: “We pride ourselves in supporting our customers and giving them the ability to get new products to market quickly and efficiently for today’s rapidly-changing market and consumer demands. “The versatile and convenient combismile packaging solution enables us to offer customers new and easy ways to adapt and expand new products.” Meanwhile, New York City-based nut- and grain-based milk products manufacturer Elmhurst Milked has already the new package to make a more meaningful connection with younger tech-savvy consumers through application of AR (augment reality) technology via a special ‘zapcode’ developed by a technology firm Zappar. Once the zapcode is scanned (zapped) by a smartphone pointed toward the
WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM • 11
front of the carton, the downloadable Zappar App kicks in to provide a wealth of interesting information about the company’s new plant-based protein drink, billed as ‘The Cleanest Protein Shake on the Planet.’ According to Elmhurst, “The AR content delivers all the essential details that emphasizes why this is a no-nonsense, free from artificial ingredients, and vegan shake.” Both SIG and Zappar agree the novel ‘smart pack’ technology offers opportunity for a whole range of creative marketing ideas and campaigns to engage, entertain and educate consumers on a broad range of product attributes and benefits that can’t be squeezed onto the actual available
packaging real estate of the carton. “The more interactive and engaging the content is, the more likely it will resonate positively in consumers’ minds,” says Yasmin Siddiqi, head of marketing for SIG North America. “With the aid of AR, brand-owners such as Elmhurst Milked can expand the experience beyond the product itself to enable consumers to connect closely with the brand. “Ultimately, this has a positive impact on brand image and sales.”
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EXCLUSIVE AWARDS PRESENTATION IN NEW YORK CITY THE ROXY HOTEL FEBRUARY 26, 2019
COVER STORY
Carl-Michel Cloutier, Sales Manager, Eastern Canada VC999 Canada Ltd Yvan Giguère, General Manager, Hagen Industries Ltd.
ANIMAL ATTRACTIONS
Specialty pet foods and accessories supplier upgrades its packaging automation competencies with flexible and robust VC999 machinery BY GEORGE GUIDONI, EDITOR PHOTOS BY PIERRE LONGTIN
B
e it a dog, cat, bird, fish or reptile, truly dedicated pet-owners will go to great lengths to provide their animal companions with the best comforts of life they can afford. And thanks to companies like Rolf C. Hagen Inc. and its subsidiary Hagen Industries Ltd., millions of grateful Canadian pet-owners can do just that any time of their choosing with full confidence in the quality and integrity of the company’s diverse range of premium pet foods and pet accessories—today ranging from cat and dog food to bird, reptile and ornamental fish products Founded in 1955 by Rolf C. Hagen—then a young Canadian newcomer from Germany arriving to his new homeland with just $5 in his pocket—the privately-owned company is an embodiment of the notion of Canada being a land of opportunity for those willing to put in the time and effort necessary to achieve long-lasting success in their chosen field.
OCTOBER 2018 • CANADIAN PACKAGING WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM • 13
COVER STORY
VC999 Canada supplied the Hagen Industries plant with a stainless-steel XtraVac Multihead 14-bucket weigher for automatic dispensing of precise quantities of dry pet food and treats into the chutes feeding the XtraVac RBF300 rotary bagmaking machine positioned below.
An inside view of the XtraVac RBF300 rotary bagmaking in action as it processes the 90-gram resealable stand-up 90-gram bags of the Catit Nibbly cat treats brand, supplied by Tempo Plastic Limited, at speeds of up to 25 pouches per minute.
A side view of the inclined conveyor and the XtraVac Multihead 14-bucket weigher feeding product down to the XtraVac RBF300 bagmaking machine installed by VC999 Canada about a year ago to automate the Saint-Laurent plant’s stand-up pouch production process.
Boldly establishing Rolf C. Hagen Inc. just a few days after arriving in Montreal, Rolf worked tirelessly over the years with his two brothers, Dieter and Horst, to evolve the company from a fledgling pet store operator into what is now a global distributor of a comprehensive portfolio of life-improving solutions for a diverse variety of pets worldwide. Operating under the worldwide Hagen Group umbrella, the company is nowadays jointly owned by the founder’s three sons Mark, Tom and Rolf Jr. Hagen. As a wholly-owned manufacturing subsidiary of the Baie d’Urfé, Que.-headquartered Rolf C. Hagen Inc., the Hagen Industries plant on the outskirts of Montreal in Saint-Laurent, Que., represents an accurate reflection of that farreaching evolution. Started up in 1974, the Saint-Laurent plant was initially a manufacturer of wire cages for pet birds and small animals like hamsters, as well as glass aquariums for all levels of fish hobbyists. “We used to make about one million bird cages a year at this location back in the day,” recalls Hagen Industries general manager Yvan Giguère. “There used to be a lot of metalworking and welding equipment at this plant to make the cages, and various glass processing equipment to make the aquariums, with industrial ovens to dry all the glues and silicone used in their assembly,” says Giguère, a 23-year Hagen Industries veteran who was appointed as the operation’s general manager about 10 years ago. “Actually most of our employees have been with the company for over 25 years, and some for over 40 years,” Giguère told Canadian Packaging in a recent interview, relating the plant’s fairly dramatic transformation over the last decade and a bit. “Over the last 15 years we have entirely changed the focus of this facility,” Giguère proclaims. The recently transformed 250,000-square-foot Saint-Laurent facility houses two side-by-side business units—a factory business to make premium-quality food and treats for various pets, and a chemical processing and a liquid-processing division for water-care treatments—along with a vast 125,000-square-foot distribution center. Employing about 60 full-time people over a busy two-shift, five-days a-week schedule, the state-of-the-art facility houses seven packaging lines on the food processing side and three line in the Liquid Division, with both units operated in accordance with the most stringent HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) guidelines for hygiene and food safety compliance. Between them, the facility’s two manufacturing operations turn out about 700 stock-keeping units) of product, according to Giguère, who was instrumental in arranging the recent arrival and installation of two new high-performance automatic packaging machines at the plant over the last year—both manufactured by renowned Swiss-headquartered packaging equipment producer VC999. While attending the biennial PACKex Montreal packaging technologies trade show two years ago, Giguère says he was very impressed by the flexible and wellcrafted machines displayed at the VC999 Canada exhibit, which offered a sensible and cost-effective means of automating some of the plant’s outdated manual packaging operations. “I knew of some pouchmaking machinery manufacturers in Korea selling very high-speed machines that could produce millions of pouches per year at high line speeds of 80 to 90 packages per minute, but this was far more than the speeds we needed, “ Giguère says,” and the equipment was also quite expensive. “But having learned about what VC999 could provide, I became convinced that they would be the right choice for us in terms of boosting our productivity and providing a quick return on investment.” After a series of follow-up meeting and discussing with VC999 Canada’s sales manager for eastern Canada Carl-Michel Cloutier and Canadian vice-president of operations Remi Boudot, Giguère got the go-ahead from senior management to proceed with the purchase and installation of a brand new XtraVac RBF300 rotary bagmaking system and the XtraVac DWA14 Multihead weighing system, as well as the XtraVac TSF series vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) liquid filling machine, to be installed about six months later. Featuring stainless-steel housing and a sanitary design to ensure optimal food safety and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) compliance, the rotary XtraVac RBF300 system is an eight-station workhorse handling all the key pouchmaking functions. This includes features such as pouch feeding and pick-up, date-coding and zipper opening; opening of pouch tops and bottoms; filling and sealing; and conveyor discharge. Working in an anti-clock machine rotation, the machine handles a broad variety of packing materials and multilayer film constructions, employing a heavy-duty
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CANADIAN PACKAGING • OCTOBER 2018
COVER STORY gearmotor for precise and stable positioning, along with quiet operation. Equipped with best-of-breed industrial electronics such as a Mitsubishi PLC (programmable logic controller) and a full-color touchscreen control system for user-friendly operation, a server-drive zipper operation, a Schneider Electric frequency inverter for adjustable machine control, and a dry-type vacuum pump for stable high-precision pouch pick-up, the automatic machine is designed to provide very quick changeovers for different pouch sizes by automatically hanging the gripper widths from the touchscreen control panel. “It’s a very good machine that we run at 20 to 25 bags per minute,” Giguère explains, which suits us perfectly for now. “We used to do this manually at about three to four stand-up bag per minute,” he notes,“so this was a big step for us in term of improved throughput, and it also gives us the capability to flush the stand-up with nitrogen to improve product shelf-life. “This machine helped us improved the way we pack our products, and by having it integrated to our new Loma X-Ray inspection system, we have also improved the security of all the products that we package and ship into the market.” Giguère says that the new XtraVac RBF300 machine was instrumental in the successful recent launch of the new Catit Nibbly line of resealable 90-gram stand-up pouches, made with the high-quality pre-made bags supplied by Tempo Plastics Limited of Innnisfill, Ont. In addition to cat and dog treats, the food processing plant also manufactures food product from smaller animals like hamsters and other pet rodents, a variety of fish and reptile food products, and the Tropican/Tropimix lines of high-quality bird products for feeding domesticated parrots and other species of popular bird pets. “It is a very popular global product brand that we ship to well over 30 countries,” Giguère remarks. “In fact, about 70 per cent of what we produce here in Saint-Laurent is exported into international markets,” says Giguère, citing the company’s widespread global acclaim as an acknowledged pioneer and a force for innovation in the pet nutrition markets. “We are probably the global leader in the production of insect-based feed for fish and reptile pets with our Bug Bites product line,” Giguère points out, explaining that the company sources insect larvae from a specialty biotech supplier in British Columbia to process it into edible products on-site in Saint-Laurent. “Last year we processed over 25 tonnes of bug larvae,” says Giguère, noting the company’s innovation prowess has received much attention in global scientific and academic circles for its leading-edge product innovation credentials. “We decided to enter this business a couple of years ago because we strongly feel that this may be the future of food production down the road,” Giguère states. “You will find our Bug Bites products in Canada, the U.S., U.K, Germany, Japan and New Zealand,” he says, “and most of them are packaged on the RBF300.” For its part, the new XtraVac TSF series VFFS machine installed at the Liquid Division also yielded significant improvements in throughput and line efficiencies, according to Giguère. “Last year we produced a million liquid sachets on this machine,” Giguère extols, noting the machine normally operates at running speeds of 40 to 50 sachets per minute, depending on product and other common variables. “It is a double-headed machine, with each head packing 20 to 25 units per minute,” he explains. Built for reliable automatic packing of liquids, pastes and fluids packed in heatsealable materials and light laminates of rollstock film, the stainless-steel XtraVac TSF employs a special forming tube shape and servo-driven squeeze rolls ensure less air into the final bag, according to VC999, providing extra freshness and a longer product shelf-life. The system also uses an unwind bracket—independently mounted from the main frame—equipped with photosensors to ensure precise automatic alignment of the film to achieve optimal vertical sealing for every sachet. “The main thing with this machine is to use the right film for each product to ensure good sealing and leak-free packaging,” he says, crediting VC999 Canada for supplying all of the machine’s film requirements with its extensive XtraPlast brand of high-quality packaging materials to keep it running at optimal operating levels. Adds VC999’s Cloutier:“The XtraPlast Division also supplies Hagen with its new rotogravure-printed Boneguard VFFS film for its bulk bags of pet food. “We developed this new films specifically to help Hagen fix some of the puncturing problems occurring on its packaging lines.” Says Cloutier: “The partnership between VC999 and Hagen is very successful because it is easy to discuss things with Yvan and his team, which really helps us find the right solutions for their needs. “A great partnership is always based on great discussion,” he states.
Hagen Industries general manager Yvan Giguère (left) and Carl-Michel Cloutier, manager of eastern Canada sales for VC999 Canada, analyzing the print quality of the puncture-resistant Boneguard brand of plastic film developed by VC999’s XtraPlast Division specifically to eliminate the stubborn problem with punctures encountered on one of the plant’s older VFFS machines.
To optimize its food safety and quality control capabilities, the Saint-Laurent plant has installed a highly advanced -performance model X5c X-Ray inspection system from Loma Systems, which uses proprietary AAT technology that allows the X-Ray diode setting to be changed depending on the product being inspected to detect the tiniest metal contaminants and minute fragments of softer contaminants such as bone, ceramic and glass.
Manufactured by Videojet Technologies and encased in a rugged stainless-steel cabinet, the Videojet 43s industrial inkjet product coding system hooked up to the XtraVac RBF bagmaking machine can print up to three lines of text, barcodes, logos and all the necessary variable product information at speeds of up to 800 feet per minute
OCTOBER 2018 • CANADIAN PACKAGING WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM • 15
COVER STORY
Supplied by Reiser Canada, the Vemag 500 vacuum filler with PC 878 controls accounts for a large share of production of premium cat and dog treats at the Saint-Laurent plant.
Yvan Giguère stands alongside the VC999 XtraVac TSF series sachet machine that already enabled the plant to produce over one million liquid packs of water-care treatment for an important business partner in 91529_SunChem_BrandProtctnAD_Tag_200_CP (Canadian Packaging October) 4c Japan.Trim: 7.875” x 10.75” Bleed: 8.125” x 11” Live:7” x 10”
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“The cat and dog food business is growing every year,” Giguère observes, “and so is the diversity of product in these segments. “There are even some manufacturers out there now offering vegan dog food,” he points out. “There are also many very big players who have far greater manufacturing capacities and capital resource than we do,” Giguère notes. “It is very hard for us to compete against such powerful companies head-on.“The key for us is to find the right market niche and focus on the things that will make us a leader in that targeted objective,” says Giguère, citing the company’s agility and quick market response as key competitive advantages. “With the Hagen Group still being a privately-owned company, our corporate management has the advantage of being fast in terms of product development and agile in terms of product distribution,” Giguère says, citing a well-established global network of reputable distributors and business partners to keep its export business growing strong. “We can literally develop a new product today and have it distributed worldwide within six months,” he states. Naturally, strict quality control is of paramount importance to the success of Hagen Industries going forward, according to Giguère. “We have a large state-of-the-art laboratory on-site, which is very rare in the pet nutrition industry, and a full-time team of five laboratory technicians to test our product constantly for constantly for any signs of product contamination, as well as all our incoming raw materials, which arrive in various formats and quantities daily. “We pull products from our running packaging machines every 20 minutes or so to perform rigorous and thorough quality assurance tests to make sure that all our products meets or strict product specs and meet all the shelf-life requirements,” says Giguère, citing 18-month product shelf-live for the Catit Nibbly treats brand. “We have a very good track-and-trace product monitoring system in place that extends right to the individual bag level, shipped to anywhere in the world,” he says. “As a privately-owned Canadian company we are very proud of being able to compete in world markets and serving such an important global industry,” Giguère concludes, “and our investment in new automatic VC999 equipment is a testament to our long-term commitment to those markets.”
SUPPLIERS VC999 Canada Ltd. Loma Systems (Canada) Inc. Tempo Plastics Limited Schneider Electric Canada Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. Videojet Technologies Inc.
16 • WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM
SPECIAL REPORT
Ben Morris, Canning Line Operator, SESSIONS CRAFT BREWING
Daniel Barnes, Canning Line Operator, SESSIONS CRAFT BREWING
UPWARDLY MOBILE
Toasting Ontario’s craft brewers
S3 THE NEW BLACK By George Guidoni
S8 VIEW FROM THE TOP
S10 DOWN TO SCIENCE By George Guidoni
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SPECIAL REPORT
As founder of one of Ontario’s very first craft brewers back in 1999, Black Oak Brewing Co. president Ken Woods—holding up a can of his company’s flagship Nut Brown Ale brand in front of the Session’s Craft’s mobile canning line— is one of the industry’s foremost well-respected elder statesmen with exceptional knowledge of the beermaking process and boundless passion and enthusiasm for the craft brewing business at large.
THE NEW BLACK
One of Ontario’s original craft brewers keeps reinventing itself through brewing and packaging innovation to keep pace with the vastly changed market BY GEORGE GUIDONI, EDITOR PHOTOS BT NAOMI HILTZ
O
ne of the coolest things about making a living in the craft beer industry is that a brewer’s sheer scale and size is not the be-all and end-all indicator of how well a company succeeds in the marketplace. If it was, then one would be a loss to explain the enduring longevity and industry-wide respect enjoyed cross Ontario by Black Oak Brewing Co., one of the province’s very fits craft brewers founded in 1999 in Oakville, Ont., by the company’s colorful and highly knowledgeable president Ken Woods. Nowadays operating out of a modest 9,000-square-foot microbrewery tucked away at an industrial park in the west-end Toronto suburb of Etobicoke, the company is an embodiment of the notion of small being beautiful—when done with true love and affection for the art and science of creating flavorful and memorable varieties of batch-crafted year-round beer varieties and seasonal favorites. Employing 12 full-time people, the family-owned microbrewer has indeed done exceptionally well in a
OCTOBER 2018 • CANADIAN PACKAGING WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM • S3
SPECIAL REPORT
All of the mobile canning line’s operations are controlled an monitored via a rugged Festo industrial computer terminal encased in high-streth shainless-steel housing for optimal proetction form moisure and any accidental impact during tranport and system-set-up.
Sessions Craft Canning’s canning line operator Ben Morris maiking quick on-the-fly adjustments to printhead positioning of the inline EDS continuous inkjet printer integrated into the mobile Wild Goose canning line employed by the Black Oak plant once a week to handle all of the plants canning operations, from depalletizing right through filling and seaming.
A close-up of the twisitng conveyor feeding freshly rinsed aluminum cans, shrinksleeved by Sessions Carft Canning at its Mississauga facility, to the Wild Goose canning system, fully rotating the cans to sahke off any leftove mosture or condensation prior to filling.
market that has changed beyond recognition since the company’s early days. With many of the industry’s bigger players now boasting far greater production outputs and state-of-the-art machinery that Woods openly admits make his “envious” from time to time, he has never wavered form his original self-sustaining manufacturing principles that have helped establish the former biology university undergrad at Ottawa’s Carleton University as one of the industry’s most respected elder statesmen with a vast knowledge of the beermaking process, along with keen understanding of the ever-evolving marketplace trends. Still using the same three-vessel 20-hectoliter brewhouse started up back in Oakville, manufactured by one-time brewing systems supplier ABC Manufacturing, Woods has effectively steered the company to steady growth in market share and penetration over the years, despite the limitations of the brewing equipment’s 3,000-hectoliter capacity. “We are trying to raise some capital to automate some of our manual processes,” says Woods, “but our immediate priority is actually to automate our data collection system, which are taking up far too much of my time right now. As a holder of the CMA (Certified Management Accountant) designation Woods acquired in his days in the corporate world before launching Black Oak, he is keenly aware of the urgent need to bring the company’s data collection capabilities up to date. “With grocery stores becoming a new sales channel, and The Beer Store and the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) constantly adjusting their rules to account for grocer sales, we now find ourselves being asked to send two or three cases to a retail location, rather than the five to 10 cases we used to deliver on one trip
before. “That’s been a huge change for us,” says Woods, adding Black Oak has contracted some third-party logistics suppliers to help cope with the new distribution challenges. On the production side, though, the sturdy and well-maintained brewhouse— consisting of a mash lauten tank, a brew kettle and a hot liquor tank—is still putting in an honest shift after shift to enable Black Oak to produce up to 3,000 cans of beer on the specially-designated canning run days each Fiday. With canned beer products now accounting for 35 per cent of the brewer’s output—draught beer kegs still being the largest product segment with a 55-per cent share—those canning days are naturally critically important occasions when everything has to click together just right. And so it does, time after time, thanks to the help of an innovative mobile canning service provided by the Mississauga, Ont.-based Sessions Craft Canning. Founded in early 2015 by company president Jeff Rogowsky, Sessions Craft Canning is a thriving operator of mobile beverage canning services that beer and other beverage producers can call in at the time of their choosing to install a mobile turnkey canning line and have a two-person Sessions Craft crew start up the machine, complete a full run from filling to case-packing, and disassemble the line a the end of the day—leaving the customer with pallets of freshly-canned product ready to ship into the market. “The mobile canning concept has been kicking around in the U.S. for quite a few years a few years now, but we were the first ones to bring it over to Ontario,” Rogowsky told Canadian Packaging in a recent interview.
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CANADIAN PACKAGING • OCTOBER 2018
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As Rogowsky explains, the model WGC-250MCE mobile compact canning line on wheels making periodic visits to the Black Oak facility—manufactured by Boulder, Co.-based Wild Goose Canning Systems—is a highly reliable system capable of producing the industry-standard 473-ml tall-boy aluminum cans of beer at speeds of 36 to 42 cans per minute. Comprising a mobile depalletizer, a twist rinser conveyor, a high-accuracy filler with built-in seamer, and an inline EBS inkjet date-coder to apply the ‘packaged on” date during the twist-rinsing stage—the Wild Goose mobile canning line has provided Black Oak with virtually flawless service ever since Sessions Craft first approached the brewer about two-and-a-half years ago, Rogowsky recalls. “With most of our customers, it is hard for them to come up with the required
capital to install an expensive canning line, a date coder, seamer and all the other many parts that come with it, especially when talking about equipment they only use as little as two to four times a month,” Rogowsky explains. “We give them a fixed cost per can to come and fill them up for them, which helps the clinets to focus on scaling up their brewery by installing more fermenters to brew more beer and other process improvements— letting us to take care of their packaging for them.” For all intents and purposes, the Sessions Craft service takes care of all of Black Oak’s canning requirements, including the reliable supply of fully shrinksleeved cans—purchased in their naked “sliver bullet” state from Crown Beverage Packaging and labeled at the Sessions Craft plant on a high-performance Aesus shrinksleeving machine. “It’s not just about buying a canning line, it’s also about training an employee to operate the canning line, knowing what to do when parts break down, knowing how to operate the date-coder and all the other auxiliary pieces of equipment involved in the process,” Rogowsky relates. “The canning line we show up with is typically superior to what many smaller brewers would be able to afford to start off with and moreover, they get a fixed price per can and full professional packaging service that allows the client not to worry about any of the problems associated with canning,” he says, “because we take all that stress off their hands.” Says Rogowsky: “The whole team at Black Oak has been great to work with—they are a fun group of people who also happen to make very good beers on a consistent basis. “Having been around since 1999, they have a lot of friends in the craft brewing industry, making it really cool to work with them. “It is really a flagship client for us,” Rogowsky points out,“because so many people in the industry know them as one of the original craft brewers here in Ontario. “They usually use us about once a week on average, with some variations depending on their production needs, and we usually package about 10,000 cans for them over a typical run, give or take a few.” For his part,Woods says that the ongoing shift to cans from bottles is an irreversible trend in the craft brewing business. “There have been some price increases for can due to the U.S. tariffs on aluminum,” Woods relates, “and there are possible issues of supply shortages, due to some
A close-up of the high-precision filling action taking place inside the four-head filling station of the Wild Goose mobile canning line running at line speeds of 38 to 42 cans per minute, with the line’s built-in seamer capping the cans immediately after filling.
While Black Oak’s signature Nut Brown Ale beer (left) remains the company’s bestselling product, the 10 Bitter Years Imperial IPA brand, originally created as a one-off product to mark the company’s 10-year annivesary,has also beome a poplar core brand in the brewer’s portfolio.
The Black Oak brewery uses high-quality pre-printed corrugated trays, supplied by the Toronto-based Atlantic Packaging Product Limited, to ship its canned products to markets in pack of 24 cans per tray, with the filled trays also shrinkwrapped in high-strength plastic film by a Sergeant shrink tunnel to maintain optimal load stability for the palletized loads during transport.
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Placed inside pre-printed corrugated shipping trays manufacturing by Atlantic Packaging products, the folding cartons holding six-packs of bottles Nut Brown Ale feature the brand’s new squirrel mascot created by freelance illustrator Cai Sapulis.
Black Oak Brewing makes extensive use of the fully-recyclable PakTech plastic carriers to create convenient, easy-to-carry six packs of its canned product as a value-added packaging feature for the company’s storefront customers.
beverage producers stocking up on cans inventory, but Sessions Craft has been very good in providing use with a reliable supply of cans. While glass bottles will always have their increasingly niche-like place in the craft brewing business, Woods says, “Can are just a more convenient product that today’s consumers want. “People toady are much more likely to buy five or six different brands of individual cans to try out and sample what’s out in the market,” he adds.
“It seems that today’s consumers like to build up a portfolio of their favourite beer—including fruit beer, spiced beer, fruit beers, smoked beer and so on— that they will choose based on the season or the occasion,” he says. “Can offer them a good way to increase their beer knowledge and to diversify their beer palates.” Woods relates that the company’s own beer range—including its flagship Nut Brown Ale, Pale Ale and the 10 Bitter Years Imperial IPA—is now retailed across a large par of the province from Ottawa to Windsor. “Our Nut Brown Ale is one of our star bestsellers,” Woods notes. “It’s a very smooth, roasty dark beer with a distinct niche market appeal, but people who have tried it really seem to enjoy it. “Our Imperial IPA is also very poplar with today’s crowd,” says Woods, noting that Imperial IPA-style beer currently account for a 20-percent share of the craft beer market. As one of the original executive board members of the OCB (Ontario Craft Brewers) association, Woods is confident that for all the rapid growth recorded in Ontario’s craft beer industry in recent years, the best is yet to come. “There are tons of new breweries opening up all the time, making this sector a very important job generator for the province’s economy,” he extols. “But even though some of the bigger craft brewers have been growing at rates of 20 per cent per year, domestic craft beers as a whole still only account for only four per cent of the overall beer market in Ontario, compared to 20 per cent in British Columbia, Quebec and the U.S.,” he points out. “To me that means we still have a lot of work to do to increase consumer awareness in order to drive more sales,” he says. “We have a huge beer market here in Ontario, but not that many people here really understand craft beer, relatively speaking.” According to Woods, packaging will naturally play a critical role in the craft industry’s efforts to capture a bigger market share. “We ourselves have just undergone a major graphic overhaul for the packaging of our beers,” he says, “with the aim of achieving a more classy look with our packaging presentation. “Our older graphics worked well enough for the first 17 years or so, but with the new brewers coming out with really catchy graphics and names, we knew we had to revamp our packaging. “It’s a much more involved process than people realize,” says Woods, extending credit to Guelph, Ont.-based artist and illustrator Cai Sepulis for doing a “fantastic job” on the new label designs. In similar vein,Woods has nothing but high praise for the reliable superior service he receives from Sessions Craft Canning. “We were one of the very first craft brewers to retain their services,” he says, “and we are very happy about making that decision. “They provide us with a gorgeous machine that I personally would love to own in a perfect world,” he says, “but it’s just too much of a cash outlay for a company of our resources right now. “They come in here every Friday to package from one to five pallets of beers, depending on demand, and they do it all very efficiently and very professionally, easily resolving any technical issues that may creep up now and then. “It’s a wonderful relationship,” he sums up, “and I look forward to continuing it well into the future.”
The craft brewing business is unique Your financing should be too fccfinancing.ca
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Whether you’re ramping up production or finishing an experimental batch, as Canada’s largest printing network offering award-winning shrink sleeves and pouches, labels, and RFID, we put the same level of craft into printing as you put into brewing. Start your production today: DontBeCountedOut.com - 1 (800) 786-1770
Recipient of the AWA Award for Sleeved Cans
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THE MORE THE MERRIER
An influx of innovative newcomers stressing product variety and packaging innovation fuels sustained buoyant growth for Ontario’s craft beer industry
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hey say all good things must come to an end, but there is no end in sight in the rapid growth of Ontario’s craft beer segments, with many new players jumping into the vibrant marketplace, while the more established brewers continue to reinvent themselves with exciting new products and inspired packaging innovation. To see this first-hand, there is no better opportunity than to attend next month’s annual OCBC (Ontario Cart Brewers Conference (OCBC) & Suppliers Marketplace 2018 on Nov.7-8, 2018, at the Benfield Centre, located at the famed CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) fairgrounds in Toronto. The Canadian Packaging magazine has recently caught up with Scott Simmons, president of the Ontario Craft Brewers (OCB) association, to get an industry insider’s scoop on the current state of the industry. How healthy and vibrant is Ontario’s craft beer industry as we approach the annual OCB Supplier Marketplace trade show and conference? Our craft industry is extremely healthy and is still the fastest-growing segment in the beer industry, recording 20-per cent growth in 2017 from the year before. New breweries continue open up at a rapid rate, with 274 operating breweries now located across the province. More people are trying craft beer every day and we are seeing many new fans support the industry. There is an incredible variety of styles and flavors available to Canadian consumers now, which is a key component to healthy and organic growth within our industry niche. We are privileged to have some of the most passionate beer-lovers and brewers in the world in this province. Describe its economic impact on the province and the communities where OCB member-companies operate.
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Scott Simmons, President, Ontario Craft Brewers (OCB)
Basically, the impact is fourfold: the brewers, their communities, tourism into these cities and towns, and the overall economic impact. Our craft breweries are located in over 110 communities across the province, and in total, there are 274 operating breweries and brewpubs it total, with another estimated 80 or more newcomers in various planning stages. These brewers employ 2,250 people directly, and about 9,000 indirectly, while contributing over $1.4 billion to Ontario’s economy—including more than $150 million in annual tourism revenue—as craft brewing continues to develop in new and untapped markets. What are some of the main highlights of this past year that may have had an impact on the craft industry in the province? While there are highlights—growth of events, brands and brewery expansions, for instance—I would call out the steady growth and commitment from craft brewers who see a long-term future in this industry. A few decades ago, craft brewing was considered an innovative novelty to many, whereas today it’s a flourishing business model with unlimited potential. The addition of grocery store sales has also had a positive impact, as craft share in that channel is the highest of any channel in the province. New breweries are opening at an incredible rate. In 2003 there were only 12 craft brewers on Ontario, and as recently as five years ago there were approximately 70 or so—compared to 274 today! Volume and share are growing at a rate of 20 per cent year-over-year, and the industry now accounts for over 600,000 hectoliters in annual output, which is approximately eight per cent of the provincial market.
What are the current hot-button issues/challenges for your industry? We have similar challenges to other developing industries—fluctuating price points on supplies and ingredients, competition from foreign-owned national breweries, lack of consumer access through some sales channels, and high taxation rates. Having said that, we continually work with key partners and government to solve these issues. It’s an ongoing process, but well worth the time and effort because dialogue is the best route to change. What are some of the notable emerging trends taking place in the market for craft beer? Consumers are always looking for alternate ways to enjoy and sample their soon-to-be favorite flavors. Among some of the main serving and tasting trends that come to mind is the rising popularity of growlers. First used containers used in the late 1800s and offering capacity to hold four pints of beer, growlers gaining popularity amongst craft beer -overs and brewers alike. People often enjoy them when hosting friends or bring them along as a party gift. In the true spirit of sampling, beer flights are also extremely popular right now in brew pubs and bars across the province, whereby a serving of four to six five-ounce glasses allow for sharing and tasting in a social environment. Online ordering has also emerged as a popular and convenient way to access favorites from across the province, and there more than 40 home delivery platforms, according to the Ontario Beverage Network, used by individual provincial brewers to serve their local areas. Even The Beer Store now operates BeerXpress in certain areas across the province.
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As for taste trends, I asked a friend of Ontario Craft Brewers, Master Cicerone Mirella Amato, for her take on the subject. While hazy IPAs and fruited sours are currently quite popular, Mirella also sees a resurgence of traditional lager and, further down the road, a local historical mixedfermentation style of beer. As you can see, our industry is constantly adapting, experimenting and evolving. Now that Ontario has allowed for some limited beer sales at mainstream grocery outlets, what has been the impact of this change on your industry and its member companies? The grocery avenue has clearly played a significant role in lifting craft beer sales. Access and availability has always been the challenge, as opposed to selection, quality, and flavor, which have always been our strengths. Currently 370 grocery stores are authorized to sell beer and, ultimately, beer will be available in up to 450 grocery stores. Overall, our industry’s market share is over 20 per cent in this channel, which is the highest of any channel in the province.
While there are many distinctive approaches from our members, one that often comes up in conversation is Collective Arts Brewing, which has a strong connection to art, music and culture on their packaging, and proactively has a Call For Art. This is just one example, but there are too many to list here! I would venture to say that all of our members have creative, engaging and personal approaches to their packaging. Any last words before the big event at the Benfield Centre next month?
We are very proud of the positive impact our collective industry has on our province.We are creating thousands of jobs, injecting millions into local economies, and many of our members have become the largest employer in their rural towns and villages.These breweries give back to their local community in so many ways. I still believe there is tremendous upside to the industry across the province, and we wish to thank each and every customer who has supported us on this amazing journey of success to date.
What would you like to see the government do next to expand this new sales channel, and what will it take to make it happen? I think the most important thing is for everyone to keep lines of communication wide open, while exploring opportunities. We need to discuss mutually-beneficial options and effect changes that produce a viable business model for craft brewers and retailers. To date, this approach has been embraced by the both provincial government and the OCB. Are there any concerns that the craft-beer business is getting too crowded for the amount of start-ups springing up lately? Not at all. Like any industry, the market bears what it can bear. In general, competition breeds quality, so I don’t see a downside to a strong interest in newcomers and growth. Keep in mind, these new breweries don’t just ‘spring up out of thin air—it takes years of planning to bring a quality, all-natural and local craft beer to launch.
Mobile Canning Printed Cans 1 877 572-BEER (2337) 5665 Kennedy Rd, Mississauga, ON, L4Z3E1
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Shrink Sleeving Silver Bullets sessionscraftcanning www.sessionscraftcanning.ca
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Please address the role of packaging as a key branding/differentiation tool for craft-brewers? First and foremost, many Ontario craft brewers express themselves through their packaging. It’s been a journey for them and they want to share their unique stories with customers. Some involve their community or iconic local images, some just have fun with it, while others include artists, for example. There’s a certain freedom to being a craft brewer and it’s great to see them taking advantage of this unique opportunity for expression. Provide some of the more outstanding examples of craft brewers leveraging their packaging to grow sales. CPK_PakTech_Oct18_CSA.indd 1 2018-09-28 1:48 PM • S9 OCTOBER 2018 • CANADIAN PACKAGING WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM
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THE MIRACLES OF SCIENCE Popular Ontario craft brewer weaving its packaging design magic and deft product innovation to make strong market share gains and cultivate enduring brand loyalty
BY GEORGE GUIDONI, EDITOR PHOTOS BT NAOMI HILTZ
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inning prestigious industry awards and widespread market recognition comes remarkably easy for the good hardworking folks at Nickel Brook Brewing Co., Burlington, Ont.-based craft brewer who seems to have decoded the art of winning down to science on many levels. A well-established player in Ontario’s ever-growing craft beer market, the family-owned brewer’s penchant for focusing on the lighter side of science with catchy and quick-witted packaging graphics and brand names have enabled it to build up n exceptionally loyal and diverse fan base since packaging its first beer run back in 2005. Founded by brothers John and Peter Romano, who earlier operated a ‘make your own beer and wine’ facility near downtown Burlington, Nickel Brook has enjoyed an exceptional winning run this past summer—picking up five trophies from the recent Ontario Brewing Awards competition in Toronto; three Canadian Brewing Awards at the national beer industry gathering in Halifax; and two bronze medals at the massive U.S. Open Beer Championship competition in Ohio, going up against more than 6,300 entries from around the world. All part of a day’s work well done, according to the company’s easy-going corporate sales and marketing manager Matt Gibson, who joined Nickel Brook about three years ago. “We have a great reputation, which is why people are always willing to try new stuff from us,” Gibson told Canadian Packaging on a recent visit to the brewer’s busy 6,000-square-foot facility turning out
A sampling of some of the witty tongue-in-cheek brand names and fun graphics developed by Nickel Brook Brewing for some of its bestselling beer products.
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Nickel Brook Brewing Co. co-founder John Romano strikes a happy pose with a bottle of the company’s distinctly unique Gose Lime & Cucumber beer brand bottled in a custommade, wine-style 500-ml dark glass bottle manufactured by Phoenix Packaging.
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an exceptionally diverse range of traditional beer styles and one-off seasonal sensations infused with all manner of fruit, spices and other surprising ingredients. “We are always eager to experiment and be first in the market with new innovations like sour beers and barrel age beers—it’s all about having the willingness to try new things,” Gibson explains. “People don’t want just yellow fizzy water any more.” As Gibson proclaims, “Craft beers’ main appeal is their full-bodied flavor. “People are always looking for something new and exciting to try, just like ‘foodies’ going to new restaurants every week to try out a new offbeat taco or an unusual fish dish, for example. “Consumer are always looking for something new and interesting,” says Gibson, acknowledging the company’s popular light-hearted packaging designs as one of the main ingredients of the brewer’s ongoing winning run in market share and brand loyalty. “People like to see fun creative artwork on their cans, alongside the fun names,” says Gibson, explaining the origins of the company’s trademarked logo consisting of a deftly stylized illustration of an atom, surrounded by orbiting electrons. As Gibson explains, “Brewing is very scientific process, being all about temperatures, ingredients, measurements and fermentation, but there is also a strong element of magic to it that enables you to end up an amazing end product. “So essentially the atom graphic ties the whole since angle nicely into our brands to represent this miracle of science—a great-tasting craft beer.” Says Gibson: “Packaging is often the first key factor a consumer considers when purchasing a craft product. “There are over 270 breweries out there across Ontario, with at least 150 brewers in the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) distribution system, so a consumer may well be looking at 50 to 60 different options when making their selection. “In this scenario, it’s only natural for the consumers to choose what catches their eye,” says Gibson, citing the brewer’s intensely engaging graphics and wording found on the 473-ml cans of core Nickel Brook brands that include Head Stock IPA, Naughty Neighbour Americanstyle Pale Ale, Cause and Effect Blond Ale; and the newly-launched Wicked Awesome IPA brand. “We’re always working to keep our branding current and do new things,” Gibson says, “and we had a lot of fun with creating packaging for the Wicked Awesome IPA. “It is bright, loud and almost borderline obnoxious,” he chuckles, “but it worked perfectly for this brand because it really comes across as cocky and full of itself, with badass panther tattoo graphics to boot. “People just loved it,” Gibson extols, extending full credit to the local freelance artist Dan Brandon for creating the fun and slightly mischievous packaging graphics for this and other brands packaged the 473-ml direct-printed aluminum cans manufactured by Crown Beverage Company. For all that, Gibson says it is important not to overstep the boundaries of good taste with unnecessarily risqué packaging and marketing gimmicks. “We actually used to pack a Russian-style imperial stout we called Bolshevik Bastard up to a couple of years ago, which included a picture of Joseph Stalin on the label,” Gibson recalls, “but eventually we decided it wasn’t an appoprite look any more, so we discontinued it. “But although we stopped packaging that particular beer,” he points out, “we still make this recipe to use as a base for our four different Bastard series beers.” In addition to the award-winning Kentucky Bastard Imperial Stout, the expanded Bastard series of cask-aged brews also includes the wine-flavored Winey Bastard and the Café del Bastardo coffeeflavored beer—all of them packed in custom-made dark-glass 500-ml wine-style bottles supplied by Phoenix Packaging, Inc. As Gibson relates, “All the new product graphics to be stocked by the LCBO have to be submitted for their review to make sure they contain all the required legal information, proper ingredients, French
Packaged in the direct-printed 473-ml aluminum cans manufactured by Crown Beverage Company, the Head Stock India Pale Ale brand, decorated with eye-catching guitar-themed graphics created by local freelance illustrator Dan Brandon, is currently the company’s Number One bestselling product.
With space at Nickel Brooke’s current 6,000-square-foot production facility at a premium, the company is making plans to build a new larger facility that will not only give its employees more breathing space, but will also allow for introduction of new equipment to automate some of the tasks now performed manually.
Nickel Brook makes extensive use of the fully-recyclable plastic carriers, manufactured by PakTech in Eugene, Ore., to ship many of its canned products into the markets in convenient, easy-to-carry fourpacks assembled without any additional secondary packaging except for the highly reusable carrier itself.
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Manufactured in Germany by EBS Ink-Jet Systeme, the model EBS-6000 series continous inkjet printer provide the Nickel Brook canning line with a highly reliable and effective solution for lableing cans swiftly moving along the line’s conveyor without any direct contact.
and English text, no offensive imagery and so on. “They’re usually pretty good about it,” he says, “but there are certain rules beer companies must follow. “You can’t make any health claims, for one, you can’t encourage overconsumption, and because you can’t advertise to children, you can’t use any cartoon character,” Gibson explains. For all of the company’s packaging pizzazz, Gibson says it would count for little if Nickel Brook was not able to produce consistently high-quality beer. “Our high-quality is determined by the types of hops and the amount of hops we are using,” says Gibson, “which is definitely more than most other people. “It may not be the most efficient way of using our ingredients, but it does provide for a better end product, so we’re willing to do that. “In addition, our brewmaster Ryan Morrow has some special techniques and tricks of the trade he uses when developing new recipes,” Gibson adds, citing tremendous positive consumer response to the past summer’s introduction of several fruits-infused bottles beers that also include the award-winning Peach Uber Summer Beer. “Our fruit beers and sours have allowed us to attract some of the wine and cocktail drinking crowd, preferring to try us over a familiar wine spritzer or an RTD (ready-to-drink) cooler, “Beer marketing is generally not geared at female consumers traditionally,” he remarks, “but it seems rather silly to be mindfully ignoring over 50 per cent of the population. “By creating those types of products we are hoping to expand our audience by literally having something for everyone,” Gibson states. “Whether you want something hoppy, dark, boozy, sweet or sour, we got it all,” says Gibson, noting that over the course of last year Nickel Brook has sold some 18 different beer products through the LCBO distribution network alone. Such prolific work has also enabled Nickel Brook to open up some new export markets, Gibson re-
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Manufactured in Italy by Enopoggio and distributed in Canada by the Criveller Group of Niagara Falls, Ont., the Poggio brand air rinser quickly removes condensation for the freshly-filled cans of Silver Bullet aluminum cans being prepared for labeling.
Freshly filled cans of the Head Stock IPA beer being swiftly conveyed towards the secondary packaging area to be placed into corrugated trays prior to being palletized for shipment.
lates. “In addition to being sold all across Ontario, we also export to China, Spain, five states in the northeastern U.S., and also to Quebec, most recently,” he says. “Exporting is becoming more commonplace among Canadian craft brewers,” Gibson reflects, “so while Ontario remains our primary market, if we have extra capacity to spare and the opportunity presents itself, why not?” Gibson says that Ontario’s fairly recent decision to allow for beer sales at select grocery stores has been greatly beneficial for Nickel Brook and many other craft brewers.
“The grocery channel has probably increased our sales by five to 10 per cent since allowing beer sales,” Gibson relates, “while enabling us to build good relationship with leading chains like Loblaw’s, Metro and Fortino’s, to name a few.” According to Gibson, the ongoing industry-wide switch from glass bottles to cans will only continue to gather speed going forward. “About 80 per cent of everything we produce is now packaged in cans, “Gibson says, “with bottles and kegs taking up about 10 per cent each. “Our sales skyrocketed ever since we made a large-scale switch to cans some years ago,” Gibson says, “and that’s been the case ever since.” Currently employing about 25 full-time people, Nick Brook pretty much maxes out its annual manufacturing capacity of 15,000 hectoliters, which Gibson says positions the company as the seventhlargest craft beer supplier in Ontario. Because this volume exceeds the Burlington plant’s output capacity, the company often has to rely on some other Ontario-based microbweries to co-pack some of its production, but Gibson says the company has to build a new, larger facility in the near future. “We are currently looking for a new location to bring everything back home in-house, probably in St. Catharines or close to it,” Gibson says. “The hope is to have shovels in the ground next summer and to move into the new home two or three years later,” says Gibson, adding he’s looking forward to being able to increase various production efficiencies thorough additional automation investment and other process improvement that just can’t be implement in the existing confined quarters in Burlington. “We will definitely be looking to increase efficiencies wherever we can,” he concludes, “but because at the end of the day the craft industry is really based on people and all the hard work that these people do, we will always have our people involved along every stage of our continued growth and evolution. “It just a fact of science.”
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METHOD TO THEIR MADNESS Upstart U.S. micorbrewer keeps the taps running at full speed ahead with custom-designed, dry-running canning line at its grand new facility
A bird’s-eye view of the high-speed dry-running conveyor line installed at MadTree Brewing’s new 50,000-square-foot facility in Cincinnati by the conveying and power distribution product specialists Regal Beloit, which has enabled the fast-growing brewer to boost its canning throughput capacity up to 250 cans per minute.
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ike most North American craft brewers, Cincinnati,Ohio-based MadTree Brewing started out pretty small back in 2013, with its original canning line’s running speed of 24 cans per minute hardly a contender for breaking any speed records in the industry. However, the speed with which the privatelyowned brewer became one of the most popular and celebrated beer producers in the so-called Tri-State region in America’s Midwest is a compelling testament to the company’s remarkable natural knack for producing high-quality craft beer. With brisk growth in consumer demand vastly outpacing the original canning line’s capacity to keep up, MadTree quickly found itself in need of a new home to package its popular canned beer brands such as PSA Proper Session Ale, Lift, Psychopathy and Happy Amber. With the help of local commercial real estate de-
veloper Al. Neyer, LLC, MadTree found what it was looking for just a couple f miles from its original location at a historic site once operated by former paper packaging prodcuts manufacturer RockTenn. As Al. Neyer proceeded to reconstruct the old paper mill site to suit the needs of the expanding brewery—including construction of a 10,000-squarefoot outdoor beer garden, two private event spaces, a 64-tap taproom, an on-site Catch-A-Fire Pizza
café—MadTree knew it would also need to install a modern, high-performance canning line worthy of the renovated grand 50,000-square-foot facility. To get this done in the most efficient and expedient manner, MadTree contacted conveying systems specialists Regal Beloit, having heard a lot of positive things about the company’s many system installations in the craft beer business from several other craft beermakers. A year before startup of the expansion, Regal assisted in equipment selection, conveyor/component design, layout simplification, OEM “Final Acceptance Testing,” and on-site installation support, which continued through startup and run-in. Headed by conveyor efficiency expert Jim Kullman, the Regal team assembled a thoughtfully-selected bundle of key parts and components manufactured by Regal, including System Plast NGE modular belts and Nolu-S wear strips, Sealmaster
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bearings, Hub City Hera gearboxes, and LEESON motors. “At Regal, we like to get personally involved,” Kullman recalls. “I began working with MadTree a year before startup and remained with them throughout the project. “I essentially worked as a consultant and integrator on behalf of MadTree to ensure they met their overall goals regarding lowest total cost-of-ownership and line effectiveness. “Because Regal manufacturers all of the products we needed in our parts bundle, we mad it easy for MadTree to get all they needed from one source,” Kullman relates. “All the products we selected played a key role in products optimizing production efficiency—ultimately resulting in a 100-percent dry-running conveyor line that provides many efficiency and sustainability benefits. As Kullman recounts, one of the project’s highlights involved developing a streamlined transition from packaging line conveyors to a key piece of equipment by designing, building and integrating a System Plast custom side transfer module into the equipment. “This created a really smooth product transfer—eliminating jamming and downed cans,” he recalls. “Another key component during the install was a punch list to identify potential installation issues and recommended corrective actions before startup,” Kullman adds, “saving significant time during run-in.” Says Kullman: “The Regal team made a complex undertaking simple for MadTree Brewery, who now have an efficient, smooth-running packaging line— running 250 cans per minute—that will also be relatively maintenance-free for the long term. “By providing much higher yields and faster throughput, the new line allows them to conduct business in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way.”
Championing Industry 4.0 Industry 4.0, is poised to change the manufacturing world in ways that may be difficult to visualize and comprehend. We continually hear about the benefits of 4.0, but when can we start to see them? The best form of vetting is seeing it in action—first-hand. So yes, visualizing 4.0 is exactly what we are going to do. We are excited to announce our 4 Million dollar investment into building a live, functioning industry 4.0 laboratory at Humber College’s North Campus. Aside
Adds MadTree Brewery founder Kenny McNutt: “We decided to go with Jim Kullman and the Regal team as our packaging line advisors based on their handson approach and positive feedback from other brewers who worked with them, and we couldn’t be happier with this decision—it really paid off for us in the end. “It’s common for new packaging lines to have a run-in period of several months, before even producing one saleable can, which can be a costly and unpredictable burden,” McNutt says. “But with the support of the team at Regal, we significantly compressed the initial conveyor run-in time, and we were selling cases of canned beer much sooner than we expected. “Developing an optimal layout was not an easy task,” McNutt points out. “It took several iterations. “But Jim’s experience with brewery conveying helped me to design a layout to take the best advantage of our equipment features for optimal product flow.” Says McNutt: “Jim Kullman and the Regal team focused on what was important to us, while at the same time sharing their conveyor knowledge and experience. “With them by our side throughout the process, we got the best packaging line for our specific needs,” Kullman concludes. “For anyone contemplating expanding or upgrading their brewery’s packaging line, I would strongly recommend that they contact Regal.” Please see a video of the Regal Beloit conveyor installation at the MadTree Brewing plant on Canadian Packaging TV at www.canadianpackaging.com
from being a 4.0 visual aid, the lab will act as a research and development hub allowing students the opportunity to explore new technologies that go well beyond 4.0. Corporations will be invited to the lab and have the opportunity to ask questions and take a first-hand look at relatable system solutions and workflows before making the transition to industry 4.0. While this lab is in its infant stages of development, we encourage you to subscribe to our social channels for play-by-play updates and articles about the value of transitioning to Industry 4.0. We love this shift.
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“A fine beer may be judged with one sip, but it’s better to be thoroughly sure.” - Czech Proverb
We couldn’t agree more. So while you focus on making great beer, let us take care of your packaging needs. Let’s talk.
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We work to make the complex simple. Simplification with Regal® products can lead to significant inventory reduction, extended lubrication intervals, and product flow optimization. For more information, visit www.RegalPTS.com/MatlHandling www.regalbeloit.com Creating a better tomorrow™...
Regal, Creating a better tomorrow, Grove Gear, Hub City, Marathon, McGill, Sealmaster and System Plast are trademarks of Regal Beloit Corporation or one of its affiliated companies. ©2016, 2018 Regal Beloit Corporation, All Rights Reserved. MCAD18048E • 10021E
FOOD SAFETY
Hundreds of Mettler Toledo Product Inspection’s employees and invited guests gather to celebrate the official opening of the company’s new state-of-the-art production and administrative center in Tampa, Fla., at a special ceremony held at the site in mid-July.
SUNNY DISPOSITION Global product inspection technologies leader offers a bright forecast for continued robust market growth and rapid technological advancement
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rising tide lifts all boats, but there’s nothing like sailing well ahead of the hard-chasing armada to begin with. As more and more leading automation companies continue to focus their attention on the burgeoning global market for fast and highaccuracy product inspection systems—driven by increasingly stringent food safety regulations and strict compliance mandates from the world’s leading grocery chains—Mettler Toledo Product Inspection is showing no signs of easing its solid grip on the company’s runaway market leader status. Leveraging a highly diverse product portfolio comprising all the core technologies used to ensure optimal consumer safety for all sorts of food, beverage, pharmaceutical and other consumer goods and merchandise, the company’s comprehensive range of the metal detection, X-ray inspection, checkweighing and machine vision systems offer CPG (consumer packaged goods) manufacturers a solution for virtually any type of quality assurance application, regardless of complexity or degree of difficulty. And never more so than now, in fact, following the recent merger and consolidation of the company’s four core business units—including Safeline metal detection and X-ray inspection, Hi-Speed checkweighing; CI-Vision machine vision; and PCE track-and-trace/serialization technologies—at a new state-of-the-art 265,000-square-foot facility in Tampa, Fla. Housing a large production area and all key administrative departments—
including human resources, finance, supply chain, production, sales, service, marketing, quality assurance and engineering—the gleaming new complex features multiple amenities and comforts to provide a healthy and upbeat working environment for about 500 or so full-time MettlerToledo Product Inspection employees mandated with enhancing the company’s hefty market clout and prominence well into the future. The Canadian Packaging magazine recently caught up with Magnus Kullerstrand, general manager of Mettler Toledo Inc. (Canada) in Mississauga, Ont.—to talk about the company’s corporate revitalization and its outlook for the product inspection business both in Canada and well beyond. Congratulations on the opening of your new centralized facility in Tampa.What is the significance of this milestone for the company and its customer base? Having all our Product Inspection (PI) equipment engineered, produced and supported in a single facility helps us to collaborate better and deploy best designs and practices across all of our technologies. Collaboration and using best practices across our technologies, in terms of design and parts, will help us maintain our leadership position. We also wanted a location where our current staff would be able to follow us from their previous separate locations, and where we could pull new team
OCTOBER 2018 • CANADIAN PACKAGING WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM • 33
FOOD SAFETY
Magnus Kullerstrand, general manager of Mettler Toledo Inc. (Canada) in Mississauga, Ont.,believes that accelerated software development will be the next big wave in the product inspection technologies business, driven by the pressing need for better data collection and analysis capabilities by companies eager to improve their overall manufacturing processes.
members from a diverse and well-educated talent pool that is available to us in this geographic region. It offers a one-stop-shop for sales and service of all of their product inspection needs and their FAT (factory acceptance testing) requirements. It will make it much easier to conduct business with our growing customer base by having centralized sales and service operations in place. It really is a fantastic facility, with a fully integrated engineering department, which represents a huge investment for Mettler Toledo to serve a market that we firmly believe will continue to grow at a rapid rate at least over the net 10 years. Having a facility like this will go a long way to not only remain the market leader in that time, bus also increase the technology gap between ourselves and the competition, thanks to a lot of cross-engineering we can now do for all of our core product ranges.
Featuring eye-pleasing interiors and numerous amenities to provide a bright and productive workplace environment for the estimated 500 people employed there, Mettler Toledo Product Inspection’s new state-of-the-art building houses several fully-equipped training rooms to provide customers with hand-on training for the full range of the company’s technologies.
We serve all of Canada, coast-to-coast to coast, with the support of a dedicated team of local experts at Shawpak Systems Ltd. of Oakville, Ont. Our product inspections systems are used by We primarily serve the food and beverage industry, manufacturers in many industries—including food, with strong presence in pharmaceuticals and chemicals. beverage, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, personal-care, The business has enjoyed solid annual growth plastics and chemicals—to ensure the total optimal since its integration into the Canadian marketing quality of their products and improve the efficiency of organization, and we expect the positive trend to their manufacturing and packaging processes. continue. We help customers to streamline processes, enhance We also have the largest technical service force across productivity, reach compliance with regulatory the country to provide the hands-on training required requirements and optimize costs, meaning that many to support out customers. Our technicians are able to of our product inspection systems are often built to support and service our product inspection systems the customers’ unique specifications, and customized through their entire life-cycle: from installation to fit their exact needs. through calibration, preventative maintenance and repair. Describe you company’s capabilities in the Canadian This year, we have naturally been keeping a close eye marketplace. on the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) negotiations to determine the possible impacts on our business from a modified trade agreement. Historically, our product inspection solutions have been in high demand across many different economic conditions at the time, although we would continue to benefit from a strengthening in the Canadian economy and the national currency. Mettler Toledo’s product inspection business has been growing rapidly over the last 10 to 15 years, and it has grown exceptionally well in the last five years— both globally and here in Canada. Please describe your customer base to us, and how your company’s services help impove their business.
What is driving this remarkable growth?
Mettler Toledo’s vision inspection systems are becoming widely used across a broad range of pharmaceutical industries with strict quality control and verification requirements for product labeling and coding accuracy and authentication.
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The tough new food safety regulations are an important driver, but many companies are also starting to use product inspection equipment to achieve better yields through improved productivity and product protections, while improving product quality and
CANADIAN PACKAGING • OCTOBER 2018
FOOD SAFETY maintaining their brand reputation. It’s a combination of the industry getting proactive about product protection, and its retail customers extending their product safety demands onto the production floor—driven by consumers who are now more aware of the various food safety issues affecting their own health and well-being. It all comes down to the Big Three of productivity, quality and protection. Given that these same growth drivers also apply to your competition, what is your company’s strategy for retaining your leadership position?
Our parent company Mettler Toledo is an industry leader inspection will be all on the software side of the business— in R&I (research-and-development) investment), and the namely focusing on data collection and the integration of Product Inspection division is no exception. that data into the decision-making process in a seamless We consistently gather feedback from internal and way into all the critical control points. external stakeholders to refine and improve our product This has already been around for the last three to five offerings—building upon 30 years of experience to provide years, but you will see a major growth in emphasis on data best-in-class technologies to our customers. collection software in the next five years or so. In 2018 we have launched the X34 X-Ray inspection It all gets back to boosting productivity by optimizing the system that offers automated product set-up—coupled existing process and improving quality control by utilizing with intelligent software to improve production uptime, the right kind of date to reduce waste and the incidence of reduce manufacturing costs, and enhance detection false rejects, and we are convinced that the industries we sensitivity. serve will demand this capability in a major way in coming Fabbri_2017March_MeatPkgAd_PoultryDrumsticks_CP_Layout 1 3/28/17years. 2:36 PM Page 1 But it is my belief that the next big evolution in product
Being a global market leader, by the biggest player in this market segment, enables us to do things differently from other vendors. Whereas other competitors tend to focus on product features and product specs, we tends to partner up with our customers in a Big Picture way to address the aforementioned larger issues of productivity, quality and protection. Hence we focus not so much on the customers’ products but rather their processes, acting as a trusted advisor or consultant. Naturally, having four different product ranges enables us to offer more complete turnkey solution to help our customers improve their yields in a significant way, rather than simply address their product issues in a one-by-one manner. For us, it’s about providing the right solution that enables customers to produce at the required quality levels all the time, to reduce waste, to reduce ‘false rejects’ and to produce a quality package on a consistent basis, which all requires a proper needs assessment.
N O T H I N G S AY S
F R E S H like FABB R I PAC KAG ING
Which of your four core product categories offers the biggest growth opportunities going forward? Metal detection is definitely the leader in terms of the installed base, but X-Ray systems are growing at the fastest rate right now. The vision systems are also a promising segment, particularly in pharma applications, with its powerful track-andtrace capabilities. The important this is to identify what it is that the customer is hoping to achieve with vision systems, rather than installing it just for technology’s sake. Our ability to offer customers customized solutions, such as a combination X-Ray and checkweigher system, is an important competitive advantage and differentiator that offers them full-scale integration of our technology into their production process, including custom-made conveyor that are made-to-measure for their exact needs. What are some of the new product innovations and advanced technologies your company offers to the market?
Fabbri Automatic Stretch Wrappers produce highly attractive packages that make your products look fresh and “just packed”. Fabbri Stretch Wrappers use stretch film to package fresh meat products in preformed trays to provide an in-store wrapped appearance. They employ four-way stretch technology to produce tight, over-the-flange, wrinkle-free packages with securely sealed bottoms and a superb case presentation. And here’s something you might find even more attractive: Fabbri Stretch Wrappers can help increase your profitability. Fabbri packaging is produced using low-cost packaging materials. And when you factor in its Best in Class low cost of ownership, the Fabbri Stretch Wrapper is your most economical and affordable packaging solution. Compact and robust servo-driven Fabbri packaging machines are built for speed, versatility and the highest levels of productivity. Fabbri Stretch Wrappers can handle a wide range of tray sizes with no changeovers, producing up to 62 packs per minute. All models feature a user-friendly full-size control panel for easy operation and maintenance. Test the Fabbri at our Reiser Customer Center and see for yourself how it can improve your packaging. Contact Reiser today.
www.reiser.com Reiser Canada Burlington, ON • (905) 631-6611 Reiser Canton, MA • (781) 821-1290 2017
PACKAGING FOR DISTRIBUTION ISTA-certified testing is designed to mimic the most extreme transport conditions.
BEYOND THE FILM Best practices for effective unit load containment testing
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ll too often, packaging professionals tend to address their issues with BD&L (breakage, damage and loss) by increasing the number of times a pallet is wrapped with film. While this Band-Aid solution may temporarily address unit load failure, it drives up film usage and, potentially, labor costs. Utilizing different methods of palletized unit load testing can help uncover how primary and secondary packaging structures affect the overall containment performance.
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“The proper testing procedures result in data that can be used to guide operational changes,” says Jeremy Kell, unit load containment specialist with leading packaging supplies distributor Veritiv Corporation. “We collaborate with the customers,” Kell says, “and we use a wide range of testing equipment to find data that uncovers the root cause of unit load failures. “The test results often uncover new opportunities to balance cost with performance,” he states, “while contributing to a safer environment for the workers.” Developed to help packagers to ensure safe delivery
of their shipped goods, ISTA (International Safe Transit Association)-certified testing is designed to mimic the most extreme transit conditions. Here are a few key ISTA tests that may uncover issues beyond just the film containment force.
IMPACT Impact and drop testing evaluates horizontal or incline impact. Imagine a product on a table that is dropped, mimicking material handling shipping environments, depending on testing criteria.
CANADIAN PACKAGING • OCTOBER 2018
PACKAGING FOR DISTRIBUTION
Simply adding extra layers of stretchwrap film to stabilize tricky product loads results in unnecessary film waste and potentially significantly higher labor costs.
Just as important as drop testing, advanced incline testing can simulate the lateral forces a unitized load faces during transit. Engineers set a G-force on impact strength, and monitoring devices record how the energy moves through the unitized load. Post-test analysis of the data can signal areas where packaging materials, such as primary packaging void fill, can be increased or decreased in rigidity to improve performance.
THERMAL SHOCK Thermal shock testing ensures the packaging materials and products can withstand extreme temperature and humidity fluctuations. Different types of corrugated boxes and flutes are better at withstanding high levels of humidity. Some companies will see an increase in BD&L as the seasons change. Thermal shock testing can help identify the current limitations of your packaging and help to build a new packaging strategy tailored for different seasons or parts of the world.
Fully-integrated design and prototyping capabilities allow for quicker adjustments and re-testing procedures.
VIBRATION Vibration testing evaluates for fractures, bending, and minor or complete structural failure. Understanding how vibrations may weaken key parts of the packaging structure can help to identify areas that need a mix of different packaging materials to survive the harsh conditions.
COMPRESSION
It is important to collect the right kind of test data in order to improve unit load containment performance.
Compression testing evaluates how a palletized unit load performs as weight is applied on top. This test simulates the stress caused, as other palletized loads are stacked. Understanding the compression performance can help companies more fully utilize vertical warehouse space in a safer manner. Using The right testing methods and mixing different packaging materials can help reduce damage, lower costs, and speed manufacturing, packing and shipping. As Kell points out, “Film is just one element of
containing and protecting a unitized load. “A strategic packaging partner should use a comprehensive scientific approach to help customers improve their packaging methods,” Kell states. Companies in many sectors will benefit from uncovering the root cause of BD&L issues by collaborating with packaging providers that have access to in-house ISTA-certified testing labs, such as Veritiv, with fully integrated design and prototyping capabilities to allow for quicker adjustments and retesting. Combined with Veritiv’s extensive expertise in the sourcing of many different packaging materials, such collaboration would go a long way to helping them ensure packaging consistency, cost and performance on an ongoing basis. This article first appeared in the recent issue of the Packaging Unwrapped in-house magazine of the Atlanta, Ga.-headquartered Veritiv Corporation.
OCTOBER 2018 • CANADIAN PACKAGING WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM • 37
AUTOMATE NOW
CHIPS OFF THE OLD BLOCK
Swiss chip manufacturer implements cutting-edge industrial safety technology to keep its automated process running at full speed
The capabilities of Pilz GmbH & Co., the complete safe automation supplier, includes a comprehensive range of services consisting of consulting, engineering and training on machinery safety.
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ince its humble beginning in 1957, potato chips manufacturer Zweifel Pomy-Chips AG has worked tirelessly to create a name for itself as one of the most prominent and trusted snack-food brands in Switzerland. Based in Spreitenbach, a short drive outside of Zurich, the company’s production plant employs about 400 people to produce a popular range of high-quality potato chips comprising the Original, Chilli Paprika, Spicy Tomato and Salt & Vinegar flavor varieties. This production takes place over a 200-meter-long production line stretching over two floors of a building filled with and an ever-present aroma of fried potatoes wafting through the air, created by the average of five tonnes of potatoes processed each hour to make and package the product. Currently in the process of modernizing nine of its packaging lines, Zweifel boasts extensive in-house knowledge and experience in developing and integrating its production equipment and the plant programming associated with running this equipment. A few years ago, however, after putting out a tender for some new packaging and conveying equipment, the chip producer found itself in need of some specialized knowledge that would enhance the overall safety of its working environment throughout the plant in a consistent and highly reliable way, as specified by the European Union’s Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC standard. Specifically, the interconnection between the individual plant sections mean that the interfaces and logic connections of the E-STOP functions had to be assessed and transferred into one overall case of compliance with the directive, which mandates that all working machines must be deployed in such a way that man and the environment are sufficiently protected from harm.
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AUTOMATE NOW With Switzerland agreeing to comply with this directive via several bilateral trade agreements, the manufacturers and marketers of such machinery must provide binding give binding confirmation that their plant meets the minimum safety requirements in through a formal declaration of compliance. In light of the large number of standards to be considered for such a declaration, being on the safe side required some well-versed specialized expertise in the area of industrial safety. “It was clear to us that we needed support from a competent partner,” says Gerhard Meier, Zweifel’s team leader of technical services who turned to safety automation special-
As the central component in the new packaging line, the automation system PSS 4000 for safety and automation closely monitors all of the safety-related functions at Zweifel Pomy-Chips AG.
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ists Pilz GmbH & Co., to implement the process. “As we have enjoyed a long-standing partnership with Pilz, we were aware of their expertise in matters regarding risk assessment and development of reliable safety concepts, right through to CE marking”, says Meier. Based in Ostifildern, Germany, Pilz worked closely with Zweifel to help produce an efficient safety-related control concept, which involved the development of mechanical, electrical and other technical engineering solutions for machine safety, while accounting for all the key considerations of machine availability and productivity. Essentially, Zweifel was looking for a high-performance safety control system to link and monitor the exchange of safetyrelated signals—separately and in parallel to the plant control system—incorporating a high-performance device that had to highly network-capable, reliable and simple to program, as well as easy-to-use in an everyday operation. In this operation, special conveyor grooves are used transport the baked chips to the new packaging lines, where a pneumatically controlled flap opens up to allow the chips to access the fully-automatic packaging machines, where the chips are sealed in bags in brisk and orderly fashion and packed in standard transport cartons to start making their way to the market. The chips metaphorically fell into place when Pilz introduced Zweifel to their perfect match—namely the PSS 4000 automation system. “We had been following the development and launch of the PSS 4000 automation system with interest for some time,” says Meier, noting that Zweifel had previously used Pilz’s PNOZmulti configurable control system with considerable success. But as the plant became bigger and the production requirements more complex, the case for upgrading to a more efficient modular system such as the PSS 4000 automation system—offering the option of combining and merging safety with automation—became more compelling. “Following an internal cost and benefit analysis of both systems, we came to the conclusion that it was the right time to use the PSS 4000,” says Meier. As the central component in the new packaging line, the PSS 4000 automation system monitors all the safety-related functions such as the packaging line and safety gates via an advanced intelligent access concept. The gates are fitted with PSENmag magnetic safety switches and the coded PSENcode safety switches from Pilz. The latter is then used to monitor the position of guards in accordance with the EN 60947-5-3 standard, and also for simple position monitoring. The pneumatic cylinders are thoroughly
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AUTOMATE NOW
A centralized standard automation control system monitors the machine and processes all the signals, while the automation system PSS 4000 allows for the consistent distribution of various control functions at a time. (Inset) With the coded safety switch PSENcode from Pilz, it is now possible for the operators to closely monitor two or three positions safely and reliably with just one sensor.
monitored. In order to avoid an increased risk of injury to the operators, the flaps must be safely locked during the cleaning process. The E-STOP pushbuttons positioned along the packaging line are monitored using the automation system. The company attached great importance to the formation of four autonomous safety circuits, as it must be possible to clean one section of the plant without entirely halting the whole plant production process in its entirety. According to Pilz, the PSS 4000 automation system is designed to allow for optimal interaction between hardware and software components, network devices and the real-time Ethernet—thereby enabling a wide range of projects to be implemented more easily and with greater flexibility than with conventional solutions. Rather than having a centralized control system, a modular user program is made available within a central-
ized project, which allows for standardized and simple handling. With its ability to undertake safety and automation tasks, the automation system has already proven itself in numerous applications in the widest range of industry sectors, according to Pilz. After reviewing the PSS 4000 automation system and learning how it functions and operates, the decision to employ it was a no-brainer for Zweifel. “When selecting the PSS 4000 automation system, the deciding factors for us were the simplicity, the drastically reduced cabling work, clear communication, clear responsibilities and, ultimately, the excellent price-performance ratio,” Meier states. Meier adds another factoring decision in choosing the automation system was the ability of the PAS4000 software platform and its Graphics Editor functionality to link
A pneumatically controlled flap opens up when the machine is in operation, allowing the different kinds of chips to access the fully automatic packaging machines prior to being packaged.
into the existing structure of the PNOZmulti Configurator, meaning that the parameter setting remains transparent and simple into the future. Since implementing the PSS 4000 automation system, the working relationship between Zweifel and Pilz has been smooth sailing, as the partnership has resulted in excellent prospects for other future prospects for the chip manufacturing company. “As usual, our collaboration with Pilz was conducted in the full spirit of partnership,” Meier concludes. “Pilz not only supplied us with outstanding products, but also provided competent support in word and deed before, during and after commissioning.”
SUPPLIERS Pilz Automation Safety Canada L.P.
The open remote I/O system offers maximum flexibility for the adaptation of existing system environments with head modules for PROFINET/PROFIsafe, Ethernet/IP and CIP Safety. A simple substitution of the head module allows the communication within different networks. Wide ranges of safe and standard I/O modules are available.
Scan to watch our PSSuniversal 2 video. Online information at www.pilz.ca
Pilz Automation Safety Canada L.P., www.pilz.ca
Remote I/O system PSSuniversal 2 – Flexible, open and modular
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PACKAGING FOR FRESHNESS
BRINGING HOME THE BACON Speeding up the raw bacon packaging process for retail and foodservice customers
The bulk food service and retail are using dedicated interleavers, stackers, and card dispensers that dramatically increase throughput speeds.
BY ALEX LOVE
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he U.S. pork bacon market is growing at an unprecedented rate. According to the National Pork Board figures compiled by Nielsen Research, the U.S. pork bacon market was US$3.3 billion for the 52 weeks ending Apr. 28, 2018—a solid increase from US $3.1 billion the previous year. This substantial growth in the market is fueling a demand for meat processing companies that can provide a higher production volume of raw bacon for use in the foodservice and retail industries. To capitalize on this demand, meat processors are increasingly turning to newer, higher-speed packaging solutions that include dedicated interleavers and card dispensers that maximize throughput of raw bacon. By including automated stacking, the equipment also eliminates unnecessary labor costs while reducing the risk for injuries due to repetitive motion. Interleavers are automated, high-speed machines
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designed to dispense sheets of paper, film or cardstock under, between or around meat, cheese and other products for portion control, inventory control and more sanitary handling. This includes greaseproof paper, parchment paper, plastic film, or bacon boards added after slicing and before final packaging For raw bacon used in foodservice operations, including restaurants, interleaved paper is often used to separate bulk portions of sliced bacon. The alternative is to pack raw bacon as individual slices sideby-side on paper in what is known throughout the industry as lay-flat packaging. In both cases, interleavers are often combined with counter/stacking modules that automatically count and stack the portions for boxing or gas flush packaging. Right: Packaging Progressions’ foodservice bacon system increases throughput by as much as 80 per cent and reduces operating costs, training expenses, and repetitive motion injuries while improving stack quality and final package presentation.
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Sons operates five packaging lanes, with three including dedicated interleavers for L-Boards. Previously, the maximum throughput rate was only 38 boards per minute, but due to increasing demand that needed to increase to 54 boards per minute at a minimum. After some research, Martin decided to install a ProLeaver Card Dispenser from Packaging Progressions, a company that specializes in the design and manufacture of automatic, high-speed interleavers, stackers and card dispensers. Martin says the ProLeaver Card Dispenser is particularly popular among meatprocessors because of its exceptionally
high throughput speeds, which exceed the industry norm by as much as 40 per cent. For retail packaging of bacon, the unit can reliably feed up to 80 cards per minute without losing time to jams, missed cards, and double feeds. John F. Martin & Sons also sells bacon to foodservice operations. This requires traditional paper-feeding interleavers. Based on a sheet-weight of half-a-pound of raw bacon, the equipment can interleave up to 120 sheets per minute for a total of 3,600 pounds of lay-flat bacon per hour— nearly twice that of traditional systems.
“10 MINUTES after Prospects started calling us
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For raw bacon packaged for retail sale in grocery stores and other outlets, packaging typically involves the use of interleaved cards, or L-boards, which come pre-printed and branded with product and nutritional information. The process begins with the bacon being sliced and shingled in specific units of weight, followed by the L-board then being interleaved and folded over the top of the product. The final step involves vacuum-sealing the bacon in clear plastic. In the production line, the interleaver operates between the slicer and the final packaging equipment, with the slicer capable of the highest processing rates. Although this speed imbalance is generally acceptable, there are times when a processor needs to achieve higher packing speeds to satisfy an increase in demand. This means the interleaver or packaging equipment, whichever is slower, effectively dictates the maximum throughput speed. If these systems are older or poorly designed, they can quickly become a bottleneck. In cases like these, the options are to add more slicing lines or replace the equipment with models that run faster. “The bottlenecks in bacon processing usually originate with the interleaving or packaging equipment,” explains Bernell Martin, president of John F. Martin & Sons, a meat processing company that supplies raw bacon to both food service and retail outlets. “So when the process needs to move faster, it usually means switching out equipment to generate that speed.” According to Martin, John F. Martin &
our Canadian Packaging video deployed - Randall Belcot,
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Looking to put some zip into your marketing program? Call me today to make a video with audio interview at your facility or at one of your satisfied customers. You’ll be glad you did.
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STEPHEN DEAN 416-510-5198 Sdean@canadianpackaging.com
PACKAGING FOR FRESHNESS To achieve these kinds of speeds and maximize uptime, Packaging Progression’s interleavers vary from standard industry offerings with unique features such as: • Servo-controlled product and paper synchronization; • Power-assisted paper unwinds; • Encoder-enabled positioning for precise placement and jam free diverting; • Bacon debris filtering to prevent false paper feeds and reduce jams; • Paper-saving draft presence sensing; • Jam detection logic to reduce paper jams; • Automatic portion centralizer; • High-speed servo-controlled vertical diverters for stacking.
These design improvements essentially increase the accuracy and tracking of the items and the inserted paper or card to achieve high speeds reliably without double-feeds or paper jams. “For paper feeders, it is critical they do not jam, which some are known to do,” explains Martin. “So run speeds are important, but so is the amount of uptime,” he states. “It can’t be a maintenance nightmare.” Despite the available automated equipment, there still are several areas where manual labor is still often utilized in the bacon packaging process. By automating these steps, meat processors can reduce labor costs as much as 90 per cent, eliminate repetitive motion injuries and increase throughput.
Somic America reloads on Sales support by adding three more Service Technicians EAGAN, MN. – SEPTEMBER 17, 2018 With new equipment contracts and interest building for the North American introduction of a revolutionary packaging machine next month at PACK Expo, Somic America continues to emphasize customer support with the hiring of three new service technicians. Service team leader Daniel Freeman, Andre Jackson, and Jesse White bring a wealth of experience to a growing department.
“It’s an exciting time to be part of an expanding company. There are a lot of things taking place and it’s great to be in a position to add the caliber of people we have in the last five or six months,” explained Peter Fox, Senior VP of Sales. “These guys have solid mechanical backgrounds and they were very quick to learn about Somic equipment. Our customers are going to love working with them.”
Daniel Freeman is a U.S. Army veteran with 14 years of supervisory maintenance experience. With a background in the installation of equipment, he has considerable experience in components testing, electrical, mechanical, and electromechanical assemblies, and was cited for his ability to complete difficult or unserviceable projects ahead of schedule. Most recently, Freeman was a mechanical technician for a Minnesota service provider of servo systems and motion controlled packaging machines. Andre Jackson has over 17 years experience, serving mostly as a field service engineer or system engineering technician. His talents have allowed him to travel the world to troubleshoot and repair complex mechanical and electronic systems. In his most recent position, Jackson integrated manufactured systems and subsystems and worked with his company’s engineering team on new product hardware and software configuration.
Jesse White joins Somic America with experience in the food processing industry as a machine maintenance technician. He has worked on complex PLC systems including Allen Bradley, Fanuc and Siemens, in addition to a wide range of packaging and printing machines. White also spent time in the energy industry as a maintenance technician, troubleshooting and repairing electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic machinery.
Learn more about Somic America’s service capabilities by
visiting the booth (E-8550) at PACK Expo in Chicago, October 14-17, or visit www.somic.us.
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Gluing Systems · Quality Assurance Systems · Camera Verification Systems
Inverto – top-down and bottom-up gluing With Inverto, the system for non-contact gluing and glue detection from top and bottom, you can glue inner and outer flaps with just one blank guide. Switching between top-down and bottom-up gluing takes only a minute. Baumer hhs – two in one.
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Non-contact gluing from top and bottom One blank guide for inner and outer flaps Glue detection from top and bottom Switchover in less than a minute
For example, when packaging bacon for retail after the L-board is inserted and folded over, a worker must often manually rotate the product so it enters the packaging machine at the proper orientation. “Typically, sliced bacon is loaded onto Lboards in only one direction,” explains Martin. “With most equipment that means someone has to manually rotate the product 90 degrees so it loads properly into the packaging machine.” This is spurring the development of equipment solutions, including an automatic folder/ turner model soon to be released by Packaging Progressions. In many processing plants, the counting and stacking of lay-flat bacon into boxes is still performed manually as well. Once the bacon is sliced and automatically positioned on each sheet, it must be stacked perfectly straight, front to back. The process often requires several workers and is extremely taxing, both for workers and the bottom line. Instead, automatic stackers can replace this manual step while eliminating the “bunching” often associated with “hand catch stacking.” To that end, high-speed models are capable of counting and auto stacking up to 120 sheets per minute. Whether to increase production rates or just to speed time to market, even seemingly “minor” design features or details can speed the process and reduce waste. For example, interleavers can be programmed so paper or L-boards are only inserted when bacon is present, to reduce waste. Downgrade diverters that works with most “vision” slicers can also be used to communicate with interleavers to hold off on sending paper and divert bacon scraps and other irregular slices so they are not combined with high quality cuts. Integrated bar code scanners on the card dispenser ensure the right L-board is being dispensed so regular bacon is not being packaged as “low sodium bacon” inadvertently. This can prevent costly re-packaging and even product recalls. According to Martin, even an established product like bacon can require an interleaver/ stacking systems with minor design features or customizations to work properly between slicer and packaging equipment. “If I buy an off-the-shelf board loader from a company, I have to use it ‘as is’,” explains Martin. “The difference with a company like Packaging Progressions is they don’t just sell a piece of equipment—they sell a solution. “I can tell them, ‘Here’s my slicer and here is my packaging machine. I need you to take the product from here to here.’ “And they design just what I need.”
SUPPLIERS
baumerhhs.com
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Packaging Progressions John F. Martin & Sons
CANADIAN PACKAGING • OCTOBER 2018
EVENTS Oct. 21-25
Nov. 14-15
March 27-28
Oct. 22
Nov. 19-20
April 24-25
Oct. 23-26
2019
Paris, France: SIAL Paris, global food and beverage industries exhibition by the Comexposium Group. At Paris Nord Villepinte. To register, go to: www.sialparis.com London, England: Digital. Packaging Conference, by kehren+partner. At Stationers’ Hall. To register, go to: www.digitalpackagingconference.com Gothenburg, Sweden: Scanpack, international packaging technologies exhibition and conference by Svenska Mässan. At The Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre. To register, go to www.scanpack.se
Oct. 24-26
Mumbai, India: pacprocess India, food pex india and indiapack trade fairs by Messe Düsseldorf. Concurrently with drink technology India trade fair by Messe Munchen. All at the Bombay Exhibition Centre. Contact Messe Düsseldorf (Canada) at (416) 598-1524; or go to: www.mdna.com
Oct. 30 – Nov. 1
Chicago: Global Plastics Summit (GPS) 2018, international conference by HIS Markit and the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS). At Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel Chicago. To register, go to: www.globalplasticssummit.com
Nov. 7
Toronto: Cutting through the Greenwash, annual fall seminar of The Paper & Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council (PPEC). At the Islington Golf Club.To register, contact PPEC at (905) 458-0087, or via email at ppec@ppec-paper.com
Philadelphia, Pa.: Automation Fair, annual end-user conference and trade show by Rockwell Automation. At Pennsylvania Convention Center. To register, go to: www.rockwellautomation.com Amsterdam, Holland: World Congress and Exhibition on Active & Intelligent Packaging, by Active & Intelligent Packaging Industry Association (AIPIA). At Westin Hotel. Register online at www.aipia.info
Nov. 13-16
Frankfurt, Germany: Formnext 2018, international exhibition and conference on next-generation manufacturing technologies by Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH. To register, go to: www.formnext.com
Brampton, Ont: 20/20 Vision: Progress in Packaging, conference and exibition by CCCA (Canadian Corrugated Case Association) and AICC Canada. At the Person Convention Centre. To register, go to: www.aiccbox.ca/events
Sept. 4-6
Jan. 23-24
Barcelona, Spain: Maximizing Propylene Yields 2019, global summit by ACI (Europe). To register, go to: www.wplgroup.com/aci/event/
Jan. 27-30
Cologne, Germany: ProSweets Cologne 2019, international supplier trade show for the sweets and snacks industry by Koelnmesse. At Koelnmesse fairgrounds. To register, go to: www.prosweets-cologne.com
Feb. 4-6
Las Vegas, Nev.: The Packaging Conference. By The Packaging Conference LLC. At Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas. To register, go to: www.thepackagingconference.com
Feb. 27-28
Rotterdam, The Netherlands: European Food & Beverage Plastic Packaging, conference and exhibition by ACI(Europe). To register, go to: www.wplgroup.com/aci/event/
Feb. 28 – March 2
Bangalore, India: drink technology India, beverage, dairy and liquid food industries trade show by Messe München GmbH. To register, go to: www.messe-muenchen.de
Nov. 7-8
Toronto: Ontario Craft Brewers Conference (OCBC) & Suppliers Marketplace 2018, by Ontario Craft Brewers (OCB). At Beanfield Centre (formerly Allstream Centre). To register, go to: www.ontariocraftbrewers.com
Atlanta, Ga.: Industrial Pack 2019, industrial, transit and protective packaging exhibition by Easyfairs. At Cobb Galeria Center, To register, go to: www.easyfairs.com
Johannesburg, South Africa: Food & Drink Technology Africa, regional trade fair for the food, beverage and packaging industries by Messe München GmbH. At Gallagher Convention Centre. To register, go to: www.fdt-africa.com
Oct. 16-23
Düsseldorf, Germany: K 2019, world fair for plastics and rubber by Messe Düsseldorf GmbH. At Messe Düsseldorf fairgrounds. In Canada, contact Messe Düsseldorf (Canada) at (416) 598-1524; or go to: www.mdna.com
Dec. 5-7
New Delhi, India: drink technology India, beverage, dairy and liquid food industries trade show by Messe München GmbH. At Pragati Maidan grounds. To register, go to: www.messe-muenchen.de
2020 May 7-13
Düsseldorf, Germany: interpack 2020, global trade fair for packaging technologies by Messe Düsseldorf GmbH. At Messe Düsseldorf fairgrounds. Contact Messe Düsseldorf (Canada) at (416) 598-1524 for information on participating as part of the Canadian Pavilion or as individual exhibitor. For more general information and registration, go to: www.interpack.com
π SHIPPING SUPPLY SPECIALISTS
OVER 300 STRETCH WRAP PRODUCTS IN STOCK
Nov. 14-15
FOR BY 6 PM ORDER Y SHIPPING A SAME D
Montreal: Advanced Design & Manufacturing (ADM) Expo, multishow exhibition by UBM comprising PACKEX Montreal, Expoplast, Automation Technology Expo (ATX), Design & Manufacturing, and Powder & Bulk Solids. All at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. To register, go to: www.montreal.am.ubm.com
Nov. 14-15
Santa Clare, Ca.: IDTechEx Show, emerging manufacturing technologies exhibition and conference by IDTechEx Ltd. At Santa Clara Convention Center. To register, go to: www.IDTechE.com/USA
COMPLETE CATALOG
1-800-295-5510 uline.ca
CPK_Uline_Oct18_CSA.indd 1 2018-09-25 2:17 PM • 47 OCTOBER 2018 • CANADIAN PACKAGING WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM
CELEBRATING CHEESE THROUGH PACKAGING Canadian cheese-lovers are really spoilt for choice nowadays, with supermarket aisles and deli counters brimming with generous selections of highly innovative and tantalizing recipes to create fabulous cheese platters for entertaining, or to simply enjoy and savor on its own. With so many cheese varieties and recipes out there, it’s also a product category that offers a wide gamut of eye-catching packaging formats to help consumer enhance their cheesy indulgences with some classy packaging aesthetics for a highly enjoyable brand experience.
Being a tireless advocate for using natural materials in packaging, I am compelled to give a hearty callout to the Le Rustique camembert brand by Jean Verrier, Fromager. The package is made with wooden sides and top and a cardboard base, held together roughly with a few metal staples. It’s lined with a soft, thick paper that feels like cloth, and looks like it too, with its cheerful red-and-white check print. The brand name is printed on the wood in such a way that it looks like it was burned into the lid and the round container wall for an extra “rustic” look is perfectly suited to a picnic as we enjoy the last of these lingering summer-like days.
The President’s Choice Black Label private-label brand retailed by Loblaw’s is generally a credit to packaging designers working behind the scenes to create it—often featuring a sophisticated black background and intriguing product photography, often including a scenic vista from the geographic origin of the product. However, I felt like the packaging the President’s Choice Crema di Burrata impeded my understanding of the product. Not being able to see the actual cheese behind the sidewalls of the opaque white plastic container, itself a rather run-ofthe-mill for this kind of a specialty product, one has to trust the photograph of the product on the label as to what to expect inside the tub. But what looks like a large ball of soft cheese sliced open, deforming slightly under its own weight, turns out to be a collection of smallish soft curds in a creamy liquid after opening the lid. But although it was not well-suited for the salad I had initially envisioned, it did end up making for a very tasty addition to a pasta sauce.
Some classic iconic packaging naturally resists the passage of time, with Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese packaging a stellar example. I practically can close my eyes and see this packaging as it was in my youth. But although it seems like nothing has changed, a search on Google Images throughout the decades does show that there have been subtle updates I didn’t recall catching my eye at the time, such as the arcing lines used to form a more sedate oval logo shape, and the word ‘Philadelphia’ is bookended with a kicky upsweep of the font that wasn’t there before. But with the silvery gray, white and navy-blue colour scheme still fundamentally unchanged over the years, you really know this look has evolved to the status of cultural rope when ‘no-name’ competitors and even some store brands adopt a very similar-looking color schemes for their own cream cheese offerings.
A clear see-though plastic vacuum-pack is a perfect choice for the President’s Choice Herb & Garlic Halloum herb-covered block of cheese to speak for itself from inside the package by letting the green herbs project a sense of natural filed freshness from inside the squarish package, which is further enhanced with a deep-green wraparound sleeve rolled around the pack to keep it in shape. The product deftly uses the sleeve’s generous packaging real estate to provide all the key nutritional information and, moreover, includes a photo of the halloum cheese cubed and barbecued on a skewer. This is particularly useful, as is the additional information on the back of the sleeve explaining how and why this particular variety of cheese holds its shape and resists melting when cooked. With this cheese variety not being all that well-known outside of the
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Mediterranean region, this package has certainly done its homework insofar as educating Canadian consumers about this tasty and versatile cheese product.
Some cheeses, such as any herb-encrusted cheese, are inherently beautiful. Others, like cheddar, are a bit plainer, hence requiring an extra boost from the packaging to catch the consumer’s eye. Just like the Balderson’s Royal Canadian Cheddar Aged 2 Years specialty aged cheese has done with great care and diligence by inserting a luxurious regal product label behind the front protective layer of tightly-wrapped shrinkwrap film—unleashing a visual feast of prize-winning ribbon graphics centering an equally dazzling metallic pattern of faux gold maple leaves glittering against a deep black backdrop. For all the visual pizzazz, I do wish this packaging had some kind of a resealable feature incorporated into the design, for it’s a bit of a shame having to discard of this attractive product label so soon after opening up the package, and then rewrapping it into wax paper and aluminum foil to maximize its shelf-life, prolong its aroma and maintain the proper humidity levels.
While Santa Lucia’s Ricotta brand comes in pretty much the most basic packaging around—it’s a plastic tub wrapped in clear plastic stretch film—it is supremely functional. By easily allowing you to see the ricotta inside to confirm that it’s rounding up smoothly under the plastic as proof of freshness, the package takes a lot of guesswork out of lasagne preparation. While some other ricotta cheeses out there retailing in more imposing and decorative packaging, for a cooking chees like ricotta that may be a bit of a packaging overkill. Sometimes, the honesty of a plain package is really all you need.
The Devil’s Rock Creamy Blue Cheese from Thornloe Cheese is enrobed in a thick layer of wax—forming an enigmatic deep-blue pyramid. From what I have read, good old-fashioned wax is still an ideal material for packaging many kinds of cheeses, as it creates the right balance of humidity and provides protection from the wrong kinds of mold growing inside the product. This is naturally of paramount importance for blue cheese, where the whole premise is based on keeping the blue mold inside the product alive for as long as possible without allowing any other kind of culture to sneak in an tarnish the taste, or worse. As for final presentation, someone out there deserves an award for the sheer simple elegance of putting the pyramid inside a formfitting cardboard tray and holding the whole ensemble tightly in place with a decorated wraparound adhesive paper band containing all the important product information, while also serving as a thoughtful little product handle, just in case. Julie Saunders is a freelance writer based in Toronto.
ADVERTISERS’ INDEX ADVERTISER..................................................................PAGE
ADVERTISER..................................................................PAGE
Atlantic Packaging Products Ltd.......................S15
Plan Automation..................................................5
Baumer hhs Corp...............................................46
Regal Beloit America, Inc.................................S16
Canadian Corrugated & Containerboard Association................................42
Reiser / Robert Reiser & Co................................35
Canadian Packaging Magazine...........................45
Sessions Craft Canning.......................................S9
Delkor Systems Inc..............................................2 Domino Printing Solutions Inc..............................9 Farm Credit Canada FCC....................................S6 Harlund Industries Ltd.........................................5 Harpak-ULMA Packaging , LLC..........................11 Heat and Control..................................................4 Label!nk.............................................................S7 Loma Systems....................................................10 Mettler Toledo.................................................. IBC Mitchel-Lincoln Packaging...................................8 PakTech............................................................S9 Pilz Automation Safety Canada, L.P....................43
Schubert Packaging Machines.............................7 SEW Eurodrive Ltd...........................................S14 Somic America...................................................46 Sun Chemical Limited........................................16 Thermo Fisher Scientific.......................................6 Uline Canada Corporation..................................47 Veritiv Canada, Inc..........................................OBC Videojet Canada...................................................1 Weber, Inc.........................................................40 Weber Marking Systems Ltd...............................S2 Weighpack Systems Inc....................................IFC Yaskawa America, Inc. Motoman Robotics Division................................39
CANADIAN PACKAGING • OCTOBER 2018
PHOTOS BY JULIE SAUNDERS
CHECKOUT BY JUIE SAUNDERS
C-Series Checkweighers Dependable Precision METTLER TOLEDO dynamic C-Series checkweighers are designed to optimize flexibility on production and packaging lines, helping to ensure manufacturers around the world are equipped for market demands of the future and allowing them to benefit from both high-precision checkweighing and optimized adaptability. A wide range of sizes and configurations are available to handle nearly any container type or package design, and to ensure accurate product delivery, reduced giveaway, and optimized production processes. To learn more today, call 1-800-METTLER or visit www.mt.com/checkweighing.