Canadian Packaging May 2022

PET FOOD PACKAGING Page 22

PACKAGING FOR FRESHNESS Page 29 SERVING CANADA’S PACKAGING COMMUNITY SINCE 1947

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM MAY 2022 / $10.00

FOR GOODNESS SAKE Bold product innovation and expert packaging line automation raise the bar for branding excellence at Riverside Natural Foods Story on Page 15

(L TO R) JUSTIN FLUIT, VP OPERATIONS, RIVERSIDE NATURAL FOODS; RAPHAEL BURKART, PROJECT MANAGER, SCHUBERT PACKAGING AUTOMATION INC.; JEFFREY PETT, PLANT MANAGER, RIVERSIDE NATURAL FOODS.

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We are successful when you are successful. That’s why we apply creativity, engineering excellence, and determined perseverance to every project to help our customers get the performance their business demands—whether measured by flavor, efficiencies, sustainability, improvement, or innovation.

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20 LOOKING BACK. PRESSING FORWARD. ALWAYS INNOVATING.

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May 2022 Vol. 75, No. 5 canadianpackaging.com

COVER STORY

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15 AS GOOD AS IT GETS

Organic snack foods manufacturer extends its brand-building brilliance with continuous investment in highperformance packaging automation technologies.

FEATURES

22 Cool for Cats

Pioneering Canadian producer of all-natural raw meat pet food serves up a packaging cat’s meow with high-end flow-packs to provide cat owners with full creature comforts.

29 Cheese Please!

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Enterprising alternative dairy products manufacturer using high-end thermoform packaging solutions to bring its authentic Old World flavors recipes into the mainstream markets.

34 Country Living

Iconic Canadian brewer turns to long-time globl packaging pertner to get its newest brewery up to speed with both output capacity and oprtimal flexibility to accommodate new beverage products.

DEPARTMENTS

COLUMNS

NEWSPACK 6-7 Packaging news roundup.

FROM THE EDITOR 4 George Guidoni No winners in this food fight.

NOTES & QUOTES 9 Noteworthy industry briefs.

FIRST GLANCE 11 New packaging solutions and technologies.

ECO-PACK NOW 12 All about packaging sustainability.

IMPACT 13 A monthly insight from PAC Global.

CHECKOUT 56 Jaan Koel Renewable materials big piece of the sustainability puzzle.

37 Sustained Momentum Using packaging automation to scale up packaging sustainability efforts worldwide becoming an urgent imperative for leading global beverage producers.

ON THE COVER FROM LEFT: Riverside Natural Foods vice-president of operations Justin Fluit, Schubert Packaging Automation project manager Raphael Burkart, and Riverside plant manager Jeffrey Pett display new high-impact packaging for the company’s signature MadeGood brand of organic snacks at Riverside’s headquarters in Vaughan, Ont.

ISSN 1481 9287. Canadian Packaging is published 10 times per year by Annex Business Media. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40065710. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Department, 111 Gordon Baker Rd., Suite 400, Toronto, ON M2H 3R1. No part of the editorial content in this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. © 2022 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions. All advertising is subject to the publisher’s approval. Such approval does not imply any endorsement of the products or services advertised. Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not meet the standards of this publication.

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MAY 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING

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FROM THE EDITOR

Canadian consumers ultimately the only real losers in this food fight

C 2,400+ Number of stores operated by Loblaws in Canada in 2021

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oming at a time when product shortages and empty shelves were becoming an increasingly common sight at many grocery stores across Canada earlier this year, seeing two of the country’s iconic titans of the food industry embroiled in a public high-profile dispute over the price of potato chips was a jarring reminder of the CPG industry’s tendency to engage in developing solutions for a problem that did not exist—until its key actors created it.

While specific details of the dispute’s origins are fairly vague, the nasty food fight kicked off in early February when chips producer Frito-Lay, a PepsiCo subsidiary famed for its Cheetos, Doritos, Lays, Ruffles and Sunchips brands, tried to raise the prices it charges leading supermarket chain operator Loblaws for some of its products, citing growing costs of ingredients, packaging and transportation.

While the requested price increase was not anything really out of the ordinary in a market besieged by relentless price inflation not seen in many years, Loblaws’ refusal to agree to the hike and simply pass it off to consumers by hiking up its retail pricing quickly brought the disagreement to a boil.

So much, that Frito-Lay actually pulled all its brands from the shelves at all grocery locations operated by Loblaws under its various banners—resulting in blocks of empty shelf-space at the grocer’s snack-food aisles for about a month.

Happily for all, the tense stand-off was amicably resolved in time for the Easter weekend, but one can safely say that the only real winners in the dispute were, predictably, lawyers.

It certainly was not the consumers, given the fact that the Frito-Lay branded chip have not showed any lower pricing since returning to the Loblaws shelves, but then again they have not sky-rocketed in price either.

So what was all the fuss about then?

It’s really anyone’s guess, but maybe, just maybe, it was an ambitious attempt by a mainstream CPG company to regain some of the once-dominant influence the marketplace, whereby retailers were one merely their supply chain

CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

subordinates and order-takers.

Naturally, that balance of power has been altered drastically over the years with the arrival of private-label brands and a whole new breed of giant competitors like Walmart and Costco, whose sheer size and economies of scale enabled them to turn the tables on their vendors.

Suddenly it was retailers telling their vendors to keep their prices in line, to provide more locally-sourced products, to use more sustainable packaging, to ship their products in shelf-ready displays, and so on.

On the other hand, the spectacular growth in online e-commerce shopping has provided CPG brand-owners with a promising alternative to their traditional brick-and-mortar channels to the point where many new food industry start-ups are staking their future entirely on e-commerce sales.

And while none of that jockeying for power means much to ordinary consumers doing their daily grocery shopping, there are clearly some unresolved issues in the consumer marketplace insofar as who gets to call the shots.

And that is really too bad, because it is ultimately consumer confidence that is the glue holding the whole system together. Needless to say, soaring prices and empty shelves are not consumer confidence buiders by an stretch.

Coming out of a prolonged global COVID-19 pandemic that has severely damaged many vital pillars of the modern global consumer economy just to enter a new era of runaway consumer price inflation does not make a good backdrop for helping consumers to return to their pre-pandemic purchasing habits.

Neither does depriving them of their favorite brands and products for reasons over which they have no say whatsoever.

As always, having a chip on your shoulder is a lousy blueprint for doing business in a way that rewards all its stake-holders and participants alike.

MAY 2022 | VOLUME 75, NO. 5 Reader Service Print and digital subscription inquires or changes, please contact Anita Madden, Audience Development Manager Tel: (416) 510-5183 Fax: (416) 510-6875 Email: amadden@annexbusinessmedia.com Mail: 111 Gordon Baker Rd., Suite 400, Toronto, ON M2H 3R1 Senior Publisher Stephen Dean | (416) 510-5198 SDean@canadianpackaging.com Editor George Guidoni | (416) 510-5227 GGuidoni@canadianpackaging.com Account Coordinator Barb Comer | (888) 599-2228 ext 210 bcomer@annexbusinessmedia.com Media Designer Alison Keba | (519) 429-5181 akeba@annexbusinessmedia.com COO Scott Jamieson SJamieson@annexbusinessmedia.com 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.

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From time to time Canadian Packaging will mail information on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above.

Annex Privacy Officer Privacy@annexbusinessmedia.com Phone: 800-668-2374 DISCLAIMER: No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. ©2022 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.

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GEORGE GUIDONI, editor GGuidoni@canadianpackaging.com CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

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NEWSPACK

More ice cream brands and flavors to help beat the coming summer heat

Beating summer heat with an ice-cold serving of ice cream is a universally beloved summertime ritual that never gets old for millions of Canadian consumers of virtually any age or background.

And it promises to be an especially delicious pastime this coming summer, with Unilever Canada unveiling the company’s most extensive product line-up of iconic brands ever—all made at its state-of-the-art ice-cream production facility in Simcoe, Ont. “At Unilever Ice Cream, we’re always looking for new ways to bring more smiles to people and bring Canadians together,” says Andrea Grimandi, general manager at Unilever Ice Cream Canada.

“This year will be our biggest yet for new flavors and innovations, all based on local consumer insights,” says Grimaldi.

Notably, this summer will mark the official Canadian launch of the Wall’s Flavours of the World ice

cream—made with authentic globally-sourced ingredients and already selling in more than 50 countries—as a celebration of Canada’s diversity.

Says Grimaldi: “We are proud to bring our experience and knowledge from markets around the world and expand our portfolio to serve the evolving tastes of Canadian consumers and develop the ice cream category into new spaces.’

Packaged in vibrant-colored, gold-rimmed 1.4-liter tubs manufactured by Sonoco, and as single-serve 90-gram bars retailed in convenient six-pack paperboard cartons, the Wall’s brand graphics were designed to reflect and pay homage to the regions that inspired the flavors, including: • Bubble Tea (inspired by the tastes of Taiwan): Milk tea ice cream with a brown sugar swirl and chewy tapioca inclusions.

Also available in frozen novelty bars in Milk Tea and Pudding flavors.

• Ube (inspired by the tastes of the Philippines): Smooth yam

ice cream with a rich purple color, flavored with ube puree.

• Malai Kulfi (inspired by the tastes of India): Thick Kulfi-style ice cream, flavored with cardamom and saffron, with crunchy almond inclusions.

In addition to the Canadian Wall’s brand launch, Unilever has also expanded its flagship line-up of chocolate-coated Magnum ice-cream bars with the new Magnum Duets—the first ice cream bars to be double-dipped in two types of chocolates to deliver a one-of-a-kind extra indulgent experience, including: • Cookie Duet: Vanilla ice cream with chocolate ganache swirl, fully dipped in white chocolate with dark chocolate cookie

pieces and half-dipped in milk chocolate; • Almond Duet: Almond ice cream with brown sugar almond butter swirl, fully dipped in milk chocolate with almond and half-dipped in dark chocolate; • Chocolate Duet: Vanilla ice cream with raspberry swirl, fully dipped in white chocolate and half-dipped in milk chocolate; • Caramel Duet: Caramel ice cream with sea salt caramel swirl, fully dipped in dark chocolate and half-dipped in milk chocolate.

For its part, the venerable Breyers brand—a family classic in millions of Canadian households—celebrates the local taste profiles across the country’s

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• Butter Tart (inspired by Ontario): A vanilla base layered with luscious caramel swirl and buttery pastry pieces; • Sugar Pie (inspired by Québec): A vanilla base ribboned with a maple swirl and maple crunch pieces; • Blueberry Grunt (inspired by the East Coast): A vanilla base ribboned with a blueberry sauce different provinces with its new and buttery pastry pieces.

Breyers Canadian Desserts Not to be outdone, the famed flavors, all packaged to project a Ben & Jerry’s brand family has distinctly Canadian look and vibe. been expanded to comprise 28 “From the maple leaves in the different flavors, including new banner and the prominent use of flavor variations to exiting classics, the color red, the packaging was as well as a new non-dairy designed to look unequivocally Canadian,” according to Unilever. offering, including: • Banana Foster Core: Ba“This unique national range nana-cinnamon ice cream with invites Canadians on a road trip almond toffee clusters and a for their taste-buds, with flavors salted caramel core. inspired by classic regional • Karamel Sutra Core: Chocodesserts from coast-to-coast,” late and caramel ice creams including: with fudge chips and soft • Nanaimo Bar (inspired by caramel core; British Columbia): Dark • Impretzively Fudge Core: chocolate base with coconut Vanilla and chocolate ice flakes and a graham cracker creams with fudge-covered ripple, swirled with a creamy 22-05 Canadian Packaging (9.25x6).v1.3.pdf 1 2022-04-18 1:35 PM pretzel pieces and fudge core; custard base;

• Strawberry Jammin’: Sweet cream ice cream with pie crust pieces, white fudge bits and strawberry jam swirls; • Milk & Cookies: Vanilla ice cream with a chocolate cookie swirl, chocolate chip and chocolate-chip cookies; • Chewy Gooey Cookie: Milk chocolate and coconut ice creams with fudge flakes, shortbread cookies and caramel swirls; • The Tonight Dough (NonDairy): Caramel and chocolate non-dairy frozen dessert with chocolate cookie swirls and gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter cookie dough.

Finally, the iconic Popsicle

brand of frozen treats has been expanded with the introduction of the new Shakesicle bars—inspired by nostalgic diner classics like strawberry and vanilla shakes—made with malt, including: • Shakesicle Strawberry Bar: Strawberry flavoured bar with a creamy soft serve texture, made with natural flavours • Shakesicle Vanilla Bar: Vanilla flavoured bar with a creamy soft serve texture, made with natural flavours • Breyers x Popsicle Strawberry Shakesicle: Creamy and smooth strawberry flavor—said to be the most requested flavor—made with natural colors and flavorings.

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NOTES & QUOTES

Vienna, Austria-headquartered Mondi Group has been named the Gold winner in this year’s Packaging Innovation Awards by Dow competition for the Functional Barrier Paper recyclable packaging material used by the French freshproduce brand Les Crudettes to replace plastic packaging for its ready-to-eat salads retailed in France.

Consisting of 95-percent paper with a functional barrier, the innovative material was developed to replace plastic films and laminates traditionally used for FMCG (fastmoving consumer goods) with a recyclable and renewable solution that keeps Les Crudettes salad just as fresh as the previous plastic packaging. Offering superior

mechanical properties such as puncture resistance, flexibility, printability and barrier protection, the applied coating technology creates individual barriers to repel grease and water vapor to ensure product freshness for up to 10 days—as with the previous plastic packaging. Says Les Crudettes marketing and innovation director Géraldine Collet: “This award is a recognition of our ground-breaking innovation; our bags could revolutionize the ready-to-eat salad market. Working together with Mondi has resulted in hugely reducing the amount of plastic needed.”

Seegrid Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa.-based manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for material handling applications, has been honored with the prestigious Technology Innovation Leader Award of Frost & Sullivan for 2022 in recognition of its leading role in the development and growth of the North American AMR market for material handling with complete, connected automation solutions that drive operational resiliency for global leaders in logistics, e-commerce and

manufacturing. Based on Frost & Sullivan’s independent and primary research market analysis, the annual international award recognizes Seegrid for its commitment to innovation and creativity, commercialization success, and growth potential. “With experienced leadership and continuous R&D focus, Seegrid is poised to witness exponential growth for the sustainable future,” says Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Krithika Shekar.

Matrix Packaging Machinery, Saukville, Wis.-based Promach subsidiary specializing in flexible packaging machinery, has been named the North American master distributor for Cetec Industrie,

leading French flexible bagging equipment manufacturer focused on making bag filling equipment for bulky loose products—including pet food, cat litter, bird seed, gardening and building supplies, rice, sugar, flour and grains—with weight capacity up to 50 pounds. “With the addition of Cetec Industrie, we can now provide a complete design for pet food lines, from primary packaging all the way to wrapping and palletizing,” says Troy Snader, senior vice-president of business development for ProMach’s Secondary Packaging Group.

Toronto-based private-label coffee roaster Club Coffee LP has been acquired by Singapore-based food ingredients conglomerate ofi for an estimated $150 million. Founded in 1906, Club Coffee is one of Canada’s largest roasters of packaged coffee for the ‘at home’ market segment. “I am delighted that Club Coffee will become part of ofi,” says ofi managing director Vivek Verma. “Both companies share a focus on highquality sustainable products and have proven capabilities in the high-growth private-label channel.”

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The Liftvrac conveying system is much more efficient than any other existing system available on the market. The patented flat belt eliminates product losses at the transfer guaranteeing zero food waste. The Liftvrac is versatile and can convey products from the most fragile to the stickiest. The belt is progressively formed into a tube for gentle product handling. Very easy to clean, it will fit into tight spaces and will adapt to any customer’s specification due to its wide range of modules and accessories.

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FIRST GLANCE

GO WITH THE FLOW Designed as a universal flow-packing system for a wide range of food packaging applications, the new W 500 horizontal flow-packer from MULTIVAC Group is designed for high-speed filling of pillow packs with meat, sausages, cheese, snacks, baked goods, pre-cut fruit and other products, using other sustainable films of paper-based packaging materials. Boasting the company’s innovative Hygienic Design construction, along with superior efficiency, precision, user-friendliness, reliability, cost-effectiveness and high output capacity, the W 500 flow-packer is equipped with precise servo drive technology to achieve maximum speed and optimal process control to process up to 120 packs per minute—with or without a tray. Other key features include the independent speed setting of the rollers for crease-free longitudinal sealing; extremely reliable cross-sealing thanks to precise and recipe-based control of sealing temperature and pressure; and an integrated gas analysis system for MAP (modified atmosphere packaging) applications for extended product shelf-life. Moreover, all of the key recipe-based process and pack parameters—type of product, pack format, sealing pressure and temperature—can be easily set up and recalled with just a few clicks on the user-friendly HMI (human-machine interface) terminal, with all the machine components easily accessible for cleaning and maintenance.

MULTIVAC Canada Inc. MAXIMUM HYGIENE Engineered motion plastics manufacturer igus has introduced a new maintenance-free toothed belt axis designed specifically to improve sanitation in food manufacturing systems. Made entirely with FDA-approved materials, the drylin ZLW toothed belt axis is based on a hygienic design to simplify cleaning, with minimal undercuts or gaps that can allow food remnants to accumulate. Likewise, the rounded corners help ensure that water can flow better during high-pressure cleaning and carry away any dirt particles more easily, with strategically positioned bore-holes making sure that all the accumulated liquid drains away completely. According to igus, the drylin ZLW toothed belt axis new model can be cleaned quickly and thoroughly with high-pressure steam jets, chemicals or simply running water, while its shaft end supports and linear carriages are made of corrosion-resistant stainless steel for extra sanitary protection.

Moreover, the plain bearings on which the carriage moves over the rail are made of the food-grade triboplastic iglide A160 material that enables low-friction dry operation—without using external lubricants that could pose the risk of food contamination. igus, inc.

THE FIRM GRIP Designed to suit a broad range of high-speed logistics and e-commerce applications such as bin picking, order fulfillment, box depalletizing, and parcel sorting, the new MX suction cup from Piab AB is designed as an energy-efficient multi-purpose cup boasting extreme gripping capabilities on many surfaces and materials by creating a hard seal when using a low-vacuum flow—resulting in lower energy requirements. Available in five different sizes, as well as with optional aluminum clamp fittings for extra safety and robustness, Piab’s MX suction cup are well-suited for handling pouches, cardboard boxes, recycled objects, and hard-to-grasp thin bags with outstanding features such as: • Soft and ultra-thin lip to ensure exceptional vacuum sealing capabilities; • Sturdy but easy folding bellows to generate a strong holding force in dynamic grips with high accelerations and accurate level compensation; • A firm neck to creates a safe and sturdy interface to accommodate a variety of fitting options, including the optional aluminum clamp fittings.

The new cup is made from patented DURAFLEX material featuring the elasticity of rubber and the outstanding wear resistance of polyurethane, as well as superior elastic memory and “mark-free” product handling to avoid denting/wrinkling surfaces.

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LASER SHARP The new SmartLase F250 laser printer from Markem-Imaje is a compact, high-performance 20 W fiber laser engineered to generate high-quality permanent coding on high-density substrates, while completely eliminating the need for printing inks on high-speed production and packaging lines. Designed to operate in challenging industrial environments, the SmartLase F250 printer’s controller, printhead and touchscreen user interface come with at least IP55 ingress protection level to ensure long and reliable operation in harsh, dusty and humid conditions, while its broad array of industrial interfaces enables safe and seamless integration with even the most complex plant automation and manufacturing execution systems to enable true Industry 4.0 manufacturing capabilities. “The SmartLase F250 combines speed and efficiency with simplicity, safety and sustainability,” says Markem-Imaje laser product marketing manager Alex Koudriashov. “The F250 is a printer designed with the future in mind, with fewer line stoppages. The fact it uses no ink can radically reduce operating expenses, while the elimination of chemical components makes it ideal for companies who are looking to reduce their impact on the planet.”

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Recycling pioneer blazing a new trail in waste diversion

H

aving pioneered a ground-breaking recycling solution for cigarette waste over a decade ago, international recycling leader TerraCycle has now turned its attention to the growing popularity of vaporizers and the risks that the associated waste poses to the environment as litter.

While cigarette-related waste is still the most common form of litter in Canada, disposable vapes and cartridges represent a growing environmental threat. Unlike their cigarette counterparts, e-cigarette devices and refill pods will not biodegrade and can be potentially more damaging to the environment.

With the official launch of TerraCycle’s Smoke-Free Recycling Program last month on Earth Day, April 22, Canadian consumers are invited to send in used HEET Sticks, along with their flexible packaging, VEEV devices, and all brands of vaporizer cartridges and pods to be recycled for free.

To participate, consumers are invited to sign up online on the program page (www.terracycle.com/en-CA/brigades/smoke-free-en-ca) and mail in the waste using a pre-paid shipping label.

Additionally, consumers will be able to drop off products in receptacles placed in select retail locations later this year.

Once collected, the waste will repurposed to make new products from the recycled material at the TerraCycle Canada recycling operation and headquarters in Toronto. (See Picture) Since a recycling solution for vape pods and cartridges is still uncharted territory—given their complex material composition and the presence of residual nicotine—TerraCycle will at first collecting the waste to conduct R&D (research-and-development) before proceeding to launch an “industry-first” solution.

“By taking on the growing issue of non-combustible cigarettes and introducing a full-scale R&D trial for vaporizer cartridges and pods, we are showing we are committed to doing something about this growing waste-stream and leading by example,” says TerraCycle founder and chief executive officer founder Tom Szaky.

“While cigarette-related waste is still the most common form of litter in Canada,” Szaky Szaky notes, “disposable vapes and cartridges are a growing category.

“The launch of this new recycling 12

CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

program is a proactive solution to protect the environment against any plastic, hazardous, and electronic waste present in the devices.”

Leading by example has in many ways been TerraCycle’s calling card ever since the company’s formation in 2001 in Trenton, N.J. Starting out by composting organic waste into fertilizer, the company has grown into a global recycling leader with renowned expertise for ‘upcycling’ hardto-recycle materials—notably flexible packaging—into useful new products such as park benches and picnic tables, among many others.

Nowadays operating in 21 countries, the company’s waste collection activities are based primarily on operating a volunteer-based recycling platform to collect non-recyclable pre-consumer and post-consumer waste on behalf of corporate donors or municipalities to turn it into raw material to be used in new products.

In Canada, the company’s most recent high-profile recycling initiatives include collaborations with Kraft Heinz Canada for the collection of all the flexible packaging lids for the Heinz By Nature brand of organic baby foods, as well as a similar mail-in program for the coffee bags used for the Ethical Bean brand of organic coffee products.

“We created our line of baby food with a focus on providing the best natural and organic ingredients so families can feel good about what they feed their children,” says Nina Patel, vice-president of branding and innovation at Kraft Heinz Canada in Toronto.

“This program brings our product full circle and truly speaks to the commitment we have to delivering innovation and partnerships that give back to the environment,” Patel says, “while at the same time providing delicious and nutritious food for our youngest generation.”

Says Patel: “As Canada’s largest food company, we know the impact our packaging has on the planet and the important role we play in protecting the planet.

“The partnership with TerraCycle, on not one but two of our brands, gives us and our consumers the opportunity to make positive change at home,” Patel continues.

“For Heinz by Nature, we have worked to re-imagine our packaging so parents and caregivers can feel good about the food they are bringing to their table: from being the only baby food brand in the market that offers a glass jar format to reformulating our purées to include natural ingredients.

“And for Ethical Bean, this partnership is an extension of the sustainability efforts already in place for the brand,” Patel points out. “Now, Canadians can recycle flexible coffee bags from any brand, not just ours.

“This is what it means to make change at the industry level.

Adds Szaky: “By participating in these recycling program, Canadian families have the unique opportunity to not only feed future generations, but also help protect our planet in the process.

“With just a few easy steps, consumers can responsibly dispose of their baby food and coffee packaging, ensure that it is diverted from the landfill, and give the waste a second life through recycling.”

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COVER STORY

A side view of one of the Schubert TLM integrated picking and cartoning line packaging the flow-wrap packs of MadeGood organic snacks inside the different retail and e-commerce boxes in different quantities, bag sizes and flavor varieties.

BREAKING GOOD Thriving organic snack producer keeps up with soaring product volumes and market demand with world-class packaging line automation and technical support

By George Guidoni, Editor Photos by Naomi Hiltz

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

M

aking good things better, healthier and tastier comes naturally for hardworking folks at the Riverside Natural Foods production facility just north of Toronto in the fast-growing city of Vaughan, Ont. Founded in 2013, the privately-owned company has achieved phenomenal growth in market share and consumer loyalty since taking the snack-food market by storm with the launch of its signature MadeGood brand of organic nutrient-dense snacks infused with real vegetables and made entirely with organic ingredients.

Nowadays ranking as one of the bestselling brands of all-natural granola bars in Canada, the MadeGood brand’s rapid

ascent has been a main driving force for the company’s capital investment in new production facilities and state-of-the-art equipment that have enabled it to grow its product portfolio and customer base at a fast clip.

Today operating five production facilities totalling about 575,000 feet of production space, Riverside has expanded its mainstay MadeGood brand offering with many new flavor varieties and adding more other snack products into the mix— such as cookies, crsipie squares, granola bar, granola minis (bites) and crackers.

As Riverside’s vice-president of operation Justin Fluit, who joined the company in 2015, explains: “We now have quite a wide variety of products like cookies, brownies, crispy squares, granola bars, granola clusters and other innovative products we introduced to leverage the market success of the MadeGood MAY 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING

15

COVER STORY

Finished packs coming of off the tna vertical bagger are swiftly passed through the METTLER TOLEDO Safeline X-Ray machine to detect any product contamination inside the pouches.

A close-up view of the MadeGood Star Puffed Crackers being dispensed by the multihead automatic weigh-scale towering above the production line down to the tna Robobag E3 vertical form-fill-seal machines below to be placed inside flexible pouches.

The high-quality METTLER TOLEDO Safeline X-Ray machine provides exceptionally important and robust quality assurance and control capabilities for the Riverside plant’s high-speed production lines.

Pouches of MadeGood cookies coming off the tna bagging machines are aligned and spread out on the transfer belt conveyor to proceed inside the Schubert TLM machine for picking and cartooning.

16

CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

brand over the years,” Fluit told Canadian Packaging on a recent visit to the busy 100,000-square-foot Vaughan facility running two shifts per day, six days a week.

For Fluit, the sweet success enjoyed by the MadeGood brand products in the marketplace to date is made even more remarkable by the fact that is it a premium-priced product, the multitude of mass-produced granola and other snack bars available on the grocery retail shelves.

“It’s a brand that came out of nowhere to be everyhwere,” says Fluit, citing a strong retail base comprising more than 8,000 grocery stores across Canada, including the Costco chain of club stores, as well as growing list of clients in the foodservice, institutional and private label markets.

“We are also building a strong brand presence online, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Fluit says, noting that the company now sells a substantial portions of its output online through its website and other mainstream e-commerce channels, complete with specially-designed pouches and cartons for shipping its products for home delivery.

“The response has been great so far,” says Fluit, adding the company is currently looking at ways to break into the lucrative U.S. markets to replicate MadeGood brand’s success south of the border.

According to Fluit, the MadeGood line

of granola treats was the classic case of a perfect product being lunched at a perfect time to tap into the larger health and wellness trend, along with the public’s growing interest in organic product, to provide a healthy, tasty and allergen-free lunchbox snacking alternatives for Canadian parents concerned about their kids’ nutrition.

“There is a lot that differentiates the MadeGood brand from other products,” Fluit states, “notably the inclusion of vegetable nutrients.

“This is something that we see more and more competing products doing now,” he acknowledges, “but several years ago it was something very unique to our brand.

“Also, the fact that is allergen -free, thereby allowing anyone to eat it, is also something that has really set us apart over the years.”

As Fluit points out, the MadeGood organic snacks are produced in a dedicated allergen-free facility (Vaughan) without common food allergens like milk, eggs, wheat and soya, using organic, certified gluten-free oats sourced from a Canadian-based grower.

“You will see a lot of different certification symbols an all of our packages,” says Fluit, noting no less than eight different authoritative accreditations appearing on the pouches and cartons of MadeGood brand of school-safe, vegan-friendly and CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

A sequential representation of different steps and movement taking place inside the Schubert TLM workcell to coordinate the movement of paperboard cartons with the picking action of the system’s F2 and F4 robots to pack and seal the filled boxes at robust speeds of up 400 boxes per minute.

Kosher-approved cookies, crackers and other dry snacks.

Above all, the soft-baked MadeGood snacks are simply delicious and fun to eat, with a soft but crunchy and hearty texture that delivers instant gratification and pleasant after-taste bite after bite.

“At the end of the day, if the product tastes great and provides the nutritional features that appeal to parents, while still being enjoyed by kids, you can say that we have found the right balance between healthy nutrition and pure enjoyment of the snacking experience,” he says.

As the production volumes kept of growing at a rapid pace from year to year, the Riverside plant found itself in need of high-throughput, high-speed automatic machinery to keep pace not just with the volumes, but also with the growing variety of different packaging formats required by its diverse customer base.

Having had installed several highspeed vertical form-fill-seal) Robobag 3E machines supplied by the Australian-based machinery manufacturer tna to pack the free-flowing product into the different bag size at speed rates of up to 200 pieces per minute, the plant needed to find the right automatic secondary packaging system for placing those bags into the retail folding cartons at similar throughput speeds, with quick changeovers to accommodate all the varying packaging formats executed over the course of the shift.

With multiple SKUs (stock-keeping units) often requiring for different product quantities and varieties of filled product pouches to be placed into all the difCANADIANPACKAGING.COM

MAY 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING

17

COVER STORY

Top: individual pouches travel along the infeed conveyor inside the Schubert TLM machine for loading inside the multipack cartons moving in opposite direction.

Bottom: High-speed model 3140 laser coder from Videojet Technologies applies permanent barcodes and other variable product information onto the cartons. ferent cartons to suit the customers’ varying requirements, superior speed and flexibility were naturally the two main capabilities that Riverside aimed to achieve through significant investment in packaging automation.

“If we wanted to keep building the brands and enter the US market, we needed to be cost-competitive, we needed to be highly automated, we needed to have enough production capacity, and we needed to be able to scale up very quickly to respond to market demand,” Fluit explains.

After conducting a diligent market search and vendor evaluations, Riverside ultimately decided to go with the high-performance TLM (Top Loading Machine) picking and cartoning line 18

CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

manufactured by renowned German machine-builder Schubert Group, which has been operating its Schubert Packaging Automation Inc. subsidiary in Mississauga, Ont., since 2006.

“In addition to the state-of-the-art machinery Schubert showed us, I was really impressed by the level of the company’s commitment to the Canadian market,” says Fluit, describing the 2018 installation of the first of two Schubert TLM picking and cartoning lines now housed inside the Vaughan production facility to handle the soaring production volumes for the MadeGood brand products.

“As a growing company with big plans for big future growth and expansion into new markets domestically and abroad, it

The Schubert TLM line incorporates the high-performance RO line of hot-melt adhesive applicators to ensure high-precision, high-strength gluing for all the paperboard containers used on Riverside production lines.

was important to partner up with someone who would be there for us in terms of local service and support over the longterm,” Fluit explains.

Following a thorough discussion of Riverside’s application requirements, Riverside proceeded to order a TLM picking line comprise of four machines to perform the for the final packaging of flow-wrapped granola minis with packages of different flavors into a variety of carton sizes and in special bag formats.

As per customer specifications, Schubert developed various packaging sizes, which were created in close collaboration with Riverside in terms of packaging design and ideal machine operation.

Programmed to pack the five different flavors in four-, five and 28-bag boxes— each in one chosen flavor—the TLM line employs five identical pick-and-place robots to box 400 bags of MadeGood snack pouches per minute.

According to Schubert, the five different flavors can be intelligently pregrouped—with the help of Schubert’s Transmodul transport robot and an inline image recognition system—so that the granola minis can be automatically packed on the TLM machine.

The products themselves, for their part, are fed by three identical verticalform-fill-seal tna Robobag 3E machines with a capacity of up to 150 bags per minute.

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COVER STORY

A user-friendly HIM (human-machine inerface) terminal on the Schubert TLM line allows usesr to select from hundreds of pre-programmed recipes to enable quick and easy changeovers.

A close-up of the Shubert TLM machine’s carton-forming suction cups and folding mechanisms swinging into action to erect ready-to-fill multipack cases for loading the individual packs.

The colorful corrugated shipper cases go through their various boxforming, filling/loading and sealing stages performed with exceptional speed and precision by the Schubert TLM system.

20 CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

of one flavor are fed along up to three of the system’s continuously running conveyor belts.

At the same time, the different carton blanks are automatically taken out of the magazine, quickly erected by an F2 robot and glued together.

The Transmoduls then swiftly transport the boxes to the next station, where five F4 pick-and-place robots fill them with the products.

The TLM line is equipped with high-accuracy scanners that detect the orientation and position of the flowpacks over a width of 600 millimetres.

This information is transmitted to the F4 pick-and-place robots for the correct pick-up and placement of the flow-packs in the boxes.

The filled boxes are then transferred by a first F2 robot to a vacuum conveyor, and there closed by a second F2 robot in one step and placed on the outlet conveyor.

For the special format packaging of the flow-packs into larger pouches, the scanner also recognizes the flavor based on product color.

This enables the intelligent pre-grouping of granola minis with different flavours, which are supplied unsorted on the product belt.

The flow-packs are pre-grouped in groups of four—each with two flavors— on the Transmoduls and transferred to the output conveyor by means of an F2 robot for further processing by Riverside.

While the color recognition function for the pre-grouping of different flavours was not originally part of the machine order, Schubert was subsequently able to integrate this capability on-site in time to put the system into operation.

In addition to proving continuous service and system enhancement to optimize the TLM line’s performance, Schubert has also provided Riverside technical staff with extensive in-house training both in Canada and at the company’s global headquarters in Crailsheim, Germany, which had a great positive

impact on the Riverside staff’s familiarity, comfort and confidence in Schubert’s modular and versatile TLM line technology.

So when the time came to add another automated packaging line to keep up with growing demand for Riverside products in the Club Store and e-commerce segments, ordering a second Schubert TLM line to handle new products and bigger packaging formats with more varied SKU selection was a natural choice.

Says Fluit: “With the diversity of our product line, we really like the TLM system’s flexibility of picking the primary pillow-bag packs containing crumbly or odd-shaped mini-sized products, and gently loading them into the cartons without any product damage.

“Being a young company with a relatively small engineering team, we relied heavily on Schubert’s team for their technical expertise and support,” Fluit points out.

“This is a company that has invested heavily into the Canadian market, not just in sales but also with full team project management, full-service capabilities and all the spare parts inventory we would ever need in the future,” Fluit says.

“This was something that really a separated Schubert from many other vendors for us.”

As Fluit relates, the commissioning of the second TLM line was a time-sensitive project because it was meant to coincide with a major launch of the new MadeGood cookies, with a large portion of that output reserved for production of largesized 28-pouch Club Store packs and the 32-pouch e-commerce boxes.

“As I recall we had a four- to six-week window for start-up,” Fluit relates, “and Schubert was outstanding to meeting all our time requirements, with their modular design expertise and service experience greatly contributing to the speed of this installation.”

According to Fluit, the addition of the second TLM line has greatly reduced the CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

The packed and sealed cartons making their way out of the Schubert TLM machine quickly pass by the METTLER TOLEDO Hi-Speed checkweigher to verify the product weight inside each box to ensure strict compliance to exceptionally tight weight tolerances and deviations.

manual labor requirements for producing a growing of variety packs—combining several different flavor varieties and styles in one box—popular with the Club Store and e-commerce customers.

“Before the Schubert line arrived we were doing it all manually, using a lot of labor and sill not getting the output we needed to meet our increasingly large orders,” Fluit says.

“So now that we have achieved higher throughput capabilities with the second line, we can focus on growing demand for our product rather than struggling to keep up with it,” he states.

“And with e-commerce increasingly becoming a large part of our business, we can easily accommodate the processing of all sorts of different types of variety packs on our Schubert lines with just a few programming changes, with minimal interruptions.

“As a growing company, we have big plans to continue expanding our markets,” Fluid concludes, “and we are confident that we will be able to achieve all our goals with partners like Schubert by our side.”

For Raphael Burkart, project manager with Schubert Packaging Automation in Mississauga, the company’s close collaboration with Riverside Natural Products is a strong testament to Schubert’s worldclass technical expertise and customer service excellence.

“Our relationship with Riverside is amazing,” Burkart states. “We worked in very close contact with them throughout the project, especially in installation and commissioning of the machines, and the second line was operational within two weeks of arriving at the plant in crates.

“Although the machines’ performance has been excellent since installation, we still do on-site inspections and maintenance to make sure their machines a running as well as they can,” he says.

“We have five full-time service technicians and three project managers working from our Mississauga office,” Burkart points out, “so we are always within easy reach for all our clients in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) region to serve them whenever they require our assistance.

“The better we know our customers,” Burkart concludes, “the better we can channel our world-class TLM technology to help them accomplish their objectives.”

A close-up of corrugated shipper master cases being formed for placement of finished filled cartons inside, after which the cased are quickly removed off the production line for palletizing.

The colorful, multifold high-impact e-commerce corrugate box produced by Riverside’s long-time packaging partner Packaging Technologies Inc. (PTI), which is also located in Vaughan.

SUPPLIERS Schubert Packaging Automation TNA North America Inc. Vedeojet Technologies Inc. Packaging Technologies Inc. Robatech Canada Please see a video of the Schubert TLM packaging line in action at the Riverside Natural Foods production facility in Vaughan, Ont., on Canadian Packaging TV at www.canadianpackaging.com CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

From left: Justin Fluit, Raphael Burkart and Jeffrey Pett having a little discussion over the company’s shelf-ready Club Store packaging processed on the high-speed packaging lines delivered to the Vaughn plant by Schubert Packaging Automation.

MAY 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING

21

PET FOOD PACKAGING

Spring Meadows Natural Pet Food production and operations manager Jason Stovra proudly holds up a flexible flow-pack containing a nutritious, all-natural threeounce serving of high-quality raw rabbit meat retailing across Canada under the company’s new Raw Whole Animal brand of premium cat food products manufactured in Saskatoon, Sask.

COOL FOR CATS Canadian premium pet food manufacturer brings its innovative new raw meat cat food to market with high-impact flow-wrap packaging solution

By George Guidoni, Editor Photos by Dave Stobbe

22 CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

C

at people come in all shapes, sizes and personality traits all over the world.

But whatever their differences, they all share incredible love and affection for their enchanting feline companions.

And while this enduring love affair may sometimes border on being obsessive to a fault, the emerging trend towards socalled pet ‘humanization’ and pet parenting has become a major growth driver of the booming Canadian retail pet food market worth an estimated $4.2 billion in 2020, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and projected to grow to $5.6 billion by 2025.

Notably, this brisk growth has gone hand-in-hand with robust product innovation in the pet food industry, with 1,025

new pet food products lunched in Canada between 2016 and 2020.

With so many brands and product categories locked in fierce competition for market share and consumer loyalty, achieving strong product differentiation in a crowded marketplace is a formidable challenge often requiring significant capital resources to invest in new production equipment and capabilities.

For Saskatoon, Sask.-based Spring Meadows Natural Pet Food, the company’s 2018 acquisition by the Mississauga, Ont.-based Dane Creek Capital Corp. (DCCC) provided a perfect financial partner for helping the innovative pet food producer bring its technical capabilities up to par to the high levels of nutritional excellence of its premium-quality, hand-crafted cat and dog food patties eagerly snapped up by grateful Canadian CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

pet owners for whom price is no object when it comes to their beloved fourlegged family members.

Founded in 2004, Spring Meadows excels at manufacturing frozen raw ground animal pet food in a variety of product sizes to make it easy to feed small to large domestic animals, using a propriety double-grind process to achieve uniform find-ground texture and to remove any large bone pieces from the product.

Sourcing a broad variety of raw meat from reputable suppliers across Saskatchewan—including beef, bison, chicken, turkey, fish, lamb and rabbit— the 6,200-square-foot facility company currently produces 28 different SKUs (stock-keeping units) of cat and dog meat patties under its own flagship Spring Meadows brand label, along with doing some private-label work for a select group of like-minded customers placing high value on the benefits of raw meat diets for domestic dogs and cats.

According to Spring Meadows, these significant benefits include cleaner teeth, more pleasant breath, higher energy and vitality levels, a shiny coat, clear eyes, healthy skin, and fewer arthritic symptoms in older pets.

As the company’s website proclaims,

“Choosing a raw food diet with a variety of different meats gives your pet a natural, healthy diet—the way nature intended.

“Frozen raw food is the freshest and is the easiest to digest, while finely ground bones in whole animal raw food provides a great source of calcium and phosphorous.

“Whole animal food includes meat, bones, vital organs, heart, liver, lungs, kidneys and tripe—all the ingredients for full nutrition,” the company says, also citing the benefits of healthier muscles; lean strong bodies; better resistance to

Spring Meadows staff transfer a batch of freshly ground raw meat into the Reiser Vemag Robot 500 vacuum stuffer and portioner.

disease, allergies, ticks, fleas and worms; and fewer veterinary bills for the pet owners.

Nowadays operating as part of the United Raw Pet Foods Inc. division of DCCC, the company has recently taken a bold step of automating its pet food packaging process to improve with the start-up of a high-performance horizontal flow-wrapping machine supplied by the renowned Montreal-based packaging machinery manufacturer Paxiom Group.

As Spring Meadows production and

Perfectly-shaped three-ounce medallions of raw meat emerge from the Reiser Vemag Robot 500 portioner on a food-grade conveyor transfer belt feeding them inside the Paxiom SleekWrapper i65 horizontal flow-rapping machines to be packed into individual single-serve, easy-open flow-packs.

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

MAY 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING

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PET FOOD PACKAGING

A close-up view of the high-quality rollstock film loaded inside the SleekWrapper i65, printed on the HP Inidgo digital press technology by ePac Flexible Packaging Canada in Vancouver. According to Stovra, the film provides superior barrier protection to keep the product inside the pouches fresh and flavorful, while ensuring a premium look befitting the innovative upscale cat food brand. operations manager Jason Stovra relates, the company had to upgrade its packaging capabilities last year in order to execute a successful market launch of a brand new line of three-ounce raw ground meat medallions for cats.

Produced in three innovative flavor varieties—including rabbit, chicken-andduck and turkey-and—the Raw Whole Animal Diet for Cats line medallions are packaged in flow-packs, which are then packed in groups of seven inside recyclable multi-pack freezer pouches containing a full delicious serving of raw meat for each day of the week.

Unfortunately for Stovra and his dedicated five-person production crew, the plant simply did not have enough hands on-deck to try to pack all the individual portion-packs manually in sufficient quantities, and with the required quality, that this important product launch entailed.

To overcome this drawback, Stovra commenced a thorough search of the available automatic packaging equipment that would suit the plant’s current and future production requirements— ultimately contacting the food packaging machinery experts at Paxiom.

After several discussions, demonstrations and test runs conducted alongside Paxiom’s sales manager Luis Pilonieta, Stovra eventually decided to go with high-performance SleekWrapper i65 model inverted horizontal flow-wrapping machine.

Manufactured in Italy by Paxiom’s ValTara srl sister company—the high-performance SleekWrapper i65 inver ted ser vo-driven horizontal flow-wrapping machine is designed to deliver optimal reliability, simplicity and serviceability, according to the company.

Using five servo motors to facilitate quick and easy changeovers and adjustCANADIANPACKAGING.COM

Production and operations manager Jason Stovra (right) keeping a watchful eye over the Spring Meadows production line process inside the company’s HACCP-certified facility just outside of Saskatoon.

The portioned medallions are deposited on top of the ePac printed film at the entry into the SleekWrapper i65 machine, before being wrapped and sealed in individual flowpacks at 50 products per minute.

MAY 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING

25

PET FOOD PACKAGING

Jason Stovra selecting a program recipe for the next packaging run on the SleekWrapper i65 machine using the system’s built-in HMI (human-machine interface) touchscreen terminal.

Manufactured in Italy by Paxiom’s sister company ValTara, the SleekWrapper i65 horizontal flow-wrapper boasts stainless-steel construction and fully-enclosed electrical and electronic components to ensure clean and reliable operation, with easy access for maintenance and cleaning. ments, the machine’s servo drive help ensure assures precise product positioning and smooth acceleration/deceleration.

Well-suited for handling soft or sticky products, multipacks and other products that are difficult to push with the lug chain design found on conventional bottom-seal flow-wrappers, the SleekWrapper i65 feeds the rollstock film from below the product—securely carrying the hard-to-handle products on top of the packaging film from the former through the cutting head.

Boasting a sleek and compact design, the SleekWrapper i65 machine comes standard with stainless-steel frame construction, large user-friendly color touchscreen, automatic open/close rotary fin wheel assembly, rotary seal jaws with jam detecting logic, and the ability to pre-program and store product settings.

As Stovra happily acknowledges, he 26 CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

“I’m convinced that we’ll be able to meet future demands from the retail trade with our new technology.” could not be more please about his equipment selection, along with the extensive customer service and support offered by Paxiom throughout the project— from testing and troubleshooting the machine at the company’s Montreal facility to the actual commissioning of the SleekWrapper i65 at the Spring Meadows plant in June of 2021.

Running virtually problem-free since start-up, the SleekWrapper i65 has enable the plant’s packaging line to process an average of 50 packs of the premium cat food per minute, representing a quantum

leap in throughput and productivity for the HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points)-certified plant.

“This was really the biggest single investment in automation we ever had at this plant,” Stovra confides, “so getting the right type or equipment for packaging our premium product inside our premium-quality packaging was essential for us.

“So far, the machine has run like clockwork,” Stovra says, “running 50 packs per minute, or roughly 10 pounds of product, producing perfect hermetically-sealed packages to keep the product nice and fresh, as well as easy for consumers to open and dethaw.”

Moreover, by connecting and synchronizing the SleekWrapper i65 flow-wrapper with the Reiser Vemag Robot 500 vacuum stuffer and portioner forming the medallions, the installation has eliminated the need for the labor-intensive manual placing of finished patties onto the conveyor by hand.

“We typically fill the Vemag stuffer with about 300 pounds or so of the raw product, which comes out of after passing through built-in guillotine that splits the round meat mass into three-ounce medallions that are placed onto conveyor belt, one after another,” Stovra explains.

“The medallions rest on top of the film as they are pulled through the SleekWrapper,” Stovra continues, “where they are hermetically sealed for optimal freshness and come out at the other end of the machine, to be placed into bags of seven packs each.

“When everything is running perfectly, we can run the whole production run for the cat food medallions with just three people,” Stovra says.

“Once you have it all set up to go, you just press ‘start’ and it pretty much runs itself.”

To achieve the premium-quality look, the medallions are packaged in high-barrier, laminated rollstock film suppled by flexible packaging converter ePac Flexible Packaging Canada in Vancouver, which uses the advanced HP Indigo digital printing press technology to apply the classy brand graphics onto the film surface.

“Everything really came together well with this project: a high-quality product in high-quality packaging produced on a high-quality machine,” says Stovra, citing the consumer-friendly design of the flow-wrap multipack packaging for the new raw meat brand.

“For the consumer, it’s as simple as remove the bag from the freezer, tear the pack open, put the meat on a plate to dethaw, and dinner is ready,” Stovra says.

“It has all the convenience of a can with all the quality of raw meat ingredients,” he says, “which makes it an important product differentiator that can make raw pet food a more appealing option for new CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

PET FOOD PACKAGING

Jason Stovra and Paxiom’s sales manager Luis Pilonieta share a light moment alongside the packaging line equipped with the SleekWrapper i65 horizontal flow-wrapper.

Jason Stovra shows off the tiny pieces of debris and other contaminants detected in a finished master bag of product by the powerful, high-sensitivity Phantom metal detection system manufactured by Fortress Technology Inc.

consumers to give it a try.”

For Rasmus Hvid, director of operations for the United Raw Pet Food, the success of new SleekWrapper installation at Spring Meadows is a validation of the company’s commitment to the raw meat category of the pet food market.

“This investment is as much about improving process efficiencies as it is about what kind of new business opportunities it will help us unlock,” says Hvid.

“Spring Meadows has always been a trailblazer in this industry with its unique raw meat products,” he says, “and the new packaging capabilities will enable us to offer consumers the level of convenience and user experience that none of our competitors can match.”

Says Hvid: “During the COVID pandemic, the entire pet food industry has seen fantastic overall growth at around six per cent a year.

“But within that market, the raw meat segment has been growing at a tremendous rate of about 25 per cent annually.

“It is a very promising market niche that is far outpacing the growth for conventional pet food products,” he asserts.

“We are seeing a lot of these alternative pet foods, including gently-cooked or dehydrated products, starting to become a more common sight at many mainstream grocery stores,” Hvid says, “and being able to provide innovative consumer-friendly packaging for these types of products is only going to make them more visible and appealing to mainstream consumers.

“Making a correct decision on how you

choose to design and display your product is a big challenge in the frozen pet food category, where you also have to make sure you have superior sealing and other technical issues to address,” Hvid says.

“It is something that we put a lot of time and effort into,” he says, “and we feel that we have found a real breakthrough packaging solution for Spring Meadows with the Paxiom equipment.”

For Paxiom’s Luis Pilonieta, working on the Spring Meadows installation was a satisfying and fulfilling professional experience that accurately reflects Paxiom’s deep commitment to outstanding customer service and formidable technological prowess.

“We had the machine set up and running withing two weeks of delivery,” he recalls, “and we had our field technician on-site there for several days to help with the commissioning and to provide staff training.

“Spring Meadows had an absolutely amazing new product to offer to the market, and we are very pleased to have provided them with the perfect automated packaging solution to bring it to market efficiently and cost-effectively,” Pilonieta states.

“For companies just starting out with automation, it can be a daunting experience,” he says, “which is why it is important for us to provide them with all the on-site and remote support that we can to make comfortable with the new technology and to implement a process that will help them succeed in the marketplace.

“Being able to work with the customer on-site and explain the whole process in the way that their staff could understand and absorb made a big difference to Jason and his team,” Pilonieta concludes, “who were all a great pleasure is to work with.

“Knowing that you have made a real impact in helping your customer move forward and succeed by empowering them with technical knowledge and automation expertise to make them a more efficient business is the best compliment anyone could ask for.”

SUPPLIERS Paxiom Group Inc. ValTara srl ePAC Flexible Packaging Canada Fortress Technology Inc.

Please see a video of the SleekWrapper i65 horizontal flow-wrapping machine in action at the Spring Meadows Natural Pet Food plant in Saskatoon on Canadian Packaging TV at: www.canadianpackaging.com 28 CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

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PACKAGING FOR FRESHNESS

VEGCHEESE founder and president Lori Sroujian proudly displays the upscale packages of her company’s premium quality cheese products manufactured entirely with plant-based ingredients in Mississauga, Ont.

CHEESE PLEASE! Upstart Canadian product of plant-based cheese products using leading-edge thermoform packaging technology to grow market share and customer base

By Andrew Snook Photos by Naomi Hiltz

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

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s people get older, lifestyle changes are not unusual. Most of us want to live long lives in good health. But sometimes it’s one major event in our lives that really opens our eyes to the need for profound serious change. For VEGCHEESE founder and president Lori Sroujian, it was a scary moment involving her father.

“This was never supposed to be a business. I was working in digital marketing for 10-plus years for various corporations, the last six years in pharmaceutical marketing,” she says. “But then my father had a stroke. Like all stroke cases, it was very unexpected. Thank God he survived and is doing well now.”

After her father’s stroke, Sroujian took a hard look at her family’s diet and decided they needed some major changes in their lifestyles.

“When this happened, we needed to make a shift in our diets, which was main-

ly meat- and dairy-based, and we wanted to see what it would be like to remove those animal-made products from our diets,” she says.

With the family all being big cheese lovers, they initially struggled with the idea of giving it up.

“We had such a hard time giving up cheese,” she recalls. “At the time no one loved the plant-based products out there enough to give up on dairy cheese.

“Many of them were many were nutbased, and with my family being Armenian, nut-based cheese felt more like hummus,” Sroujian says.

Since her family couldn’t find a plantbased cheese that appealed to them, she began experimenting in the kitchen at her condo, trying to figure out how to make her own plant-based cheeses.

“It was taking up my evenings and weekends. I’d go to work during the week and then spend the rest of my time experimenting,” Sroujian recalls.

After a few months of experimenting, she came up with a plant-based product MAY 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING

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PACKAGING FOR FRESHNESS

(Clockwise from left) Perfectly-rounded portion of VEGCHEESE product placed on a carrying tray; Lori’s brother Aren placing the miniature chesse wheels inside the Variovac Optimus thermoform packaging machine’s cavities to prepare for the next packaging cycle; the tight-knit Sroujian family strikes a happy collective pose behind the Variovac Optimus machine.

that melted and tasted like cheese, and could also be placed on a cheese board, replacing the family’s traditional mozzarella.

“Friends and colleagues tried it and loved it,” Sroujian says. That’s really how it all started [and] soon after I decided to start this as a side hustle.

As she relates, “We signed up to a local Vegfest in Mississauga over three years ago. “From there we went right into a commercial kitchen.

“We got our logo, built our website and made our cheeses. We went to the show and started selling.

“We sold out during that one day. We sold over 300 cheeses, came home and said, ‘Okay this is a business.’

“Then it snowballed into what it is today after three-and-a-half years.”

Currently, VEGCHEESE products are being supplied to a wide variety of local retailers. The company offers four different retail products: Fresh Mozz, Garlic & Chive, Italian Black Truffle and Curds (plant-based cheese curds), as well as two foodservice SKUs (stock-keeping units) comprising plantbased curds and mozzarella.

“We are now in over 100 retail stores,” Sroujian, “and foodservice is another big component for us.

“For example, we work with Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, where they use our cheese curds for live events,” she says.

“We are speaking with some major retailers,” Sroujian acknowledges, “but I can’t disclose what’s happening there right now. Hopefully we will be at major retailers in the next six months.”

Near the end of 2021, the company moved into its first production plant in Mississauga, Ont.

30 CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

Commissioning of the plant was completed by early January and production was in full swing for the company comprised of four very close staff members.

“It’s all my family. My father is running our plant. My brother quit his full-time job in appraisal management to come work here full-time. My mom works part-time as an artist and part-time as a cheese maker,” Sroujian says.

“Once things settle down [postCOVID-19], we’ll bring in some hired help into the kitchen, because it is getting

very busy.”

With an annual production in the thousands of kilograms, and demand continuing to increase, the new production plant was necessary to keep up with orders for the family’s popular cheeses.

It was outfitted with brand-new mixers on the production side of the operation, which Sroujian was able to purchase with confidence.

For the packaging side of the business, she knew the decision would require significant research.

A close-up view of the hand-crafted rounds of plant-based cheese being placed inside the film-lined cavities of Variovac Optimus thermoform packaging machine prior to being sealed inside thermoformed film packs.

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

The user-friendly touchscreen HMI (human-machine interface) of the Variovac Optimus thermoform packaging machine facilitates very user-friendly programming and recipe selection.

“Our growth was really getting stalled because of the lack of equipment,” she says. “I don’t have a technical background, so I had to ask around.”

Part of her research involved attending trade shows to check out the various options available to enhance her packaging operation.

That’s exactly how Sroujian met Jeff Kennedy, sales representative for Reiser (Canada) Ltd. in Burlington, Ont. “I met Lori with her parents at the PACKEX Toronto exhibition three years ago,” Kennedy recalls. “She didn’t know what kind of packaging equipment she was looking for.

“She was really new to the processing industry, so she was just walking the show to see what kind of flavors were out there,” he says.

Although Sroujian was searching for packaging options to enhance production at the plant, that wasn’t her only motivation for embracing new packaging technologies.

Because manual packaging of vacuum packs requires a significant amount of physical labor, and with her parents overseeing the packaging department, she wanted to make things easier for them, Kennedy recalls.

Eventually, Sroujian ended up opting for Reiser’s high-end Variovac Optimus thermoform packaging system.

“This was my probably favorite sale,” Kennedy says, “because this machine made a real difference to their lives.”

Says Sroujian: “The quality of the products that Reiser makes is incredible [and] the price point made sense, given what we needed.

“We needed the dies to change quite easily because we have different sizes for retail sale,” she explains. “Products like CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

cheese curds needed different dies, foodservice needs different dies,” Sroujian says, adding that being able to source locally available part was an important consideration.

“Parts coming from the U.S. or elsewhere can take quite a bit of time to arrive, and we just wanted to know that as the business is growing, if something were to break down, we could immediately have a solution,” she says.

“Also, the technical support and the service offered by Reiser was incredible.”

“They treated me like I owned a massive business,” she says, “even though they knew I was running a small operation that would take some time to grow.

“They never made me feel small. They treated me incredibly well and the follow-up service was excellent,” Sroujian extols.

By purchasing the Variovac Optimus thermoformer, Kennedy says VEGCHEESE is investing in flexibility for significant future growth.

“She bought a machine that is taking eight hours of packaging down to 45

Perfectly sealed packages of VEGCHEESE brand plant-based cheese products exiting the Variovac Optimus thermoform packaging machine.

minutes,” he says. “She understands that if she doubled or tripled her business, it would be no trouble at all.”

The Variovac Optimus machine is built with a solid stainless-steel frame and a washdown design that offers the highest hygiene standards.

It features an intuitive operating system with a seven-inch touchscreen display that can program and save up to 40 individualized machine recipes with multiple language options.

The thermoformer provides superior sealing, vacuum, MAP (modified atmosphere packaging), skin-pack, steam and shrink-packaging capabilities.

Moreover, Reiser’s financing options were also very important for the upstart company.

“Reiser has a great financing program to support small food producers,” Sroujian says. “It would have been impossible to purchase a machine like this upfront: I don’t have investor angels,” she points out.

“My life savings have gone into this business to buy equipment, ingredients,

“Seeing my family work with me, seeing what the product does for the customers, getting that positive reinforcement and feedback: I live for it.”

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PACKAGING FOR FRESHNESS

Reiser Canada’s sales rep Jeff Kennedy (above) says he is proud of playing a part in helping familyowned VEGCHEESE to develop high-end packaging for the company’s unique range of plantbased cheese products.

packaging, and everything else required to scale our production.”

The production process involves a special mixing process of base ingredients that include organic soy milk, organic refined coconut oil, organic tapioca flour, organic apple cider vinegar, kappa carrageenan and sea salt.

The cheeses are then poured into individual moulds and left to set. Once it’s ready, the product is placed to run through the Variovac Optimus thermoformer for packaging, after which it is boxed and placed inside fridges.

Currently the labels are being applied manually, but Sroujian notes that one of the things she likes about the Variovac Optimus thermoformer is its flexibility.

“The machine does have options for add-ons. Another thing I love is that the machine grows as you grow, so I can add different components to it.

32 CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

Finding a solid financial solution for renovating the plant took some time as well, as there weren’t a lot of options available, Sroujian points out.

Adding an extra layer of complexity, the company needed to navigate the many challenges unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including supply chain disruptions, price increases and labor shortages.

To try and combat some of the lost foodservice business during the pandemic, VEGCHEESE turned to more aggressive direct e-commerce sales.

While it helped with the sales, it also presented its own set of logistics challenges, with the product requiring the use of ice-packs and overnight shipping.

“There’s been a lot of things that have been challenging for us,” Sroujian says.

“Our customers in foodservice were suffering and struggling, and that affects us in trying to find the right balance of growing the business during the pandemic and keeping at it.”

One major goal for VEGCHEESE is expanding its reach and distribution.

While they love working with local retailers, Sroujian says she’d like to also work with larger retailers for increased accessibly to a wider market across Canada and then into the U.S. Finding partnerships with other companies that could incorporate her plantbased cheeses as ingredients in their products is another major goal.

“Our products are great in meals,” Sroujian says, “so that’s something that will be big for us in the future.”

For Sroujian, the best part of running her own business has been seeing it evolve.

“Building something out of nothing and seeing it grow and mature at different stages is a very special experience,” she says. “Seeing my family work with me, seeing what the product does for the customers, getting that positive reinforcement and feedback: I live for it.”

Sroujian says she is excited about the “But for the time being, it’s fast and future prospects for her company’s indoes everything that we need,” she says.

As a small producer, Sroujian says novative products that uses only the best finding a location to produce VEG- ingredients it can find.

“They are soy-based cheeses made CHEESE products was a challenge.

“A lot of small food producers start in with the finest-quality organic ingredia kitchen or commercial kitchen then go ents,” she says. “I make what our family eats, and our family eats our products to a co-packer,” Sroujian reflects.

“But our process is very finicky, so I daily.

“If I’m not going to feed it to my did a lot of research on finding a co-packer that can make our products for us, but family,” she concludes, “I’m not going to feed it to my customers. We will always we had a great deal of difficulty.

“I also wanted to have control of the stand behind the quality of the products quality of the products and the supply we create.” chain of the products,” she adds, “and so I made the decision as a self-funded SUPPLIERS small food business to build the plant.”

Reiser (Canada) Ltd.

Please see a video of the Variovac Optimus thermoform packaging system in action at the VEGCHEESE plant in Mississauga on Canadian Packaging TV at www.canadianpackaging.com CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

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BEER PACKAGING

COUNTRY LIVING Venerable Canadian brewing giant hooks up with long-time turnkey equipment supplier to bring state-of-the-art packaging technology to its new British Columbia production facility

hereas breweries were once a fixed feature of inner cities all over the world, today more and more companies are abandoning their confined urban premises in favor of the surrounding countryside.

Founded by British settler John Molson in 1786 in Montreal, Molson Coors—as it’s been called since its merger with American big player Coors in 2005— is the oldest brewery in North America ,and was for a long time the largest in Canada.

Rebuilt and extended following the Great Fire of Montreal in 1852, for 237 years it occupied 28 hectares in the neighborhood of Centre-Sud on the banks of the St. Lawrence River.

This year the new brewery moved to Longueuil on the opposite side of the river, where it has over 140 hectares of space for future possible expansions. The new site also provides easy access to various amenities and infrastructure, including top-quality water, highways, natural gas pipelines and ports.

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The Molson Coors facility in British Columbia, the westernmost province of Canada, did exactly the same two years ago. Originally operating in the big-city metropolis of Vancouver, home to the brewery since 1953, the production site was moved to Chilliwack in Fraser Valley, about 100 kilometers to the east.

At this location, there are practically no limits to its future growth with 36 hectares of land at its disposal—five times the area the brewery had in the middle of the province’s largest city. Opened in September 2019, the site is just a stone’s throw from the northern border of the U.S. With a direct link to the Trans-Canada Highway, it is perfectly positioned to fulfill its task of supplying the western Canada and the U.S. with beer products.

Moreover, being located in the largely agricultural region where many of the hops are grown, just 15 minutes from the brewery provides the locally produced beers with their distinctive taste profiles.

(Above) Part of the KHS glass line is the Innofill Glass DRS filler that fills up to 36,000 341-ml bottles per hour.

(Below) The heart of the canning line is the KHS Innofill Can DVD filler that can process up to 72,000 cans per hour in many different sizes and formats.

Tucked in between Fraser River and the Cascades, a mountain range that stretches right down to California, the local water here is of excellent purity and quality, which is essential for any brewery.

For any beverage bottler who wants to create totally new production capacities out in the country, having access to a reliable partner to depended on during installation, commissioning and day-to-day operations in critical to success.

As it has done so often in the past, Molson Coors decided to continue its long-enduring business relationship with venerable German beverage processing and packaging systems manufacturer

“In the the future we want to continue to exploit all the opportunities the market presents us with.”

34 CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

Up to 240 kegs of various formats and sizes can be cleaned on the inside and racked on the KHS Innokeg Transomat every hour.

KHS GmbH, whom it has trusted for many, many years.

“Molson Coors and KHS have had close ties for more than 100 years,” says David Hamel, general operations manager at the new production plant in Chilliwack.

While Hamel himself has ‘only’ been with the company for 18 years, at his earlier place of work in Montreal worked in part with systems built by KHS’ predecessor companies during the 1970s.

“I’ve been able to see with my own eyes how these machines from way back in the past have technically developed into the highly modern filling and packaging lines of the present day,” says Hamel, adding the fact that his employer and a high-tech supplier can look back on such a long history is “a strong statement.”

Hence Hamel says he was not surprised to Molson Coors procure not jut on,e but three lines from the Dortmund-based systems supplier for its greenfield project.

One of these is a new glass line that fills up to 36,000 341-ml bottles per hour.

With strong focus on the future viability of its labeling and packaging options, the line incorporates a modular Innoket SE labeler was that processes different types of labels, and can also be supplemented by other modules as and when required.

Another special feature of this particular line is the KHS Innopack TLM case-packer, which had been implemented in close cooperation with leading German packaging specialists Schubert Packaging Systems of from Crailsheim, Germany.

The blocked system, comprising a packer and erecting and closing modules, provides optimal flexibility by not only CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

processing trays, but also the RSC (regular slotted carton) boxes, baskets and craft cartons, and solid cardboard.

Being able to folded, glued and filled so many cartons makes machine is a real “Jack of all trades,” according to Hamel.

“The variety of products that already distinguishes Molson Coors is by no means exhausted,” Hamel states.

“If there’s one thing that doesn’t change, it’s the fact that we constantly have to change,” he asserts. “That’s why we need technology that can adapt.”

As Hamel relates, Molson Coors already produces a vast product portfolio in Chilliwack, comprising 42 different brands and more than 250 SKUs (stock-keeping units). Besides classic products and global brands such as Coors Original, Coors Light and Molson Canadian, the company also bottles and markets specialties like the local Granville Island craft beer, a popular West Coast IPA product.

That said, the company has recently realigned its group strategy to begin adding more and more beverages other than beer to its production repertoire.

To reflect the switch, the Chilliwack operations has added the production of new alcohol-free or low-alcohol products that are manufactured in a fashion similar to beer.

This includes so-called “hard seltzer” products that originated in the U.S. and are currently enjoying increasing popularity in Canada.

“The market significance of this product is not to be underestimated, stresses Hamel, noting the company’s recent decision to invest $100 million into the segment in North America alone.

Similarly, a new joint venture with li-

The Innopack TLM is particularly flexible, a combination of a pick-and-place packer blocked with a Schubert erecting and closing module.

The erected cartons glide on transmodules to the pick-and-place packer where they are filled with bottles.

censed Canadian cannabis producer Hexo to market the Truss brand of CBD-infused (non-psychoactive) beverages—also seems like a very promising endeavor.

The multitude of new beverage categories also include ciders, wine spritzer, pre-mixed beverages, and hop-flavored Vyne brand bottled water.

For now, however, the Chilliwack brewery7main focus remains producing beer for western Canada and U.S., as well as the Asia Pacific region.

With output already exceeding over one million liters per week, Hamel says that maximum flexibility isn’t only expected regarding labeling and secondary packaging, but also with respect to the containers themselves.

“We already process a broad spectrum

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BEER PACKAGING

Wraparound can packs are grouped into layers by gripping robots before being palletized.

Fanuc articulated robots feed kegs filled on the KHS keg racker into the downstream palletizing process.

During palletizing, the red light helps the cameras to monitor the correct position of all kegs and fittings.

In 2019, the new Molson Coors factory was set up in Chilliwack in the west of Canada amid the practically unspoiled surroundings of the Fraser Valley.

(Inset) One classic product is Molson Canadian, a lager brewed only with Canadian-grown ingredients.

of bottles, cans and kegs,” Hamel explains, but in the future we want to continue to exploit all the opportunities the market presents us with and that consumers demand.”

To that end, the brewery has invested into a state-of-the-art KHS canning line featuring the Innofill Can DVD can filler capable of filling up to 72,000 cans per hour.

The flexible filler can process different container sizes ranging from 246-ml to 473-ml in slim, sleek and standard shapes, as per customer requirements.

As on the glass line the Innopas PISC pasteurizer is also part of the canning line’s set-up, along with the Innopack Kisters TP machine that packs the beverage cans onto trays.

These trays are then sent for palletizing, where the packs are grouped with the help of Fanuc robots and stacked on shipping pallets— currently in 14 different formats.

For its part new KHS kegging line also offers optimal flexibility, bing able

to process up to 240 standard, slim or one-way kegs an hour —including palletizing—made of either aluminum or PET (polyethylene terephtalate) plastic and filled with 15, 20, 30, 50 or 58 liters of product.

Because of the sheer size of the investment, all those involved in the project had to be able to fully rely on one another during installation and commissioning in the spring and summer of 2019.

The time between the creation of the structural prerequisites and the start of commercial production, during which all systems had to be connected with one another, was extremely short and there were hardly any buffers or time to spare.

“Our long-standing relations with KHS stood us in good stead here; we can depend on them managing a big project

like this together with us,” emphasizes Hamel.

Many lessons were learned during this time that can be referred to when needed in ongoing operation. To this end, a structured process was developed to make the expertise of KHS’ engineers accessible to the company’s own workforce in the long term This includes the establishment of standards for a good number of performance indicators, for example, that enables Molson Coors’ mechanics to ensure ideal conditions at all times and quickly detect and remedy any deviations.

“When you start a project like this, you of course want to ensure that it’s equipped with the best, most advanced technology there is,” Hamel states.

“One key aspect closely related to the future viability of the plant engineering is the issue of sustainability in the form of energy and resource efficiency and the company’s carbon footprint,” Hamel points out. “Molson Coors itself takes on a pioneering role in this field by recovering the CO2 released during fermentation in the brewing process and using it to fill carbonated beverages, to name but one example.

“We found it incredibly important that the new lines adhere to certain sustainability criteria defined by us,” Hamel concludes.“We wanted to reduce our previous energy and water consumption and at the same time considerably boost our efficiency.

“The KHS lines have satisfied our stringent requirements right from the start and—even more importantly—we’ve since been able to further improve on our consumption values and availability.”

SUPPLIERS KHS GmbH 36 CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

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AUTOMATE NOW

SUSTAINED MOMENTUM Leveraging packaging line automation to move the needle on packaging sustainability

s many of the world’s leading food and beverage companies are quickly finding out, moving packaging sustainability from niche applications into mainstream mass manufacturing processes has been a daunting endeavor, often held back by the lack of speed and scale these manufacturers need to make a real significant impact with their sustainability strategies.

With much of the existing global stock of operating packaging machinery having been designed to work with packaging materials that have proven to be highly problematic to achieving the vaunted Circular Economy goals of closed-loop packaging recovery, recycling and reuse, simple material substitution has often proved to be a noble but inadequate strategy for meaningful environmental footprint reduction due to the lack of not just the volumes of planet-friendly packaging materials, but the ability of their packaging machines to process these materials at the same production speeds and efficiency levels as with the packaging they are meant to replace.

Happily, progressive companies like the Atlanta, Ga.-headquartered paper packaging systems manufacturer WestRock Company are working tirelessly to narrow that gap with a new breed of highly automated packaging line solutions that can enable CPG (consumer packaged goods) manufacturers to really move the needle on packaging sustainability.

As an integrated producer of both paper packaging and the machinery used to apply that packaging onto all sorts of consumer products, the company has earned plenty of industry-wide praise in the last few months with the introduction of its CanCollar Eco paperboard packaging solutions—developed to replace plastic ring carriers widely used in beverage container multipacks—along with the advanced high-speed packaging machinery to support their widespread implementation by leading beverage producers.

Over the last two years, three major global beverage producers have installed WestRock’s CanCollar Eco packaging line

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technologies at their operations, including: • Leading Mexican brewing company Grupo Modelo partnering with WestRock and Grupo Gondi in transitioning to CanCollar Eco packaging in Mexico, eliminating over 100 tons of plastic waste.

• Asahi Breweries, Ltd., one of the largest Japanese beer companies headquartered in Tokyo, introducing CanCollar Eco Plus technology to the Japanese market. The initiative is projected to reduce their paper usage by 8,000 tons, and the GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions associated with material production by 7,400 tons.

• WestRock implementing the CanCollar Eco paperboard can ring technology with Coca-Cola European Partners in Spain in 2020, making it the first European country to roll out these sustainable rings on multipack cans. The use of CanCollar through this partnership is projected to save more than 18 tonnes of plastic annually.

Recently, the Canadian Packaging magazine caught up with WestRock’s director of corporate sustainability Chris Davidson to relate the company’s efforts to scale up the conversion to sustainable packaging worldwide through improved automation capabilities.

Q. Please explain how advances in automation are making fiber-based alternatives like CanCollar Eco more cost-effective for the food and beverage industry.

A. Across industries, automation allows us to drive innovation that helps our customers optimize their operations, reduce costs and drive efficiency at scale. With automated processes, our customers can optimize resources used, enabling them to reduce electricity and water usage to lower their transport carbon footprint.

Sustainable, fiber-based packaging and

A schematic drawing of the automatic CanCollar Fortuna mcahine cpable of applying the CanCollar Eco paperboard clips to beer cans at lightning speeds of up to 2,000 cans per minute.

Chris Davidson, Director, Corporate Sustainability, WestRock Company.

plastics replacements are generating significant interest and greater market demand. Our broad portfolio of innovative fiber-based solutions, many of which are engineered to match the performance of plastic, make WestRock uniquely positioned to take advantage of this shift.

In the beauty segment, rigid tube packaging is increasingly becoming of interest for products like deodorant or lipstick.

Even cosmetic palettes are now available in a fiber-based format, as consumers become more discerning about waste and the environment.

In grocery, many of our partners are being asked by consumers to help them load less plastic into their shopping carts.

We recently launched our EverGrow produce packaging, which is a recyclable alternative to single-use plastic.

We partnered with Liquibox to develop a new SIOC (Ships in Own Container), bag-in-box e-commerce solution for liquid products. It leverages one of our automation offerings—the Meta box design for speed and flexibility in case forming.

This packaging replaces rigid containers, while helping liquid products arrive safely at their destination.

Q. Please describe the automation process and equipment used in the production and application of Can-Collar Eco packaging.

A. Our CanCollar Eco is compatible with our CanCollar Fortuna, Chunk and Corsair automation platforms.

The CanCollar Fortuna is the fastest and most flexible of the CanCollar automation systems, running up to 2,000 cans per minute.

Designed for mid-speed can lines, the Corsair system can run up to 240 cans per minute. Given its speed and size, it’s typically best-suited for craft or artisanal beer.

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AUTOMATE NOW

As the only manual option of the can multipack systems, the Chunk system is a collapsible table that supports multiple can sizes with one simple height adjustment. Despite being manual, the application can process for 24 cans only takes 12 seconds.

While all three systems work with CanCollar Eco, optimal operations would vary by system. The CanCollar Fortuna is best suited for larger businesses that rely on that level of speed to package their products in a timely manner.

The base model will run CanCollar Eco, and there are additional modules available that support capabilities—including a can orientation module that individually orients every can for increased shelf appeal or hidden barcodes.

The machine choice all depends on what the customer is looking for in terms of speed, pack format and flexibility, and we provide several options to meet their specific needs.

Q. What is driving market demand for the development of sustainable packaging such as CanCollar Eco? A. We’re seeing plastic replacements as a rising priority for businesses and consumers across the globe. Consumers want to put their money behind products that are

better for the planet, as well as businesses that are conscious of the environmental impact of their packaging. It’s increasingly important for brands to create sustainable packaging alternatives as many countries, including Canada, are passing legislation to reduce the use of plastic packaging.

The CanCollar Eco system provides a glue-less, recyclable alternative to plastic shrink film and plastic rings that function to bundle cans together—making them easier to transport.

The CanCollar family, including CanCollar Eco, provides an easy solution for businesses and brands to reduce their plastic usage in this area. In fact, we had heard directly from our customers that they wanted to further reduce and remove plastic from their operations, specifically with alternatives for securing cans in trays.

Q. How big is the market for such sustainable packaging?

A. Sustainable packaging and plastics replacements are generating significant interest and greater market demand. We are seeing increasing movement from plastic to fiber-based packaging as a result.

According to a recent Global Buying Green Report, 67 per cent of consumers identified that it’s important that the products they purchase be packaged in

recyclable materials.This shift has encouraged brands to look for sustainable solutions to their packaging options. As conversations continue around how we will address climate change, we expect that companies will further prioritize adopting sustainable packaging to reduce their footprint across their supply chains.

For instance, we’ve already partnered with customers like Kraft Heinz, Nestle, GSK, Coca-Cola and Grupo Modelo, who are all were looking for renewable and recyclable packaging options to reduce plastic usage.We look forward to fostering new partnerships and designing new packaging innovations that will help us continue towards our shared goal of a more sustainable future.

Q. What kind of board is used in the construction of CanCollar Eco packaging?

What are some of the practical benefits that this packaging offers?

A. Our CanCollar Eco design is made of a single ply of WestRock’s CarrierKote paperboard, which maintains its strength under wet conditions. The design is engineered to use as little material as possible, while still achieving performance requirements. Unlike a typical cardboard box that would cover the entire product, CanCollar Eco only uses a compact paperboard clip

The Can Collar Eco paperboard clip utilizes an innovative tooth design to ensure a tight hold of the multipack beer cans, while providing a good surface area for brand messaging.

NEW EMPLOYEE

APPOINTMENTS

Dany Lavoie Area Sales Mgr., Montreal Carlo Gavazzi has appointed Mr. Dany Lavoie to their Canadian Sales Team.

Carlo Gavazzi has also appointed Mr. Brett Horst to their Canadian Sales Team.

Dany come to us with 20 plus years of experience in the electrical industry. He has developed many strong relationships with key industrial and OEM accounts by providing winning solutions for their projects. We are proud to welcome Dany as the new Area Sales Manager (ASM) for the greater Montreal Region, and ask that you join us in welcoming him to the Carlo Gavazzi Canadian team; dlavoie@carlogavazzi.com

Brett is a graduate of Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning with an Advanced Diploma as a Technologist in Electrical Engineering. Brett has more than 5 years of experience in the electrical industry working with a variety of industrial and OEM customers. We are proud to welcome Brett as the new Area Sales Manager (ASM) for the Southwestern Ontario Region, and ask that you join us in welcoming him to the Carlo Gavazzi Canadian team; bhorst@carlogavazzi.com

Carlo Gavazzi a le plaisir de vous présenter M. Dany Lavoie qui se joint à l’équipe des ventes canadiennes.

Dany nous arrive avec plus de 20 ans d’expérience dans l’industrie électrique. Il a développé de nombreuses relations solides avec des comptes clés dans le milieu industriels et OEM en fournissant des solutions gagnantes. Nous sommes fiers d’accueillir Dany en tant que nouveau responsable des ventes sur le territoire (ASM) pour la grande région de Montréal et nous vous demandons de vous joindre à nous pour l’accueillir dans l’équipe canadienne de Carlo Gavazzi. dlavoie@carlogavazzi.com

GAVAZZI y Sensors with IO-Link k Smart Configurator

Components

38 CANADIANPACKAGING · MAY 2022

GAVAZZI Components

Brett Horst Area Sales Mgr., SW Ontario

Carlo Gavazzi a le plaisir de présenter M. Brett Horst à l’équipe de vente canadienne.

Brett est diplômé de l’Institut de technologie de Conestoga College et d’apprentissage avancé avec un diplôme avancé en tant que technologue en génie électrique. Brett compte plus de 5 ans d’expérience dans l’industrie électrique travaillant avec une variété de clients industriels et OEM. Nous sommes fiers d’accueillir Brett comme le nouveau représentant des ventes (ASM) de la région du Sud-Ouest de l’Ontario. Nous vous demandons de vous joindre à nous pour l’accueillir dans l’équipe canadienne de Carlo Gavazzi; bhorst@carlogavazzi.com

GavazziOnline.com • 888.575.2275 • Gavazzi@CarloGavazzi.com

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Earlier this year, we partnered with our customers, Grupo Modelo and Asahi Breweries, to introduce CanCollar Eco to the Americas and Japan, respectively. By using this innovation, Grupo Modelo will be able to avoid 335 tons of packaging waste annually, and Asahi will reduce the amount of paper used by roughly 8,800 tons annually Partnerships like these will help advance our journey towards a Circular Economy around the world, and they are a very important part of our sustainability journey as a packaging provider.

to hold the upper part of the cans, making the design recyclable wherever beverage cartons are accepted.

Due to CarrierKote’s special clay coating, CanCollar’s surface provides a great base for customers to print on or embellish their brand messaging.

The key feature of the CanCollar Eco is the unique tooth design that tightly hold the multipack cans by the rim, allowing us to use as little packaging as possible to secure the product.

We are very proud of this design, and the CanCollar technology recently won the Sustainability Award of theYear recognition from the Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) through our partnership with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Lervig Brewing.

Q. Why is packaging sustainability such an important priority for WestRock?

A. The promise of a sustainable future begins with healthy forests, so our commitment to sustainability begins with our sustainable forestry practices.

We’re committed to working alongside family land-owners and environmental partners to ensure environmental and economic benefits for our communities and the forests where we operate.

Fiber-based packaging is a sustainable alternative to plastic, but we want to ensure that we’re doing more than simply offering a sustainably-sourced product.

By considering sustainability at every phase of the package’s life cycle, we design right-sized solutions to avoid excess pack-

Q. Are there plans to introduce CanCollar Eco packaging to the Canadian marketplace in near future?

A. We are continually looking to partner with customers to deliver solutions to their specific packaging needs and their sustainability targets. The CanCollar Eco technology is currently used across the U.S., Spain, Japan and Mexic,o and we look forward to working with partners to introduce this innovative solution to the Canadian market.

WestRock’s CanCollar packaging used by Kraf Heinz to make multipacks of popular canned products in fully-recyclable and renewable one-ply paperboard packaging.

aging waste with renewable and compostable.

Creating a more sustainable future will take collaboration across industries.

There’s no one-size- fits-all solution, so we innovate our products by solving our customers’ biggest challenges.

Our broad and ever-growing portfolio of innovative fiber-based solutions, many of which are engineered to match the performance of plastic, make WestRock well-positioned to take advantage of the demand for sustainable packaging.

Our emphasis on sustainability extends through the entire product life-cycle as we also have our recycling facilities. Fiber can be recycled up to seven times, so our recycling facilities allow us to maximize the usage of the materials we source.

As a sustainability leader in the packaging industry, we are committed to long-term improvement and will continue to take active steps towards advancing the circular economy.

Leveraging 18 recycling plants across the United States, WestRock recycles eight million tons of materials per year— far exceeding our 5.5 million tons of recycled-fiber consumption, and we have already invested US$7.7 million in developing brand new recycling technologies so far through 2022.

On March 22nd, Annex Business Media’s Manufacturing Group teamed up to host ADVANCE: Women in Manufacturing, a one-day virtual summit that brought together industry experts and thought leaders to promote gender equity, diversity and inclusion in Canadian manufacturing.

Visit womenincanadianmanufacturing.com to view on-demand content, including videos and podcasts.

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Renewable materials big piece of the sustainability puzzle / Jaan Koel There are more eco-friendly product offerings appearing on the market these days in more and more surprising places than ever before. Recently, news reports have described a supple leather-like alternative made from a special process based on threads from the root structure of mushrooms. The so-called Fine Myceliu material has already inspired luxury good giant Hermès, for one, to launch a new range of more sustainable high-end bags, purses and luggage, with other global brand-owners like Adidas, Lululemon and Stella McCartney quickly following suit. Reduction, not just in packaging but terms of total environmental impact, is of vital importance to our future, just like recycling and reuse.

By using fungi instead of animal skins to produce next-generation “leather,” progressive manufacturers can not only reduce the landfill waste, but also do the same for animal exploitation and cruelty, along with the heavy chemical pollution generated by the commercial leather tanneries.

For sure, the more R’s that can be incorporated into a product the better. A good example of a product converging all three R’s in a tidy little package is the Reusable Beeswax Food Wrap from Abeego Designs Inc. of Victoria, B.C. Each package comes with two 33x33-cm wraps that resemble oil cloth in texture and appearance.

Bing much ticker than conventional plastic wrap, they are easy to wash and use again.

The self-adhesive flat sheets can be easily shaped to accommodate the shape and size of any stored food items kept in the fridge: half-cut lemons, cucumber ends, cookies for an afternoon snack, cheese, herbs, and even creating a totable pouch for trail mix.

Claimed to last for at least a year before they can be recycled, these wraps are also perfect for wrapping larger items like a head of cauliflower or stick of celery. Fittingly, the wraps come in a slender paperboard box, also 100-percent recyclable, featuring a convenient tear-strip opening, with full instructions and user tips printed inside.

(Clockwise from above) A travel bag made with renewable materials derived from the root structure of mushrooms; the Reusable Beeswax Food Wrap sheets; a package of Active Charcoal Water Filter sticks; a Corona Extra six-pack of can held together with a corrugated clip on top of the cans; the long-lasting Plant-based Dishcloths from FC Brands.

If you like using filtered water, but want to get rid of your chunky plastic filter container, then you may wish to try out Active Charcoal Water Filter sticks from Black+Blum of London, U.K., instead.

The 12-cm-long sticks can be dropped into any bottle or jug to remove contaminants and make the water taste great again. The

charcoal sticks are vacuum-packed in thick plastic film and are presented in an attractive recyclable wood-colored paperboard container that has a circular open cutaway on the front panel to reveals the product inside. Notably, the sticks are made of Binchotan Charcoal sourced from the Kishu region of Japan and they can last for six months, after which they can be used in the fridge as a deodorizer.

A word should also be said about PlantBased Dishcloth marketed by the New York City-based FC Brands. The super-absorbent square dishcloths made in China utilizing highly innovative material, developed in Germany, that is 70-percent cellulose, derived from plants, and 30-per cent cotton, with all the different design patterns printed with waterbased inks. These universally handy and practical dishcloths can be put in the Another nice move along the lines of reduc- dishwasher, a microwave machine, or tion is the new Corona Extra six-pack even laundry for periodic cleaning and cans of beer. Instead of using plastic rings, sanitization, and they are claimed to last which can be fatally harmful to birds and for about six months. other wildlife, or full wraparound enclosures using up a lot of material, the cans use No doubt, small wonders, victories and a lid-like corrugated paper clip to them surprises will continue to pop up. Who neat and tidy on the shelf and easy to carry would have thought that one could wear or home. The lid design reduces the use of tote leather-like material made from paperboard by about 65 per cent, and it is mushrooms? Wherever there’s an enof course fully recyclable. The clever clip vironmental will to do the right thing, has die-cut side panels that fold underneath there will always be an environmental way to form a second structural layer that to do it. stretches for about 12 centimeters between the cans like a tongue, with pre-punched holes that permit a shot of hot-melt adhesJANN KOEL is a freelance ive to attach opposing pairs of cans to the writer and environmental board to prevent splaying. consultant living in Toronto.

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