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SEPTEMBERCANADIANPACKAGING.COM2022/$10.00 SERVING CANADA’S PACKAGING COMMUNITY SINCE 1947 SELECTIONNATURAL West Coast snack-food pioneer combines automated packaging precision with hand-crafted product quality to serve up a winning chip sensation Story on Page 16 PreviewShow October 23-26, 2022 Page 37 Pa aging for Freshness Page 23 Meat Pa aging Page 29 Pre-Show Report Page 37-51

91 97 98 102 17 20 107 41 42 ~2~ 26LOOKING BACK. PRESSING FORWARD. ALWAYS INNOVATING. Oct. 23-26, 2022 Booth N-4706, McCormick Place Chicago, IL USA Helping you bring your best products to Deliveringmarket.Results. With Heat and Control, you have a partner with the scale to support your success, the innovation to advance your operations, and a commitment to quality that will help you offer better products for consumers. 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. COMPLETE SNACK PACKAGING SOLUTIONS • Accumulation • Horizontal motion conveying • Incline, belt and bucket conveyors • Filling and multihead weighing • Bagmaking and casepacking • Checkweighing and seal checking • Foreign object and defect inspection • Controls and information info@heatandcontrol.comsystems|heatandcontrol.com

Videojet 1880 Continuous Inkjet Printer Enabling Industry 4.0 productivity pioneers Discover more at videojet.com/1880 The Videojet 1880 CIJ printer builds upon comprehensive insights gained from the ﬂeet of cloud-connected Videojet printers, the largest in the industry, to enable your journey towards Industry 4.0. Not only does the 1880 enable exceptional uptime, it is expressly designed to help your team improve productivity and help drive lower costs over the lifetime of the printer. Harness the collective intelligence of 10,000 cloud-connected Videojet printers to help keep your lines running ©2021 Videojet Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. Videojet Technologies Inc.’s policy is one of continued product improvement. We reserve the right to alter design and/or speciﬁcations without notice.

Peace of mind. All day. Every Day. Find your own peace of mind at PACK EXPO. Two more Elematic machines will grace the show floor before they go to work providing our loyal customers with the peace of mind afforded by the most highly reliable and flexible case packers around.  Elematic 1001 TL topload  Elematic 3001 WA wraparound  Up to 100 case designs on one machine  Trusted reliability and performance  Seamless system integration Stop by Booth S-3514 to see them before they join the 3000 Syntegon case packers already in the field! andComesee us! South Hall Booth 3514Whysyntegon.comhave our customers entrusted us with their case packing for almost 60 years?

freshly

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September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 3

September 2022 Vol. 75, No. canadianpackaging.com9

packaging

a packaging run at the new Naturally Homegrown Foods production plant in

all-natural

Sustainability a destination: not just a journey.

Joe Public speaks out on hits and misses. THE COVER Thick crunchy slices of kettle-cooked Hardbite up high-precision product start of Surrey, B.C. photography by David Buzzard.

brand potato chips ﬁlling

Cover

exciting new technologies to be unveiled at the upcoming PACK EXPO International 2022 exhibition in Chicago, Sept. 23-26, 2002. 4FROMCOLUMNSTHEEDITORGeorgeGuidoni

A selection of

Ishida multihead scales with bulk

the

6-7NEWSPACKDEPARTMENTS Packaging news round-up. NOTES & QUOTES 8-9 Noteworthy industry briefs. FIRST GLANCE 11 New packaging solutions and technologies. ECO-PACK NOW 12 Sustainable packaging innovations. 14IMPACT A monthly insight from PAC Global. 55EVENTSUpcoming industry functions. COVER STORY 16 THE TRUTHHARD West Coast potato chip innovator invests into a fully integrated packaging line at its new production facility ascompanay coninues its rise part up the industry’s pecking order. FEATURES 23Cat Of The Day New high-speed vacuum-packing machinery enables thriving Quebec seafood producer to expand its retail product portfolio. 29Flight Of Fancy New packaging makes authentic Italian meatballs literally ﬂy o the shelves. 30Co ee Culture Boutiqueco ee roaster enjoying the perks of recent end-of-line packaging upgrade. 31 The Weigh Forward Leading Dutch fresh produce processor achieves unfailing accuracy and precision with new multihead weighscales.. PRE-SHOW REPORT PACK 44Show-Stoppers!33Labor32The30So2022InterntaionalEXPOGoodToBePACKRecyclingEvolutionRelations

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of plastic eachgloballygeneratedwasteyear

As the report soundly points out, pack aging machinery OEMs (original equip ment manufacturers) have a critical role to play in getting the industry moving on the fast track by helping their end-users reduce the costs of their switch to more sustainable materials and packaging for mats through further automation and compatibility with new-generation pack aging materials made from a wide range of natural and recovered feedstocks.

Leading by example, however, can provide the inspirational spark the CPG industry needs to get moving into the direction of a truly circular economy.

SEPTEMBER 2022 | VOLUME 75, NO. 9

I f familiarity ultimately breeds resent ment and contempt, there may be truth to the notion that the flood of industry reports, studies and action plans releases by governments, cor porations and NGO (nongovernmental organization) activists on packaging sustainability and circularity my be doing more harm than good in the long term by simply wearing out the public interest in what should be a top-of-mind issue. Bu consistently pointing out how bad things really are with the environment and how little time we have to fix it, the authors of these widely-publicized re ports run the risk of simply spooking the general public into a state of defeatist resignation—based on the notion that all hope is lost—rather than energizing in dustry and consumers to redouble their sustainability e orts. Fortunately, a new white paper from PMMI The Association for Pack aging and Processing Technologies o ers a healthy dose of practical advice on how to accelerate the industry’s com bined e orts to lower its collective car bon footprint, rather than just preach to theReleasedconverted.just in time for the upcoming PACK EXPO International 2022 packaging technologies and materials exhibition in Chicago, the 2002 Achieving Packaging Sustainability report outlines clear and concise five-pillar action plan that focuses on end solutions instead of the obstacles facing them and rightly so: we are all far beyond the problem ac knowledgment stage by now. As the study proclaims, “There isn’t a discussion to be had about the validity of reducing the carbon footprint across the global CPG industry. “It goes without saying that we need to strive for it, as does every industrial sec tor. It doesn’t only benefit the environ ment, after all.” Says PMMI: “Sustainability presents an opportunity for businesses facing in creasing competitive and economic pressures to gain value and competitive advantage as they respond to environ mental concerns and the pressures of resource scarcity, population growth and higher and more varied consumer ex pectations.“Buthow to go about it is the chal lenge,” PMMI acknowledges.

Senior Publisher Stephen Dean | (416) SDean@canadianpackaging.com510-5198 Editor George Guidoni | (416) GGuidoni@canadianpackaging.com510-5227

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Audience Development Manager Barbara Adelt | (416) 510-5184 Fax: (416) badelt@annexbusinessmedia.com510-6875 Media Designer Brooke Shaw | (519) bshaw@annexbusinessmedia.com428-3471 COO Scott SJamieson@annexbusinessmedia.comJamieson

Tonnes

Naturally, it’s a challenge that will have to be collectively addressed by all stake holders, but always blaming the govern ment for the lack of coherent recycling policies, or consumers for making wrong choices in the grocery aisles, is an outdated refrain that will not get the packaging in dustry very far.

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Nor only is the company installing LED lighting and solar panels at its plants, it is also designing its new CNC machines to use as little cutting oil as possible—further reducing the overall carbon footprint downstream.“Syntegon has been looking into paper forming, where they are trying to ﬁnd a way to replace blister packs using paper, as well as to reduce energy consumption of their machines—such as by reducing the use of energy intensive hot glue in pack aging operations with the use of lock-form ing,” the report notes. “OEMs also have a crucial part to play in energy-saving in the industry,” PMMI says, noting increasing calls in Europe for introduction of mandatory carbon foot print ratings for all new machines. “There doesn’t appear to be a clamor as yet for this measure in America,,” PMMI says, “but the baton will likely be taken up in the not-too-distant future.” And frankly, the earlier the better.

“The fact is that CPGs cannot achieve true sustainability unless the OEMs and packaging manufacturers that supply them get involved,” says the report, citing global packaging machinery manufacturer Syntegon Technology as a case in point.

FROM THE EDITOR

cosmetics

labor

books to small electronics,

International,

FAST. to and Pak On Demand™ Mailer System is a sustainable e-commerce solution that eliminates optimizes and cuts out unnecessary void fill. See it in action at EXPO October 23-26, booth #S-2130.

RECYCLABLE.

PACK

plastic,

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RECYCLABLE.EASY. From apparel

Cottage country beermaker brings its craft to RTD market Since opening their doors in 1996 as one of Ontario’s ﬁrst craft brewers, BreweryMuskoka has worked relentlessly to adapt to a rapidly evolving market and ensure there is a beverage for everyone that comes to the table thirsty.While continuing to push the envelope but staying true to their roots, the independently owned brewer has recently expanded its capabilities to brew a new Juicy Hard Seltzer Squeeze the Day and Wandr, a non-alcoholic sparkling tea infusion, as part of a major expansion of its product portfolio this past summer.Nestled in the heart of southern Ontario’s cottage country in Bracebridge, Ont., Muskoka Brewery has built up an exceptionally loyal customer base in the province over the years with popular beer brand such as Detour Session Ale and Mad Tom West Coast IPA, among others, and its foray into the RTD beverage market was a natural extension of its keen understanding of the beverage market trends, according to the company.

The explosive growth of RTD (ready-todrink) alcoholic beverages in recent year has unleashed a tidal wave of product innovation and experimentation, but a young British Columbia entrepreneur is looking to really blow the marketplace up with her one-of-akind SakeBomb pre-mixed cocktails made with Japanese rice wine. Crafted in B.C. and using premium saké as its base, the SakeBomb o ers a premium-quality spiked sparkling water with best-in-class fruitfurtherahigh-qualitynaturallowsugar,attributes—includingnutritionallowlowcalories,andcarbs—andusingthesweetnessofsakétodeliverrich,uniquetastethatisenhancedwithrealﬂavors.

A brainchild of serial local entrepreneur Stefana Prodea, founder and chief executive o cer of Bomb Beverages Inc., the SakeBomb is marketed as a BFY (better-foryou) adult RTD beverage currently available in three ﬂavor varieties that include Berry Blast, Lime Drop and Peach Smash.

“We have crafted a line-up this year that has something for everyone and something for every occasion,” says Muskoka Brewery’s director of marketing Sarah Au. “With individuals moving towards adopting drinks that ﬁt into a more active lifestyle, these new beverages will let people can unwind with a beverage that aligns with their goals.” Adds company president Todd Lewin: “At the core of our values is being welcoming by encouraging everyone to reach for a Muskoka beverage that ﬁts their“Aslifestyle.wehave from Day One, what we strive to do is to craft iconic experiences for Canadians, one glass at a time,” he states.

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“SakeBomb is truly a dream brand for us,” says Prodea, adding that a portion of all proceeds form the brand’s sales is dedicated to funding the local its BombWomen mentorship programs aimed at developing a new generation of women entrepreneurs “Not only have we created a delicious, innovative RTD cocktail, but we are also making waves in the alcohol beverage industry with our focus on female empowerment,” Prodea states.

NEWSPACK

Stefana Inc.BombFounderProdeo,&CEO,Beverages

“It’s a dynamite combo that tastes like a much-needed change in the market,” she says, “and it is only just the beginning of what’s to come.”

Packed in slim 355-ml direct-printed aluminum cans supplied by Vancouver-based Alna Packaging, the SakeBomb cocktails are currently sold in individ ual cans or in 12-can multipacks—containing four cans of each ﬂavor—packed in highly decorative paperboard cartons supplied by Ellis Packaging Limited of Pickering, Ont. Currently available only in B.C., the SakeBomb beverages are expected to be rolled out across Canada in the near future, according to Prodea.

“We are a family business, and as the Lower Mainland’s local bottler, we’re very committed to investing in our local business for the long-term,” says Coke Canada Bottling’s chief executive o cer Todd“We’reParsons.guided by our mission to deliver optimism and create a better future for our customers, consumers and communities.” Parsons states. “By increasing our manufactur ing capacity and consolidating our warehouse and distribution operations, we’re ensuring we’re able to grow our business and continue to make, distribute, merchandise and sell B.C.’s favorite beverages for many years to come.” Scheduled for operational start-up in the spring of 2023, the new manufacturing line at the Richmond manufacturing facility will enable the use of pre-form bottles, add capacity and help decrease packaging emissions. For its part, the new sales, warehouse and distribution center (DC) will combine the capabilities of its existing DCs in Richmond and Coquitlam to signiﬁcantly expand its storage capacity, according to Parsons, while enabling seamless product distribu tion from production to delivery via the company’s iconic Red Truck deliverySlatedvehicles.toopen in the spring of 2024, the new DC will also house Coke Canada’s local ﬂeet and equipment service operations. Operating on 24/7 and 24/5 schedules throughout the year, Coke Canada Bottling currently employs about 550 people at its Lower Mainland operations. Servicing a region from Vancouver to Hope, B.C., the company produces nearly 20 million cases of product annual ly—comprising over 210 SKUs (stock-keeping units) and 18 packaging formats—including popular brands such as CocaCola, Canada Dry, A&W and Monster energy drinks, as well as the Dasani brand bottled water sold in 100-percent recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles.

Coca-Cola’s massive capital investment a big boost for its B.C. bottling operations Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Limited has announced plans for a massive $42-million capital expansion of its Lower Mainland operations in the Vancouver area. The investments—including a $24-million upgrade of its bottling facility Richmond, B.C. and construction of a new nearby sales/ warehouse/distribution facility—are intended to “help the company meet the evolving needs of customers in British Columbia and enable its capability to grow in the market,” according to Coca-Cola Canada.

NEWSPACK

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 7 SENSORS: Inductive and Capacitive Proximity Sensors • Photoelectric Sensors • Level Sensors • Ultrasonic Sensors • Magnetic Sensors • Limit Switches • Safety CARLOInterlocksGAVAZZI has the solution for your application needs, whether it’s our industry leading solid state relays, energy meters, contactors, motor controls, monitoring relays or sensors, now available with IO-Link communications. Contact us today, and one of our field sales representatives will show you why we are one of the fastest growing auto mation companies worldwide. We’ll even provide a free evaluation sample to qualified customers. GavazziOnline.com • 888.575.2275 • Gavazzi@CarloGavazzi.com CARLO GAVAZZI CARLO GAVAZZI CARLO GAVAZZI Innovative Automation Solutions SWITCHES: Solid State Relays • Contactors and Overloads • Soft Starters • Definite Purpose Contactors • Mini Circuit Breakers • Electromechanical Relays • Pushbuttons and Pilot Devices CONTROLS: Energy Meters • Current Transformers • Transducers • Power Supplies • Panel Meters • Time Delay Relays • Current-, Voltage- and Phase Monitoring Controls

• Designed by the company’s TricorBraun Flex flexible packaging division, the Brandywine Co ee Roasters package utilizes a pocket zipper to replace the traditional tin tie used on co ee bags for opening and closing, with the bags themselves made from 60-percent compostable and renewable material.

• The NERDS Twist & Mix pack, produced for Ferrara Candy Company, features a custom polypropylene (PP) base, enabling consumers to twist the customclarified PP lid on one circularshaped, five-compartment package to mix and match their perfect combination of NERDS Candy flavors.

Que.-headquartered corrugated packaging group Cascades Inc., has announced the launch of the company’s northbox XTEND line of isothermal meal boxes said to be 20 per cent more e icient than the company’s current like of home delivery meal boxes. To be produced on a newly commissioned line at the company’s Cascades Enviropac plant in York, Pa., the new northbox XTEND features a special new moisture barrier that helps to keep the insulation rigid, while enabling the packaged food to stay fresh longer in transit and requiring less ice. “We’re pleased to innovate with our customers to o er them a variety of high-performance and adaptable isothermal packaging solutions,” says Luc Langevin, president and chief operating o icer of Cascades

Milwaukee, Wis.-headquartered Regal Rexnord Automation Solutions has completed a rebranding project to update its corporate name from the former Arrowhead Systems moniker. The rebranding reflects the company’s recent acquisition by Regal Rexnord, a leading global manufacturer of industrial powertrain solutions, power transmission components, electric motors, electronic controls, and

Leading industrial adhesives manufacturer H.B. Fuller Company of St. Paul, Minn., has entered into a strategic partnership in North America with Enimac, a globally operating manufacturer of tape application equipment serving customers in over 30 countries worldwide. According to the companies, the agreement e ectively combines the respective market application expertise of both companies with advanced knowledge on pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes to support the growing e-commerce packaging industry. “As the e-commerce packaging market begins its next wave of exponential growth, the agreement with Enimac strengthens our presence in the market by leveraging our performing tape and their application technology expertise to provide quality solutions and technical support to a wide range of packaging makers,” says Tania Montesi, H.B. Fuller’s global e-commerce packaging business development Kingseymanager.Falls,

“We are honored to receive these prestigious awards, recognizing packaging innovation in partnership with our customers,” says TricorBraun president and chief executive o icer Court Carruthers. “This recognition acknowledges our team’s dedication to serving our customers’ needs.”

St. Louis, Mo.-headquartered rigid packaging plastics manufacturing group TricorBraun has been honored with two 2022 AmeriStar Packaging Awards from the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) in recognition of the company’s innovation and packaging excellence in the Food: Shelf Stable category.

Specialty Products Group. “Since 2007, our recycled cardboard meal boxes have been perfected to meet operational and environmental challenges,” Langevin adds. “Our expansion plan in the market is rolling out as anticipated, reinforcing our role as a strategic partner that works in close proximity with customers.”

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NOTES & QUOTES

Global digital cutting and finishing systems supplier Kongsberg Precision Cutting Systems (Kongsberg PCS) has appointed Global Imaging Inc. of Louisville, Co., as an authorized distributor of its digital finishing solutions for North America. “Global Imaging has developed the best network of distributorships available, and this new partnership enables our two companies to work together to significantly boost availability of our innovative digital cutting tables throughout the U.S. and Canada,” says Heather Roden, Kongsberg’s sales director for the Americas region.

Europe Nefab Group. “We are also grateful to our LiB customers with whom we collaborated to develop this innovative solution that addresses two of the biggest challenges: the growing need for sustainability and cost reductions across the entire supply chain.”

Leading Swedish industrial packaging and logistics services group Nefab AB has been awarded the 2002 German Packaging Award in the Sustainability category for the company’s highly innovative fiber-based solution for Lib (lithium-ion) batteries. Developed as an alternative to the traditional hard-torecycle EPP (expanded polypropylene) materials, the EdgePak Straw system is a mono-fiber solution that is fully recyclable and can handle weight loads of up to 350 kilograms per box, with up to four-layer stackability during transport. Featuring UN certification for the transport of dangerous goods, the EdgePak Straw system provides an ideal recyclable solution for one-way Lib shipments, according to Nefab, and it can be applied to many other heavy products shipped through demanding supply chains. “We are extremely honored with this prize and happy that the German Packaging Award jury noticed the unique qualities of Nefab EdgePak Straw,” says forWachauf-Tautermann,Sebastianvice-presidentsalesandmarketingat

Leading German flexible packaging materials manufacturer SÜDPACK has formed a long-term partnership with Clean Cycle Investments for commercializing the advanced (chemical) recycling CARBOLIQ technology developed by leading German recycling specialists Recenso GmbH. According to the partners, the promising technology can help make currently non-reusable packaging materials suitable for recycling and for the Circular Economy of the future. Tests at a joint disposal center in Ennigerloh have shown that numerous material fractions, as well as mixed and contaminated plastic wastes can be converted into a valuable resource. The process is claimed to achieve virgin-grade quality plastics by using with the recovered oil said to provide the same virgin-grade quality plastic films as those made from fossil fuels. So far, the partners have successfully applied the technology both for resource recovery from their own recyclable material flows as, well as for recycling packaging materials from processing and from end customers. “In a wide range of applications, for example in the food industry, highperformance multilayer films with e ective protective functions are the most e icient solutions for keeping all kinds of food fresh, and they’ll re-main the best choice in the future,” says Dirk Hardow, business unit manager at SÜDPACK. “However, the drawback is that they can’t be mechanically recycled. Now CARBOLIQ o ers a key system component for creating a Circular Economy in the food packaging industry, which can’t be achieved solely with mechanical recycling, and also due to existing legislations. So we see our investment in CARBOLIQ as an opportunity for SÜDPACK to expand the definition of plastic waste recycling beyond just mechanical recycling.”

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 9 • Over 40,000 Products ALWAYS IN STOCK • Order by 6 PM for SAME DAY SHIPPING • 12 North American Locations Mean SHIPPING SAVINGS and FAST DELIVERY COMPLETE VANCOUVERSERVING1-800-295-5510CATALOGuline.caCANADAFROMCANADA•EDMONTON•TORONTO • OTTAWA π CPK_Uline_Sept22_CSA.indd 1 2022-08-22 8:52 AM specialty electrical components and systems. Under its new name, Regal Rexnord Automation Solutions will continue to provide industry-leading industrial process palletizerssolutions—includingautomationconveyors,anddepalletizers—to the food-and beverage, aluminum can, and consumer staples (household goods, hygiene products, etc.) industries.

JUST AIM AND CHUTE

GRIPPING NEWS Designed to enhance operations involving the use of collaborative robots (cobots), Piab’s clever end-of-arm (EOAT) vacuum tool piCOBOT is now available with a generic electrical interface as well as several options for mechanical mounting plate dimensions in accordance with the ISO 9409-1 standard, enabling it to be configured to work with any collaborative robot. By o ering generic compatibility for piCOBOT, Piab is answering calls from manufacturers of cobots wishing to use the company’s unique vacuum EOAT in collaboration with their cobots. Through a user-friendly online configuration tool, Piab’s customers can choose between a generic electrical interface with a standard cable, or one specified by Universal Robots. Featuring Piab’s proprietary and highly e icient COAX vacuum technology, the piCOBOT comprises a vacuum pump unit and a gripper unit fitted with suction cups, which are available in a wide range of sizes and payload capacities to let customers tailor their own application solutions.

DEAL Eastey, a division of Engage Technologies Corporation, has introduced the model EB80 automatic bundler series, equipped with the company’s renowned hot knife technology to ensure consistent positive sealing of polyethylene film. Featuring 80-inch seal width to accommodate larger product like doors, windows, larger corrugate bundles, etc., the EB80 bundler is welded onto 0.25-inch cold-rolled steel frame and designed to handle day-to-day abuse of even the most demanding bundling applications— utilizing two rolls of single wound film mounted on the same side of the machine and an upper and lower power film unwind for ease-of-use. (Eastey Div. of Engage Technologies Corp.)

Piab

The new ModularHelical Chute (HMC) from CorporationInterroll is designed to provide optimumoptimaluseof available workspace with a simple and easy solution for vertical transport and product transfer in confined spaces. With a durable and robust steel construction, the new HMC serves a wide range of material handling applications for the retail and e-commerce, warehousing and distribution applications, as well as for the courier, express and parcel sectors. With its small footprint, the flexible chute seamlessly suits many diverse material flow requirements to accommodate a broad range of product quantities, sizes, and various packaging formats such as cartons, case, trays, bags, etc., while o ering the versatility attributes of 700-, 900-, 1,100- and 1,250-mm conveying widths, a decline angle between 18 and 26 degrees, an entry slide width of 2.5 meters, as well as an arc angle range between 90 and 180 degrees for optimal operational flexibility. Interroll BREATHEGroupEASY!

The new AirMax Pro BreatherSmartfrom Regal Rexnord is designed to keep runninggearboxeslonger by utilizing Percep tiv connected technology to monitor gearbox status in real time. De veloped to prevent leading causes of gearbox failure caused by lubricant contamination or corrosion inside the box due to abrasion, erosion, fatigue and corrosive wear, the AirMax Pro Smart Breather extends the life of industrial lubricants by preventing contamination with desiccant breathers; removes contaminants with filtration systems; and detects lubricant problems with visual oil analysis. In addition, the breather detects and records any unusual spikes in humidity and water ingress by integrating with Regal Rexnord’s Perceptiv connected technology, which uses Cloud-based technology to track, report, communicate and share performance data—enabling users to monitor the status of their equipment through a variety of modules, sensors, and other connected products with early detection of system upsets. Regal Rexnord Corp.

September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 11 4 24 2 x 2 22 • agfa co • ltra ig s d for ig st roducti it • 4 or it and ri r • obust industrial build it ad anc d auto ation • xt nd d acuu for corrugat d rinting • Six conﬁgurations: 4 for board, 2 for rolls re t r c rr ted t ted r d cti n s eedt rd innin i e it ink c ns ti n d certiﬁed inks ti auro S t t b ast ti auro S ill continu to s t us a art Dan Deveau, President, Cameron Advertising LET’SGLANCEFIRSTSEALTHE

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 13 down of residual food waste sent to landfill. This latter point is key to any discussion sur rounding compostables. With methane from landfill being a significant contributor to global GHG (greenhouse gas emissions), governments worldwide are committing themselves to the intro duction of mandatory household food waste col lection

1. HEAVILY SOILED POTS, TUBS, AND TRAYS. One of the most cited scenarios where compostable packaging could come in useful is with food con tact packaging, where the product is heavily con taminated by food waste and di cult for consum ers to clean, such as microwavable ready-to-eat mealInstead,trays. a compostable microwavable tray could be placed into a food waste bin in areas where in dustrial composting facilities exist or, depending on the material, into a home composter. Any left over food within the tray would then become compost, rather than food waste sent to landﬁll. This would also reduce the number of trays being sent to landﬁll and improve the quality of recyclables by keeping contaminated products out of recycling bins.

However, these materials can be challenging and costly from a recycling perspective, as they can stick together and get tangled with other recyc lables. Compostable plastics could have a role to play here—especially where products are contam inated with food, as in the case of single-serve sa chets. In such a scenario, compostable packaging and any leftovers could be disposed of together in a food waste bin for collection and treatment.

In these instances, where conventional plastics regularly end up in organic waste, it makes sense to switch to compostable alternatives to improve the quality of the ﬁnal compost.

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Interestingly, WRAP highlights tea bags as one of the only areas where compostable plastic pack aging should always be used in place of traditional plastics, because they are regularly placed within the organic waste collection. Ensuring consumer awareness of correct dis posal methods is of the utmost importance when considering the use of compostable plastic solu tions. Manufacturers using compostable plastics should ensure that all items are clearly labeled to avoid the risk of compostable materials being dis posed of inappropriately and contaminating the natural environment or conventional plastic recyc lingConsiderationssystems. should bear in mind the di er ences in regional recycling systems. When using industrially compostable materials, for example, brands should advise how to dispose of an item in the absence of an industrial composting facility.

Someprograms.oftheupcoming regulations include:

2. FLEXIBLE FOOD CONTACT PACKAGING. Flexible plastic wrap is a popular feature in food and beverage applications in everything from sin gle-serve condiment sachets to pre-packed, readymade salads and convenience pouches.

Certain items regularly end up in home compost, or organic waste collection, despite containing conventional, non-compostable plastic. Such items include tea bags, which many consumers incorrectly assume to be entirely compostable, and fruit and vegetable stickers that are often disposed alongside fruit and vegetable peelings.

WRAP advises that manufacturers consider the introduction of special labeling to inform consum ers how items should be disposed of, rather than using vague statements, such as ‘100-percent compostable,’ without disposal information. Where on-pack space is at a premium, informa tion could be included within a 2D code, such as a QR or Data Matrix code, to provide easily access ible information to consumers via a smartphone or tablet. The beauty of using a 2D code for such applications is that a brand is not limited in the amount of information it can provide. Standards such as GS1 Digital Link could be utilized to identify a consumer’s location and pro vide personalized information based on their regional recycling capabilities—potentially even linking to the nearest available recycling point. In addition, brands can use product coding and marking to assist in the identiﬁcation of packaging types at recycling centers and allow for the removal of compostable material that has ended up in plastic recycling. Projects supporting such initiatives include Holy Grail 2.0, which utilizes digital watermarking for product identiﬁ cation.There is no doubt that compostable materials are an exciting new development in the packaging market. However, as with any switch in materials, the use of compostable plastic packaging requires careful consideration. In addition, any brand considering a switch in packaging solutions should enlist responsible and experienced supply chain and manufacturing partners to minimize the risk of change.

• U.K. government’s Resources and Waste Strategy, which pledges the introduction of separate collections for household food waste in the U.K. by 2023. As the scenarios below outline, these upcoming regulations present a considerable opportunity for compostable plastic packaging when used correct ly:

LEE METTERS is group business development director at product coding technologies group Domino Printing Sciences in Cambridge, U.K.

• European Directive (EU) 2018/851, mandat ing the introduction of separate collection of food waste as of January 1, 2024, within the European Union.

3. ITEMS DESTINED FOR THE COMPOST PILE.

All brands should partner with an experienced coding and marking provider who can support sustainability design with coding solutions for compostable plastics, advise on appropriate label ing choices, and help ensure products will be ac cepted by retailers, valued by consumers, and trusted by everyone with an environmental con science.

14 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 15 Packs from our MULTIVAC packaging machines provide more than just a way to get your product from production line to dinner plate. They also provide consumer convenience, product protection, marketing and labelling real estate, and even help to reduce global food waste. We have been extending the shelf life of food for over 60 years, helping manufacturers like you to innovate fresh ideas in Processing and Packaging. Isn’t it time we helped you? Packaging Equipment Packaging MULTIVACDoughLabellingInspectionAutomationPortioningPreparationMaterials&Processing&Slicing&Integration&Veriﬁcation&CodingProcessingCanadaInc.1-877-264-1170 ca.multivac.com sales@ca.multivac.com Modiﬁed Atmosphere Packaging Meet us at Booth # 200 Meat Industry Expo October 14-15, 2022 Niagara Falls Convention Centre Booth # 1901 / 1907 PACKEX Montréal November 9-10, 2022 Montreal Convention Centre

16 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

espite being one of the world’s most universal ly beloved snack foods, potato chips carry a fair big of historic baggage from their unhealthyunflatteringtraditionalportrayalasaposterchildforeatingand poor nutritional habits. But thanks to companies like Natural ly Homegrown Foods of Surrey, B.C., legions of Canadian consumers with a shared fondness for the thin, seasoned potato slices cooked to crispy, crunchy perfection can rest easy knowing that not all potato chips are created equal—far from it. As the only potato chip manufacturer operating in all of British Columbia, the privately-owned company’s unique kettle-cooking process and the use of all-natural ingredients have enabled it to cultivate a strong and loyal fan base among Canadian consumers increasing looking for innovative BFY (better for you) snack ing options without compromising on taste, quality and overall gratification they crave from their favorite munchies. Originally launched in 1998, the com pany’s flagship Hardbite brand of potato chips, recently expanded to include root vegetable chips in its portfolio, tick many of the boxes that make it an attractive choice in today’s marketplace driven by a pronounced trend towards health-andwellness and sound nutritional awareness. No GMOs? Check. No transfats? Check. Gluten-free? Check. Peanut-free? Check. Kosher-certified? Check. No arti ficial ingredients or preservatives? Doublecheck.

HARD TO HEART COVER STORY

Kirk FoodsHomegrownNaturallyPresident,Homenick,Ltd.

West Coast snack-food pioneer builds up remarkable brand loyalty for its all-natural chips with daring product innovation and world-class packaging excellence

By George Guidoni, Editor Photos by David Buzzard

“One key area that the consumer is currently seeking is transparency as it re lates to ingredients,” Homenick says. “Trust is an increasing attribute that consumers are seeking today, and we ad dress this through our Non-GMO Project veriﬁcation and by sourcing [ingredients] as close to our facility as possible.”

“We have beneﬁted from strong brand awareness and heritage in the Western Canadian geography, which is our home base,” Homenick relates.

“The snack food industry is large and highly competitive,” says Homenick, cit

The growing product portfolio and warm market reception has enabled Nat urally Homegrown to secure national distribution for its brands across Canada, Homenick relates, while also opening up new export opportunities to enter the fast-growing global market estimated at US$32.2 billion in 2020.

Kettle-cooked via a consistent batch process to ensure superior taste profile and a healthy satisfying crunch in every bite, the Hardbite brand enjoyed early lo cal success among the health-conscious West Coast consumers, but the fledgling upstart lacked the capital resources and marketing clout to really grow the brand outside of its home confines. That all changed when Homenick and his business partner took over the com pany and renamed it as Naturally Home grown Foods, while leveraging the Hard bite anchor brand’s growing popularity to make significant market share gains by introducing exciting new flavor varieties and high-impact brand packaging in spired by Mother Nature and the great outdoors.Withpack sizes ranging from sin gle-serve 150-gram pillow-packs to Club Store multipacks containing up to 32 bags in assorted flavor varieties, “We o er a broad range of SKUs (stock-keeping units) to appeal to di erent consumers and snacking occasions,” Homenick states.“Our SKUs range in di erent flavor profiles and pack sizes,” says Homenick, citing Hardbite All Natural and Hard bite Salt & Vinegar as the company’s bestselling flavors. “That said, we have seen tremendous consumer demand for new and innovative flavors,” Homenick relates, pointing to recent market launches of the new Hard bite Spicy Dill Pickle, Apple Cider Vinegar, and Spicy Ketchup varieties.

“We have also historically expanded our geographic reach into Eastern Canada and the U.S markets,” Homenick adds.

“Most recently we have gained signifi cant distribution in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea,” he confides, “and we will be launching in Australia by the end of 2022.”Not surprisingly, all this robust product development and marketing activity gained momentum around the same time that the company began making major capital upgrades to its manufacturing operation with a continuous influx of automated processing and packaging equipment to cut labor costs and boost line e ciencies and productivity.

The state-of-theart Ishida model CCW-RV ControlfacilitySurreyHomegrown’satexpertlypackagingintegratedyieldsandproductprecisionoptimalhandlinggentleprocessbatchouskeyweighscalesautomaticaretothecontinu-high-speedproductionrequiringproductandweighingtoreducegiveawayensurehighonthenewlineinstalledNaturallynewproductionbyHeatandCanada.

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 17

The company’s comprehensive capital upgrades over the last several years have resulted in a complete transformation of Naturally Homegrown from a boutique niche manufacturer into a highly compe tent and competitive snack-food manu facturer capably holding its own against huge multinational brand-owners domin ating the current industry landscape.

In addition to expanding its ‘classic’ Hardbite range of potato chips, the com pany has also diversiﬁed into the produc tion of chips made from root vegetables such as carrot, beet and parsnip, while also introducing a new range of BFY potato chips kettle-cooked in avocado oil.

“The consumer is seeking brands that they can trust and align with who they are,” says Naturally Homegrown Foods presi dent and co-owner Kirk Homenick, who acquired the Hardbite business from its original founder in 2011.

“Nevertheless,heavyweights.regional brands do have advantages in the areas where they pro duce,” he points out, “because value and brand loyalty are very important consum er attributes in those home markets.

To get the new plant to run immedi ately at full production mode without in curring any downtime at its former exist ing location, Naturally Homegrown worked closely with Heat and Control Canada Inc., headquartered in Cam bridge, Ont., to acquire and to install high-performance packaging and process ing equipment—raising the new facility’s line and process e ciencies to world-class levels.Heat and Control Canada is the Can adian subsidiary of Heat and Control Inc. Based in Hayward, Ca., the renowned food manufacturing technologies group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of modern industrial processing, coating, seasoning, conveying, weighing, packaging, inspection and controls systems—o ering best-of-breed food production technologies as standalone machines or as fully-integrated, custom-engineered end-to-end line solu tions.As Heat and Control Canada’s general manager Chris Jenkins recalls, “The re cent move to a new location this past spring required careful coordination, since Naturally Homegrown needed to Machine operator prepping up a new roll of high-barrier film to run through the new Ishida Inspire vertical bagmaking system used to package Hardbite brand chips in flexible pillow-packs at speeds of over 100 packs per minute, depending on bag size.

“We are on-trend with our brand attrib utes of o ering BFY options, along with innovative ﬂavors and pack sizes to meet our consumers’ needs.”

(From left) The Inspirafilledpillow-packClose-upoperation.user-friendlypaneltouchscreenbagmaker’sTheproductensuretensioncenteringautomaticbagmakerInspirafeaturesfilmandcontroltoconsistentquality.InspiralargeHMIensuresofabeinginsidethebagger.

Says Homenick: “Over the course of the past ﬁve years our organization has diligently grown the Hardbite brand of snack food products, increasing distribu tion and launching new products.

“Consumer decision triggers in the snack market can be very impulsive,” he says, “and they are often based on product value, price, brand recognition and loyal ty.”Homenick says he is especially upbeat on the company’s prospects in coming months and years following completion of a milestone move of its manufacturing operations this past spring to a brand-new, 43,000-square-foot production facility in Surrey, roughly a half-hour drive from downtown Vancouver, employing about 85 full-time sta . “One of the big strategic advantages of this facility is that we are located close to a number of our key customers, as well as suppliers of our ingredients,” says Homenick, crediting local engineering services provider LaPorte Engineering for the ﬁrst-rate project management ex pertise in laying out the new facility and commissioning new equipment.

Frito-Lay, Campbell Soup, Old Dutch Foods, Hain Celestial, UTZ Brands and Kellogg as perennial indus try

18 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM COVER STORY ing

Says Homenick: “Packaging really is the face of our brand and our best way to communicate with our consumers. “I expect our packaging will continue to evolve in the coming years,” he states. “I also anticipate that we will see advan ces in packaging that address the recyc lability of the materials that the snack in dustry uses, while enhancing shelf-life and product quality.” Last year, Naturally Homegrown’s packaging savvy and expertise received prestigious industry acclaim and recogni tion by winning the coveted Canadian Grand Prix Best New Product Award of the Retail Council of Canada in the Savory Snacks category for its large-for mat Club-style Explorer Pack multipack comprising 32 bags of the company’s bestselling chip ﬂavor varieties—includ ing Rock Salt & Vinegar, Spicy Dill Pickle, Ketchup and Wild Onion &Yogurt ﬂavors.

“We are very grateful for the support that they provided us,” says Homenick, adding the new plant has been consistent ly running three daily shifts around-theclock since coming online. Having already completed a third-party HAACP (Hazardous Analysis Critical Control Points) certification, the new fa cility is planning to complete the globally recognized SQF (Safe Quality Foods) certification audit by the end of this year, says Homenick, adding the new facility was been designed and built with su cient room to accommodate future cap acity“Weexpansions.currently have three packaging lanes in the facility,” he says, “which allows us to produce a variety of di erent flavors and pack styles simultaneously. “We have made significant changes to our operations over the past five years,” Homenick relates, “as we have complete ly automated our packaging area.”

Above: The ACP-701 case-packer’s HMI control panel can store over 500 pre-set bag and case sizes, packing patterns and other key variables for quick changeovers.

O ering a robust combination of ad vanced software, digital ﬁltering, and precise feeder control to reduce product giveaway and to ensure higher yield, CCW-RV weighers provide a highly e cient and operator-friendly solution, ac cording to Jenkins.

• A brand new Ishida Inspira series VFFS (vertical form/ﬁll/seal) bag maker designed to ensure consistent, superior forming/sealing perform ance of up to 200 bags per minute, featuring cutting-edge motor drive technology for exceptionally precise positional jaw control at the point of sealing, along with quick and easy

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 19 keep production running at the old plant while they installed and commissioned the newDespitefacility.”the many logistical challenges unleashed by the COVID-19 outbreak, Jenkins and his team worked tirelessly with Naturally Homegrown to develop a high-speed, end-to-end packaging and product inspection solution capable of continuously handling up to 120 bags per minute.“The Heat and Control after-sales support, including project management and on-site ﬁeld service technicians, made our job much easier at a time when every one continued to deal with COVID-19 related travel issues and shipping industry delays,” Jenkins recalls. “Like a lot of food manufacturers today, Naturally Homegrown recognizes the advantages of increased automation and the improved e ciencies associated with total system solutions,” Jenkins relates.

The chip-making process at the Surrey plant begins with the arrival of raw pota toes and vegetables, which are quickly sorted, washed and pre-processed before being placed inside the batch kettle fryers in the plant’s processing area. After the product is sorted again to re move any defects, namely undercooked or overcooked chips, the cooked product is accumulated, seasoned according to reci pe, and moved on to the packaging area, where is packed inside pillow bags and into boxes or display-ready shipping con tainers.Tomake the process run as smoothly as possible, while ensuring optimal product safety, Heat and Control designed and assembled a high-performance integrated packaging solution comprising:

Clockwise from Left: The Markem-Imaje model SmartDate X65 thermal-transfer overprinter used to apply barocdes and other variable information onto the running film web; a full side view of the new Ishida model ACP-701 multifunctional case-packer capable of packing up to 150 packs per minute; a stack of corrugated shipping containers being fed inside the ACP-701 case-packer.

• Two models of CCW-RV automatic multihead weighscales manufac tured in Japan by Ishida Co Ltd, a long-time global equipment partner with Heat and Control.

20 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM COVER STORY

For his part, Heat and Control’s Jen kins is also proud of the trust, rapport and comfort levels that his company has built up with Naturally Homegrown.

“Kirk and his team are extremely know ledgeable and very forthcoming with their challenges as they continue to grow their business.“Ibelieve Heat and Control is uniquely positioned in the industry to provide them with not only equipment solutions,” Jen kins concludes, “but also with an abun dance of knowledge to help the Hardbite team solve any issues they may encounter with the various equipment they have ac quired over the years.”

“It really provides a valuable ‘peace of mind’ for the Hardbite quality control team,” Jenkins points out, also citing in corporation of an Ishida model TSC-RVS bag thickness and seal checker at the entry point into the ACP-700 automatic case-packer.SaysJenkins: “As the leading snackfood packaging team, Heat and Control and Ishida are both very familiar with high-speed packaging, but the Hardbite packaging film was a real challenge. “It’s thick and makes a uniquely attract ive bag,” he says, “but it’s not the easiest film to process at high speeds. “Sending film to the Heat and Control packaging division o ce facility in Lan caster, Pennsylvania, and also to Ishida in Japan for testing was all part of a thorough process to ensure that Naturally Home grown reached their production and quality targets,” Jenkins relates, “and that they were totally satisfied with the Ishida system solution.

Freshly cooked red and white potato chips towardsside-by-sidetransferredbeingthe Surrey plant’s colors.whiteCanada’sapotatotheproductlimited-editionofNorthHardbitemakepackaginghigh-speedlinetobagsoftheTrueSpudsbrandchips.Thiscombinestwodierentvarietiesinplayfultributetored-and-nationalflag

“We feel extremely grateful for the on going support that we have received from their team over the years as they have helped support our growth.”

Accordingadjustment.toHomenick, “We are ex cited to adopt the Ishida Inspira in our new“Wefacility.have seen a shift in consumer de mands towards portion- and snack-sized packs,” he says, “and the Inspira ma chine’s throughput rate of more than 100 bags per minute is very important to us. “In the past these smaller sizes were di cult to pack e ciently,” Homenick notes, “but the new Inspira will allow us to stay on top of these consumer trends and needs going forward.”

Joiningchangeovers.thetwo existing Ishida Astro series bagmakers moved in from the company’s previous production facility in Maple Ridge, B.C., the Inspira bag maker features a new splice table lightbar for easier and faster film splicing, simpler film feed with fewer rollers, and error-free forming of block-bottom gus seted, hem-seal and pillow bags, with fully automated film centering and ten sion

“The experience of continuing to work with a unique outﬁt like Naturally Home grown has been very rewarding for us at Heat and Control,” he states.

Please see a video of the fully automated packaging line, installed by Heat and Control at the new Naturally Homegrown Foods potato and vegetable chip manufacturing plant in Surrey, B.C., running in full flow on Canadian Packaging TV at www.canadianpackaging.com

SUPPLIERS Heat and Control Canada Inc. Ishida Co Ltd CEIA Spa

“At this stage, I am pleased to report that Hardbite is reaching all the expected targets in terms of output, manpower savings and overall e ciency associated with the Ishida high-speed packaging system.”Homenick concurs: “All Heat and Control equipment comes with a level of conﬁdence that you know will perform in a trusted manner.

• An Ishida model ACP-701R auto matic case-packer. Designed as a compact high-speed case-packing solution for packing small and large bags inside boxes at speed of 150 units per minute (approximately 10 cases per minute), the new-genera tion case-packer combines case-packing, case aligning, bag packing, sorting, closing and sealing in one machine, while handling a wide range of bag sizes, case sizes and pack patterns. Allowing users to store up to 500 preset case and bag sizes, pack patterns and other key variables via its large color touchscreen human-machine interface (HMI) terminal, the versatile case-packer can be automatically set up in less than three minutes without any tools or other manual operation—eliminating the risk of human errors and related downtime. “We have been very happy with the new Ishida automatic case-packer,” says Homenick, adding he was already im pressed by the performance of the model ACP 700 case-packer that the company had previously installed at its old plant. “In the current environment, where there has been a notable scarcity of labor in the marketplace, we have found that the ACPs have been critical for us to maintain our production run rates,” Homenick states. To ensure optimal product quality and safety at all stages of the packaging pro cess, Heat and Control also installed a pair of model THS/G21E drop-through metal detectors, manufactured in Italy by CEIA SpA, which are fully integrated with the Ishida weighscales and bagmakers to en sure reliable detection and removal of even the tiniest metallic particles that may have found their way into the product ﬂow.

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Ryson Spiral Conveyors need less floor space than conventional conveyors and are faster and more reliable than any elevator or lift.

Narrow Trak Spirals are super compact and designed to handle your smaller loads. Our 6” and 9” wide nesting slats can end-transfer small cartons and packages or side-transfer small bottles and containers in a single file or in mass at speeds in excess of 200 FPM.

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Ryson Bucket Elevators are designed for gentle handling and well-suited to transport a broad range of bulk products. Our signature feature is that they are completely enclosed with overlapping pivoting buckets, that prevent spillage and helps mitigate foreign debris. Their modular design enables us to customize with ease. They can be configured with multiple inlets or outlets that can be controlled individually. The design makes them easy to install and modify. Available in three standard bucket sizes, yielding capacities up to 300, 700 or 1,800 cubic feet per hour. They can also be delivered in powder-coated carbon-steel, stainless-steel or wet environment versions.

• Pho

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September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 21 Watch our detailed ElevatorBucketVideo Spiral Conveyors & Bucket Elevators Ryson Vertical Conveying Solutions

Unit Load Spirals convey cases, totes and packaged goods smoothly on our slat style belts and come in 9 standard slat widths ranging from 6” to 30”. Available in powder coated carbon steel, stainless steel, wet environment and freezer versions.

Mass Flow Spirals handle full and empty bottles, cans and jars in mass up to 2000 units per minute. Available in 4 different slat widths ranging from 6” to 20”.

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Ryson’s Bucket Elevators combine vertical and horizontal transportation of bulk materials in one integral unit.

All Ryson equipment is modular and built to order. No matter the application, the Ryson team is up to the challenge of finding solutions for your conveying needs. For application assistance or more information, give us a call or visit www.ryson.com . Yorktown, VA 23692 n e: (757) 898 (757) 898

22 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM NO MORE REASON TO PUT DECISIONS ON ICE. THE LIGHTLINE CARTONPACKER

The world’s leading FMCG and private label manufacturers rely on Schubert. www.schubert.group

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO PACK?

The LIGHTLINE CARTONPACKER consists of a single compact machine frame, and packs boxes, cans, bags or bottles into cartons and trays with or without a lid, wrap-around cartons and RSC cartons. It offers an affordable and space-saving possibility to automate packaging processes with the most efﬁ cient technology on the market while ensuring the highest availability and packaging quality.

The lightline machines from Schubert can be delivered quickly and are exceptionally attractive in terms of price . With the preconfi gured machines, customers can adapt more fl exibly to market trends and signifi cantly shorten their time-to-market.

BOOTHWELCOME#8730 P A C K E X P O C H I C A G O OCTOBER 23 26, 2022

WHAT TYPE OF CARTON SHOULD IT BE?

Hardworking Quebec seafood processor leverages superior product quality and versatile packaging machinery to meet growing consumer demand By Andrew Snook

“We source our products from around the world,” says Éric Bissonnette, manag ing director for Frandon Seafoods, “but we like to put an emphasis on local prod ucts like lobsters, crab, Nordic shrimp, turbot and halibut.

Since being acquired by Premium Brands in 2019, the combined resources of the two companies have allowed Fran don to grow considerably, taking advan tage of additional capital and a coast-to-

Brandon machine.vacuum-packingrollstockP-SeriestheClubfilletswholeCloutierCarl-MichelsalesCanada’s(left)ÉricmanagingSeafood’sdirectorBissonnetteandVC999regionalmanagerhidingupfreshsalmonpackagedinPacksizesonontheVC999P420film

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 23

Photos by Pierre Longtin or over 35 years, Frandon Seafoods has been sup plying high-quality ﬁsh products to the people of Quebec and beyond. Starting out as a small distributor catering to Montreal’s foodservice industry in 1986, the company has since undergone multiple expansions.Frandon Seafoods entered the retail market in 2009, and less than a decade later was acquired by Premium Brands Frandon is now an importer wholesaler distributor supplying primarily the Que bec and eastern Ontario markets. Frandon services all sectors of the food industry including product development and innovation. Based in Saint-Léonard Que., the company employs more than 100 employees working two productions shifts (days and evenings), as well as a night shift for sanitation.

OFCATCHTHE DAY PACKAGING FOR FRESHNESS

“There are still lots of products that we need to market from our own waters to local markets,” Bissonnette says. “We serve foodservice customers, large and small retailers, regional distributors, ﬁsh mongers, manufacturers, home meal re placement products, and more.”

Two years ago, the company began accelerating its capital investment on the packaging side of the business with the purchase of a versatile P420 P-Series rollstockManufacturedmachine. by renowned Swiss A selection of di erent products and packaging format and sizes procedssed on the VC999 model P420 rollstock vacuum-packing system.

VC999 Canada supplies the Frandon Seafood facility with high-quality barrier films used to make the Club Store salmon fillet vacuum-packs.

24 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM PACKAGING FOR FRESHNESS coast distribution network.

“It (packaging) is becoming an import ant area of our business,” Bissonnette acknowledges. “Every day we are think ing of new ways to use the equipment so that we can meet all the requests we get.”

Frandon Seafood machine operator placing fresh whole salmon fillets inide the film-lined cavities of the model P420 vacuum-packer.

“We have a lot of experienced people in our organization,” he says. “Our know ledge of the products and the industry, combined with our variety of products and, most of all, our service excellence, is what really sets us apart from the compe tition.”With production and processing of ﬁsh products currently comprising about 35 per cent of the company’s business, Fran don is continuously investing in its pro cessing and packaging lines at its state-ofthe-art 45,000-square-foot production facility.“Weare committed to becoming the biggest processor in the province,” Bis sonnette says adding that Premium Brands has been extremely supportive of all of the company’s initiatives to grow its market share. With food safety, quality and sustaina bility all being top priorities in all aspects of Frandon’s operations, the company has created a dedicated four-person team, led by its quality assurance director, man dated to ensure that all of its certiﬁcation protocols—including HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) , SQF (Safe Quality Food), Ecocert and the feder al permit—are stringently followed to the letter and solidly implanted in the com pany’s work culture.

In the past year, Frandon imported and sold over 10 million pounds of ﬁsh and“Weseafood.arepart of a Quebec seafood dis tributor list that Premium Brands ac quired in the latest couple of years which, combined, is making us the biggest in the province,” Bissonnette says. “Our eco system is very strong and very beneﬁcial for all the di erent entities.” Bissonnette adds that his knowledge able team is also a big reason for the company’s success.

“They want quality and sustainability in their plates,” he says, noting that the current labor shortages in the industry have created new challenges on the pack aging side of Frandon’s business for ready-to-sell products.

“More and more customers are looking for peace of mind when buying and eating seafood,” Bissonnette says.

The P420 vacuum-packing machine easily accommodates extra-large film rolls to maintain continuous production with minimal changeovers.

packaging machine-builder VC999 Packaging Systems, the P-Series ma chines are designed to run flexible, rigid, semi-rigid, skin and shrink films to pro duce superior air-tight packaging to en sure optimal product protection and freshness.“Thismachine does rigid, flexible and skin-pack on the same machine without a die or mechanical adjustment,” says Carl-Michel Cloutier, sales manager for eastern Canada at VC999 Canada Inc. in Saint-Germain-de-Grantham, Que. “We developed it five years ago when we started selling that machine specific ally for the fish market,” says Cloutier, adding that supplies Frandon with rigid, flexible and breathable films for fish packaging through the company’s VC999 Materials Division unit.

“It also lets us package either fresh or frozen products.

“Fish has no standards as far size and shape are concerned,” he says, “but the VC999 is permitting us to adapt to most of them using di erent dies.

“We are also packaging marinated products,” Bissonnette points out, “and the VC999 P-Series machine is built in a way where the liquid marinade is well accepted into the package, creating no problem for packaging our skewers.” According to Bissonnette, one of the main reasons that Frandon opted for VC999 technologies is for the company’s reliable service and knowledgeable sta .

“Since we are still relatively new in this market segment, we also solicit them for advice when we are developing new pack aging ideas,” Bissonnette says.

A VC999 model PT 500 labeler (inset) is attached to the P420 rollstock machine to apply product labels and price stickers for customers demanding completely shelf-ready packages for their retail outlets.

The user-friendly HMI (human-machine interface) touchscreen control panel of the P420 rollstock machine can store hundreds of pre-set program recipes to help facilitate quick product set-up and changeovers.

Bissonnette says the biggest challenge related to packaging ﬁsh is its constantly changing size and shape, but that has been addressed with their investment in VC999 technologies.

A close-up of the semi-rigid, air-tight vacuum skin-pack of white fish fillets packaged on the verstile VC999 model P420 rollstock machine.

“When you put a new packaged prod uct out on the market, you can’t go back,” he says, “so you need to make sure you are well supported by your equipment company.“Speedy service and parts availability are very important in case you have a breakdown,” Bissonnette says, adding that Frandon also beneﬁts from VC999 Canada’s solid industry knowledge when developing new packaging concepts.

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 25

“Their know-how and experience are a huge help for us at that stage of product development.”AsBissonnette relates, when the com pany started looking into purchasing packaging equipment for new products it was developing, VC999 was recom mended as a packaging equipment sup plier by the general manager of another sister-company owned by Premium Brands.“VC999 Canada came up with the best overall package, including versatility, upgrading, service, fastest delivery and price,” Bissonnette recalls.

As Bissonnette points out, the new VC999 P420 P-Series rollstock machine is actually the second piece of VC999 equipment that Frandon has purchased to Aboutdate. five years ago, the company ac quired the model XtraVac 860 vac uum-packing machine to be able to im prove its packaging for the grocery retail market.Since arriving at the plant, the new VC999 P420 P-Series rollstock machine has been extremely helpful for packaging the fresh fish products that Frandon of fers, according to Bissonnette. Due to the fragile nature of the prod uct, and with fresh fish requiring an oxy gen transfer aways from the product, all the adjustments in the vacuum process need to be very precise and steady. “Once you have set your program, the equipment is very easy to use,” Bisson nette says. “It is a plug-and-play. “Most ideas we have for new products are doable with the VC999 equipment we purchased,” Bissonnette relates. “That is very important because we want to maximize our ROI (return-on-in vestment),” he says, “and also because of space-saving aspect, which is crucial in ourTheenvironment.”robustP420 P-Series rollstock machine technology and the helpful VC999 Canada sta have provided an important competitive advantage for Frandon in terms of both productivity and“Basically,innovation.none of our projects and new ideas would have been feasible with out it and their team,” Bissonnette extols.

The P420 P-Series rollstock machine is equipped with one servo-driven moving punching/cutting station, so that Fran don can make any type of packing format or size they may require in the future. Cloutier adds that the high-perform ance machine is fully equipped with all Managing director Éric Bissonnette praises the flexibility of the P420 machine to process a variety of di erent package formats, styles and sizes.

“Those new ideas are increasing our purchase power as our volume increase and as projects gets developed.”

“We did our due diligence before sign ing up with them,” he adds. “We called at least ﬁve di erent companies that were using their products, and they all highly recommended them to us.”

26 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM PACKAGING FOR FRESHNESS

“Frandon is well supported by our corporate department for all our product development initiatives,” Bissonnette concludes, “as it continues to be a grow ing segment for us.

“There is no doubt in our mind that further automation will be a key part of our future.”

The P420 rollstock machine at the Frandon plant is connected to with a Markem-Imaje thermal-transfer print er—equipped with top and bottom labellers—to take care of all lot number and dating on the ﬁlm, printing all the required variable product information at highSomeresolution.ofthe P420 rollstock system’s other notable features and attributes in

“They also have a spacial loading grid to protect the loading area against con tamination for marinated products,” he says, “and they have an on-site chiller so that so that they don’t have to use city water.“It’s a real ‘green machine’ concept,” says Cloutier, adding that the machine’s throughput speeds of 12 to 14 cycles per minute o ers Frandon plenty of room to grow its production volumes over time.

SUPPLIERS VC999 Canada Inc. Please see a video of the VC999 P420 P-Series rollstock vacuum-packing machine in action at the Frandon Seafood plant on Canadian Packaging TV at www.canadianpackaging.com

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 27

•clude:A swing arm HMI (human-machine interface) control panel;

• The Know Now! Machine/Production Metrics software for both live set-up and historic production data collec tion and reporting. With sustainability is an integral aspect of Frandon’s operations, the company is always looking for more eco-friendly packaging options as they become avail able.“We work very closely with packaging manufacturers,” Bissonnette confides. “Our products are very shelf-life-sensi tive and come in many di erent shape and forms: therefore their support is of the utmost importance. “Being a federal plant, HACCP & SQF certified, we need our materials to be of superior quality as well,” Bissonnette says. So what does the future hold for Fran donBissonnetteSeafoods? says the company is dedi cated to developing new shelf-ready products and ideas for its customers while ensuring optimal product integrity and“Wequality.aredefinitely in expansion mode, and we welcome any product ideas or needs from our existing and new custom ers,’ he says. “We want to be the Quebec solution for ready-to-use seafood prod ucts in the province.

“Fish has very limited shelf-life,” he says, “so our proximity to markets will help us immensely.” To conquer those markets, the com pany will continue to invest in new prod uct and packaging development, accord ing to Bissonnette, as well as install more automated packaging machinery.

“This machine has a jumbo roll for the forming station, so that they can put on really big rolls, and not have to change forming rolls very often,” he explain.

The levelsboostplentymentsspeedcurrentexceedscomfortablysize,productdependingperofthroughputfacilityFrandoninstalledrollstockP-SeriesVC999P420machineattheSeafoodoersspeed12to14cyclesminute,ontheandpackwhichtheplant’sproductionrequire-andprovidesofroomtoproductioninthefuture.

“VC999 Canada came up with the best overall price.”fastestupgrading,includingpackge,versatility,service,deliveryand

“They don’t run at that speed right now because they don’t have enough produc tion yet,” Cloutier remarks.

• The p-Software programming suite, designed to control the ma chine’s operations with high e ciency and ease of use; • The IP 65-rated stainless-steel dis play enclosure; • Intelligent integrated diagnostics;

the latest control technologies and mul tiple value-added features.

CANADIAN CANADIANPACKAGING.COM TURN BREAKTHROUGHSINTOBOTTLENECKSYOUR Are persistent bottlenecks cutting into profits and disrupting customer service levels? Leveraging advanced warehouse execution software, high-speed sortation, AS/RS shuttles and robotic automation, we can help you to clear hurdles and solve fulfillment challenges. © 2022 Honeywell Intelligrated. All rights reserved. Scan the QR code to find “breakthrough”.your

Current packaging features a sous-vide flexible pouch placed into a pre-made ovenable tray, all surrounded by a printed, recyclable paperboard sleeve featuring the company’s iconic logo of a meatball withNowwings.available in five di erent flavors, The Flying Meatballs product line con tinues to grow, with distribution expand ing from the family store to local specialty retailers, then to regional retailers and now to national grocery chains, several sell-out appearances on the QVC shop ping channel, and their new online dir ect-to-consumer store. Using the knowledge gained as part of the process, the company now has se cured more new business and invested in more packaging equipment to serve as a co-packer for several well-known brands of hot dogs and gourmet ready-meals for one of the most prominent DTC (dir ect-to-consumer) meat brands in the U.S.

Enterprising New Jersey chef Natale Grande holding up packs of The Flying Meatballs brand of ready-to-eat authen tic Italian dishes packed in CRYOVAC sous-vide film pouches placed inside cookingovenabletrays. family tradition quickly takes ﬂight with a little help from its packaging friends

New business development manager

SUPPLIERS Sealed Air Corporation

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 29 MEAT PACKAGING

eaturing upscale, authen tic Italian dishes, white glove service, and a setting that includes Grottesco style painted ceilings and live piano during most meals, the Il Capriccio Ristorante in Whippany, N.J., has been a local fine-din ing favorite for more than 35 years. On any given evening at Il Capriccio, second-generation owner and executive chef Natale Grande warmly greets his patrons with a smile and handshake, calling them by name as he stops at the tables just as his father did—and some times still does—so that every guest feels likeNaturallyfamily. then, when the enterprising chef Grande started looking at ways to ex pand the business, he was struck by the idea of o ering some of his family’s recipes in settings outside of the flagship restaurant. When his mother asked him what dishes he thought would be popular to sell at retail or online, Grande answered with one of his own childhood favorites: theHandedmeatballs.down by generations and perfected in his kitchens at the restaurant and at home, this was the recipe he knew by heart. The challenge became how to package those meatballs in sauce so that in addition to tasting like they were fresh o of the stove, they were easy to ship, store, and heat in a home kitchen. At first, Grande cooked and packaged meatballs in small quantities at the res taurant, which he started selling in one location, his family’s gourmet shop, La Famiglia Gourmet in East Hanover, a few miles away from Il Capriccio. In only a matter of weeks, however, he couldn’t keep them in stock as they were literally “flying o the shelves,” at which point The Flying Meatballs brand and its signature logo was born.

Steve Daca and Account Manager Sherri Schall soon met with Grande one after noon at the restaurant, carefully listening to his vision for The Flying Meatballs brand.Daca and Schall immediately started homing in on package perform ance needs like thermalization, durability, ﬁlling, transit, storage, and retail impact.. They o ered Grande access to resour ces like Sealed Air’s creative and design teams and training courses at the com pany’s Packforum research facilities, so he could learn more about package thermalization.Theyalsovisited The Flying Meatballs packaging plant to understand more about the ﬂoor layout and equipment Natale had purchased. Together they came up with a plan that allowed The Flying Meatballs to really start gaining momentum, with resources most small businesses simply can’t a ord at start-up.

After visiting a restaurant trade show and making an investment in some pack aging equipment, the company’s equip ment supplier suggested for Natale Grande to reach out to Sealed Air Corporation for help with package de sign and access to the company’s CRYO VAC brand food packaging materials.

Over the past several years, The Flying Meatballs package has changed a few times, making modiﬁcations along the way to account for growing demand and a larger, more diverse supply chain.

Flight Of Fancy

N AnTopoverview of the of the Harlundthesystemscase-packingPackWexxarOneBottomB.C.plantCoKickingpackingend-of-lineareaoftheHorseeeroastinginInvermere,ofthethreeBelFlexEmodularinstalledatplantbyIndustries. Flexible roastingaproductivitysafety,boostspackagingend-of-linesystememployeemoraleandlevelsatbusyB.C.coffeeplant

estled in cozy Invermere, B.C., Kicking Horse Co ee is situated be tween the Purcells and the Rocky Mountains in the beautiful Columbia Valley. The pristine resort town, which boasts a population of just over 3,000 people, is a popular year-round destination for tourists and a second home for many folks from Calgary and Edmonton in the neighboring province of Alberta. Invermere is a quiet place where many people ride bicycles, aegerly partake in local cultural events, and enjoy the lei surely overall pace of life. Many of these same charms are also instilled at Kicking Horse Co ee. From its humble roots of roasting co ee from a garage more than 25 years ago, Kicking Horse today sources its co ee beans from certified organic and fair-trade farming cooperatives around the world. Organic and fair-trade farming means the co ee beans come from farming co-operatives who are dedicated to improving the biodiversity on their farms. This also means its co ee is shade-grown on small-scale farms, which aids in the biodiversity e orts of theAnotherland. thing Kicking Horse Co ee is passionate about is the safety of its employees, recently noticing that aome areas of its packaging process required repetitive motions that could lead to in juries.To minimize those concerns, while also adding more e ciency to its oper ation, the company turned to Wexxar Bel, a prominent case- and tray-forming and sealing machinery manufacturer based in Richmond, B.C., to automate these tasks at its end-of-line packaging process.“Itwas always kind of a scramble,” recalls Jocell Valdez, production man ager at Kicking Horse Co ee, describing the previous manual of process of filling the boxes with product. “Our packing team was always wrest ling the boxes to the ground, and then packing six bags in it,” Valdez relates. “There’s a lot of ergonomic issues with that type of repetitive motion—twisting and bending, and constant rotation—to try and avoid injuries.” Operates three roasting lines over two daily eight-hour shifts, five-days-a-week, Kicking Horse was introduced to Wexxar Bel, a subsidiary of the ProMach group of packaging machinery manufacturing companies, during a visit to the PACK EXPO Las Vegas packaging technolo gies exhibition in September of 2019. Soon after the show, Wexxar Bel re cruited the services of Harlund Industries, leading Canadian-based distribu tor of coding, identification and related packaging equipment, to help design the ideal solution for Kicking Horse’s needs.

30 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM SECONDARY PACKAGING

Coffee Culture

Harland Industries’ packaging and coding specialist Rob Vanstone began the process by auditing Kicking Horse’s packaging procedures as part of their review.After discussing several options with the Kicking Horse management team, Harlund and Kicking Horse ultimately determined that installing the Wexxar Bel Flex E Pack system on all three lines would provide the best ROI (freturn-on-investment) moving for ward.The Flex E Pack system is a modular

“The Flex E Pack has deﬁnitely changed the way we pack product by bringing more consistency to our oper ation,” Valdez said. “The co ee is delivered at a better height,” he notes, “so there’s much less bending and twisting. “It has been a great improvement for us.”As Valdez explains, continuous improvement is an ongoing strategic strategy for Kicking Horse Co ee, with the company being a devoted practition er of the renowned Kaizen approach to continuous improvement based on the ﬁve founding elements of teamwork, personal discipline, improved morale, quality circles, and suggestions for improvement.Developed in Japan and forming the basis for the famed Toyota Production System (TPS) for waste-free manufactur ing, Kaizen had been widely adopted by “lean manufacturing” enterprises world wide over the years to improve their competitiveness and productivity.

Flex E Pack allows cases to be packed by one or two operators at any time; if one operator steps away from the machine, the packing can continue seam lessly without interruption.

Since the ﬁrst line was speciﬁed and installed during the pandemic, the fac tory acceptance testing (FAT) was done virtually entirely through video. How ever, Wexxar Bel was on-site for the in stallation and commissioning of the line.

“Each operator now has everything right in front of them.They don’t have to move, rotate or go grab boxes: it’s very ergonomically sound.”

“The folks from Wexxar Bel were everything they said they were and more,” Valdez states. “We’ve really had no doubts about their ability to deliver.

“Their solution has been a smart up grade to our packaging department.”

“It makes everything so much simpler, easier and user-friendlier.” The ﬁrst line was installed in summer of 2020 and included extra-long infeed conveyors to keep employees six feet apart for physical distancing, while the other two lines were installed in spring of 2021.After each case is packed, operators press a foot button to move the cases to be Thesealed.

Within a year of operation, the Flex E Pack system has allowed Kicking Horse to maintain the current packing rat,e while increasing the level of automation in each of their lines, with the potential to install more packaging lines in the future.

The Flex E Pack system matches the right components to each of these four segments to ultimately design a packing line tailored to customers’ exact needs. Based on Kicking Horse’s needs, two workcells and product accumulation tables were needed to easily grab and pack the product into cases.

“Each operator now has everything right in front of them,” Tomozei explains. “They don’t have to move, rotate or go grab boxes: it’s very ergonomically sound. “The system automatically forms the cases,” he continues. “All you have to do is manually put the pack inside and let it go to the fully-automatic sealer.

“One of the big advantages the Flex E Pack system brings is packaging on de mand,” says Adrian Tomozei, Wexxar Bel’s regional sales manager for Canda and northwestern U.S..

Over the past few years, Kicking Horse has actively applied Kaizen principles in upgrading other areas of its co ee manu facturing and packaging processes, automating its case-packing capabilities being just the latest example of this con tinuous daily improvement process. “Kaizen is a big component of our success and our endless desire to improve, and Wexxar Bel is spot on with that,” Valdez states. “All of their changeovers or any adjust ments required on the machines are all done through color-coded photos. “So, they’re really on that ‘5S’ approach with Kaizen that we strive to maintain in place all around our facility,” says Valdez, deﬁning the 5S as “sort, straighten, scrub, standardization and sustain.”

SUPPLIERS Wexxar Bel (Div. of ProMach) Harlund Industries Ltd.

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 31 packing solution that provides endusers with the ﬂexibility to integrate the right case former, product delivery conveyor, work-cell and sealer that best meets their applications.

32 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM Creating A Better Tomorrow Regal Rexnord, ModSort and Creating a Better Tomorrow are trademarks of Regal Rexnord Corporation or one of its affiliated companies. © 2019, 2022 Regal Rexnord Corporation, All Rights Reserved. MCAD22053E • Form# 10307E ONE PACKAGEANDDIVERT,MODULEINTEGRATEDCOULDEASILYTRANSFERSORTMULTIPLETYPES? Very small packages? Polybags? Not a problem for ModSort® divert and transfer conveyor modules! The ModSort module can do left and right sorting on the fly for a wide range of package types and sizes weighing up to 50 pounds (23 kg). It is safe, quiet, versatile and saves energy. In addition to integration with existing systems, the ModSort Trident and Mobile Flats systems offer modular, scaleable, and mobile end of line sortation for your operational needs. Retrofitting an existing conveyor with ModSort modules has saved some customers as much as $90k annually in reduced manual labor alone! To learn more and schedule time with a ModSort specialist, visit: modsort.com Visit us at booth N-6020 in Chicago!

SUPPLIERS Abbey

Equipment Solutions L Three options.variousrecipesinready-to-eatpre-mixed,40lineVezetweighersautomaticMultipondmultiheadenabletheproductiontoprocessuptobowlsoffreshsaladsabroadrangeofandwithtopping

Says production manager Sam Mos: “Thanks to the simple user interface, our employees can operate the MULTIPOND weighers in the shortest amount of time, which is tremendously important for us. The reliability of the machines is terriﬁc.”

Dutch fresh produce processor accelerates its weighscalesmultiheadwithautomationpackagingeffortsstate-of-the-art

“Thanks to the simple user interface, our employees can operate the weighersMULTIPONDinthe shortest amount of time, which is tremendously important for us.”

After the actual weighing process, the precisely weighed servings are transferred via the outlet funnel by means of a timing hopper to the swivelling funnel, which distributes the portions to the product transfer system. The system maintains maximum accuracy and hopper availabil ity with calibration systems integrated in each load cell—making completely auto matic calibration possible even during operation.Allinall, the line runs at speeds of about 40 bowls per minute, with standard devia tion of less than one per cent, while comply ing with the highest hygiene requirements in the salad sector.

ocated in the North Hol land region famed for the high quality of its local fresh produce, Vezet B.V. is one of the largest vegetable and fruit processing businesses in The Netherlands, leading the market in freshly chopped ready-to-cook vegetables.

Vezet’s cutting-edge vegetable chopping facility produces a range of about 250 dif ferent products. The family-owned enter prise aims to be the best and most progres sive developer, producer and highly valued supplier of processed vegetables and fruit for immediate consumption. Currently packing about 220 million bags of product annually, with bout 180 million of them supplied to the Albert Heijn national supermarket chain, the company’s has recently decided to boost its manufacturing output to 300 million bags over the next ﬁve years. With ambitious plans to add new cap acity and invest in more automated ma chinery, the company recently made its in tentions clear with addition of a new line for packing ready-to-eat salad mixes. Based on its previous positive project experiences with Multipond weighing systems (distributed in Canada by Abbey Packaging Solutions),Vezet again invited the MULTIPOND International group to spearhead the project. The production process revolves around a busy bowl line located in the plant’s highcare section, where bowls are ﬁlled with various ready-to-eat salads consisting of a main ingredient—for example di erent leaf salads or cooked noodle— and several salad toppings like shrimp, chicken, mozzarella, olives, pineapple and mandarins right up to small pieces of beef or boiled egg. Depending on the recipe, the target weights for the ingredients are between 10 and 150 grams.

“So it became imperative for us to invest in an additional bowl line. “We simply wanted to have the best and fastest line in the plant here,” he states, “and that’s where MULTIPOND, our partner of many years, came into play by bringing us its project expertise.” The entire line consists of six filling points in total—including three automated stations and another three requiring manu al filling. Located above the ceiling, the three weighing systems include a 14-head MP 14-3800/1250-H model weigher for weighing the main ingredients, and two 10-head model MP 10-1000/400-H weighers for the toppings, with funnels built directly into the ceiling to dispense the product.Tocomplete the system, a custom-made three-track product transfer system, de veloped specifically for this application , distributes the prepared servings into the bowls.According to Boshuizen, all product contact parts are precisely adjusted to pro duction requirements and to the products being weighed to render the most perfect product flow possible. Upon arriving at the weighing systems, the products are first conveyed to the prefeed hoppers by the radially positioned feed trays and then to the weigh hoppers underneath. Here, using the partial por tions, a computer determines the com bination which corresponds to the target weight to be achieved, or is closest to it.

As the plant’s general manager Hans Boshuizen relates, “In packaging products of this type, the market demand for bowls is steadily increasing.

General manager Boshuizen whole-heartedly agrees: “If you consider all the factors like giveaway, reliability, spare part requirements and personnel costs, then the MULTIPOND systems pay for themselves in the shortest amount of time.

“A genuine partnership between the two companies has developed over the years as a result,” he concludes, “and there are fur ther joint projects being planned for the near future.”

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 33 PACKGING FOR FRESHNESS The Weigh Forward

PackagingPackagingCase Automation Solutions PackagingTray CartoningPalletizingAssemblyTorontoNuspark.comInspection&(416)6637071OntarioCanada

Testing procedures

Preventative maintenance Similar to regular testing, preventa tive maintenance keeps product in spection equipment running at optimum levels of performance and prevents breakdowns and produc tion line delays. Co-packers can ad

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 35 or a contract packer, audits can come from many direc tions. Brand owners, retailers, food or packaging manufac turers and standards/certification bodies as well as regulators all have an interest in the robustness and integrity of your Quality Manage ment System. For some of these parties, it is more than an interest – it is aProductstake. Inspection equipment such as checkweighing, metal detec tion, x-ray and vision inspection is the friend of the contract packer when it comes to audit time. By in specting products and identifying problems such as foreign body con taminants, it underpins the entire quality and safety management program. Through constant data collection, it also provides an audit trail of production, testing and maintenance activity – a treasure trove of information for auditors, customers and co-packers alike, es pecially in light of approaching digital supply chain and track and traceButrequirements.productinspection needs to be done right. In contract packing environments, where there can be multiple job changeovers, serving numerous customers and compli ance frameworks, the added layers of complexity make this even more paramount. Doing it right involves these key steps in implementing product inspection, all of which will help you prepare for and pass audits: Integrate advanced product inspection technologies As a contract packer, you need to be flexible to accommodate di erent formats, sizes and types of products and packaging. The more agile and easily configured your product in spection equipment is, the better it will be able to meet the needs of re tailers, manufacturers and brand owners. Advanced product in spection technologies generally make it possible for product set-up and job changeover to be automated, saving valuable time, and ensuring that parameters for each set-up support the compliance demands of that customer or regulatory frame work.The equipment should also be capable of real-time monitoring and recording of all inspection activities, providing an audit trail of data to support compliance.

Data collection and connectivity Data records used to be kept on paper in lever-arch ﬁles. More re cently, they could be extracted from equipment using a USB stick. Nei ther situation is ideal for responding to an audit, especially if there has been little warning given to the co-packer. Connectivity makes re sponding to the demands of an auditor much quicker and simpler. Product inspection equipment gath ers data during operation, and with data management software, such as Mettler-Toledo’s ProdX™, this wealth of information, including data from remote sites, can be sorted and arranged as needed.

Advanced product inspection solutions, such as Mettler-Toledo Safeline metal detection systems also have a Re duced Test Mode, in which an onboard monitoring system continu ously checks the performance of the metal detector, reducing the frequency of routine performance test requirements.

itionally been a manual process, it can increasingly be carried out using automation, saving time and potential human error.

dress the issue in two ways; Firstly, by having their own skilled technical department to deal with scheduled maintenance checks and repairs as needed. Secondly, by partnering with machinery suppliers that have reliable equipment and the scale of support, both engineers in the ﬁeld and remotely, that is required to maximise uptime of highly sophis ticated inspection systems. Con sistent and reliable operation of production line machinery is good for business, and a head-start to wards successful audit performance.

DAVOR DJUKIC is national sales manager for product inspection at METTLER TOLEDO Inc. in Mississauga, Ont.

How Product InspectionTechnologies help Co-PackersPrepare for QA Audits

F By Davor Djukic, National Sales Manager – Product Inspection, METTLER TOLEDO

FOOD SAFETY

Evidence of regular and e ective testing will demonstrate to the auditor that your product in spection equipment has been fully functional and continuously opti mised to do the job you bought it for. The more regularly a machine is tested, the more certain you can be that good products are leaving the factory. While testing has trad

F PACK InternationalEXPO

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 37 SO GOOD TO BE PACK!

As PMMI points out, it is more vital than ever for the packaging and process ing industries to come together and share innovations, connect with colleagues, hear from experts and see cutting-edge packaging machinery in action. By any measure, the upcoming PACK EXPO International 2022 will the most ef ficient and e ective way to do it all—of fering solutions for over 40 vertical mar kets.“No other event this year will showcase entire production line solutions and o er attendees everything needed to compete in a changing marketplace,” says PMMI president and chief executive o cer Jim Pittas.“The past several years brought about vast advancements in equipment and technology,” Pittas explains, “and PACK EXPO Internationalwill showcase all the new, never-seen-before solutions in one place, bringing all vertical industries together generates a cross-pollination of ideas and crossover solutions that can only be discovered in-person, on the show floor.”With over 2,000 exhibitors eager to display their latest product o erings, visitors to the four-day event show will be sure to find optimal solutions for their business needs, including many they solutions they didn’t know they were looking for. With so much growth and change in the industry, the multitude of new fea tures in Chicago are a ‘must-see’ for everyone in the industry. Here are a few new ones, along with some returning favorites, not to be missed:

• The Processing Zone returns to Chicago larger than ever before. This show-ﬂoor destination integrates frontof-the-line food and beverage processing solutions with the packaging advances on display, to o er one convenient location for attendees to solve their biggest chal lenges. In today’s manufacturing environ ment, processing and packaging are inte grated systems, making it critical to bring both solutions under one roof. On track to deliver widest variety of food and beverage processing equipment, The Processing Zone will showcase advanced front-of-the-line solutions such as hom ogenizing, heat treating, forming/sizing and coating. Attendees will discover solutions to increase e ciency, achieve total system integration and ensure safety.

• PACK to the Future is a new inter active exhibit created to celebrate the role of packaging and processing through history and the impact it is poised to have on our future. This curated exhibit includes historical equipment, materials and photo to return

inally, the PACK EXPO International exhibition is back, live and in-person, and it promises to be bet ter than Returningever! to the vast hallowed grounds of the majestic McCor mick Place exhibition center in Chicago next month, Oct. 23-26, 2022, PACK EXPO International 2022 is the most comprehensive packaging and processing show in the world this year, according to its organizers PMMI The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, and this year’s edition will o er attendees more features than ever before.

New for 2022, the Processing Innovation Stage area will focus on the latest food and beverage processing break •throughs.TheEmerging Brands Summit Produced by the PMMI Media Group, this new one-day event will feature invaluable educational content and informative tabletop exhibits aimed a founders and leaders of startup manufacturing companies looking to scale their brand to larger produc tion— either through in-house facility build-out or outsourced relationships with contract manufacturers and packagers. Exhibits will include pack aging machinery, packaging materials, processing equipment, and contract manufacturing and packaging.

make triumphant live

with andpackagingbreadthunmatchedofnewtechnologiessolutions

Jim PresidentPittas,and CEO, PMMI The Associ ation for Packaging and Technologies.Processing

PRE-SHOW

• The Logistics Pavilion. New for 2022, this will be will be the place to ﬁnd targeted solutions related to the supply chain, including warehousing, fulﬁllment, distribution logistics servi ces and transportation providers. With the ongoing boom in e-commerce, logistics is a crucial part of the product journey from manufacturer to con sumer.

REPORT

38 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM How can you reduce labor costs, increase throughput and productivity, and create a safer work environment? At PACK EXPO, come to Booth #3448 and see our primary packaging machines equipped with all kinds of automation. Here’s what we’ll be showcasing: ULMA Flow Wrapper with Automatic Loading and High-Speed Case Packing ULMA TFS Thermoformer with Risco Ground Beef Processing Line and Automatic Loading Stand-alone Cobot Cell Loading and Unloading Totes ULMA TFS Skin Thermoformer with Cobot Loading and Unloading G. Mondini Trave 1000 Tray Sealer PackagingPaperboardMulti-CompartmentSnackTrays AUTOMATE IT! Brand New G. Mondini Cigno Compact Tray Sealer ULMA Vertical Bagger with Gravity Loader Your machine must stand the test of time and adapt to your packaging needs as your goals and strategies change. With Harpak-ULMA, you can experience the many faces of ﬂexibility in packaging. Come to booth #3448 or contact us today! 800-813-6644 • www.harpak-ulma.comNEW! © 2022 Harpak-ULMA Packaging, LLC, 85 Independence Drive, Taunton, MA 02780 USA

• CareerLink @ PACK EXPO. PMMI’s on line job board CareerLink will be going live at the show, providing an opportunity for PMMI members and CPA , OMAC and IoPP member-companies to meet with stu dents and veterans pursuing careers in pack aging and processing during one-on-one in formational interviews to take place at the show.

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 39

With workforce issues remaining a top priority, PACK EXPO International 2022 will provide many opportunities to get students excited about packaging and processing careers. In addition to the prestigious Future In novators Robotics Showcase and education al Amazing Packaging Race programs, this year’s show will feature six high-school teams facing o in a brand-new machine-building PACK Challenge competition.

The winning school will be awarded US$5,000 with an additional US$2,000 split between indi vidual team members. The other ﬁve teams in attendance will receive US $1,000 for participat ing in the event. After the event, the teams will take the ma chines back to their school, providing future students the opportunity for invaluable handsonTheexperience.

To register for PACK EXPO International 2002, please go to www.packexpointernational.com

PACK EXPO International exhibition has always prioritized the importance of getting students excited about careers in packaging, and this year’s edition will continue advancing that noble goal with popular show features such as:

•Thesectors.

• The Industry Meets at PACK EXPO is a special program of targeted mini-industry events hosted by a record number of associ ation partners as part of the PMMI’s Partner Plus Program, with the partner thought leaders presenting the latest industry trends on the Industry Speaks stage throughout the show. The presentations will cover multiple indus try verticals, address the latest hot-button topics and industry trends such as sustaina bility, remote access, supply chain solutions, augmented reality, operational e ciency and more.

• PMMI U Workforce Development Pavil ion is the one-stop-shop for resources to strengthen the current workforce and grow the existing workforce through popular train ing workshops on mechatronics, packaging, processing and other vital industry topics.

• The Containers and Materials Pavilion . With big trends such as sustainability, recyc lability, e-commerce and consumer conven ience looming large in coming years, this pa vilion is a prime destination for companies looking to refresh a brand, launch new prod ucts, broaden appeal and attract attention.

• Pack Match. Making its PACK EXPO Inter national debut, this complimentary consulta tion service will provide attendees with per sonalized, one-on-one guidance to locate targeted solutions. Whether an emerging brand or a well-established household name, PACK Match Advisors will be made available for 30-minute virtual consultations to connect attendees with the right suppliers. Attendees will complete an online form to indicate their challenges and ensure they are matched with the appropriate industry expert to use the Onceservice.the match is made, attendees schedule a virtual meeting with their assigned PACK Match Advisor to receive non-biasedguidance and recommended exhibitors to suit their busi ness •Theneeds.PACKage Printing Pavilion, featuring the latest digital printing and converting, la beling, coding and marking technologies.

PRE-SHOW graphs spanning 250 years, journeying through the evolution of packaging and pro cessing, and highlighting how the industry developed alongside civilization. In addition, the PACK to the Future Stage will provide thought-provoking sessions on groundbreak ing industry advancements with free pres entations by industry experts on advances in pharmaceutical and cannabis packaging, wireless factory automation, sustainable al ternatives, smart packaging, artiﬁcial intelli gence and more.

• The PACK EXPO Green Program is the commitment of PACK EXPO and all its partners, vendors and exhibitors working together to create a more sustainable world. Attendees can ﬁnd information and resources to aid and advance their company’s unique sustainability goals.

• The Reusable Packaging Pavilion Sponsored by the Reusable Packaging Association, this pavilion will showcase sustainable packaging solutions to help re duce waste, cut costs and gain supply chain e ciencies with various innovative reusable transport packaging products and services from over 30 participating exhibitors.

REPORT

Forum at PACK EXPO will o er o ers free unique, interactive learning sessions on the latest industry trends throughout the duration of the show, with sessions designed to encourage interactive audience engage ments, small group discussions and focused Q&A sessions.

The PMMI will provide a build to print snack filler machine kit, designed specifically for this competition, along with an assembly (flight manual) to the qualifying teams, after which each team will assemble the snack filler to the specifications at PACK EXPO International and have the flexibility to be creative with add-ons.

• The Showcase of Packaging Innova tions. Sponsored by WestRock Company, this special show area within the Container and Materials Pavilion will display a broad variety of award-nominated packaging solutions from around the world.

• Innovation Stages , featuring three stra tegically-located presentation areas delivering free 30-minute seminars on breakthrough technologies and techniques, focusing on a wide range of industry-speciﬁc solutions.

•The Confectionery Pavilion will be home to the latest trends and technologies relating to aeration, batch reﬁning, shaping, cluster production and more. Hosted by the Na tional Confectioners Association (NCA) and sponsored by Syntegon Pack aging Technology, the pavilion’s popular Candy Bar Lounge will o er visitors an ideal meeting place for casual networking and ideas sharing.

• The Amazing Packaging Race. Sponsored by Emerson Automation Solutions, this fun and educational event brings together teams from colleges and universities across North America to race around the PACK EXPO International show ﬂoor to complete various tasks at the booths of participating exhibitors.

• Healthcare Packaging Pavilion will be a show-within-a-show display focusing on life science industries, featuring the latest innov ations for the pharmaceutical, biopharma ceutical, nutraceutical and medical device

• Future Innovators Robotics Showcase , featuring Chicago-area high school robotics teams showcase their design, engineering and troubleshooting skills.

40 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

The recycling technology is evolving too. To maximize the yield of post-consumer recycled plastics, The Wolfson Centre for Materials Processing of Brunel University London has developed new PRISM (Plastic Packaging Recycling using In telligent Separation) technologies, re ferred to as polyPRISM, which invis ibly tags plastic containers for sorting into food-grade and non-food-grade streams for recycling.

It is clear that leading CPG (con sumer packaged goods) companies must commit to using recycled con tent to develop a Circular Economy, but better sorting technologies, cut ting-edge materials science, and a collaborative approach with all stakeholders is necessary to address the scale of the plastics waste issue.

What will it take to boost the plastics’ recycling rates and achieve the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s goal of a 50-percent recycling rate by 2030? Action is needed in many areas, but harmoniz ation and regularization of recycling rules and programs is crucial.

In this process, coded mixtures of invisible phosphor inks are applied to labels to identify the plastic, regard less of color, as well as the contents of the container. To sort the marked containers, recyclers only need to add a low-cost UV light source to their near-infrared sorting systems, which can be programmed to read the phosphor codes.

JORGE IZQUIERDO is VP of market development at PMMI The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies

PRE-SHOW REPORT

U.S. recycling infrastructure and commitment must rapidly evolve to avert looming plastic waste crisis

ooking at the num bers, there is no doubt that the U.S. needs to do a much better job at recycling. This is especially true for plastic waste, which at current ﬁve-percent recycling rate signiﬁ cantly trails recycling rates for other packaging and containers: glass (40 per cent), aluminum beverage cans (45 per cent), paper (63 per cent), steel food cans (68 per cent) and corrugated (91 per cent).

The Recycling Evolution

To start, the U.S. needs improved data collection, because what’s not measured can’t be managed.

By Jorge Izquierdo L

“Stronger data is the necessary ﬁrst step toward modernizing American recycling infrastructure and strength ening U.S. community recycling programs by determining needs, providing education and access, and ultimately capturing valuable materi als for the Circular Economy,” says Dylan de Thomas, vice-president of external a airs at The Recycling Partnership. Along with more data, regulariza tion of what can and can’t be recycled will make the process easier for con sumers, thereby driving more materi al into recycling streams For example, uniform collection standards can eliminate the variabil ity of what is collected across pro grams and the confusion consumers experience when one program or municipality collects a material such as polypropylene (PP) or glass and neighboring programs do not.

At the same time, clearer labeling of disposal information is important so that consumers know how and where to recycle an empty package. This also minimizes contamination, which can reduce the quality of the recyclate or even render it unusable. Many organizations are taking action to eliminate barriers to recyc ling. As part of its Blueprint for America’s Recycling System action plan, the Recycling Leadership Council (RLC)—formed in 2020 by the Consumer Brands Associ ation—calls for a national strategy on recycling and policy action, in cluding a plan to standardize the re cycling“Besidessystem.the obvious beneﬁts of a single set of rules to limit consumer confusion, a standardized system across the United States would create scale and e ciency,” explains the group’s senior director of sustainabil ity Meghan Stasz. “With a standard ized system, programs can collect more volume, which allows for more and di erent types of materials to be collected and processed for post-con sumer recycled content, keeping re cyclable waste out of landﬁlls and waterways.”TheAmerican Beverage Asso ciation is also undertaking e orts to spur more recycling. The goals of its Every Bottle Back program are to improve recycling infrastructure, measure the industry’s plastic foot print, make 100-percent recyclable bottles, add recycling-promoting messaging on packaging, raise aware ness and inspire action. Similarly, the Can Manufactur ers Institute is working to retrieve the 25 per cent of aluminum cans currently mis-sorted and lost at ma terial recovery facilities. To that end, it has established a grant program to help install eddy current equipment and quality control robots that can identify and capture the cans that otherwise would be overlooked.

At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Energy is funding seven lablemoreprojectsresearch-and-developmenttoconvertplasticﬁlmsintovaluablematerials,andtodesignnewplasticsthataremorerecycandbiodegradable.Threeofthoseprojectswillbeofparticularinteresttopackagers:

• Michigan State University working to create a redesign for inherently recyclable plastics.

• University of Massachusetts - Lowell working on integrating delamination and carbonization processes for the upcycling of single-use, multilayer plastic ﬁlms.

• West Virginia University Research Corporation plans to develop process-intensified modular upcycling of plastic films to monomers by micro wave catalysis. Lastly, educating consumers can’t be forgotten. Many CPGs are already helping consumers recycle correctly by adopting the How2Recycle label, which provides information about local recycling programs. Established in 2012 by Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), the program seeks to standardize recycling labeling, di vert recyclables from landfills and teach consumers about recycling. Making a real di erence in re ducing plastic waste will require for commercial, governmental and aca demic partners to work together with end-users and consumers closer than ever before. Fortunately, with so many stakeholders focused on improving recycling, progress is be ing made and this momentum can be continued going forward.

A multi-client project called NEXTLOOPP, led by Nextek, a consultancy specializing in design and recycling of plastic materials, is developing polyPRISM technology to sort and wash PP containers to establish closed-loop recycling for food-grade PP. With separation rates exceeded 99 per cent in fullscale trials, the program’s next steps include a commercial scale test and food-grade accreditation.

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 41 www.reiser.com Reiser Canada • Burlington, ON • (905) 631-6611 Reiser • Canton, MA • (781) 821-1290 Reiser UK • Milton Keynes, Bucks • ( 019 08) 585300 2022 Meet our Packaging Specialists and see all our innovative solutions Visit Reiser at Pack Expo | Chicago | October 23-26 | Reiser Booth S-2566 We can’t wait to see you at Pack Expo Ross Inline Tray Sealer n Fully automatic, high-speed production of MAP, VSP and lid-only packages n Reliable, high-quality seals virtually eliminate leakers, extending product freshness and shelf life n Uses preformed trays of almost any size or shape n Rapid tool changeovers maximize production efficiency

42 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM The new UX2 –Developed for Tomorrow’s production line The UX Series improves existing, reliable Hitachi continuous inkjet products and provides industry-leading marking on food, beverage, dairy, health & beauty products and a variety of containers from lip balm tubes to bag printing & oversized PVC piping. The Hitachi UX Series is the clear leader for your non-contact printing needs. EFFICIENT INTUITIVERECOVERYINKPRINTCONTROLINTELLIGENTFLUIDCIRCULATIONSYSTEMSIMPLEFLUIDMANAGEMENT Contact our Sales team today! Quick StationSAfeConnectorsChangeClean ! ■ Be able to move printers quickly from line to line ■ Eliminates preconﬁguring I/O routing ■ Closed system to clean and dry in one operation ■ Cleaning solvent is captured in a sealed reservoir ■ Doubles as printhead docking station, virtually eliminating clogged ink paths ! NewInkAlgorithmGuard On Board Video Guidance ! ! ■ Up to 3 times longer printing between cleaning cycles ■ Less faults and print quality issue with more production output ■ Substantially improved code clarity ■ Allows clearer codes at faster line speeds ■ Allows for line issuestroubleshootingoperatorforcommon ■ Easy-to-follow onboard video display with animation

Labor Relations

How to laborinworkforceovercometurnovertimesofacuteshortages

Manufacturers must therefore com municate what paths can be taken to ad vance within an organization or move from one role to another. Noting that the best employees want to grow, learn or advance, the Work Insti tute recommends: “Establish clear bench marks with your sta that indicate their expected advancements based on per formance accomplishments.

“For those that don’t want to advance, but still want to learn new skills, make an e ort to ﬁnd what they enjoy and o er learning opportunities that will challenge them.“This will motivate employees to per form,” the insitute states, “but more im portantly, it will encourage them to stay.” With the increasing use of automation, mechatronics, robotics and AI (artiﬁcial intelligence), providing the training in the technical skills needed to support these advanced technologies is one way to o er growth opportunities that employees crave to build a skilled and loyal workforce.

• Providing a career pathway for stu dents looking for rewarding careers in advanced manufacturing. In the nearer future, next month’s PACK EXPO International 2002 exhib ition in Chicago, PMMI’s designated ‘Partner Schools’ will present various educational mechatronics, packaging, and processing o erings, as well as an oppor tunity for attendees and exhibitors to meet students interested in careers in packaging and processing. Students will also partici pate in a machine-building competition, while the show’s Future Innovators Ro botics Showcase will provide attendees with the chance to network with potential employees who have an interest in manu facturing technology. With time and attention focused on communication and training, manufactur ers can stem the tide of employee turnover and build loyal, stable workforces.

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 43

JORGE IZQUIERDO is vice-president of market development at

PMMIThe Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies PRE-SHOW REPORT

By Jorge Izquierdo ith the ‘Help Wanted’ signs everywhere you look these days, every business seems to be short-handed. That’s because turnover is higher than it’s ever been, with more than four million employees quitting each month, according to the Bureau of Labor Sta tistics (BLS) Workforce retention is a problem in every sector of the economy, but it’s a particular challenge in industries like packaging and processing. According to the BLS, roughly 2.6 per cent of the manu facturing workforce left their job each month between August 2021 and May 2022, an average loss of 330,000 every 30 days.Not only is it di cult to run produc tion lines with skeleton crews, but it re quires considerable time, e ort and ex pense to interview, hire and train a replacement for an employee who opts to leave. In fact, it typically costs 50 per cent of their salary to replace an entry-level employee.Toretain personnel, it’s vital for em ployers to continually invest in employees and make it clear that they have opportun ities to learn new skills, change roles, and grow professionally within the organiza tion. Encouraging internal mobility en hances retention, engagement and agility, and it reduces time and money spent on hiring.Asa recent report by LinkedIn notes, “Companies that excel at internal mobility are able to retain employees for an average of 5.4 “That’syears.nearly twice as long as compan ies that struggle with it, where the average retention span is 2.9 years.”

Automation not only can eliminate monotonous and physically arduous work, but it can also free employees’ time for more satisfying tasks. Here at PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, we have also noted in our recent re search that promoting from within and improving training and career develop ment are critical needs for CPG (consum er packaged goods) companies. Manufacturing employers must also provide better clarity to their employees on how to transition to new roles and opportunities.Fortunately, there are plenty of options for workforce development support. These include the TechEd 365 course, Troubleshooting Packaging Machiner y, which is available online in English and Spanish. Designed for newcomers to the industry, it also can serve as a refresher for seasoned employees, and it’s available from PMMI for members and non-mem bersWealike.also o er the PMMI Mechatronics Certiﬁcation program, which consists of a series of tests based on industry-developed skill standards. It’s recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Manu facturing Institute’s Skills Certiﬁcation System. The program seeks to narrow the skills gap by:

Consumer loyalitiesgrowthmoretrainingworkplaceinvestmanufacturersgoodsmustinbetterstatocreateprofessionalopportunandretainaworkforce.

• Helping employers assess workers for core skills; • Guiding schools in developing curric ula to prepare students for the manu facturing workforce;

olate buttons into resealable Doy Zip bags that keep the confectionery products fresh. The highly ﬂexible machine also processes all other common bag formats and feeds them to the Elematic 3001 WA case-packer, renowned for its ﬂexibility and easy changeovers, for pla cing the bags inside the corrugated cases. Manufacturers looking for a top-load solu tion for RSC cartons can take a closer look at the company’s Elematic 1001 TL case-packer, which boasts a large-format range and groups products into various collations before placing them into corrugated or solid board cases. Both case-packers can easily be integrated into complete system solutions, according to Syntegon.

Renowned for the durability, e ciency and reliability of its equipment, Orion an exception ally comprehensive line of end-of-line stretch wrapping pallet packaging systems in di erent styles: including rotary turntable, rotary tower, orbital and horizontal wrapping systems.

“By combining our new box gusset bagger with our auger co ee filler and downstream checkweigher, our clients get a turnkey system that’s easy to integrate so they can ramp up production immediately to work with our other vibratory weigh fillers for packaging wholebean co Taraborelliee.” adds WeighPack can customize a turnkey system to meet almost any weighing, filling and bagging need with extensive product portfolio comprising multihead weighers, linear net weighers, bagging machines, and a variety of labeling and container filling solutions.

BOOTH #S-3514 (Also at Emerging Brand Summit: Booth EB-15 in S-100)THE BIG WRAP Orion Packaging Systems , a ProMach brand specializing in end-of-line packaging machinery, will display its vast array of stretch and pallet wrapping solutions, including its S-Carriage InstaThread pre-stretch ﬁlm carriage and the LoPro Drag chain conveyor.

Engineered for a client packaging ground cof fee, WeighPack Systems’ new co ee bagging system for pr-emade box gusset bags o ers a perfect solution for packaging other powder or granule products where a gusseted bag is re quired.Built specifically for the client’s existing bag sizes, this automated system conveys ground co ee from a hopper up to the Star Auger powder weigher via a screw conveyor. Once weighed, it passes into the Swifty Bagger box gusset bagging machine, where it is dispensed into pre-made bags before the sides are tucked and the top is sealed. The bags are then con veyed to the WeightCheQ checkweigher to ensure each bag meets the pre-set weight toler ance before they are accumulated on a rotary table.Unique system features include an integrat ed bag shaker to fully settle the product in the bag prior to sealing, and a product rejection system to prevent the accumulation of bags falling outside of the desired weight tolerance. The system was designed to facilitate easy fu ture integration of case erecting, case-packing and palletizing solutions. “We designed this integrated co ee pack aging system to weigh fill up to 1,500 bags per hour to meet the needs of one of the most pro gressive co ee retailers,” says Nicolas Tarabor elli, vice-president of WeighPack’s parent com pany Paxiom Group. “And our larger wholesale clients can expect to fill up to 600 of their larger bags per hour.

SCENARIOS Syntegon Technology will present its versatile portfolio of processing and packaging solutions that include innovative robotic handling solu tions and cutting-edge automation technolo gies, as well as advanced and sustainable system concepts for primary and secondary packaging. Among many memorable highlights, the vast exhibit will feature the company’s SVE 2520 Doy Zip vertical bagger integrated with an Elematic 3001 case-packer to provide a highly e cient turnkey solution for packagung choc

BOOTHBEST-CASES-2153

44 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM CPK_ESS Technologies_JulyAug22_CSA.indd 1 2022-07-27 9:46 AM PRE-SHOW REPORT

BAGGING TO DIFFER

Orion’s proprietary S-Carriage InstaThread

Krones Machinery Co. Ltd. +1 www.kronesusa.comsales@kronesusa.com905-364-4900 tomorrowbeyondSolutions PACK EXPO International 2022 Chicago, IL, October 23-26 Booth #S-2830

Meet Victoria. Victoria is a manager at a personal care products manufacturing facility. And it’s her job to be sure the products shipping out of her facility are properly labeled with the correct traceability codes. In the past, these labels were applied by hand and were prone to all kinds of problems: it was slow moving, expensive, and always hard to find and train labor.

INKJET CODING LASER MARKING LABEL PRINT & APPLY domino-printing.com

LESS MOREIS

46 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 But since partnering with Domino, Victoria’s job has been a whole lot easier. Labels are applied directly and accurately to packaging with an automated Domino label print and apply machine. With consistently placed, error-free labels on cases and pallets, Victoria has lowered operating costs and eliminated a lot of headaches. Less headaches. More efficiencies. Domino. Do more.

The result is a consistent pre-stretch of 260 per cent at di erent tensions and up to one-inch less neckdown, according to the company.

JOINT EFFORTS HERMA US Inc., the subsidiary of HERMA GmbH, leading Germany supplier of labeling machinery and self-adhesive labels and materi als to the global packaging marketplace, is planning to partner with New Jersey-based automation specialist Norwalt to showcase a special solution for demanding pharmaceutical packaging applications., The HERMA 252 M system features HERMA’s state-of-the-art H500 label applica tor, utilized by Norwalt utilizes on its highspeed assembly lines and sophisticated product handling systems, to support a broad range of HERMA’s labeling systems for the pharma ceutical sector. The system being showcased at PACK EXPO Internationl 202o will be similar in design to a line recently supplied to a major U.S.-based pharmaceutical contract manufac turer, which can process and label up to 30 products per minute, handling containers from 12-mm to 30-mm in diameter.

FORTRESS MENTALITY

BIGGER#N-5646SLICE

Leading metal detection systems specialists

Achieving this consistent level of pre-stretch means the customer can wrap faster while receiv ing better ﬁlm yield—reducing ﬁlm acquisition costs for shippers and improving end-user sus tainability through less waste.

“Even food processors that have upgraded legacy systems continue to gather data on a ma chine-by-machine basis rather than integrating and analyzing information side-by-side and building up a performance picture,” he says.

pre-stretch film carriage brings several key per fromance advantages to customers, including the ability to save up to 15 per cent on film-per-load for substantial cost savings. Launched in 2021, the S-Carriage improved upon what many consider to be the most import ant component of a stretchwrapper—the car riage—by placeing two pre-stretched rollers at the heart of the system, where the film travels in an S pattern around the rollers to over 180° of film contact to reduce slippage and neckdown.

JOY Texwrap and Bartelt, both a big part of the ProMach family of packaging machinery brand, are joining forces to introduce the next generation of single-roll bundling systems. According to the companies, the new Kayat SRX Series system provides a high-e ciency solution for for shrink bundling pre-formed trays of product, with the option to add graphics

Starting with the new weSLICE 4500 midsize slicer, Weber will further leverage its we SHUTTLE—a cutting-edge ‘smart’ method for product transportation and handling—and wePICK , the standard for hygienic environ ment robotic loading, to show how products can be delivered to its wePACK thermoformer in a high-output, yet footprint-friendly manner.

“Automated and networked data extraction and real time monitoring are proven to enhance production e ciency and minimize machine downtimeAsGarr points out, Contact 4.0 can be in stalled or retroﬁtted for a minimal fee on all the company’s digital Stealth, Interceptor and Interceptor DF metal detectors, as well as the Raptor Checkweigher, Raptor XL Caseweigher and Raptor Combination units, all of which will also be displayed at the show.

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 47 PRE-SHOW REPORT

With innovative technology on display at each step of the process, including Weber’s own OEM designed and manufactured software, vision, and robotics, Weber will challenge con sensus when it comes to integration and line control with its mechanically, electrically, and digitally integrated line solutions. #LU-7506

In operation, the glass tubes are picked from trays using a robotic arm and placed onto the labeling system’s infeed. The products are then transported to the labeling station, where a wraparound label is applied to each tube. The labels are printed with a barcode and lot/expiry information, and a vision system inspects the print, rejecting any label deemed out of speciﬁcation. Finally, products are checked for label align ment and all the with all detected rejects are segregated from good products, which are then re-trayed.

As s real-time web-based remote machine monitoring solution, Contact 4.0 enables food plants to review and collect data, and securely oversee the performance of an unlimited num ber of Fortress metal detectors, checkweighers and combination machines connected on the same network—eliminating many of the cum bersome functionality concerns that enterpris ing companies often encounter in respect to infrastructure, data storage, security and scalability.AsFortress Techology’s regional sales manager Eric Garr explains: “Manually monitoring food inspection machine performance can be extreme ly labor-intensive and impact productivity.

Showcasing a complete slicing line, including automatic infeeding, slicing, handling, product loading and packaging, Weber’s “Line Up for the Future” exhibit will help visitors understand the company’s ability to problem-solve and bring optimized, integrated solutions forward.

BOOTH OF THE PIE Renowned for years as the global leader in highspeed, precision slicing technology, Weber has undergone a rapid evolution since its acquisi tion of Schroder’s packaging business in 2017, and the company will use PACK EXPO International 2022 as a platform for highlighting its impressive breadth of product portfolio and unique philosophy on complete line solutions.

BOOTH

BOOTHBUNDLES#W-1706OF

Fortress Technology will unveils its newest Contact 4.0 digital reporting feature for teth ering multiple front-end production machines to back-end reporting software in real time. Designed for decoupling automated data logging and record-keeping from legacy net works, Contact 4.0 utilizes web-based architec ture to capture valuable production data from across an entire suite of networked Fortress inspectionCreatingmachines.acentralized repository of live and recorded data that assists food processors to automate QA (quality assurance) documenta tion, Contact 4.0 monitors the performance of equipment, tracks events, and documents all potential product risks—turning potentially massive data streams into tightly monitored operational insight.

Other Weber systems on display will include:

THE#N-5346ENDGAME

“We have tangible examples to share at PACK EXPO and will be using this show as the platform for the global reveal of an exciting new interactive waste calculator to show visitors how they can make improvements in waste reduction.”

Other main features and beneﬁts of the new Kayat SRX Series include: • Toolless adjustable wrap-bar assembly, for adjusting the machine’s package height with no change parts;

PRE-SHOW with print registered shrink ﬁlm.

The SRX Series provides several engineering upgrades for customers looking for a single roll bundler platform to handle a wide variety of packaged food and beverage products.

• Dual-roll ﬁlm mandrel for minimal changeover times and packaging equip ment downtime.

The metal detector and conveyor can be easily upgraded as compliance or production requirements change which helps manufactur ers to achieve a lower overall cost of ownership and extend the useful life of their equipment.

• The newest Legi-Flex 6100 SLAM highspeed print-apply system. Built with distribu tion centers in mind, the new Legi-Flex can print and apply labels to packages of variable height and position, using optical sensors to match the label to the alignment of the package.

Domino North America plans to go literally “beyond the code” at PACK EXPO International 2022 by sharing tangible examples of how the company is helping manufacturers support their sustainability by leverainge its 40-plus years of ex perience in product traceability solutions.

INSPECTOR METTLER TOLEDO Product Inspection will demonstrate a variety of new inspection systems for the food and pharmaceutical indus tries, including metal detectors, checkweighers, X-ray and vision inspection systems, and trackand-trace solutions, as well as its data manage ment and connectivity software. Featuring solutions for all types of products— including bulk, piped, gravity fed, and packaged products for the food and pharmaceutical indus tries—the company’s experts will be available on the show ﬂoor to explain the many value-added features and beneﬁts of each technology, as well as discuss individual applications.

Designed as a packing solution for ﬂexible bags and packages, the PKR Delta joins the company’s pick-and-place o erings alongside the PKR Gantry, which is used to pack more rigid cans, bottles, jars, cartons and similarly packaged products.

Case-packing machinery specialists EndFlex, a sister company of Paxiom Group, has incorpor ated both gantry and delta robots into the new PKR modular pick-and-place wokcell that the company will showcase at the exhibition alongside its many other case- and tray-packing machines.

BOOTHDOMINO#S-3642EFFECT

For example, the SRX Series can create shrink-bundled packages with bull’s-eye clos ures by using a bottom overlap seal technology for a stronger seal and better product presenta tion.“The SRX Series is built upon the iconic Kayat shrink bundling machine platform,” says Texwrap’s director of engineering said Inger mar strengths that attributed to its market success, listened to loyal customer feed back, and went to work incorporating Texwrap innovation and technological upgrades to make the next generation Kayat SRX Series.”

Celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, Weber Packaging Solutions will unveil a broad range of high-speed labeling systems, including the new Model 4050 label print er-applicator o ering a modular design to adapt to particular applications, variable-stroke oper ation, modulated vacuum to reduce air require ments by 80 per cent, and increased precision with powered unwind and rewind modules.

BOOTHTHE#S-2153CHIEF

BOOTH

BOOTH #S-3506

• Superior ﬁlm sealing and control with special wrap-bar mechanism and integrat ed heat tunnel to ensure reliability and high performance;

The ﬂexibility of these top-load case- and tray-packing machines to accommodate several rigid and ﬂexible package styles can be seen in recent system integrations for clients packaging a range of products from personal care items and vitamin gummies to vegetables and snack foods, according to EndFlex.

• Adjustable tunnel side and bottom air ﬂow adjustments to create the most attractiv presentation of the end product;

BOOTH #S-1714

“Wed’Agrella.tookthe

“As traceability continues to become a more critical component of our customers’ manufactur ing environment, so too is the drive to integrate en hanced sustainable manufacturing practices,” says Domino’s director of marketing Nikki Johnson. “As an organization we are excited to have the opportunity to educate how the right coding, marking and labeling solutions reduce waste and help brands work towards their sustainability goals.

BUILT FOR SPEED

• Easy access ﬁlm feed and cut: just slide out the ﬁlm feed and cut mechanism for easy maintenance;

• The Model LA-6000 is Weber’s high-speed, variable-height print-apply system that can print and apply labels to packages of assorted heights accurately and quickly. Carbon ﬁber components reduce the systm’s weight to allow high labeling speeds and increased accuracy.

REPORT

Both robotic options were designed by the EndFlex in-house team of robotic specialists with product integrity and consistency in mind. These modular cells achieve their gentle prod uct handling by either vacuum-assisted or mech anical methods, and they can be easily customized for a wide variety of case or tray sizes and pack patterns.“Ourclients needed faster, more compact and precise modular cells to compete in their respective industries,” says EndFlex vice-president of oper ations Jorge Perez. “They came to us with their wish lists and trusted us to ﬁnd a solution. Our team of engineers and technicians got to work, and their e orts led to this new generation of robotic pick-and-place cells,” Perez sates. “The gantry and delta robotic cells we developed allow us to o er unique new solutions to some of the old packaging challenges.” According to Perez, EndFlex can customize these modular pick-and-place cells to ﬁt into any existing production line, or be integrated as part of a complete packaging solution to include auto matic cas- erecting, tray forming, sealing and ro botic palletizing.

Among a variety of metal detectors, the latest M-30R Series (see picture) is expected to at tract special attention with its advanced algo rithms and the new smart SENSE software that makes it possible to deliver high sensitivity to all types of metal contaminants with minimal ‘FalseAccordingRejects’.to the company, the new system’s innovative Dynamic Stability Control tech nology to stabilize the core sensor of the metal detector to help protect against interference for increased reliability.

48 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 49 Accurate weighing and ﬁlling of various ingredients into ready-made salad bowls. Mixtures exist in a wide variety of industries. Whether for cereals, confectionery, frozen food, or salads. We have the optimal solution for you! We ensure an exact mixing ratio of the components with the exact piece count or weight depending on your recipe. The weighing of product mixtures is one of our core competencies. • Bespoke solutions to meet your exact requirements • Argus 3D-camera for precise product feed control • Fully automated calibration in each load cell provides maximum accuracy PACKAGING | INSPECTION | PROCESSING SALES | SERVICE | INTEGRATION TOLL FREE: (800) ABBEYEQUIPMENT.COM361-5919 Salad producer application

50 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 Safely. Find out more: www.pilz.com/we-automate-safely Pilz Automation Safety Canada L.P. - Mississauga, ON Website: www.pilz.ca Email: Phone:info@pilz.ca+1905821-7459 We make Canada safer. A little bit every day. ™

AIR DELIVERY

Industrial automation technolo gies supplier Emerson will display the company’s AVENTICS Series AF2 airflow sensor, designed im proved the energy e ciency of packaging equipment in a variety of applications, including food-and-beverage, personal care product, and even labels. Now available in a high-flow model, the advanced sensor that propels compressed air monitor ing beyond individual machines to benefit larger air lines and sys tems, with the new expanded capability allowing operators to easily optimize energy consump tion across an entire packaging facility and improve overall plant sustainability.According to Emerson, the new Series AF2 high-flow model is available as a stand-alone de vice to monitor air consumption in pneumatic pipeMuchsystems.more than a flow meter, the Series AF2 high flow model allows packaging customers to access actionable insights into machine data—such as flow, pressure and temperature—in larger air lines and systems to detect leaks in real time, al lowing operators to take fast action to address them.The Series AF2 high-flow version has an inte grated analysis option and open interfaces and can be directly interpreted by many controllers, making it a highly flexible solution.

The Sleek i65 feeds the film from below so that delicate and hard-to-wrap products are securely carried on top of the packaging—essentially pulling them through the wrapping process. By carrying the product through instead of pushing it, the integrity and the aesthetics of the product are maintained throughout the process. Built with reliability and serviceability in mind, this a ordable, easy-to-use flow-wrapper features integrated infeed and exit conveyors, stainless-steel frame and discharge chute, easily accessible film carriage, and a large color touchscreen HMI (hu man-machine interface) terminal.

BOOTH #N-4736

BOOTH #N-5220

TO CHECK AND DETECT Product inspection specialists Loma Systems will display the company’s expansive range of X-Ray, metal detection and checkweighing systems, de signed to improve production quality control and compliance for manufacturers across numerous CPG (consumer packaged goods) industries. The company’s exhibit will feature the IQ4 metal detector, designed to provide a fully-func tional, adjustable metal detection conveyor solu tion. The system incorporates a seven-inch color touchscreen with a user-friendly interface that is designed to help make set-up easier and reduce userAlso,errors.the company’s innovative X5C Compact, Loma’s smallest X-Ray system, is ideal for de tecting all types of metal (i.e. stainless steel, ferrous and non-ferrous), bone, glass or dense plastics. According to Loma, the X5C Compact can be used for basic product integrity tests such as missing items, objective checking and ﬁll level, and also for products packaged in foil or heavy metallized ﬁlm.

BOOTH

GO WITH THE FLOW ValTara Srl, a Paxiom Group company, will showcase the company’s innovative SleekWrap per i65 ﬂow-wrapping system, designed for e cient and reliable packaging of hard-to-handle products such as soft baked goods, tortillas, fresh produce, meats and multi-pack trays.

“PACK EXPO is the ideal event to underline this additional strategic focus and to discuss the future requirements of the industry,” says Adrian Possumato, president of the company’s Sanner of America subsidiary.

BOOTH #W-15052

PRE-SHOW REPORT

The standardized RC10 palletizing cell from FlexLink is compact, quick to install and easy to conﬁgure. The use of a collaborative robot signiﬁcantly reduces the footprint, by over 50% compared to cells with industrial robots. A fence system or cage is not needed and operators can safely work side-by-side with the robot. The solution permits continuous operations, the operator can easily remove one complete pallet without stopping the collaborative robot.

CPK_FlexLink Systems_Sept22_CSA.indd 1 2022-08-23 7:28 AM

DESSICANT#S-2153

Easy Palletizing with the RC10 Collaborative Robot Read more at Flexlink.com or contact us

September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 51

FlexLinkinfo.ca@ﬂexlink.comatispartofCoesia,agroup of innovationbased industrial and packaging solution companies operating globally, headquartered in Bologna, Italy. www.coesia.com

“As a contract development and manufactur ing organization, we support our customers in designing, developing, and producing preci sion-molded, customized medical devices and diagnostics products with high-quality desic cants.”Inaddition to its competence in precision injection molding, Sanner provides drop-in, ﬁtin and built-in desiccant solutions.

BOOTH S-2501

SOLUTIONS Sanner GmbH will unveil the company’s com prehensive pharmaceutical packaging portfolio, with a strong focus on desiccant solutions for pharmaceuticals, med-tech applications, and diagnostics products.

The latter are especially suited to protect the functionality of medical devices including clinic al and home-use in-vitro diagnostic platforms.

Among the drop-in solutions, Sanner will also showcase the AdPack desiccant packets, which o er an ideal combination of durability, mois ture protection and breathability, while taking up little space inside the primary packaging.

For their part, the AdCap desiccant canisters (see picture) ensure that moisture or odors are optimally adsorbed immediately after ﬁlling of oral solid dose drug product bottle packaging.

AT11-20CAN productIndividualtransport Free motion6DlayoutsystempayloadScalablekg planarLevitatingmovers upVelocitiesto2m/s XPlanar enables new dimensions of freedom in product and material handling: Levitating planar movers ﬂy over ﬂexibly arranged planar tiles accommodating nearly any track layout and path planning. Individual 2D transport at up to 2 m/s Processing with up to 6 degrees of freedom Transport and processing in one system Wear-free, hygienic and easy to clean Free arrangement of planar tiles enabling totally customized machine and process layouts Multi-mover control enables parallel and individual product handling Fully integrated into the powerful and standardized PC-based Beckhoff control system (TwinCAT, PLC IEC 61131, Motion, Measurement, Machine Learning, Vision, Communication, HMI) For use across all industries: assembly, packaging, food/bev, pharma, laboratory, entertainment, … Flying 2D product transport with up to 6 degrees of freedom : Agile machines with adaptive automation Scan inXPlanarexperiencetoaction Visit Beckhoff in booth S-3882!

• The elevating vertical conveyor, used to transport boxes, crates and trays continuous ly, e ortlessly and quickly, is made entirely of stainless steel and full washdown,

CPK_PIGEON_APPT_AUG_BAS.indd 1 2022-08-18 10:23 AM AUTOMATE NOW

Working in conjunction with Stéphane Crevier, Pigeon’s VP Brand Strategy & Growth, Montreal, Zeb will continue to elevate brand strategy across Pigeon’s three o ces by helping develop a keen understanding of consumer needs leading to stronger brand and product design for our clients.

Why automation is essential investment for meat plants

“We are excited to welcome Zeb as Pigeon continues to expand its o erings in delivering more global and local brand-building work. For years, strategy has always been at the forefront of great design and great brands at Pigeon. Zeb joining the Pigeon team ensconces us as a fully-committed and even stronger player in the global strategic branding arena.”

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 53

Pigeon CEO, Thomas Pigeon noted: “Whether in store or online, the battle for consumer share of mind and share of pocket is fiercer than ever. Pigeon continues to evolve by building strategic bench strength, and with the addition of Zeb, we will ensure that we o er our clients significantly enhanced branding solutions. From our roots as a package design firm and as branding experts, over the years we have expanded to become a brandcentric communications firm, serving our clients from the brand on up in all areas of their integrated marketing needs.”

BARRETT JOINS PIGEON TORONTO TEAM AS VP STRATEGY

In the canadian food processing market, meat industry is the largest sub-sector (in delivered sale value) which has also been growing stead ily in past years. In this sector, the labor force is important, and the level of production line automation is still low compared to others be cause of the peculiarities of their products: natur al, sensitive, and easily perishable products. With the pandemic, strict hygiene require ments, and lack of labor, the sector has great challenges to overcome to continue to be productive and grow. The challenges of the companies in this sector are also the challenges of Storcan For all these reasons, Storcan recently invested more in R&D to develop speciﬁc equipment, especially for the meat processing sector. We are convinced that automation is an e ective way to remedy the di culties charac teristic of this market. Our R&D team therefore contacted compan ies in the sector to better understand their technological needs and design custom equip ment. From these discussions, these equipments have been developed:

As a founding board member of the Account Planning Group of Canada, Zeb comes to Pigeon with 15+ years of strategic planning experience, working in leadership positions in some of the country’s top brand communications agencies. His career in strategy has been marked by a strong breadth of categories and challenges to be solved on many of the world’s best brands, including Kraft, Budweiser, Toronto FC, SportChek, Maple Leaf, AstraZeneca, and Wiser’s Canadian Whisky, to name a few. Zeb joins Pigeon from Art and Mechanical, and he previously held leadership roles at Huge, Havas, Anomaly, and Rethink.

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• The pick and place, which moves food products packed in cardboard boxes, has been designed in an ultra-sanitary way to avoid all types of deposits, facilitating cleaning and maintenance,

• The MDR conveyor HERO1, ideal for transporting heavy boxes (110-120lbs) at high speed in a sanitary and humid environment,

• The strapping machine, a box closing system, specially designed for environments with high sanitary requirements. This fully automatic strapping machine closes and seals boxes in random order without an operator. It can seal both small and large cases and automatically adjusts to sizes randomly.Alltheseequipment could be integrated into an existing production line or a new line. Designed for the meat processing sector, they can also be adapted to food sectors which need sanitaryStorcanequipment.expertswill be able to support you at every stage of your production line auto mation project, from design to production, evolving from a manual system to a more automated production system. Contact us via info@storcan.com for a consultation.

TORONTO, AUG 15, 2022. Elyse Boulet, President & Managing Partner, Pigeon Brands Inc., today announced the appointment of Zeb Barrett as its new VP Strategy, Toronto.

In response to growth and demands from existing clients, along with a number of signiﬁcant new client wins, Pigeon is continuing to expand its strategic capabilities.

“Design thinking continues to be at the forefront of leading brands throughout the world,” stated Zeb. “Pigeon’s knowledge of brands, insights into the consumer psyche, and comprehen sive involvement and excellence in the retail environment were paramount in my decision to join this exceptional team. As the VP Strategy, my role is to elevate the strategic piece even higher than it is today at Pigeon, and bring our clients unique insights and perspectives to enhance their competitive ability in this confused and cluttered marketplace.”

Some spirals can also be configured with intermediate induction or discharge conveyors, allowing multiple production lines to feed or be fed from the same spiral. This can truly reduce floorspace.

Flexibility than Meets the Eye.

Vertical Conveying with Ryson Spirals

Spiral Conveyors can provide that sort of flexibility. They can convey units of different sizes, shapes and weights without needing any sort of adjustment. There is no need for change parts or reconfigurations.

In fact, it’s not uncommon for a single spiral to elevate dissimilar loads from multiple production lines to the palletizing or warehousing area.

Spiral conveyors also have the ability to be designed with custom infeed and outfeed configurations. This can add efficiency in a layout, reduce floorspace and eliminate small ancillary connector conveyors that require additional power and controls. A perfect example would be that a spiral with an extended infeed curve can replace a small 90º conveyor or extension to feed a spiral.

Spirals are frequently used to create a forklift aisle between packaging lines to prevent landlocking operations or to transfer product between floors in space constrained buildings.

Another advantage is that depending on the size and stability of the product being conveyed, the angle of incline can be lowered without increasing the footprint of the machine.

If a company decides to build a new building, they are looking to minimize the square footage while optimizing the space utilization. This is also true if an existing facility is purchased and retrofit for new production – particularly in urban properties. Saving space is paramount to profit. Certainly, the best way to minimize a building footprint is to build vertically. After all, a two-story structure can half the footprint of a building while maintaining the same square footage. But of course, with a muti-level building, you need to find a way to transport materials from one level to the next.

Profit margins in the packaging industry are notoriously thin. Managers are striving for improvements that can reduce operation expenses and minimizing downtime. That can have a huge impact. With more and more product variations going to market, the strain on the production team can mount. So, there is a demand for efficient, reliable machines that can handle any sort of production line changes without skipping a beat.

For these reasons, Spiral Conveyors have become the industry standard for vertical conveying. Yorktown, VA 23692

300 Newsome Drive •

54 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

One constant in the packaging industry is change. Production lines change as products and seasonal demands dictate. New product variations, sizes and configurations are constantly testing the capabilities and configuration of production lines.

The food, beverage and packaging industry is looking for operating flexibility, faster throughput, and higher reliability – all with a smaller footprint. Many plants operate 24/7 with very little allowance for downtime. After all, a down line means a loss of production. Production line real estate is also at a premium. Often, to increase production, a company will want to install additional lines in the same building, instead of constructing a new building or expanding the existing building.

Adds more Advantages and Line

The ideal solution is a spiral conveyor. It takes the concept of an incline conveyor but configures it in a helix. This allows the same elevation change as an incline conveyor, but with a fraction of the footprint.

• Pho n e: (757)898 153 0 • Fax: (757)898 1580 RYSON INTERNATIONAL, INC. MEMBER OF ROYAL APOLLO GROUP www.ryson.com See our equipment run at Pack Expo in Chicago - Booth N-5945

September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 55 greater visibility of energy and resource consumption essential to meeting sustainability goals.

APRIL2023 25-27 Toronto: CPMA 2023, annual convention and trade show of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA). At the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. To register, go to: www.convention.cpma.ca

Manufacturing plants typically lose 30% of compressed air due to pneumatic system leakages. Emerson’s Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions and analytics software provide the actionable insights needed to identify waste and optimize energy efficiency.

Montreal : ADM (Advanced Design & Manufacturing Expo) Montréal. Crossindustry exhibition comprising PACKEX, ATX, Design & Manufacturing, Expoplast, and Powder & Bulk Solids. All at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. To register, go to: www.admmontreal.com NOV. 15-18 Milan, Italy: SIMEI, international enological and bottling equipment exhibition by the Unione Italiana Vini (UIV). At Fiera Milano. To register, go to: www.simei.it

We see

Visit us at Pack Expo 2022. North Hall – Booth N4736

MAY 4-10

Düsseldorf, Germany: K 2022, global plastics and rubber industries technology showcase by Messe Düsseldorf. At the Düsseldorf Exhibition Center. To register, go to: www.mdna.com OCT. 23-26 Chicago : PACK EXPO International , packaging and processing technologies exhibition by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. At McCormick Place. To register, go to: www.packexpo.com

Discover how digitally transforming your operations can help meet your sustainability goals:

OCT. 11-19

Düsseldorf, Germany: Interpack 2023, global showcase for packaging and processing technologies by Messe Düsseldorf GmbH. At Messe Düsseldorf fairgrounds. To register, go to: www.interpack.com

SEPT.EVENTS19-21

NOV. 9-10

Toronto : 2022 Canadian Stewardship Conference, by PAC Global. At the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.To register, go to: www.canadianstewardship.com

SEPT. 28-30 Toronto: MeatEx Canada, international meat industry exhibition by Farasoo Holding Corporation. At the Enercare Centre. To register, go to: www.meatexcanada.com OCT. 14-15 Niagara Falls, Ont.: Meat Industry Expo, meat processing and packaging technologies exhibition by Meat & Poultry Ontario. At Niagara Falls Convention Centre. To register, go to: www.meatpoultryon.ca.

OCT. 25-26 Niagara Falls, Ont.: OCBC22: Ontario Craft Brewers Conference & Suppliers Marketplace, annual conference and trade show by Ontario Craft Brewers (OCB). At the Niagara Falls Convention Centre. To register, go to: www.ocbconference.com

I am not a big fan of resealable plastic envelopes of spices—it’s all too easy for the contents to clog the zipper lock when pouring out, and then it does not reseal securely. But I’m happy to make an ex ception for the Fire in the Kitchen Spice Co .’s JJ’s Veggie Blaze blend, which really grabbed me with its appetiz ing full-color photo of a ﬁnished food product, set o by a bold black back ground. The jury is still out on how well the resealable zipper holds up, but I’m really looking forward to ﬁnding out.

/ Julie

I have a nostalgic soft spot for the Club House brand’s spice tins, such as their timeless Ground Cloves. My father made a wooden spice rack for my mother when they were first dating, which hung on our kitchen wall my whole life growing up, and it was filled with these clever little containers. Despite their smallish size, they o er terrific three-way dispensing functional with their built-in shaker, pour spout and wide-mouth spoon openings, depending on whether you open the lid along the side or at the front. The small size is also ideal for spices used in small quantities, in order to finish them while they are still fresh. The graphics are more contemporary than the circa-70s brown and orange of my memories, with a bold red-orange background that really pops.

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I have come to realize that I cannot resist a package with a seal—breaking it open feels like opening a present. So the Urban Accents Mesa Rosa Chipotle really drew me in with its shiny red seal over the lid, not to mention the peek-a-boo view of the interior through a cut-out in the opaque wrapper. I was a little disappointed when I opened it to ﬁnd that it only has a single shaker top option, but I liked the wide-ranging suggestions for use and the reference to the website to ﬁnd more tips and ideas.

I feel like McCormick Gourmet Chili Powder has been a familiar brand my entire life, but I gave a double take on my recent shopping trip—when did it get this sleek two-toned sculpted plastic lid? The colorful graphic of ingredients on the label also livened it up. And, in a so-smart ‘Why-didn’t-I-think-of-it before’ display of edgy innovation, the top of the lid has the name of the spice printed on it—perfect if the bottle were stored in a spice drawer with only a top-down view.

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JULIE SAUNDERS is a healthcare professionalcommunicationsbasedinToronto.

56 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM

I love the look of President’s Choice Shichimi Togarashi, but the functionality of the packaging could be improved. The silver metallic screw top and low-proﬁle clear plastic jar are very distinctive, and, as with all of the Black Label line of prod ucts, the graphics are contemporary, with a black and white photograph of the spices that make up this seven-spice blend. However, when I unscrewed the top, the lightweight ﬂakes of this spice mixture were easily jostled and some spilled over the edge. Perhaps this pack age should incorporate a shaker or pour spout opening to more reliably dispense the contents.

ometimes I go shopping for new spices and herbs, not because I need something for a particular recipe, but just to add a little novelty to my cooking. So I appreciate a spice like Pride of Szeged’s Rib Rub, which wears its place of origin proudly, with the crest and colors of the Hungarian flag a central design feature on the side of the slim plastic container that easily fits into my crowded spice cupboard. Resembling an old-school metal tin, the container’s backside provides easy-tofollow instruction and recipe sugges tions to round out a tiny little package oozing with authenticity. As the name implies, the Simply Organic Oregano brand is packaged in a sim ple, square-sided glass bottle, with the screw-top lid used to revealing both shaker and pour openings in the under lying plastic top. I was particularly at tracted by the cute, contemporary font treatment, using all lowercase with inter linking letters in the logo. If I were storing this in the open, I might be concerned that exposure to sun could diminish the flavor of the contents, since the entirely clear glass bottle provides no protection against light, but generally my herbs are always stored in a dark cupboard.

The Cold Grind Organic Garam Masala brand looks like a fairly basic product, but I think the packaging is selling it short. A visit to the brand’s website reveals a genu inely earnest commitment to working directly with individual farmers to source premium spices, as well as their authentic cold grind process that does an outstand ing job of preserve the spice ﬂavor down to the last few specs. Alas, the stubby shape and proportions of the clear round ed plastic jar don’t really do much to make the product stand out on the shelf, the black plastic lid and angled log on graphics on the label are more suited for a protein supplement, rather than a very ﬂavorful and zesty food spice.

Abbey Equipment Solutions 49 AGFA Inc. 11 Beckho Automation Ltd. 52 Carlo Gavazzi (Canada) Inc. 7 Domino Printing Solutions Inc 46 Emerson Automation Solutions 55 ESS Technologies, Inc. 44 FANUC Canada, Ltd 36 FlexLink Systems Canada Inc. 51 Fortress Technology Inc 12 Harlund Industries Ltd 42 Harpak-ULMA Packaging , LLC 38 Heat and Control IFC Honeywell Intelligrated 28 Imperial Dade Canada OBC KRONES, INC 45 Mettler Toledo 35, IBC Multivac Canada Inc. 15 Nuspark Inc. 34 Paxiom Group Inc 8 Pigeon Brands Inc. 53 Pilz Automation Safety Canada, L.P.13, 50 Plan Automation 6 Regal Rexnord 32 Reiser / Robert Reiser & Co. 41 Ryson International 21, 54 Syntegon Packaging Technology, LLC 2 Schubert North America, LLC 22 Uline Canada Corporation 9 Videojet Canada 1 Weber, Inc. 10 WestRock 5

Stand-out pa aging adds spice of life to the kit en Saunders

Intense retailshelffunctionalityconvenience,betterenhancementsdiapackagingtheirbrandsleadingpromptingcompetitionmarketismanyspicetoimproveproductthroughvarietyoferentdesignforconsumerandimpactatthelevel.

CANADIANPACKAGING.COM September 2022 · CANADIANPACKAGING 57 High Performance Dynamic Checkweighing Efficient, Effective Solutions for Any Application To ensure efficient production and quality control processes, METTLER TOLEDO offers a wide range of checkweighing solutions for food, pharmaceutical, and industrial applications. With a range of solutions from entry-level to highly specialized systems built on a single platform, we provide manufacturers with more than just a checkweigher. Download our free weighing solutions eGuide to learn more about: •Benefits of integrating a checkweigher into your production line •Precision weighing for highest accuracy •Process optimization to maximize productivity •Support for compliance with regulations •Future-proof portfolio with modular configurations •Open interfaces enabling Industry 4.0 integration Learn more about high performance weighing solutions by downloading the eGuide today www.mt.com/ca-checkweighing-solutions

58 CANADIANPACKAGING · September 2022 CANADIANPACKAGING.COM © 2022 Imperial Dade Canada Inc. All rights reserved. Imperial Dade Canada and the Imperial Dade Canada logo are registered trademarks of Imperial Dade Canada Inc. or its af liates. A new name, a new look Same great people Same exceptional service Same extensive product offering Introducing... (Formerly Veritiv Canada, Inc .® )

Canadian Packaging September 2022

Articles inside

Upcoming industry functions

Noteworthy industry briefs

Packaging news round-up

New packaging solutions and technologies

Julie Saunders