SHIFTING THE PARADIGM OF PACKAGING PROGRESS Whichever way you look at it, the postponement of this year’s interpack to 2021 has been unprecedented for the packaging industry. However, in the spirit of innovation, companies from across the value chain still forged forwards to introduce new solutions around the time that the event was originally scheduled to take place.
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ere at Packaging Europe, we aimed to support the industry by adapting from the physical to digital, a model which seems to have been tentatively adopted across the industry: innovations and announcements we would usually be discovering at events have been launched instead by way of virtual events, webinars, and digital launches. Our Live Week was designed to fill the void and severe information gap left by the postponement of interpack, which was set to be this year’s focal point for announcements, product launches and discussions around packaging innovation. If you have yet to watch our comprehensive broadcasts,
with frank discussions between expert guests on wide-ranging topics such as sustainable materials, innovation & COVID-19, all whilst brimming with innovations and announcements which were initially scheduled to be shared on the interpack floor, then head to our Youtube page via the QR code. Building on the success of our inaugural Live Week and the fantastic audience engagement in our May broadcasts, we’ll be back to share more essential discussion of key packaging challenges. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to ensure you don’t miss these and future live broadcasts. In the meantime, Fin Slater unpacks some of the key innovations that have been recently announced by companies in the machinery sector.
Domino Gx-Series
ABB IRB 390 FlexPacker
Printing, marking and coding specialist Domino is set to launch a new range of high-quality thermal inkjet (TIJ) printers optimized for fast, efficient, and accurate coding, on product labels, flexible films, and cartons. The company says that its next-generation printers are compatible with all languages, and suitable for use across industries including pharmaceuticals, electronics, and food and beverage, with customizable options available to suit individual production needs. In the words of Alexandros Mountis, TIJ product manager at Domino: “The Gx-Series has been designed with this level of agility and ease of use in mind – to help manufacturers to keep pace with the pressures of a modern marketplace.”
ABB claims that its new robotic picking and packing portfolio can support customized packaging, vertical packing and high-speed, high-variation sorting and on-demand order picking in logistics and e-commerce fulfilment centres. Designed for customers in the food and beverage, logistics, pharmaceutical, and consumer-packaged goods industries, ABB says that the IRB 390 is ideal for secondary packaging and higher payload applications, with the speed and flexibility to support shelf-ready packaging and retail-ready packaging.
X-ray options from Ishida Europe In the quality control and inspection sector, Ishida has announced a completely new range of X-ray machine options for detecting low to high-density foreign bodies in both packaged and unpackaged bulk flow formats. The company reports that its hygienically designed machines and options will display a number of new features, including easy to clean surfaces and easy to remove reject bins. Ishida was also set to display a new range of checkweighers based on a new advanced electronic architecture that reportedly offers improved speeds and accuracies and enhanced touch screen interfaces across the board. | 4 | Packaging Europe
