Sanitary design and cleanability offer opportunities for improving the bottom line. Complying with Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) for equipment and utensils lowers the risk of expensive product recalls and the consequent damage to brand reputation.

So, you’ve been assigned the task of selecting a new cartoner for your bag-in-box packaging line. Where to start? There are many cartoner models available on the market, and an even larger range of options and prices. To find the solution that best meets your company’s needs, make sure to ask the right questions. 

When making the choice between premade pouches and form-fill-seal, OEMs should consider factors like run speed, changeovers and flexibility of package sizes handled, according to the 2019 Flexible Packaging Assessment by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

The packaging machinery market is seeing an uptick in demand for rental machinery. There are three key drivers of this trend: flexibility, cost and return on investment. Continuously evolving consumer demands and the explosion of SKUs means that flexibility is paramount, particularly in the food and beverage markets.

OMAC and OPC Foundation jointly released a PackML OPC UA Companion Specification in 2018 — a nearly two-year effort to standardize how PackML information should be modeled in OPC UA. Since its release, technical solution providers have started to create real implementations of the specification.

PACK EXPO Las Vegas and the co-located Healthcare Packaging EXPO, presented by PMMI, the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, takes place Sept 23-25. The event will cover 900,000 net sq. ft. of exhibit space, with 2,000 exhibitors and 30,000 attendees from nearly every market.

There is always a need to increase production in automation applications. Sometimes achieving improvements requires breaking the process down to its fundamental basics.

Trends are funny. Some trends seem to quickly grab the attention of the public, only to fizzle out after the launch of the next trend. In retail, this is most notable with the latest kids’ toy — as soon as the holidays have passed so has the hype.

If you are regular reader of this column, you are likely aware of the competitive advantages provided by PackML in August’s “Get Ready for IIoT: 5 Reasons to Implement PackML Now.” Your company may even be planning to implement PackML. So where do you start?

Packaging is constantly changing, and to keep up with consumer and retail/CPG demand, we have to look at the future as "now." Thinking ahead in order to make trend predictions and how machines and materials can be used is one way to help stay ahead in the ever-changing market.