Sustainable packaging goes mainstream
Sustainability is hitting the mainstream. For 10 years or more, a handful of leading CEOs and companies have recognized the leading indicators of a shifting business climate and have started to consider what the future might look like to their businesses. To these companies, many of whom are global brands, the concepts implicit in the term "sustainable development" have taken on greater meaning and bottom-line significance during this period.
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Need speed? Is there a delta robot in your future? You've seen them at shows. You've marveled at their speed and agility. Perhaps you've even thought one might be useful in your application. They are delta robots, and one just might be in your future. One is more likely to be in your future than in your past because the patents on the original design are about to run out. That will open the field for more vendors to add them to their product lines and for developers to come up with more design variations. Read more...

Sustainable food- and beverage-packaging market to surpass $42 billion by 2010
As the collective U.S. consciousness slowly accepts the idea of sustainable and eco-friendly products, manufacturers and retailers have responded, particularly in the food and beverage industry where shipments of sustainable or "green" packaging exceeded $37 billion in 2005, according to a new report.
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Climate change could alter taste of Oregon wines
Climate change could lead to hotter, drier heat waves, heavier rains and quicker snowmelts in the future, scientists say—and a change in the taste of Oregon's signature pinot noir wines also could be on the horizon. Vintners are already shifting their vines uphill to keep them cool during warmer summers. But researchers forecast that by the end of this century, pinot noir grapes, the centerpiece of the state's $1 billion wine industry, will grow better along Washington's Puget Sound than they do in the Willamette Valley.
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