PACKAGING BRIEFS Thursday, June 16

Hershey names new CEO
John Bilbrey has been named president/CEO and a director of The Hershey Co., effective immediately. Bilbrey has more than 30 years of global consumer packaged goods experience. He was named Hershey's interim president/CEO in May 2011 after having served as COO since November 2010.

TricorBraun and Treffpack announce alliance
Treffpack of Hamburg, Germany, and TricorBraun, headquartered in St. Louis, MO, with offices throughout North America, have announced an alliance. Both companies have 100-plus years of experience in the rigid packaging industry. Their shared ability to offer customers an impressive array of options to meet their packaging needs and their similar, family-like company cultures brought them together. Treffpack and TricorBraun expect to leverage their excellent relationships with the top packaging and component manufacturers and their ability to offer superior logistics and management assistance into making them a worldwide "one-stop-packaging-shop."

Key Technology opens Innovation and Solutions Center
Key Technology has opened its new customer visitor center, The Innovation and Solutions Center, in Walla Walla, WA. The facility is designed to effectively demonstrate and test Key 's sorting, conveying, and processing solutions to food processors, both in-person and remotely via a live video interface. With multiple demo labs, the new 31,500 sq ft facility comfortably accommodates numerous customers simultaneously for equipment demonstrations, application tests and training, which allows customers more flexibility in scheduling their visits.

Merger creates new European packaging supplier
Ahlström Capital and the Accent Equity 2008 investment fund are combining their operations in the packaging industry to form a new group: Arch Packaging Group AB. The merger strengthens the competitiveness of the constituent companies A&R Carton and Flextrus, which will continue to operate on the market as separate companies and brands. A&R Carton is one of Europe's leading folding carton packaging companies, while Flextrus is a leader in northern Europe within flexible packaging. Together, the two specialist companies will be better equipped to compete on the packaging market.

West breaks ground for its second manufacturing plant in China
West Pharmaceutical Services Inc., a global leader in innovative solutions for injectable drug administration, hosted a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction for a compression molding plant in the Shanghai Qingpu Industrial Zone (SQIZ) in China. The new plant will be adjacent to West's injection molding facility that was dedicated in September 2009. When completed, the plant will manufacture components used for pharmaceutical packaging, supplying customers primarily in China and the Asia-Pacific region. The 11,900-square-meter facility is expected to begin production in January 2013.

ConAgra Foods buys Marie Callender's brand trademarks
ConAgra Foods Inc. has purchased the Marie Callender's brand trademarks, which it has used under a long-term licensee agreement for the past 10 years, from Marie Callender Pie Shops Inc. for a price of $57.5 million. Andre Hawaux, consumer foods president, ConAgra Foods, says, "Owning the trademark not only allows for greater control of the brand, but gives us the added flexibility to further grow the Marie Callender's brand."

Sainsbury's reduces packaging 7 percent
In the last year, Sainsbury's has cut packaging levels by 12 million kilos (about 26.4 lbs), as part of its strategy to reduce packaging by a third by 2015. According to the company, the reduction means around 7 percent of packaging has been removed from Sainsbury's own-brand products through new packaging design. This equates to an 11 percent reduction over the past two years. Stuart Lendrum, Sainsbury's head of packaging, says, "Excess packaging is one of the top concerns among customers, so it is a real priority for us. It is vital that we strike the correct balance between ensuring packaging is functional and reducing the volume we use. By cutting small amounts of material from high-volume products, we can make a tremendous difference to the amount of packaging on our shelves."

Arkay Packaging expansion creates 25 new jobs
Folding carton manufacturer Arkay Packaging Corp. will invest $7.5 million to expand its operation in Botetourt County in Virginia. The project will create 25 new jobs in press operations, quality control, finishing and gluing. The investment includes a state-of-the-art Heidelberg XL105 printing press, as well as a new Bobst die-cutting press. "This expansion enables Arkay to increase capacity and continue to be the leader in innovative packaging solutions," says Mitchell Kaneff, chairman/CEO of Arkay Packaging. "Looking back, there were many incentives for us to move our plant to Roanoke. Being located so close to Interstate 81 gave us a strategic advantage with our customers. We also loved the fact that Virginia was a right-to-work state and the lowered electric costs were certainly an enticement." The third generation family-owned company is headquartered in Hauppauge, NY, and serves global cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies.

Sealed Air's Cryovac business expands design and marketing services
Sealed Air's Cryovac Graphics Services previously offered design and color separations for bag or rollstock packaging. Its new Cryovac Graphics+ service extends these capabilities to provide integrated design and creative support-including design, art and pre-press customization-for customers' marketing collateral and secondary packaging needs. Cryovac Graphics+ designs logos, websites, brochures, pressure-sensitive labels, cartons, boxes, coupons, envelopes, trade show materials and 3D prototypes.

Packaging student scholarships available from NJPEC
NJPEC, an organization of packaging professionals dedicated to education and collaboration between packaging buyers and sellers, is looking for 2011 scholarship applicants among students currently studying packaging design and engineering at an accredited university. Scholarships are presented to packaging students on the basis of academic achievement, financial need and extra-curricular activities. Applications are available at www.NJPEC.com. The deadline for submission is Aug. 15, 2011.

PepsiCo earns LEED certification for plant in Russia
PepsiCo's Frito-Lay manufacturing facility in Azov, Russia, has been officially awarded LEED Silver by U.S. Green Building Council. The plant is the first site in PepsiCo's European network to receive the prestigious LEED certification for New Construction/Major Renovation, bringing the total number of LEED certified PepsiCo facilities around the world to 27.

TEQ and Spartan Design Group partner to expand services for medical device manufacturers
TEQ Thermoform Engineered Quality has formed a strategic alliance with Spartan Design Group to provide medical device manufacturing customers with a concept-to-completion solution for medical device sterile product packaging. Services include working with customers from selecting materials through to package design and testing development, as well as process validation for standards compliance.

Sonoco Recycling partners with Shoosmith Brothers to open mixed-material recycling center
Sonoco Recycling Inc. and Shoosmith Brothers Inc. have opened The Recycling Center, a landfill diversion facility that will be operated by Sonoco Recycling at the Shoosmith Brothers landfill in Chester, Va. The Recycling Center will handle mixed material loads for recycling. With the new recycling facility, commercial and industrial customers will now be able to recycle unsorted and mixed loads that previously would have gone to landfills. The facility will sort and process items such as mixed paper, metal and plastics. Reclaimed materials will be linked to other end users. Recovered paper, for instance, will go to Sonoco's Richmond paper mill only 12 miles away, lowering the facility's carbon footprint and offering a secure source of supply.

SSB and Sudpack sign new supply agreement for biopharmaceutical plastic films
Sartorius Stedim Biotech, or SSB, a pharma and biotech supplier, and Sudpack Medica AG, a manufacturer of packaging solutions, have signed an exclusive cooperation agreement on the development, manufacture and supply of polymer plastic films for the biopharmaceutical market. As part of this strategic partnership, which is based on an initial term of 10 years, Sudpack will produce plastic film materials for SSB to be used in the manufacture of single-use bags and systems. These single-use bags are primarily used by customers in the pharmaceutical industry for cell cultivation, transportation and storage of biopharmaceutical liquids. SSB and Sudpack will also collaborate on the development of novel multi-layer films with improved product characteristics, which are to be used in single-use bioreactors, for instance. The first product innovations from this cooperation are expected in approximately one year from now.

Schreiner Group receives international label industry awards
Schreiner Group entered four specialty label solutions in this year's competition held by FINAT, the international federation of the self-adhesive label industry. All four product entries won awards. Victory in the consumer labels group and the innovation award across all categories went to Schreiner Group. In addition, the company was recognized by two "highly commended" awards. The awards were presented in Taormina, Sicily, on June 9 during the annual FINAT congress.

Metabolix appoints Barbara Wells to board of directors
Metabolix Inc., a bioscience company focused on developing clean, sustainable solutions for plastics, chemicals and energy, welcomes Barbara Wells, Ph.D., to its board of directors, effective June 6, 2011. Wells brings 26 years of experience in the agriculture and biotechnology industries to help Metabolix grow its renewable bioplastics and chemicals businesses. Wells is currently the president and chief executive officer of ArborGen, which she joined in 2002.

Sherpa Clinical Packaging selects Syspro ERP for manufacturing, materials management
Sherpa Clinical Packaging, a start-up in San Diego, CA, has selected Syspro ERP (Enterprise Resource Management) software for financial, manufacturing and materials management. Sherpa provides Clinical Trial Material management services-including packaging, labeling, distribution and returns-for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and dietary supplement companies. Sherpa president Mark Paiz says the company opted for Syspro based on affordability, system scalability and ability to facilitate certain regulatory requirements.

Atlantic Packaging launches blog and social media strategy
Atlantic Packaging has launched a host of social media sites including www.atlanticblog.ca, its own Twitter account (@atlanticpack) and a company page on LinkedIn. Its blog will act as a focal point for Atlantic's social media strategies as a destination for customers, prospects, employees and partners to learn about the company's vast store of experience.

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