PACKAGING BRIEFS—Wednesday, Dec. 15

Maxcess announces new executive leadership team for Fife, Magpowr, Tidland
Maxcess, a product and services provider for the web handling industry, introduces executive leadership team for Fife, Magpowr and Tidland products. Dan Crofford was named vp -- North America; Francesco Cristante, managing director – Europe; and Robert Liu, managing director – China. Other team members include: Doug Knudtson, vp -- global operations will facilitate the sharing of best practices among Maxcess operations around the world. Ron Schmidt, vp – Asia Pacific will be responsible for sales growth throughout Asia, South America and other emerging markets, with additional responsibility for Maxcess factories and offices in Japan, India, Singapore and Brazil to support Maxcess customers as they expand into new, fast-growing regions. Merlyn DeVries, CFO will serve as a key advisor on major strategic issues.

Prism hires Luther Erlund as North American Sales Manager
Luther Erlund, a recognized industry professional with more than 30 years of experience, has joined Prism as North American Sales Manager. Erlund will cover all of North America with an emphasis on flexo labels and converters and will continue to contribute to industry associations with opinions and expertise in this area.

Crown Holdings elects James H. Miller to its board of directors
Crown Holdings, Inc. announced today that power industry executive James H. Miller has been elected to the company's board of directors. The Board now has 11 members.  Miller is chairman, president and CEO of PPL Corp. He was named PPL's chairman and CEO in 2006 having been promoted to president and elected to its board of directors a year earlier. Prior to that, he served as COO and executive v.p. at PPL. Mr. Miller joined PPL in 2001 as president of PPL Generation, its subsidiary that operates power plants in the United States.

Husky honored with "Best Innovation Award" by Coca-Cola China for its lightweighting solutions
Husky Injection Molding Systems has been recognized with the Best Innovation Award by Coca-Cola China. Xiuju Luan, CEO, COFCO Coca-Cola Beverages Limited and Dan Coe, Chief Procurement Officer, China Bottlers Procurement Consortium presented the award to Husky representatives as part of Coca-Cola China's Supplier Sustainability Summit that took place in Shanghai.

Graphic Packaging approves $80 million biomass project

Graphic Packaging Intl Inc., a subsidiary of Graphic Packaging Holding Co., has approved a plan to expand utilization of biomass energy in its Macon, GA, paperboard mill with an estimated cost of up to $80 million.The objectives of the biomass project are to further the company's sustainability strategy, reduce energy costs and to improve the profitability of the Macon mill in advance of expected increases in electricity costs. The mill currently produces approximately 1,600 tons of paperboard per day. 

HP says survey results show a 4:1 preference for HP Indigo printed labels over those printed flexo
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) announces results from the "Design Challenge" survey conducted at this year's PACK EXPO INTERNATIONAL. Two hundred twenty nine show attendees participated in the "Design Challenge" survey, evaluating a pair of four-color labels with identical graphics – one printed on a narrow-web flexographic press and the other printed on an HP Indigo digital press. Eighty-four percent of survey participants stated the HP Indigo-printed label provided greater shelf impact, while 82 percent said the HP Indigo-printed label had higher print quality.

Pregis Hexacomb facility receives prestigious quality award
Pregis Hexacomb’s Aoiz manufacturing facility recently received a prestigious quality award from its regional Government Foundation of Excellence.  The honor was based on criteria established by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). The co. says it is
one of only 30 organizations in the Navarra region receiving the honor—and the only packaging company to successfully meet the stringent EFQM criteria. Companies are evaluated in multiple areas including: management and execution of leadership, policy/strategy, customer service and partnership processes.

Genco ATC becomes a certified GS1 US data quality solution partner
Genco ATC, a product life cycle logistics and third-party logistics provider, today announced that GS1 US, a not-for-profit organization that brings industry communities together to solve supply chain problems, has certified the company as a GS1 US Data Quality Solution Partner. The GS1 US certification recognizes Genco ATC as one of a select group of Data Quality Solution Partners with the expertise to apply GS1 package measurement standards through the Global Data Synchronization Network.

Minnesota Thermal Science announces partnership with ATS Healthcare
Minnesota Thermal Science (MTS), an international provider of solutions for the safe transportation of temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical, blood and biologic products, is partnering with Canadanian temperature-controlled healthcare transportation provider, ATS Healthcare (ATS). Through this partnership, ATS Healthcare will provide sales and distribution of the MTS Credo product line throughout Canada; i turn, MTS will provide local service and support to ATS’ clients in the U.S.

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