Movers & Shakers

WeighPack Systems Inc. names Mario Medina sales manager for the southeastern U.S. and Central and South America and Stephen Farruggio for New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Enercon Industries Corp. names Owen Schmidt inside sales manager.

Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses appoints John Graff eastern regional manager for sheet-fed presses.

Adept Technology, Inc. names John Dulchinos CEO to succeed Robert Bucher, who becomes executive chairman of the board of directors.

AEC names Mike Gronski to its industrial markets sales and engineering team.

DieterBakicEnterprises appoints Markus Gralka vp of sales.

The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. appoints Al Damico executive vp.

Cumberland Recycling Systems, a div. of Cumberland Engineering, names Dave Botelho technical sales manager.

Datalogic Mobile appoints Gary Glaser vp sales and marketing for the Americas.

Microprecision Electronics SA appoints Bill Wixted national sales manager of its Microprecision Electronics, Inc. Div.

Rohm and Haas Co. names Katie Hunt corporate sustainability director.

Goodman Packaging Equipment names Randy Spahr executive vp.

The Klöckner Pentaplast Group appoints Hans-Joachim Kogelnik president and COO for its European operations.

The Montalvo Corp. names Taith Rupp industrial sales specialist.

Multi-Color Corp. announces the departure of its North American business unit president Donald Kneir, whose responsibilities will be assumed by president and CEO Frank Gerace until a successor is named.

Sigmala USA appoints Dave Rumson president.

Owens-Illinois, Inc. names Jay Scripter vp of sustainability.

Multivac, Inc. names Brandon White the replacement for Marty Moscowitz, who retires from his role as northeast territory manager for the Medical-Consumer-Industrial Div.

The Specialized Packaging Group, Inc. appoints Nirav Shah business team leader and Mary DiGianni national accounts manager.

Key Technology appoints Edward Wagner senior vp of global operations.

Sandvik Coromant promotes John Pusatera to training specialist.

SATO America appoints Dennis Garis senior firmware engineer.

Sidel names Roger Arbour international key account manager for PepsiCo.

Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. names Larry Tignor general manager of its Calpine Corrugated box plant in Fresno, CA.

Paramount Can Company, Inc. names Scott Wood executive vp.

Toray Plastics (America), Inc. names Milan Moscaritolo director of sales and marketing for the Lumirror® Polyester Film Div.

GMG Americas promotes Chris Schowalter to western region channel manager and advances Kevin Rowe to manager, technical services.

Symetix appoints Phillip Wescott director of sales and business development.

Growing & going

A. Schulman, Inc. plans to open a Polybatch® manufacturing plant in Akron, OH.

Beckhoff Automation opens a training and sales office in Fond du Lac, WI.

Robotunits opens its new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Dornbirn, Austria.

Owens-Illinois, Inc. plans to close its glass container plant in Castel Maggiore, Italy.

MD Logistics plans to invest $1 million to build and equip a 15,000-sq-ft pharmaceutical-grade cold-storage facility in Plainfield, IN.

Sealed Air opens Packforum® Americas, a 28,000-sq ft permanent customer forum, in Atlanta.

LiquiPur Holdings, Inc. plans to open two plants in Janesville, WI, next year, a 62,000-sq-ft hot-fill beverage facility and a 77,000-sq-ft aseptic food and beverage production facility.

PRPflexo adds a DuPont Cyrel digital imager to its facility in Indianapolis.

The Drake Co. opens a production facility in Santa Ana, CA, and appoints Brett Verst western territory sales manager.

ABB opens a North American drives service hub in New Berlin, WI.

Unifoil Corp. installs a Maxson DFK precision sheeter to meet increased demand for custom registered holographic and recyclable packaging and printing materials.

Graham Packaging Co., L.P., plans to close plants in Lakeland, FL and Montgomery, AL.

Buying and Allying

PMI-ARPAC LLC acquires certain assets of shrink-packaging machinery manufacturer Packaging Machines International, Inc.

A. Schulman, Inc., seeks a joint venture partner or other strategic arrangement for its Invision® sheet-product business.

Baldor Electric Co.buys Poulies Maska, Inc., a designer/marketer of sheaves, bushings, couplings and power transmission components.

Arca Automation, LLC is a new joint venture established to market, sell, manufacture and service Arca labeling machinery in the U.S.

Bosch's Packaging Technology Div. agrees to buy packaging and automation specialist Paal Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH.

HDS Packaging signs a partner agreement with KUKA Robotics Corp.

Siemens Energy & Automation and Jacobs Automation, LLC co-develop the PROFINET interface for Jacobs Automation's PackTrak™ linear drive.

Paxiom USA, Inc. acquires Eagle Custom Packaging Systems, and renames it Eagle Packaging Machinery, LLC; Frank Milone becomes vp of engineering and Jorge Perez becomes vp of operations.

Call for Entries

The Institute of Packaging Professionals calls for entries to its 2008/2009 AmeriStar Packaging Competition. The early deadline is December 15; the final deadline is January 8, 2009.