PACKAGING BRIEFS Thursday, Jan. 27

SPC's Anne Johnson joins Keep America Beautiful's board of directors
Keep America Beautiful (KAB) has appointed Anne Johnson, program director of GreenBlue and director of Sustainable Packaging Coalition, to KAB's national Board of Directors. Trained as an engineer and scientist with a background in management and sustainability consulting, she has more than 15 years of experience in materials, industrial processes, environmental management and systems evaluation of products and packaging. "Packaging waste has been an ongoing concern for Keep America Beautiful, as it relates to both litter and recycling issues," says Matthew McKenna, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful. "Anne Johnson is one of the nation's foremost experts on this issue which is so essential to our mission. We look forward to her contributions to the organization."

Ball Corp. consolidates, realigns its North American beverage can manufacturing
Ball Corp. has taken several actions to decrease the company's overall installed beverage can capacity in North America while better aligning its manufacturing footprint to meet changing customer demand. The company is closing its 45-year-old Torrance, CA, plant and moving one of two 12-oz can lines to Whitby, Ontario. Additionally, Ball is expanding production at its Fort Worth, Texas, facility. A new line there will make 16- and 24-oz specialty cans and is expected to begin production by the beginning of the third quarter of 2011.

Ball Corp. elects new CEO
Ball Corp.'s board of directors has named John Hayes president and CEO. Hayes, 45, succeeds R. David Hoover, who retired as CEO after more than 40 years with the company. Hoover remains chairman of the board.

Acquisition positions Albéa as global tube leader
Albéa (previously Alcan Packaging Beauty) has bought Betts Group, a leading producer of laminate tubes that operates six plants in the UK, Poland, Mexico, India and Indonesia. With this acquisition, Albéa becomes the global leader in plastic and laminate tubes and reinforces its positions in emerging markets, especially India, to develop its wide product portfolio across multiple markets segments including make-up, skincare, fragrance and oral care.

CD/DVD packaging maker closing Florida plant
AGI North America is closing its packaging plant in Jacksonville, FL, and is laying off 80 workers. The company cites consumers' shift to online music and movie purchases as the reason for the decline of packaging materials for CDs and DVDs. AGI will move Jacksonville operations to a suburban Chicago plant by the end of June 2011.

Temperatures rise over thermometer packaging infringement
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has granted Tecnimed's request for injunction against Kidz-Med Inc./American Scientific Resources (Tecnimed's former U.S. distributor) for marketing a non-contact thermometer in packaging remarkably similar to that of Tecnimed's Thermofocus(R) thermometer. The court has ordered Kidz-Med/ASR to stop selling the Kidz-Med non-contact thermometer using its current packaging and to notify retailers that the thermometer has been recalled and instructing each retailer to immediately return all products to Kidz-Med. The lawsuit continues, with Tecnimed seeking damages arising from Kidz-Med's sale of product with infringing packaging.

Induction sealing guru opens new consulting business: ZITO
Bill Zito, internationally recognized expert in the field of induction sealing, has formed a packaging consulting service, named ZITO (Zito Induction Technology Options). Zito, who was inducted into the Packaging Hall of Fame in 2010, was associated with Enercon Induction Sealing Systems for 25 years, where he was responsible for the development and marketing of hundreds of applications of the technology. Based in Milwaukee, WI, ZITO will concentrate on induction sealing and related issues as well as induction sealing equipment, induction liner recommendations and closure technology. Phone number is 262/617-7406.

O-I names new vp of global environment, health and safety
Deborah Hockman, Ph.D., has been named vp of global environment, health and safety (EHS) at Owens-Illinois Inc., leading glass packaging manufacturer. In the newly created position, Hockman will lead O-I's global efforts to enhance the company's safety, environment compliance and health processes, standards and metrics. She also will serve as global safety program leader, driving the company's worldwide efforts to create an accident-free workplace-one of O-I's sustainability initiatives.

API raises prices, invests in R&D
API Group-one of the world's largest foil packaging and holographic manufacturers-has announced price increases of up to 20 percent for its foil product range. The company cites the increasing costs of raw materials such as polyester and supply shortages as the key factors that have made the increases unavoidable. API Group has also been investing heavily in R&D and is set to launch several packaging products in 2011 which it believes will provide innovative, value-adding packaging solutions to its customers, while opening up opportunities for growth in new sectors.

Burrows Paper receives FSC certification
Burrows Paper Corp. has received Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain-of-custody certification for all wood pulp used in papermaking at its paper mills in Mississippi and New York. This recognizes that the company buys from responsible, legal and traceable sources. Burrows also recently received Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certification and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), further demonstrating Burrows' dedication to sustainable forestry.

Oystar merges North American businesses
The Oystar Group has merged its three U.S. subsidiaries under a single corporate umbrella: Oystar Jones (Covington, KY), Oystar USA (Edison, N.J.) and Oystar Packaging Technologies (Davenport, IO) will now be known as Oystar North America. The existing manufacturing plants will continue to operate, but will now be entrusted to a joint management team, lead by Barry Shoulders, president of Oystar Packaging Technologies.

Tetra Pak to tailor packaging for the Chinese market
Michel Saboune, director of front end innovation and design at Tetra Pak's packaging technology department in Sweden, told reporters from Global Times in Beijing that the company plans to tailor make containers specifically for the Chinese market. Without going into details about new food packaging designs currently in development, Saboune said they would address specific demands from the country's diverse markets. Tetra Pak has four plants in China and a technology center, which opened in Shanghai in April 2010.

CAPS on Top 100 Technology Suppliers list for third time
Container and Pooling Solutions (CAPS) has been named to Food Logistics Magazine's Top 100 Technology Suppliers list for the third consecutive year. The 2010 list features CAPS among those organizations with proven track records and expertise in providing food companies with the technology tools to help them meet business objectives.

Portola cuts energy use, recycles 2.5 million pounds of material
Closure manufacturer Portola Packaging has reported results of its environmental initiatives. In 2010 (compared to 2009), the company cut energy use by 10.5 percent across its eight North American plants. Additionally, the facilities recycled more than 2 million pounds of material, including plastic regrind, corrugated, paper, aluminum and steel. An additional 500,000 pounds of paper were recycled from its various North American offices, bringing the overall company total to more than 2.5 million pounds.

Roland donates inkjet printer to Clemson University
Clemson University's Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics has received a VersaUV UV-LED inkjet printer/cutter from Roland DGA Corp. to help students, facility, research staff and corporate partners develop exciting new concepts for packaging, graphic design and corporate branding. "We are very pleased with the unit," says Charles (Chip) Tonkin, director of Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics. "We have only had it a couple of weeks and the students have just begun utilizing it and producing phenomenal output. As a creative tool in the design process, it not only allows the ability to print on an incredibly wide variety of substrates, but can also create the actual textures and varnishes (matte and gloss) that were simply impossible before. It is a great tool and I really look forward to seeing the results this coming semester."

.