EastPack '04 Bigger and better

Showcasing machinery and materials from across the spectrum of the packaging market, the EastPack show makes its 2004 return June 15-17 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. The show offers visitors a look at the latest in every aspect of packaging exhibited in four product pavilions.

New at this year's edition of EastPack are two pavilions. The Material Handling, Automation & Logistics pavilion offers equipment, products and services for material handling, automation and logistics. The Enterprise Technology pavilion provides resources for enterprise resource planning, advanced planning scheduling, customer relationship management, warehouse management and e-commerce.

Returning for another year is the Pharmaceutical & Nutraceutical Packaging pavilion,

where suppliers of medical-grade materials and supplies, disposables packaging, blister-packs, tamper-resistant/evident containers and testing, inspection and sterilization services, among others, can be found. Visitors to the Cosmetic & Personal Care Packaging pavilion will find a plethora of services and supplies for the cosmetic, fragrance and personal care industries. Stylized bottles, jars and bags, along with specialty labeling, coatings, colorants, and valves and pumps are just a few of the items on display.

Conference program
Medical Package Design and Packaging Validation and Compliance serve as the topics of two conference sessions to be held Monday, June 14, as part of the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) East show. Amcor Flexibles Healthcare's John Ozcomert highlights the morning session with a discussion on Material Selection for Sterile Package Design. After lunch, Curtis Larsen of DuPont gives a Medical Device Sterile Package Testing & Standards Update. Registration includes admission to the MD&M East show, lunch, a canvas tote bag and a conference and expo guide. Early registration (before May 14) is $450; registration after May 14 is $600. Parties interested in the conference and expo should register for the MD&M East show; expo-only visitors can register for EastPack.

Visitors to EastPack can use their badges to visit the other co-located shows: MD&M® East, PLASTEC® East, Atlantic Design & Manufacturing® and the Ingredients Expo™. EastPack is produced by Canon Communications.

Following is a preview of EastPack and other packaging-related exhibits, featuring selected exhibits.

Advanced Poly-Packaging–4126: Manufacturer of baggers, printers, counters, scales and conveyors. Packaging solutions offered for any size operation, from hand-loading to fully automatic, custom bagging systems. Co. also offers graphic design, film extrusion and flexo printing services. Circle No. 26.

Alloyd–4317: Model Aergo 2 Plus medical shuttle heat-seal packaging machine offers improved operation, operator ergonomic improvements and more. Thermoformed blister and clamshell packaging for the cosmetics/healthcare, hardware, medical device, electronics, writing instrument and automotive markets. Custom-thermoformed material-handling transfer trays.

Auger Manufacturing Specialists–4062: OEM supplier of augers, funnels, parts and accessories to food, chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and dairy industries, among others. Co. offers free product testing and supplies tooling and accessories for most auger fillers, including AMS, All-Fill, Spee-Dee and others. Circle No. 100.

Auto Labe–4833: Manufacturer of p-s labeling equipment, including semi-automatic and automatic varieties. Print-and-apply and turnkey systems available, as well as accessories like label counters and rewinders, coding equipment and product sensors. Custom applications can be accommodated. Circle No. 47.

Automated Packaging Systems–4517: Bagging and sealing equipment ranges from tabletop models to semi- and fully automatic systems. Machinery can accommodate sorting, weighing, counting, conveying and printing. System-matched bags available for all Autobag® packaging systems. Stock bags available, as are custom plain and printed bags. Circle No. 111.

Azco Corp.–4659: SUR-BAND shrink bander applies full-body sleeves or tamper-evident bands. Compact footprint allows unit to fit into tight production-line spaces. Unique knife-cartridge design allows for easy blade sharpening and replacement, co. says. Other features include sealed, lubricated bearings, brushless step motor and anodized aluminum parts with stainless-steel cover. Circle No. 43.

Belcor Industries/Wexxar–4609: BEL 651 fully automatic case former/bottom sealer opens and forms cases automatically. Pin & Dome technology eliminates vacuum method of opening cases, maximizing uptime, co. says. Built-in safety and easy changeover facilitate operator friendliness and continuous operation. Circle No. 93.

Cognex–4839: In-Sight® 5100 and 5400 vision sensors incorporate rugged metal housing and sealed M12 connectors. Sensors meet IEC specifications for shock and vibration and are rated IP67/NEMA 6 for dust and washdown protection. Include full library of co. vision tools. Circle No. 52.

CVC Technologies–4401: Specializing in turnkey packaging lines and labelers, co. offers cappers, unscramblers, cottoners, large and small counters, desiccant inserter, paper folders and more. Labelers feature SelfSet™ function for fast setups. Circle No. 57.

Diagraph–4016: LINX 4900 small-character, continuous ink-jet printer has IP55 rating, making it suitable for washdown. Two-line printer uses an intelligent jet control system to maintain print quality. Printhead temperature, time-of-flight and ink pressure are managed by printer itself. Simple user interface with WYSIWYG display facilitates message creation. Circle No. 44.

Display Pack–4648: Co. offers printed packaging, including folding cartons, blister-cards, clamshell inserts and stretch-pak cards, among others. Thermoformed packaging includes blisters, display boxes, trays, trifold clamshells and custom forming. Contract packaging services also offered. Circle No. 28.

Do-It Corp.–4325.

Emplex Systems–4211: Line of sealing equipment includes continuous rotary band sealers, hot-air sealers and bag-fill and seal systems. Semi-automatic sealing systems suitable for applications such as textiles, bakery goods and paper products. Automated bagging system available for use with wicketted bags. Circle No. 29.

EZ-Tek Industries–4420: BB2/S stainless-steel top and bottom case taper for use in washdown conditions. Equipped with NEMA-approved single-drive motor and aggressive drive belts, unit facilitates fast and easy box size changeovers, co. says. Speeds up to 30 cpm, depending on size and operator skill. Plugs into standard 110-v power source. Circle No. 102.

Fillit/Nova Packaging Systems–5129: Co. formerly known as DT Packaging Systems features Fillit tabletop liquid filler and Kapit cap torquer. Co. offers spectrum of liquid and tablet fillers. Brands include Kalish, King, Lakso, Merrill and Swiftpack. Circle No. 30.

Fischbein–4642: Offers premade bag-packaging equipment and a full line of bag-filling scales, automatic bag handling and bag sealers/sewers for plastic and paper bags.

Grafco PET Packaging Technologies–4539: Manufacturer of PET containers offers more than 75 stock containers, in clear and colored varieties. Containers are available for applications in the food and beverage, beauty products and household chemicals industries, among others. Container sizes range from 1 oz to 1^1/2 gal. Custom containers can also be accommodated. Circle No. 92.

Howell Packaging–5016: Designs and manufactures folding cartons, thermoformed plastic packaging, rigid boxes, promotional packaging and dimensional mail packaging.

ID Technology–4553: Line of high-speed electronic article surveillance (EAS) taggers for applying acousto-magnetic (AM) and radio frequency (RF) tags for manufacturing and packaging lines. Also, Model 250 label printer-applicator features thermal-transfer technology for variable-information labels, including text, graphics and bar codes. Circle No. 68.

Imex Vinyl Packaging–4321: The co. offers creative vinyl packaging bags for the home textiles, garment, toys, sporting goods and pet products industries.

M&M Industries–4549: Plastic containers require no tools to open or reseal.

Markem Corp.–4465: Applied Intelligence solutions apply radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and electronic product codes at production-line speeds. Solutions designed as open-architecture systems, allowing users a choice of tag and technology to best fit application. Circle No. 66.

MG America–5101: Manufacturer of low- and high-speed, fully automated capsule fillers, high-speed pouch fillers, cartoners, overwrappers, tray formers, case packers, and palletizers. Product line also includes high-speed capsule checkweighing systems. Circle No. 20.

Morrison Container Handling Solutions–4827: Co. formerly known as Morrison Timing Screw custom-designs quick-change systems for container and bottling industries. Systems are individually designed to provide tool-less changeover for a variety of applications, including rotary cleaning, filling, capping and leak detecting. They're available in 14 colors, drive hardware stays on the machine; includes no heavy parts for operator to lift; changeover is operator friendly with no re-timing of parts. Circle No. 83.

Multisorb Technologies–4617: More than 1,000 different sorbents to protect packaged products against the harmful effects of moisture, odor, liquids, oxygen and other volatiles.

Nomaco–4524: Manufacturer of PE and PP profiles and sheet for the packaging industry.

O/K Intl.–4059: Duraformer 2 case erector/bottom sealer has patented Tri-Grip-Arm to erect and square cases by gripping three sides. Features include full safety guarding, powered walk-in case magazines, welded frames with adjustable legs, and taping heads with open tape-feed paths. Circle No. 50.

Omron Electronics–5317: F210 high-speed vision sensor combines image acquisition as fast as 1.4 msec with advanced measurement algorithms. System features co.'s QUEST algorithm for OCR/OCV capability and new Edge Code technology for defect detection, and position and location capability. Edge Code can detect precise defects of parts on a conveyor, like scratches on a sealing surface. A Fine Matching algorithm enables detection of differences between a user-taught model and a live image. Circle No. 35.

Osio Intl.–5165: Co. is a supplier of gravure-printed flexible packaging for cosmetic, personal care, nutraceutical, beverage and food manufacturing industries. Offers myriad of products, including shrink-sleeve labels, tamper-evident bands, roll-fed OPP labels, rollstock for bags and wraps, and premade bags and pouches. Specializes in rollstock for sample packets, spouted pouches and big woven bags. All packaging is gravure-printed in up to 10 colors. Circle No. 40.

Penn-Wheeling Metal Caps & Closures–4117: Continuous-thread, lug/twist, dust covers, candle caps and child-resistant caps in a large range of sizes, colors and liners.

Prestige Label–4456: P2S™ (Printed 2 Side) extended-text labeling, constructed of 2.6-mil white synthetic p-s material. Proprietary converting process facilitates flexo printing of both sides of label. Adhesive side of label manipulated to allow multiple peel-backs and reseals of label. Custom-developed treatment of adhesive side locks print to label. Circle No. 70.

QuickLabel Systems–4711: Printers produce full-color labels with variable information, in custom quantities. Labels printed on-demand, from PC, at high speeds. Capable of round-the-clock operations. Co. also offers automatic label applicators, bar-code printers, printing supplies and label-printing services. Circle No. 14.

RSI Print Systems–4820: Manufacturer of HP industrial printing systems.

Sandiacre/Rose Forgrove Packaging Machinery–5106: Sandiacre manufactures vf/f/s and block-top machines, automatic case packers and volumetric feeders. Rose Forgrove's range of machinery includes flowrappers and hf/f/s machines, as well as a selection of complementary in-line feeders and supplementary equipment. Circle No. 86.

SCA Packaging NA–4511: Tuscarora protective packaging products.

Stober Drives–5042: Mechanical variable-speed drives, vast selection of industrial speed reducers, and large variety of servo gearheads.

Sure Torque–5229: ST-Lab cap tightener and torque tester features new Vision Series PLC, which allows unit to offer unlimited software modifications to meet testing and communication requirements, co. says. Test memory, mean, standard deviation, RS232 data transfer and automatic operation are standard. Circle No. 61.

T&G Machinery–4429: Small-footprint case erector is simple to operate, versatile in size of case ranges and delivers on performance.

Tray-Pak Corp.–4633: Co. affiliate TPSource provides a la carte options for custom-thermoformed packaging needs. Concepts garnered by utilizing marketing communications and focusing on color-enhanced packaging to match corporate identity and brand. Circle No. 81.

U.S. Can Co.–4222: Custom and specialty decorative tins for consumer packaging applications. Variety of sizes, shapes and designs covering most packaging requirements for stock or custom needs. Circle No. 82.

VBS Industries–4726: Patented LCI-LN2 dosing systems for pressurization of inerting applications. Benefits of using LN2 are increased stackability and elimination of paneling in hot-fill plastic applications, among others, co. says. Circle No. 77.

Weber Marking Systems–4038: SolarJet S 3.0 vector laser coder produces high-resolution text, bar codes and graphics. Compatible with a variety of product and package substrates, the 30-watt system can mark up to 1,000 characters/sec at product delivery speeds of up to 1,060 ft/min. Circle No. 53.

Zebra Technologies–4232: The first offering in the co.'s RFID printer line, the R4Mplus™ encodes information on ultra-thin UHF RFID transponders embedded in smart labels. It then immediately verifies proper encoding and prints bar codes, graphics, and/or text on the smart label's surface. The unit helps users comply with RFID supply chain requirements of major retailers and government agencies, and it supports encoding of ultra-high-frequency (UHF) EPC class 1 tags from Alien Technology. Circle No. 65.