Packaging Briefs - Thursday, May 06

O-I announces new sales & marketing vp
Owens-Illinois Inc. announces that Abbott Wolfe has been named vp of sales and marketing for O-I North America. Wolfe will be responsible for driving new O-I product concepts to market, optimizing segment marketing efforts and growing relationships with customers. Previously, he was chief sales officer at Pabst Brewing Co., where he reinvigorated a declining segment of business.

FTA member co. CMG premieres 17 FIRST implementation specialists at Info*Flex 2010
The Color Management Group (CMG) announces 17 members are the first to achieve First Level I and II Implementation Specialist Certification for flexographic printing in FTA's newest TEST (Technical Education Services Team) initiative. To better serve flexographic printing customers, CMG enrolled 17 members and one partner from North America and Europe in the FTA certification program hosted by Clemson University. The program focuses on Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications and Tolerances (FIRST) guidelines, illustrating the best practices through hands-on activities that span the entire flexographic workflow.
The following Color Management Group members and CMG Partners represent the first people to achieve FIRST Level I and II of the FIRST Implementation Specialist Certification: Bruce Bayne, Alder Technology; Son Do, Rods and Cones; Ron Ellis, Ron Ellis Consulting; Dan Gillespie, ColorGeek; Thomas Holm, Pixl; Greg Irvin, Prepress Consultants; Marc Levine, CMG; Eric Magnusson, Left Dakota; David Meyers, Meyers Prep; Lee Nelson, Full Gamut Consulting; Christian Schowalter, GMG USA; Peter Shamray, Navigator Cross Media; Dan Uress, Advanced Color Technologies; Patricia Wales, Proofing and Prototyping Technologies; Dan Wilson, Prepress I.T. Limited; Karla Witte, TriangleDigital INX; Terry Wyse, WyseConsul; and Darrian Young, Color & Image Consulting.

Crown opens new beverage can plant in Europe
Crown Holdings Inc. announces that it has officially opened its new beverage can plant in Kechnec, in eastern Slovakia, allowing Crown to better serve customers in Central and Eastern Europe. With the addition of Slovakia, Crown now operates fourteen beverage can plants in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

M-real implements energy efficiency systems for all production units
M-real, a European fiber paperboard producer and major paper supplier, has met its target to implement an Energy Efficiency System (EES) in all its production units by the end of 2009. M-real says it is among the first companies in the world to adopt such a management system.
The EES is part of M-real's climate program and is integrated to the ISO 14001 environmental standard. The company reports that initiatives to reduce its impacts on the environment, including efforts to reduce energy use, have resulted in a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions by almost 20,000 metric tons/year.

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