PKN presents Pack Chat from Pack Expo, proudly supported by Heat and Control, bringing you packaging innovations that caught our eye on day two of the show.
Watch the video here:
SUMMARY TRANSCRIPT: Heat and Control is showing a high-speed small-bag line built around the new Ishida CCW-AS multihead weigher and Inspira bagmaker. Randy Blair explained that an automated infeed adjusts the weigher’s feeders to the depth of the product bed, while alternating timing hoppers let product settle before dropping to the bagmaker. A twin rotary jaw seals pillow bags up to five and a half inches wide at up to 300 a minute. At that speed, a seal checker rejects any bag that’s flat, overfilled or leaking, so only good bags reach the multipack line.
Flying the flag for Australia, Packserv is here on the AmeriPak stand with an entry-level benchtop pneumatic filler for liquids and wet products. Nathan Wardell explained it can run manually on a tabletop, semi-automatically, or on a trolley beside a conveyor as a fully automatic filler. It’s built for SMEs: when they’re ready to grow, they can step up to twin, four or eight-head machines using exactly the same nozzles, valves and cylinders. AmeriPak is now Packserv’s US distributor, and the first local installation happens next week.
Reclosable zipper specialist Fresh-Lock is tackling two sustainability challenges. First, closures for paper pouches: Natalie Kaczorowski and Todd Meussling explained the zipper must be low-mass so the pack still passes curbside paper recycling, yet strong enough to reclose without tearing the paper. A pouch made with Mondi’s FunctionalBarrier Paper – 95 per cent paper – is now in recyclability testing at Western Michigan University. Second, recycled content: Fresh-Lock now offers zippers with 25 per cent PCR and sliders with 30 per cent, all cleared for food contact.
Amcor’s DecoFusion tube is a finalist in the Sustainability category of the Technology Excellence Awards. Diane Marret explained that the HDPE tube is extruded in one piece, so there are no seams – allowing full 360-degree, photo-quality decoration for premium brands. Extrusion also gives tight control of wall thickness and material blend, so the tube can be lightweighted and the body made with up to 100 per cent recycled content, while staying recycle-ready. Developed by the legacy Berry tube business, it’s Amcor’s most premium tube technology yet.
And finally, another Sustainability finalist, from Portugal. Embalagem do Futuro – ‘packaging of the future’ – brings together 79 companies and research bodies. Gonçalo Vieira showed me its reusable fish transport box made from expanded polypropylene for business-to-business delivery. A thermal accumulator in the lid, the base or both keeps fish cold for up to 24 hours, and it can be recharged with solar power instead of relying on diesel-powered refrigerated trucks. Inside, a paper-based PetriTag sensor changes colour as bacteria build up, so a retailer can see at a glance whether the fish is fit to sell.
Thanks for watching Pack Chat. Join me again tomorrow for another roundup of the packaging innovations that catch my eye here at Pack Expo.
Thanks to our sponsor, Heat and Control. Whatever you want to make, Heat and Control will make it happen – proudly supporting the conversations and innovation shaping the future of processing and packaging.
