WalMart’s Packaging Sustainable Vendor Network conference is a chance to engage in improving packaging.

Green means more than reducing the carbon impact of product manufacture. Consider energy and water use too.

wrapping sustainably can mean savings

Food is the number one municipal solid waste. Packaging is a distant second. What we should do about it.

The product has an impact on packaging options. Keeping the needs of the product and its consumer in mind may alter the selection of packaging.

Whether it is the customer with fifteen SKUs to overwrap, the one with five wrap sizes or the one that wants to wrap double stacks of some SKUs but not others, changeover on overwrapping equipment can be time consuming. Servo controls shorten the time by allowing for recipe storage and digital setting of parameters.This feature […]

packaging trends and thoughts for 2011 – What to expect and how to think about the issues.

A recent suit in England over excess packaging leads me to wonder what constitutes excess. The article illustrates the continuing concern of consumers for reduction in packaging due to shortages of landfill space and the methane gas creation by landfills. In the December 25, 2010  New York Times, Elizabeth Rosenthal writes, “British regulations on excess packaging […]

Demand for wrapping machinery will pick up in 2011 and affect sustainable operations.

Package Machinery will be presenting at PAC Green Den at PACK EXPO. The inventive program, “Fast Tracking Sustainable Innovation,” takes place Tuesday, Nov. 2, 1:00–4:30 pm; at McCormick Place. Lakeshore building Level 3 Room 350. PAC Green Den brings together the ingredients of successful reality television and business matchmaking: “Innovators” will present their solutions to […]

Manufacturers should help educate consumers about packaging disposal

As we were reading Green Your Supply Chain: 7 Questions and 7 Tips, we were thinking about how inexpensively one can buy new packaging machinery these days. The question is what value do you get for your money? One critical point this article makes is that more durable and reliable equipment usually costs more. What makes […]

There has been an interesting dialog this week on the Green Packaging Forum on LinkedIn. It started with someone looking for clear but green packaging for sandwiches “for a retailer who still wants to show the sandwich ingredients while still being green.” The cool parts was this was a global conversation. Comments ranged from specific suggestions […]

What our customer taught us and you can benefit from. Our customer bought a new FA-ST overwrapper to replace his 1940’s vintage FA overwrapper last year. They bought with the initial intent of using it only to wrap their shrink-wrapped, two-piece  boxes of candy in seasonal gift paper. After some issues around programming the glue […]

When our customers permit and it is consumer safe, we donate all our FAT products to the local Food Bank for distribution to people in need. We might not have found this perfect outlet  for product that ranges from a few cartons to a pallet load if it were not for the fact that our […]

As we were reading Green Your Supply Chain: 7 Questions and 7 Tips, we were thinking about how inexpensively one can buy overwrappers these days. The question is what value do you get for your money? One critical point Green Your Supply Chain makes is that more durable and reliable equipment usually costs more.  We do […]

The packaging people that Package Machinery follows to learn and think about state of the art packaging and package design are reviewed here.

Green and sustainable or Green vs sustainable. Answering questions about how “green” are sustainable wrapping materials or other “new” plastics and what are the issues to consider

Overwrapped bundles (vs. shrink and flow wrap) look better and use less film and usually less energy. This makes for tremendous material savings over the life of a machine.

Lots to learn from Sustainable Packaging Coalition spring meeting. Most interesting items were WRAP, Global Packaging Partnership, World Wildlife Fund partnerships and debates over oxy-degradables.

Products from Wal-Mart were unwrapped and re-wrapped using overwrap to demonstrate reduction in film consumption and more attractive packaging.

Wal-Mart’s Sustainable Packaging Exposition is an opportunity to discuss making more attractive and sustainable wraps on products and bundles.

Visually and graphically Package Machinery demonstrates reduced film use through overwrap rather than shrink or flow wrap.

Do manufacturers think about their water foot print along with a carbon footprint? Maybe they should.

Not all products can be overwrapped. Package Machinery knows its wrapping limits and gives honest answers.

PAckage MAchinery tells its story about reducing customer wrapping costs and improving package looks at Wal-Mart’s Sustainable Packaging conference and expo.

Consumer expectations for CPG companies is changing which will impact how, what and where they buy, ultimately impacting packaging of consumer goods.

how checklists improve performance

Sustainability means keeping a good packaging machine running indefinitely. Strong service and support are provided by Package Machinery Co Inc.

HOW is packaging unsustainable? What can we do?

Overwrap offers film savings, lower shipping costs and more structural integrity than flow wrap (finseal wrap).

Over the life of a product, you typically spend much more on the film but agonize over the purchase price of the machine to do the wrap. Lets try to understand how they work together.

We need to discuss the future of packing with everyone involved.

Yesterday we were touring a customer’s facility. We had not been there in a long while and were amazed at the change in the atmosphere. Staff on the production floor smiled at us and looked us in the eye. If nothing else teaches us, that taught us that management makes a big difference. We got […]

Why packaging is important to consumers and manufacturers

Our President Kate Putnam attended last week’s Packaging Sustainability Forum in Atlanta and here are her observations. More major companies have Chief Sustainability Officers and they seem to have more clout. One was hiring while his employer was holding company -wide layoffs. Companies are not just thinking any more. Actions are being taken. We heard […]

It is important to think about what film characteristics best complement your product. When looking at how to wrap a product, the important things to keep in mind are the balance between Moisture/Air Barrier or Breathability Folds vs. Sealing Product  Enhancement/Protection Moisture or air may enhance a product, but some products need protection from one or […]

Lots of companies that now build packaging machinery use servo motors. Back in 2001, when we started building our overwrapping machines using servo motors, we had to explain why we were doing it and heard lots of stories of breakdowns or inadequate support on servo  wrappers. Today most plant managers and engineers understand the benefits […]

Yesterday our president Kate Putnam was interviewed on Fox Business News about healthcare  reform in Massachusetts and its impact on small businesses.   Here is the link to her appearance. http://video.foxbusiness.com/7521480/health-care-reforms-impact-on-small-busines/?category_id=39cd07fef0cf91993cc2914150877c3d89020568 Here are her elaborations on the topic of her appearance. I find the topic of healthcare reform scary, because someone’s ox has to be […]

Recently we were asked to evaluate a consumer product that was flow wrapped for overwrap. We carefully undid the wrapping, so that we could see how much material was being used to flow wrap. We laid that film out flat against what we cut to do the overwrap; then we measured the difference.  The difference […]