Three vibrant, exciting shrink label designs were converted and printed by Printpack’s Fredericksburg, Virginia plant for Next Foods in support of the launch of GoodBelly Splash, a new line of single serve fruit-based probiotic beverages.

Next Foods created tantalizing, mouth watering fruit labels for Blueberry Acai, Mango and Pomegranate Blackberry flavors.  The full coverage, 360-degree image area of shrink sleeves, coupled with eight color flexo printing using Printpack’s Colorpack™ technology greatly enhanced the graphics on the labels.  Printpack’s Pure Affinia™ PETG was the film of choice allowing the film to hug the contours of the curvy shape of the bottle producing a label that really stands out on the shelf.

Lenze attends to the 2010 edition of the Hannover Fair, the most important exhibit of the world, specifically dedicated to technology, automation, industrial equipments and energy industry, currently taking place in Hannover until April 23, 2010.

The Lenze Stand truly lets you perceive and experience the several solutions: visitors, for example, can have calculated the CO² emissions produced by their own equipments, as well as the potential energy saving of their specific applications, calculated in Euros and Euro cents by means of the Energy Performance Report.

This is only part of all performances provided by the innovative “Drive Solution Designer” dimensioning tool. The second instrument, which can significantly reduce costs for the customers, is represented by the decentralised drive technology.

Munich, Germany. Iwis Drive Systems offer plastic conveyor chains for the beverage, packaging and food processing industries. The flat top chains and modular belts are made of low contamination synthetic materials and meet the industry demand for energy efficient, low noise and low maintenance conveying systems.

At least 75 percent of all products in the supermarket were conveyed with flat top chains and modular belts in the course of their production and packaging. Precision chain manufacturer Iwis now offers a new range of plastic flat top chains and modular belts. The chains, which are sold under the Flexon brand name, can be used for most conveying tasks that require a flat transport surface. Typical applications include conveying of glass and plastic bottles, cans, cases, casks and barrels in bottling and packaging plants, conveying foodstuffs in the food industry, and conveying small and medium-sized goods in various industrial plants.

Flat top chains consist of plates that are connected to each other with single and double hinged joints. This design allows the construction of chains with a width of up to 305 mm for both straight-line and curved tracks, onto which the products can be directly placed. Modular belts have multiple hinged joints. A special characteristic of this design is that several chain links can be placed side-by-side to construct a flat conveying surface with widths of up to 1700 mm.

In many applications, plastic modular belts can have decisive advantages over their stainless steel counterparts: Their noise level in conveying systems is up to 80 percent lower and the synthetic elements are up to 40 percent lighter, which reduces the required drive power or increases the belts’ conveying capacity. Because of their better resistance to chemicals, they can be cleaned with agents that are either unsuitable for metal chains or would require intensive maintenance. The FDA-approved plastic has excellent mechanical load carrying capacity, is dimensionally stable, even in humid conditions, and is low friction. With its new synthetic modular belts, Iwis meets the industry demand for energy-efficient, low-contamination and low-maintenance conveying systems.

Flexon flat top chains are available in various plastic versions as well as stainless steel, for both straight and curved conveying sections. Flexon plastic modular belts include versions for both linear and curved running belts. All Flexon chains are made of low-contamination materials, require low maintenance and offer long service life. They boast excellent workmanship and evenness and have an especially low coefficient of friction for high energy efficiency. With their low friction and outstanding wear resistance, the modular belts achieve excellent performance even without lubrication and are therefore ideal for use in environments with stringent hygiene regulations, such as in the food, beverage and packaging industries.

The new range of chains comprises about 300 different flat top chains and more than 1,000 different modular belt variants. With the new range, Iwis’ product line-up now covers all drive and conveying applications. The Iwis group’s full product program includes chains for industrial applications such as precision and high-performance roller chains, conveyor chains, maintenance-free and corrosion-resistant chains, power and free conveyor chains, special-purpose conveyor chains and chains for agricultural machinery, as well as timing drive systems for the automotive industry.

Company information:

The Iwis group, headquartered in Munich, Germany, is a leading manufacturer of precision chain systems for power transmission and product conveying applications.

The Iwis group comprises three divisions:

At the headquarters of UCIMU SISTEMI PER PRODURRE in Cinisello Balsamo (MI) was held the press conference of presentation of the Holding IMT- Italian Machine Tools and of its project related to the strategic sector of machine tools.

The attending press operators were welcome by Mr Giancarlo Losma, Chairman of UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, the association of Italian manufacturers of machine tools, robots, automation and auxiliary technologies, who opened the working session by stressing the IMT project value – in his own words  “the alliance of two well-renowned and prestigious trademarks in the field of machine tools, Morara and Tacchella”.

“With the markets globalization - continued the Chairman of UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE- and in presence of new players, once excluded from the world economic scene, the way to do business – also for the companies of our sector – has deeply changed and in this sense the aggregation of companies prove a useful mean to better guard the international market place, by improving – the costs management.”

PARITEL FINANZIARIA, the company based in Bologna with 700 employees and a turn-over exceeding 120 millions euro, has been managing for over 20 years re-launch plans of industrial companies on a long/medium term basis. Its interventions have been concentrated in 3 sectors: Machine Tools; Packaging; Industrial Plant Automation. PARITEL first managed the aggregation of De.Ci.Ma (by merging DEMM and CIMA, leading manufacturer of gear-cutting machines), then of Morara (the Bolognese famous brand of grinding machines). With the acquisition of Tacchella Macchine, the Italian leading manufacturer of grinding machines, Paritel has added a new piece  to the IMT – Italian Machine Tools project.

TACCHELLA MACCHINE and MORARA-De.Ci.Ma are now merged in IMT – Italian Machine Tools, the Holding company of PARITEL operating in the world of machine tools. Alberto Tacchella – with other members of Tacchella’s family, - has invested in IMT by acquiring a remarkable part of the share-holding.

IMT – Italian Machine Tools, with the brand-names Morara-De.Ci.Ma and Tacchella Macchine is showing up as a new player with an exhaustive product range , in the world of grinding machines apt to compete by excellence on a global market, with Morara playing a strong role in the so-called “BRIC” area (Brazil, Russia, India and China) with the machines for internal grinding, the heavy-duty machines for the naval, railway sector and with special grinders and the leading role of Tacchella Macchine in Europe, with the solutions  for high production, automotive, aerospace industry and with the universal grinding machines for high precision engineering. Finally, the Italian market where Morara and Tacchella together, are undisputed leaders in the sector of machine tools.

“The IMT-Italian Machine Tools project is the realization of an industrial plan in support of development and profitability, allowing business consolidation and the defence of trade-marks, apt to create strong points of advantage over competitors  and to appeal financial partners” stated Mr. Luca Peli, Chairman of IMT during his presentation.

“It’s a reply to recession, a positive decision, cast into future, to join resources and win the global challenge with the intent to defend the trade-marks and the companies owning technological excellence. IMT is the first step of an alliance strategy which is already planning other ones” concluded Mr. Peli.

For its organization, IMT basic aims are one single decisional business centre for all staff functions; a divisional organization based in several production plants, specialized by highly flexible and customisable products; the integration of the sales networks, by the enhancement of cross selling; the increase of business profitability by taking advantage of the industrial synergies.

“From 2004 till 2008 during my mandate as Chairman of UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE I never gave up sustaining, supporting and promoting the alliance among the Italian companies of the machine tools sector” stated Alberto Tacchella, Vice-Chairman IMT and Immediate Past Chairman UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE   “I was and I’m now more than ever convinced that alliances are the right way to defend and enhance the excellence of our companies.

A strong disposition to technological innovation, creativity, customized proposals and excellent service are our points of strength. The empowerment of these values will consent us to come out stronger than before from this period of transformation involving the world industrial scene”.

UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE www.ucimu.it

Sacmi presents the most competitive compression press for single-piece caps

Able to produce up to 1,200 caps per minute with just 48 moulds, this technological gem produced by SACMI Imola’s Closures & Containers Division will go on show in April at Chinaplas 2010