Package Machinery Company, Inc. has sold its Intellectual Property and Assets to Marden Edwards Limited (United Kingdom) who are now in the process of transferring and integrating the Intellectual Property and Assets into its Business. You can contact Marden Edwards Inc. (USA) using the following:   For new machine enquiries usmachines@mardenedwards.com   For new parts enquiries usparts@mardenedwards.com […]

Bundling Configurations There are multiple ways to bundle product  but two basic ones.  They involve creating the bundle in line, like soldiers or in layers side by side. Creating the Bundle In the first one the boxes are lined up like soldiers.  Since the most preferred method is to put the tuck and fold on […]

At a Customer Site Recently I visited with a customer who has one of our FA-ST servo overwrapping machines as well as an old FA overwrapping machine. The newer FA-ST had replaced two old FA overwrappers running at 40 per minute.  When this customer bought the overwrapping machine we promised them 70 per minute with 100 gauge […]

So much advice on the internet today about marketing says Ask Your Customers to get the best ideas or to build meaningful relationships. Yet most prospects don’t want to spend time with potential vendors until they have learned everything they can without direct contact.  So many mistakes could be averted if we would simply ask […]

Huge Growth in Candy and Food Entrepreneurs There seems to be a explosion of candy and food entrepreneurs.  And it makes sense.  Not only are many consumers looking to buy more locally, they want higher quality ingredients. Major food companies are buying up successful food entrepreneurs. So a food entrepreneur can exploit his or her […]

Changing the Packaging Process It is wonderful to see our customers embracing waste reduction. When they call us, it is to talk about changing the packaging process to reduce their materials consumption. Two blogs crossed my computer today and they both relate to this indirectly.   The first – Why Going Lean is the New […]

Everyone is on the bandwagon about minimizing packaging materials.  And there is significant opportunity to do that with bundling. I read an article recently that discussed product and packaging shipability.  I always think about the issue from the packaging perspective but this pointed out that an investment in the product sometimes pays off in improved […]

I was reading an article on Clay Christensen’s MilkShake Marketing and applying it to what we do at Package Machinery.   It made me realize that Bundling is a job to be done by many of our customers and what we provide is a means to help them do it with our bundle wrappers. It […]

Wrapping is about branding and product protection. There are many ways to do branding and product protection and we get inquiries all the time for wrapping machines for a variety of applications. We like to think we are wrapping experts, but we also know our limitations.  So here is our little guide to what we […]

Once you know you need to wrap a product, you need to decide how to wrap the product. You need to weigh the appearance, product protection and costs of your options. In all cases we are talking about consumer products needing to be wrapped for one reason or another. Factors to consider: Appearance: What does […]

Sometimes it helps to think about why products are wrapped in the first place. In a dynamic packaging market, this is a useful first step toward sustainability and cost reduction. Whether we are talking bananas, which come with their own built in wrapping, or a delicate piece of glass, products are wrapped for a very […]

In 2014 sustainability in packaging will make serious progress. 2014 should be a fascinating year for sharing best practices in packaging with our customers and for seeing our customers share internally and externally themselves. What do  I mean by that?  Beyond simple changes in process,  I see much greater sharing of knowledge leading to improved sustainability […]

I find the process of creating a new wrapping machine fascinating, perhaps even more because I am not an engineer. From there I wonder about how the packaging is created from a brand owner’s viewpoint. A lot of thought goes into the package appearance on the shelf, the tensile strength of the packaging materials to […]

Over the past few years we have built overwrappers for both cake and bread. Wrapping cake, bread or other baked goods present their own unique challenges. What sets this overwrap process apart from a standard overwrapper is the demands of the product for a less than tight wrap.  Both cake and bread are fragile and […]

What is Packaging Waste? Packaging waste is unnecessary packaging that does not provide protection, integrity and security to products from the manufacturer to the consumer. I was just reading about food waste is approximately 30% of total food.  This is scary in a world of growing population and shrinking agricultural lands with a little global […]

We have seen significant interest for overwrapping machines to wrap boxes of frozen vegetables over the past 18 months.  I was puzzled as to why that might be, so I did a little homework. According to Gene Lester, a plant physiologist at the USDA, quoted in Eating Well magazine, “Fruits and vegetables chosen for freezing […]

There has been a significant increase in demand for bundle wrapping. Half our our machine volume in the past year has been bundle wrappers, so it seems bundle wrappers are useful all of a sudden. This is because bundle wrappers improve corporate social responsibility and corporations care more and more about that. The reason for […]

The recent heat and humidity make me think about the weather’s effect on wrapping material. What our customers spend on wrapping material far exceeds what they spend to buy an overwapping machine but gets far less attention. So I wanted to focus on the care of the wrapping material briefly. Dry air creates static which […]

Analyzing Packaging Alignment to Brand Strategy When a customer comes to see us about wrapping their product, I am always curious about the alignment of their packaging to the brand strategy.  This article on Kind snack bars caught my eye because of the things that made sense about the product packaging. Its name Kind is […]

How many ways can you wrap candy? Here are various ways to wrap candy through basic automation. twist wrap – the oldest way, and it is still being done especially for saltwater taffy diefold wrap – like some Reese’s peanut butter cups or caramels tuck and fold wrap with paper sleeve – high end chocolate bars […]

Consumer product packaging trends show increasing pushback on packaging. Whenever I say we make wrapping machinery for consumer products, I get immediate feedback from frustrated consumers.  Usually they launch into packaging they hate such as clamshells, but sometimes they extend it to all packaging as a complete waste designed to frustrate consumers, create waste and […]

Usually we are providing an overwrapper for the end of the primary packaging line. Recently we were asked to provide an overwrapper for both end of the primary packaging line but also to replace the intermediate box that is used at the start of  secondary packaging. Primary packaging is defined as that which the customer […]

See Package Machinery’s overwrapping, flow wrapping, and diefold wrapping machinery at Pack Expo Chicago October 28-31,2012.

Choosing wrapping material is as important as your choice of wrapping machine.

Study show food taste is influenced by the look of the packaging.

Reminding ourselves why we package and wrap products: to make the experience of consumption better and safer for the consumer.

Food waste is something that should be controlled. Sustainable packaging can help.

How Package Machinery works with companies for successful purchase and installation of wrapping machinery

What your packaging says about you as a company and what you need to think about in that message.

We have noticed an increasing trend toward outsourcing manufacturing of consumer products. Major consumer products companies are increasingly viewing themselves as brand managers. They want oversight and quality control on their products but are using private label manufacturers to produce their products. Grocery stores have been stocked for years with private label or house brand […]

Engineers, manufacturers and shippers know that shrink wrapped packages use 20% more film than overwrapped packages and some of them know that switching from shrink wrap to overwrap saves them at least half their current energy costs. Consumers are becoming savvy about packaging, too. Consumers have been environmentally conscious for decades, but never has “reduce, […]

Clear messaging about packaging sustainability will resonate with hurried consumers, if done properly.

A certain percent of consumers prefer to buy their frozen vegetables in boxes rather than bags. The process calls for using waxed paper to wrap the boxes. Today we did a run off for a company looking to do a classic wrap: frozen vegetables in a box wrapped in waxed paper. They plan to run […]

USADA Certification for use of biobased materials in products and packaging is coming of age.

Creation of custom wrapping machinery has a lot more in common with the creative food process than one would expect.

Calculating total cost of ownership is encouraging manufacturers to bring production back to the US. Higher productivity and increasing costs overseas are only 2 factors at work.

Food and candy entrepreneurs approach us daily to learn more about automating their wrapping process.  In most cases they are either using pre-made packaging that they seal or they are packaging by hand. Sometime the packaging process has a festive atmosphere, as in those who invite friends over for wine and wrapping. At some point […]

When we sell an FA-ST overwrapper to replace a shrink wrapper, we always ask if they are calculating the energy savings. To a person, they never do. They calculate the film savings but never the energy savings. Last year I was touring a production facility with seven shrink wrappers. It was a lovely warm March […]

Starting a food business involves finding production facilities, a business plan and fundamental packaging.

many views on packaging need to lead to sustainability and reduction of waste.