Packaging in the Landfill

April 4th, 2011

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



Food and Packaging as trash

March 7th, 2011

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


Product Impact on Packaging Choices

January 26th, 2011

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.


How Quick Can a Product Size Changeover be?

January 10th, 2011

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 […]


2011 trends in packaging

January 4th, 2011

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


What is excessive packaging?

December 28th, 2010

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 […]


Looking to Wrap in 2011

December 20th, 2010

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


Package Machinery presents at PAC Green Den

October 25th, 2010

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 […]



Green packaging machine

September 21st, 2010

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 […]


What is green packaging?

August 20th, 2010

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 […]


Candy box wrap – material savings with prettier wrap

August 3rd, 2010

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 […]


Wrapped Products Go to Those in Need

July 20th, 2010

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 […]


Green wrapping machine

June 30th, 2010

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 […]


Packaging People to Follow

May 26th, 2010

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



Keep on wrapping – Overwrapping, that is

April 28th, 2010

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.


Sustainable Packaging Coalition spring meeting

April 22nd, 2010

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.


Reduce packaging by not flow wrapping

April 12th, 2010

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


Sustainable Packaging Exposition

April 7th, 2010

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



Struck by water

March 29th, 2010

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




What does LOHAS mean for Packaging

March 2nd, 2010

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






Understand Choices in Film to Wrap

December 3rd, 2009

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.



Are you there? Please share.

October 21st, 2009

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 […]



Key Observations from Packaging Sustainability Forum

September 28th, 2009

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 […]


3 Important Film Wrap Properties

August 29th, 2009

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 […]


Why servo overwrapping?

August 6th, 2009

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 […]


when Healthcare costs hit home

July 30th, 2009

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 […]


Flow wrap vs. Overwrap: Cost, Benefit and Sustainable

July 24th, 2009

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 […]


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