Packaging, processing and plastics on show

The latest packaging, processing and plastics technology will be on show at the AUSPACK PLUS 2011 ‘out of the box’ exhibition, 22-25 March 2011, 9 am - 4 pm daily, at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

AUSPACK PLUS is expected to be the largest biennial multiplatform exhibition of packaging, processing and plastics machinery, materials and associated technologies in Australasia in 2011.

Event Director Rob Keen said the expanded format from AUSPACK to AUSPACK PLUS in 2011 now includes the processing and plastics sectors of the food, beverage and manufacturing industries.

“We felt it was time to expand the exhibition to enable all of the plastics, processing and production areas of the industry the opportunity to showcase their products from 2011 under one roof,” Keen said.

“AUSPACK PLUS 2011 will be the must-attend exhibition on the packaging industry calendar,” he said.

Owned and presented by the Australian Packaging and Processing Machinery Association, the exhibition continues to receive strong industry support from both national and international companies.

Packaging technical forum

The Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) will be holding its fourth biennial Members Only National Technical Forum alongside AUSPACK PLUS 2011 on 23 and 24 March 2011 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The forum is designed to bring together packaging technologists and other members of the AIP from around the country for two days to gain further insight into the advancements and technologies currently available to them in the world of packaging.

With a theme of The Packaging Supply Chain, discussions include: innovation and design, packaging software, packaging developments - global and domestic, packaging materials and sustainable innovations, regulations and compliance, production lines and equipment, and shelf-ready and consumer packaging.

Just some of the speakers include: Associate Professor Brian Burns from the School of Industrial Design, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada; Ian Hayes FAIP, Group Packaging Manager, HJ Heinz Australia; Travis Fuller, Senior Brand Manager, Casella Wines; Mathew Heaver AAIP, Implementation Manager - Retail Ready, Kmart Australia; Paul Haberland FAIP, Corporate Packaging Specialist, Nestlé Oceania; Bassam Hallak, Global Segment Director - Food, Avery Dennison; and Rick Fox, Vice Chairman of the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute in the United States.

Bringing together people from all areas within the packaging industry and from food, beverage and manufacturing companies, the National Technical Forum is designed to provide education and training for the packaging industry.

The forum is supported by the Australian Packaging and Processing Machinery Association (APPMA) and Exhibition and Trade Fairs (ETF), Viscount Plastics, Labourforce International, Matthews, Wellman Packaging and Cormack Packaging.

Sustainable packaging

The Bioplastics Pavilion at AUSPACK PLUS will showcase products such as biodegradable bioplastic that can be used for compostable packaging, from companies that are members of the Australasian Bioplastics Association (ABA). Exhibitors at the bioplastics pavilion include: Amcor, BASF, BioPak, BioBag, Cardia Bioplastics, Innovia, NatureWorks and Plantic.

Cardia Bioplastics recently announced a collaboration with Nestlé offering packaging with a lower environmental impact and full food-safety compliance. Cardia’s materials are suitable for a broad range of packaging applications, including flexible film, injection moulding, blow moulding, foam and extrusion and coating applications. Technologies include the Cardia Biohybrid technology (with less oil and a lower carbon footprint) or compostable technology (delivering certified compostability to international standards) for packaging or plastic product solutions.

BASF expects significant market growth for biodegradable plastics through to 2020. “BASF has opted for biodegradable plastics that are fully biodegradable and compostable in accordance with standards such as European norm EN13432,” said Jurgen Keck, head of global business for biodegradable plastics at BASF in Ludwigshafen. “These standards are important from our point of view. They demand certain environmental features that our products can offer.”

Exhibitors on show

A diverse range of products and technology will be exhibited at the show. ERC Packaging will be demonstrating its new model side-seal machine which is claimed to be one of the faster next generation of shrink-wrap systems; and Industrial Photonics will demonstrate the application of machine vision in product inspection using polyview technology, package and label matching and confirmation and date and batch code inspection and confirmation.

John Hart Automation & Robotics is the Australian distributor of Fanuc robot systems. The latest Fanuc robot technology in the M-10iA robot and integrated robot vision with high-speed visual conveyor tracking will be on show.

Modu System will be exhibiting a series of conveyors on its stand. The range of conveyors will include Modu System modular acetal chain conveyors, extruded anodised aluminium conveyor beam profile in 63, 83 and 140 mm wide, stainless steel fabricated conveyor beam profile in 63, 83 and 140 mm wide, drive and idler units to suit conveyor beam profile, acetal chain to suit conveyor beam profile with gripper options, horizontal and vertical bends and wheel bends, guide rails, stands and accessories.

MPI Australia will be launching the Uhlmann Blister Express Center BEC300 - a combination blister and cartoning machine, and the launch of a new, economy model of the Fette tablet press. The stand will also be highlighting a unique concept of economical bagging of consumable and industrial products and protective packaging from its Autobag range of equipment, an automatic tray stretch-wrapping machine and PA tray top lid sealing machine and a Shrinkmaster (L bar sealer and shrink tunnel) and Cryovac polyolefin shrink film.

New exhibitor Sabre Medical will be exhibiting a broad range of medical packaging sealing equipment, blisters, pouches and specialty foams, package validation and testing on its stand. Satake Australia will launch its full-colour RGB optical sorter, Evolution, to the Australasian market. The sorter is said to bring a new level of safety and security to the in-process and final inspection of granular products. The Evolution RGB platform is able to detect not only distinct colour differences, but also shade differences between similar colours. Using high-speed air ejectors, the sorter removes unwanted foreign material reliably and with minimal loss of good product.

The full exhibitor map is included in this issue on pages ##

AUSPACK PLUS 2011

22-25 March 2011

9 am - 4 pm daily

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre