01-Mar-2006 By Paul Gander
Retailer demands for well-differentiated ready meals, on low margins, often with product life measured in weeks rather than months, are having a...
Convenience for own-label cheese
01-Feb-2006
The supermarket cheese counter, so long held back by the reluctance of retailers to invest in innovative own-label packs, has seen a marked move...
Newcomer stresses huge potential of UK thermoform market
01-Feb-2006
The UK thermoforming market is so large and dynamic that no major European supplier can ignore it, according to Danish company Plus Pack.So impressed...
01-Feb-2006 By Paul Gander
Soaring energy prices on top of raw material and labour costs could see UK plastics packaging leading a Europe-wide process of consolidation in the...
UK machinery suppliers rethink their approach to competitiveness
12-Jan-2006
As the focus for international packaging machinery manufacture shifts to eastern Europe and the Far East, UK engineering companies are finding it...
12-Jan-2006 By Paul Gander
Pushed one way by ever-tighter budgets and another by the need to innovate, brands and their packaging suppliers are increasingly looking to academia...
Low-quality foil trays hazard
05-Dec-2005
Producers of high quality ready meals for catering are being undermined by low-gauge foil trays from the Far East, some of which are being sold on by...
05-Dec-2005 By Paul Gander
Dry soup producer Batchelors has found to its cost that multi-layered segmentation of its broad Cup a Soup brand, and the way this was reflected in...
Teatime capsule
04-Nov-2005
Blending the new and the old, McVitie's has launched a festive tin for its Baked to Perfection biscuits sub-brand, including specially-created...
04-Nov-2005 By Paul Gander
As converters and brands look for improved costs and availability in biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA), key material suppliers are under increasing...
Smarties move into hex cartons
06-Oct-2005
With the old-style board tube boasting plastic stoppers, Smarties could have gone either way – but Nestlé has opted for an all-cartonboard...
06-Oct-2005 By Paul Gander
Despite public and local authority concern about city-centre drinking and alcohol-related violence, brewers aim to keep beer in plastics as a niche...
Ready meals queue up for wraparound board sleeves
06-Sep-2005
Wraparound board sleeves are winning new converts in ready meals, as well as the already familiar dairy sector, thanks in part to new technology from...
06-Sep-2005 By Paul Gander
A new range of retailer-specific cream pots from Arla Foods has fuelled disagreements over the relative cost and quality of different decoration...
Bag automation raises output and quality
10-Aug-2005
The need to combine higher output with the quality and flexibility required by its retail customers has led meat processor Wignall Foods to invest in...
10-Aug-2005 By Paul Gander
In less time than it takes a biodegradable bag to break down, an uneasy truce between exponents of different 'degradable' technologies has fallen...
30-Jun-2005 By Paul Gander
The use of six and seven-colour sets in packaging print -- an approach which is rapidly gaining ground in the UK -- could be halted by legal action...
Manage water vapour and multiply your product's shelf-life
30-Jun-2005
Food companies are missing opportunities to significantly lengthen the shelf-life of products because the effects of water vapour transmission are...
Barrier needs will delay biodegradables
13-Jun-2005
Brands are interested in the potential of biodegradable plastics for food, but see short-term takeoff in demand as being unlikely, largely because of...
13-Jun-2005 By Paul Gander
Suppliers of thermoformed packaging need to act quickly to improve their service and quality levels dramatically, according to new research carried...
11-May-2005 By Paul Gander
As Tesco's demands for shelf-ready packaging (SRP) begin to bite, packaging suppliers are urging manufacturers to see this as an opportunity for...
04-Apr-2005
Tesco's plans to put 10,000 products into shelf-ready packaging are sending shockwaves across the industry. Elaine Watson investigates
PET could expand in spirits before beer, analysts predict
04-Apr-2005
The much-trumpeted arrival of beer in single-serve barrier polyethylene terephthalate (PET) could be eclipsed in the UK by growth in the premium...
04-Apr-2005 By Paul Gander
By Paul Gander
New Bosch lineup for Interpack show
07-Mar-2005
As the integration of Sigpack into the new Bosch Packaging Technology business continues, the group is preparing to show new machinery at Interpack...
07-Mar-2005 By Paul Gander
A new set of research tools is helping brands, retailers and designers to align the visual cues given by packaging much more closely with consumer...
Breakfast cereals: next in line to embrace outsourcing?
07-Feb-2005
After snacks and ready meals, cereals will be the next major sector to outsource packing and other operations in a big way, according to one...
07-Feb-2005 By Paul Gander
Changes to German packaging laws will have a far-reaching impact on markets for biodegradable plastics in the whole of Europe, according to the...
07-Jan-2005 By Paul Gander
Incremental developments in manufacturing and decoration techniques for glass are maintaining its status as an eye-catching and brand-enhancing...
13-Dec-2004
A government-backed £8m innovation fund is seeking to entice teams of designers, product managers and retailers into commercial projects which...
Nanoparticles set to invade pack materials
13-Dec-2004 By Paul Gander
The future of packaging could come down to particles just one billionth of a metre in diameter.Nanoparticles are increasingly being combined with...
The future is sealed
17-Nov-2004 By John Dunn
With plastics soaring in price, John Dunn investigates what developments are taking place to keep costs down while meeting consumer demand for convenience
Awards signal metal's stronger presence in ready-to-drink
17-Nov-2004 By Paul Gander
This year's Metal Packaging Manufacturers' Association (MPMA) awards recognised the advances made by cans in the glass-dominated ready-to-drink (RTD)...
The case for a UK centre of excellence
17-Nov-2004
Researchers are canvassing opinion from producers and users of packaging about a proposed International Packaging Centre of Excellence, with options...
17-Nov-2004 By Paul Gander
Following the success of its plastic top down ketchup bottle, introduced in June 2003 on its 570g tomato ketchup variant, Heinz has decided to extend...
A French revolution for baked goods
06-Oct-2004
A French packaging invention could give a much longer shelf-life to bread, sandwiches, pizzas and patisserie.In this double-wall system, the product...
Fold or shrink? It's a wrap
06-Oct-2004
UK machine-builder Marden Edwards has acquired neighbouring shrink-wrap equipment specialist Wraps UK, in a move which will allow the company to...
06-Oct-2004 By Paul Gander
Worldwide growth in flexibles will outstrip rigid packaging over the next few years, says a new report, with Europe seeing stronger demand for...
Consortium acquires UCB films
09-Sep-2004
A UK consortium led by Dennis Matthewman has bought UCB's polypropylene and cellophane films business.Matthewman, formerly md of Hays Chemical...
09-Sep-2004 By Paul Gander
Greater interest in non-carbonated, 'healthier' soft drinks is leading to increased investment in cold aseptic filling into polyethylene...
PET technology favours wider ranges, shorter runs
29-Jul-2004
Developments in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) injection blow moulding technology are now benefitting UK manufacturers, with options of wider...
Cartons gain and plastics lose in recycling league
29-Jul-2004 By Paul Gander
Cartons have edged ahead of plastics in the environmental responsibility stakes, with the environment minister opening the UK's first carton...
Digital sleeve and label line
15-Jul-2004
Sleever International has entered into a joint project with a print specialist to develop digitally-produced labels and sleeves.The project, with...
Scooby Doos it for kids' meals
15-Jul-2004
It must have been dogged persistence which got Sharp Interpack its first order for the Scooby-Doo range of children's frozen ready meals. But now it...
IOP targets chartered status, new members and online services
15-Jul-2004 By Paul Gander
The Institute of Packaging (IOP) is aiming to achieve chartered status within five years, dramatically increasing the number and quality of its...
Retailer space fears hinder pouch take-up
15-Jul-2004
Foil-free barrier films are available, filling speeds are rising, costings are acceptable, but the stand-up retort pouch for food is not taking off...
Active service
30-Jun-2004
Frantschach has designs on becoming the leader in active packaging in Europe. Stefan Chomka went to the company's Neoplex plant in Denmark to discover how it intends to do it
Stackable flexible ?box' challenges rigid packs
30-Jun-2004
A vertical bag-making system which creates ?boxes' from flexible materials is taking on rigid packaging in an area where it has always held the...
Collaboration can minimise damage to packs, says group
30-Jun-2004 By Paul Gander
Collaborative research into damage in the supply chain could usefully be applied to a number of different packaging types, says the convenor of a...
