KHS has introduced a new keg washing and racking machine that cleans kegs inside and out, racks them, and has integrated into its cladding up to five media tanks, all controls, and the infeed and discharge conveyors. The Innokeg Till CombiKeg has been designed so that it fits into one container and is supplied ready for action as a Plug & Produce machine, resulting in less time required for installation and commissioning.

The process of level measuring and monitoring can be based on various technologies – capacity, conductivity, pressure, ultrasonic, light or radar being a few of them. A basic criterion for the choice of the most suitable measuring principle is the medium to be measured. Depending on that, further factors such as measuring or switching and contact or non-contact sensors play an important role.

Packaging design from the world over created or brought out in 2009/10 was judged by a likewise international jury composed of twelve professionals from the sector, with Gérard Caron in the chair. The panel selects the winning packages on the basis of creativity, branding, and the quality of the packaging design for the year.

At a consolidated level, operating profit (EBIT) increased 79.6 percent in the first nine months, to EUR 40.6 million, reflecting the effect of positive operating leverage owing to a combination of improved top-line momentum and the rationalisation of the cost base. Net profit increased 192.0 percent in the first nine months, to EUR 19.0 million.

In 1994 a Bohrer crate washing machine was delivered to Spa Monopole in Belgium. In 2009 the producer of mineral water started looking for a new one. It was quite clear from the beginning that it should be a Bohrer type TW again. Why change a well-proven system?

In 2005, the R&D department of Comac Group developed new technologies for keg filling. The resulting HS6T keg lines include process plants like CIP systems and flash pasteurizers with nominal outputs up to 500 hl/h and provided with high quality components (APV, Alfa Laval, GEA Tuchenhagen).

Hygienic Design is a major criterion for a company’s competitiveness. Optimizing consumer protection is always the most important aim when implementing Hygienic Design. Another aspect concerns protecting the health of the workforce in production companies. From an economic perspective, Hygienic Design not only pays off because microbiological risks are eliminated, but also because it means machines and their components can be cleaned quickly and easily. Short cleaning cycles are directly reflected in longer production time and, ultimately, in the increased efficiency of plant engineering. This article gives examples of what successful Hygienic Design can look like in practice in beverage filling technology.

Husky Injection Molding Systems announced that it has formed a strategic supply agreement with Toyo Machinery and Metal Co., Ltd (Toyo). Under the terms of the agreement, Toyo will provide Husky with components and assemblies to be integrated into the new H-PET^™ AE and H-MED^™ AE systems that Husky will be launching at the K2010 tradeshow in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Invista, one of the world’s largest integrated polymers and fibers producers, has obtained regulatory clearance for OxyClear™ barrier resin for food and beverage packaging under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the European Union Packaging Directive for certain food types and processing conditions.

Australia currently ranks sixth among the world’s largest wine producers. Per-capita consumption is rising continuously, and Australian wine exports are going up significantly. More than 70 percent of the harvest is exported, mainly to the US and the UK, but also increasingly to non-English speaking countries. Some of the wine remaining on the Australian continent is packaged in bag-inboxes as “cask wine”, but many award-winning wines are also filled in glass bottles “down under”. The Rathbone Wine Group, headquartered in Melbourne, has installed a new bottling line, with the complete dry section including the control system supplied from Germany by Ziemann-BMS Maschinenfabrik.