PACKAGING RESOURCE CENTER
Cottoner
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A manufacturer of automatic process and packaging equipment has added a machine to its line of cottoners. The Lakso Model 100 is a singlehead machine designed to cut, fold, and insert a measured length of cotton, rayon, or polyester at speeds of up to 100 bottles per minute. It is capable of multiple cotton-insertion applications and uses the inverted-U insertion method. The machine features a powered elevating adjustment system and interlocked guard doors for operator safety. IMA Nova, Leominster, MA; 978/537-8534; www.imanova.com.
Prequalified Shipper
Prequalified shippers are designed to provide temperature protection for refrigerated and frozen pharmaceuticals, biological specimens, and samples. Nomadic shippers that have passed thermal and transit testing conducted by ISC Labs are prequalified to maintain temperatures of 2°–8°C. The shippers were tested using universal packing configurations for summer and winter conditions at expressfreight ambient transit temperatures of –10° to 40°C. The containers are qualified to ship minimum loads, such as 1-ml syringes, and maximum loads, such as bottled liquids, based on the space allowed in each shipper model. The shippers include all components and refrigerants. They also feature lightweight expanded polystyrene inner shells designed to reduce shipping costs. ThermoSafe Brands, Tegrant Corp., Arlington Heights, IL; 800/323-7442; www.thermosafe.com.
Pharmaceutical Printing
A company offers inserts and outserts in a variety of formats, including flat, ribbon fold, parallel, and right angle. The product literature can be printed in as many as four colors. An offset sheet size of 28 × 40 in. is available. Web printing can be done up to 20 × 28 in. and can be folded down to as small as 11⁄8 × 11⁄8 in. The company also offers perforating, binding, and shrink-wrapping. Cortegra, a subsidiary of Menasha Corp., Fairfield, NJ; 973/808-8000; www.cortegra.com.
Container Testers
A manufacturer of testing equipment offers wall-thickness measurement gauges and a shelf-life management tool feature on its volume-expansion tester. The MBT 7200 and 7400 wallthickness measurement gauges are handheld devices designed to measure all types of nonferrous containers, packages, and related materials up to 10 mm thick. The PPT3000 is designed to provide high-precision pressure- and temperature-compensated volume-expansion testing for plastic containers. Its shelf-life management tool is designed to provide immediate feedback on material utilization and shelf-life performance for PET products. Agr International Inc., Butler, PA; 724/482-2163; www.agrintl.com.
Filling Machine
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An automatic filling machine is designed for accurately filling flexible containers with fluids. Aseptic and nonaseptic formats are available. The machine features a connector-and-cap interface that allows for easy dispensing and filling from a single port. The cap design performs filling and dispensing operations. Advanced Scientifics Inc., Millersburg, PA; 717/692-2104; www.advancedscientifics.com.
Blister Packer
An intermittent-motion, platen-sealing blister packer outputs up to 420 blisters per minute. The Noack 623 is designed to handle packing tablets, capsules, caplets, and ampules. It features large foil and film reels designed to require fewer reel changes and to minimize changeover time. Format data can be stored electronically. The machine heats and forms thermoformable films using compressed air. Alu-alu blisters are formed by servodriven punches to the material. The machine can be integrated with automatic feeding and filling inspection systems, an ejection station, a lidding foil printer, and a cartoner. Horn + Noack, a division of Romaco GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany; +49 72 148040; www.romaco.com
Label Inspection System
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A clinical trial label inspection system is designed for analyzing variable and fixed label content. The AVIA inspection system can handle labels of up to 8.5 × 11 in. It selflearns from printed samples, PDF documents, or rasterized preprint images. The system performs OCR, OCV, or image comparison on variable content information, and it inspects labels for character drift or print warping. All label images are stored for review after the inspection process is completed. Mnemonics Inc., Mount Laurel, NJ; 856/234-0970; www.mnemonics.com.
