• Germ-killing film/foam laminate awarded second patent: Lake Forest, IL-based Pactiv Corp.'s newest patent covers film thicknesses from 1-10 mils and the use of various polymers for its anti-microbial Astro-Barrier® XFP product. It is reportedly the first to combine antimicrobial properties with a combination foam/film underlayment that is engineered to resist mold, mildew and fungus, which can arise when sub-floors or flooring products have been subjected to moisture.
• Breaking the "carton-print" paradigm: Olegario Fernandes Artes Graficas SA, a Cacem, Portugal-based package printer, takes the trail-blazing route of new inline technology for the printing and converting of paperboard folding cartons with its installation of a 13-in. Comco Pro-Glide MSP press. Olegario Fernandes typically runs the Comco at 400 fpm, producing about 50,000 cartons/hr. One recent job saw 1 million cartons come off the Comco Pro-Glide in 48 hrs.
• Canadian converter adds to stable of sheetfed presses: Torham Packaging, Inc., a privately-owned custom converter of paperboard boxes based in Hamilton, Ontario, installs a 41-in. KBA Rapida (Williston, VT) 105 press. The seven-color system with interstation UV-coating capabilities went online in June 2003. For more than 50 years, Torham has designed, printed and converted packaging for its Canadian pharmaceutical, hardware, and food-market customers.
• The one and only: The UK's Jefferson Smurfit Group, one of the largest manufacturers of containerboard, corrugated containers and other paper-based packaging worldwide, chooses Pamarco Global Graphics (Atlanta) as its sole supplier of anilox, rubber rolls and glue and metering rolls to its plants in UK and Ireland.
• Corrugated rolls set 189,000-mile production record: Inland Paperboard & Packaging's Lexington, SC, plant recently set a new corrugated-roll record by achieving more than 1 billion lineal ft of production on a set of MarquipWardUnited (Phillips, WI) Duroclad-coated corrugated rolls. Manufactured new in 1996 for a 98-in. Vanguard single-facer, the rolls ran for more than six years.
• Protecting its blister-pack business: Sweden's SCA expands its North American protective-packaging operations with the Nov. 4 acquisition of blister-packaging supplier Alloyd, Inc. Purchase price for the DeKalb, IL, company is reportedly $97 million. With a market share of 13 percent, Alloyd is currently the leading US supplier of blister packs to consumer-goods producers.
• Retort pouches are gaining favor among food packagers due to converting and filling speeds that are approaching those of canning and bottling lines, says a new study by West Chester, PA-based Packaging Strategies. Highest projected growth for the category (19.1 percent a year) is for pet-food applications, but healthcare uses are also expected to climb about 4 percent annually to 2007.

The inaugural RadTech Awards for Innovation in UV Technology were bestowed Nov. 3 during the 2003 RadTech Europe Conference in Berlin, Germany. Developments were recognized in three categories. They include:

Printing and Packaging: Plastlac S.r.l. (Italy). The main advantages of this UV multicoating with gas-barrier properties are the reduction of process time with subsequent higher productivity. Judges commented, "This multicoating is a platform for any food packaging."

Industrial Coatings and Adhesives: Delo Industries Klebstoffe (Germany). This dam-and-fill UV-cured adhesive for sensitive microchips was described by judges as "an innovative solution for short-cycle manufacturing with low heat and short-cycle times."

Automotive and Specialty: Implanta AG (Germany). This UV-curing tech produces in-situ permanent medical implants such as polymer stents. Judges remarked, "The unique advantages of UV curing are clearly apparent and warrant success for this technology in the medical-device industry.