It's like a label…only without a label. That's one way to describe the new CASEMARKe system from UK-based DataLasew (www.datalase.com).

Meant to replace pressure-sensitive print-and-apply labeling, CASEMARK is said to be a cost-effective solution for marking outer-case secondary packaging with images and text normally provided by a label. It works by applying an inert organic coating onto a specific “label area” of the shipping case as the corrugated box is produced. On the packaging line, a computer-controlled, low-level beam emitted from an industrial CO2 laser “writes” the required data onto the “label area,” causing a color-change reaction in the coating from white to black (below).

CASEMARK imaging occurs without contact with the substrate, and the laser-induced image is not prone to “bleeding” on absorbent corrugated. Another benefit, DataLase says, is that label customizing can take place as late as the packaging line. Special offers as well as brand and product changes can be easily updated and end the need for expensive label reprinting.

Johnson Printing & Packaging Corp. (Fridley, MN) now generates 100% of the electrical power needed to run its 130,000-sq-ft plant using wind power. Just don't look for a series of windmills on top of the package printer's building.

The conversion to a renewable energy source is via local power company Xcel Energy's Windsourcew program (www.xcelenergy.com). Businesses pay additional monthly fees in their electric bill, and the total amount is used to purchase power directly and exclusively from Windsource—a series of 16 large turbine windmills located on private farmland across southern Minnesota.

Annually, Johnson Printing & Packaging uses more than 866,000 kilowatt-hours to operate its Fridley facility. According to US EPA calculations, the environmental impact of the company's switch to wind power means 500 fewer tons of carbon emissions sent into the atmosphere, or the same as planting more than 123 acres of trees.

“Because so many of our customers are focused on environmental sustainability,” says Tim Cattrysse, JP&P operations manager, “we're continuously pursuing new options. We're the largest commercial business in the state of Minnesota to derive our energy entirely from 'green power.'”

Available as an ink or label, new OnVue time-temperature indicators from Switzerland's Ciba Specialty Chemicals (www.cibasc.com) can reportedly show the accumulated chill-chain history of perishables ranging from meat and dairy products to highly-sensitive pharmaceuticals. Each indicator can be specifically tailored to the shelf life and optimum storage conditions of the product it's designed to monitor.

OnVu technology relies on the properties of pigments that change color over time and when temperatures fluctuate. The label consists of a reference color and an OnVu indicator. Once activated, the label first becomes dark and then grows progressively lighter as time passes, and also if and when the ambient temperature rises. When the activated color attains the same shade as the reference, the product has reached the end of its shelf life.