Printing solutions

Brother Mobile Solutions Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Brother International Corp., announced its next-generation line of mobile printers, RuggedJet. The RuggedJet printer is available in two models, the RuggedJet RJ-4030 with USB, Serial and Bluetooth technology interfaces, and the RuggedJet RJ-4040 with USB, Serial and WiFi interfaces. Delivering print speeds of up to 5 inches per second, the Brother RuggedJet uses an efficient mobile printing technology, allowing fast throughput to help boost productivity, the company says. It adds that the RuggedJet’s versatile design allows the technology to be used in a wide range of printing applications with output sizes from 2 to 4 inches, providing a wide range of uses throughout the route accounting sector, including beer, wine, spirits, soft drinks and coffee. Applications include delivery receipts, customer invoices, sales orders or confirmations, inventory reports, sales order history, product promotions and returned goods receipts. Route accounting professionals are able to print these documents on site and review with customers to ensure accuracy and immediately resolve any problems. Field workers also have the ability to use the mobile printers to promote products, confirm and complete transactions on site, provide customers with professional-looking documents, and allow additional time to call on new accounts.

• Brother Mobile Solutions Inc., 100 Technology Drive, Suite 250A, Broomfield, Colo. 80021; 800/543-6144 ext. 1659; brother-usa.com.

Size addition

Ball Corp. will introduce to North America a 568-ml. can with a capacity of about 19.2 ounces. The new can size extends Ball’s global beverage can portfolio. The sleek-looking 568-ml. beverage can’s unique size — approximately the height of a 24-ounce can and the diameter of a 16-ounce can — provides beverage-makers with valuable on-shelf differentiation and is ideal for energy drinks, teas, alcohol beverages and other premium products, the company says. As with all Ball aluminum beverage cans and aluminum bottles, the 568-ml. can contains the highest percent of recycled content on average of any beverage substrate, chills quickly, is stackable and is 100 percent recyclable. The company also announced that two beverage containers received 2011 Cans of the Year Awards at the international Canmaker Summit in Istanbul, Turkey. It received a silver award in the Beverage, Two Piece category for Ball’s 56.8-cl. aluminum can with special finishes for Foster’s lager beer. The can was manufactured in Germany for Heineken UK Ltd. It also received a silver award in the Bottles category for the 16-ounce Alumi-Tek bottle for Miller Lite beer. Ball’s Alumi-Tek bottle is resealable, lightweight, quick to chill and easy pouring, offering a bottle-like drinking experience in a sustainable metal can. The bottle was made at Ball’s manufacturing facility in Monticello, Ind.

• Ball Corp., 10 Longs Peak Drive, Broomfield, Colo. 80021; 303/469-3131; ball.com.

Plug-in solution

Schneider Packaging Equipment Co. Inc.’s newest innovation is Add-a-Pal. Add-a-Pal turns a new or existing Schneider case packer into an economical case packer and palletizer. It is designed as a “plug-in” robotic palletizer. Using the Schneider case packer’s PLC controls to operate the palletizer, the newly formed case packer and palletizer system completes case packing and palletizing functions, even in minimal floor space environments, the company says. Equipped with a Fanuc robot capable of up to 30 picks a minute, the Add-a-Pal enables high throughput for single or multiple products, it adds. Custom End-Of-Arm Tooling options include vacuum, mechanical, fork, or a combination of these with or without pallet hooks and slip sheet handling to pick product, stack in the required pattern and palletize. Pallet handling options include manual to fully automatic pallet exchange with pallet dispenser.

• Schneider Packaging Equipment Co. Inc., 5370 Guy Young Road, Brewerton, N.Y. 13029; 315/676-3035; schneiderequip.com.

New closures

Bosch offers new closures: reclosable spouts for non-aseptic applications and closures with cutting teeth for aseptic applications. Closures are designed for optimized shelf-life and aseptic product packaging, which ensures full integrity until opening, the company says. Accuracy in application is essential, and spouts are applied from the outside and ultrasonically sealed in position, it adds.

• Bosch Pouch Systems LLC, 2440 Sumner Blvd., Raleigh N.C. 27616; 919/877-0886; boschpackaging.com.

Mixing solution

Admix Inc. has added a new lab mixer to the market. The BenchMix Model OPLB-400 is a versatile and powerful benchtop lab mixer that encompasses power, speed and versatility, the company says. The BenchMix handles up to 15 liters and provides complete versatility with multiple high shear heads, low-speed impellers and props, it explains. It is available with 3-speed horsepower that can operate at 12,000 revolutions per minute, a low batch level adapter and an adjustable beaker clamp.

• Admix Inc., 234 Abby Road, Manchester, N.H. 03103; 800/466-2369; admix.com.

Software addition

Spirax Sarco announced the release of phase 1 of the Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) module. This important addition to the sizing software allows the following direct acting products to be selected: DRV, DLV, BRV2, BRV7, SRV2 and LRV2. Based on suggestions and user feedback, the module was enhanced to incorporate additional features and benefits, the company says. The visual product range selection option allows full product descriptions and code numbers to be viewed, which makes it unnecessary to use sizing charts, it adds. Additional features include velocity and noise predictions, automatic pipe sizing and much more. Work is under way on the next PRV phases, which include Pilot-operated DP and 25P, Back Pressure/Excess Pressure and PRV station configuration. The company also recently announced it received a platinum and gold MarCom award for best overall digital magazine. The platinum award was for its e-magazine Steam News, and the Gold award for its trade advertisement to promote the digital magazine.

• Spirax Sarco USA, 1150 Northpoint Blvd., Blythewood, S.C. 29016; 800/575-0394; spiraxsarco.com.

Quality control center

AutoMate Technologies offers its newly redesigned in-line automatic quality control center. The quality control inspection center has been re-engineered to provide product quality assurance, accuracy and integrity, the company says. Innovations include a selection of testing for more than 14 diagnostic parameters, such as missing caps, missing or skewed labels, missing neck bands, bar code verification, color correctness, missing foil seals, conveyor speed monitoring, crooked or loose caps, date or lot verification, cotton placement and more. A color touch screen with USB/Ethernet connections and recipe storage allows for easy set-up, programming and data retrieval in a compact 24-inch footprint, it says. Quality control is accomplished through user-friendly, non-contact, non-destructive testing and the reject system allows defects to be automatically removed from the line, the company says. Quick changeovers are accomplished by knob adjustments with calibrated scales for accuracy. The AM-QC is backed by a two-year warranty and is able to be operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the company says.

• AutoMate, 34 Hinda Blvd., Riverhead, N.Y. 11901; 631/727-8886; automatetech.com.

Calibration sources extension

Wahl Instruments Inc. announces the addition of a new product line to its Test & Calibration Instruments catalog. The new Black Body Calibration sources from Wahl Instruments are used for calibration and verification of infrared temperature instruments. Twenty-two different models are available to suit a variety of instrument specifications. Both cavity and hot-plate types feature dull black surfaces to achieve an emissivity of as close to one as possible. Models with built-in or stand-alone temperature controllers are available to provide stable, repeatable temperatures for uniformity, while also displaying the temperature of the target area. By knowing the emissivity and temperature values of the calibration source, virtually any infrared temperature instrument with a spot size diameter less than the aperture diameter can be calibrated with one of the models, the company says. Communication ports are available on some models, allowing the user to set points for automatic test applications. Models are excellent for any calibration lab or university engineering lab, it says. NIST Traceable Certificates of Conformity are available upon request.

• Palmer Wahl Instrumentation Group, 234 Old Weaverville Road, Asheville, N.C. 28804; 800/421-2853; palmerwahl.com.

Container in a box

Filamatic, a division of National Instrument LLC, and Hedwin created a partnership to provide a single solution for Cubitainer applications for their customers. The Cubitainer Combination Package is an original molded, flexible, low-density polyethylene container in a box. This environmentally friendly, customizable container is available in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, colors and packaging for an array of products including applications within the beverage industry. Filamatic then provides liquid filling, capping and integrated systems expertise, customizing the Cubitainer Filling System to meet customers’ production needs and expectations, the company says. Filamatic’s Cubitainer Filling System has a fill accuracy of plus or minus 0.5 percent, 1-inch pound-feet of torque accuracy, and a push-button setup and changeover, it says.

• Filamatic, 4119 Fordleigh Road, Baltimore, Md. 21215; 866/258-1914; filamatic.com.

Sustainable alternative

A-B-C Packaging introduced a high-speed case erector sealing with a new soy-based adhesive that offers a sustainable alternative to traditional petroleum-based hot-melt. Designed for speeds

up to 55 cases a minute and offering reliable mechanical operation and a servo-operated sealing ram, A-B-C’s Model 450 case erector helps packagers increase productivity while the new Liquamelt adhesive from H.B. Fuller will reduce costs, the company says. Liquamelt is liquid at ambient tem-peratures, eliminating the need for heated pre-melt tanks and heated hoses, which can reduce packagers’ energy costs up to 40 percent. The adhesive is pumped at room temperature from the reservoir to an actuator positioned at the nozzle that heats the adhesive to the required sealing temperature. Liquamelt is applied as foam, which reduces adhesive consumption up to 50 percent compared to other application systems. It’s operated by A–B-C’s Intelligent Control that puts all production data at the user’s fingertips on the production line at the touch screen panel or remotely at the plant operation center.

• A-B-C Packaging Machine Corp., 811 Live Oak St., Tarpon Springs, Fla. 34689; 800/237-5975; abcpackaging.com.

Mini conveyor

Conroll Corp.’s new Mini roller conveyors are able to accommodate pucks, which are commonly used to carry odd-shaped bottles, containers or other objects that would be difficult or impossible to convey on their own bottoms, the company says. Pucks are generally custom-designed for carrying specific items but the basic shapes are standardized to be easily conveyed on their own bottom surfaces. In this new system developed by Conroll, everything has been miniaturized to provide roller centers of 1.5 inches and inside frame widths of as low as 3 inches. Conroll employs a half-inch diameter hardened steel line-shaft supported by several pre-lubricated needle bearings. Each carrying roller is individually driven by round polyurethane belts, which are wrapped around acetal spools, mounted on and slipped on the powered line shaft. Sufficient torque is available to convey lightweight goods smoothly and quietly, yet loads can accumulate on the line with minimal back pressure. If required, photo eyes and/or timers can be installed for periods when the system is dormant. The Mini conveyor is powered by a 24-volt gear motor and conveyor speeds are variable from 10 to 80 feet a minute. Different sections can be set for different speeds. The conveyor is produced in standard 5-foot-long modules with two versions: a powered unit with motor drive, and an adder unit, which can be connected with a jaw-type coupling to yield a powered 10-foot conveyor. The powered, low-pressure roller conveyor system is capable of handling objects as small as 3-by-3 inches and weighing up to 20 pounds.

• Conroll Corp., 3302 Kitty Hawk Road, Wilmington, N.C. 28405; 877/805-4292; conroll.com.