Hilton Food Group plc (“Hilton”), the leading specialist international meat packing business, is pleased to announce it is to proceed with plans to expand its packing capability to New Zealand. Hilton will construct a new meat processing facility in Auckland and supply Progressive Enterprises Ltd (“Progressive”), New Zealand’s leading retailer, trading as Countdown Supermarkets. As Progressive Enterprises LTD is also part of the Woolworths Ltd this development further strengthens Hilton’s existing relationship with Woolworths Ltd. The development will take place as an extension of the existing site, and is subject to government approvals and the negotiation and finalisation of construction…

A subsidiary of Graphic Packaging has completed the acquisition of Spanish carton manufacturer Norgraft Packaging for an undisclosed sum. Norgraft, which aims at food and household goods markets, operates two converting plants in Maliaño and Requejada, and converts around 25000 tons of paperboard each year. Graphic Packaging president and CEO Michael Doss said: "The announced transaction is consistent with our strategy to pursue acquisitions that allow us to grow our folding carton volume in attractive geographies and end-markets, improve our cost position, service our customers with excellence, and increase our mill to converting plant integration levels over time.” Established in…

Packaging Innovations London 2017 | London event sees big names and record visitors With over 4,300 visitors in attendance over the two days, Packaging Innovations and Luxury Packaging London 2017 was the most successful edition to date.Busy Aisle Unilever, Bulgari, Innocent, ASDA, Superdrug, The Body Shop, Chanel, Heineken, Harrods, Dyson and Mars were just some of the major names at the show, as well as leading entrepreneurs Peter Jones from Dragon’s Den and Made in Chelsea’s Francis Boulle. Over 4,300 visitors attended over the two days viewing products and services from 180 leading exhibitors and taking in more than 18…

ASX-listed Pro-Pac Packaging, chaired by former Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour, has announced a $177.5 million merger deal with flexible packager Integrated Packaging Group (IPG). ‘Significant milestone’: Pro-Pac chairman Ahmed Fahour “The acquisition of IPG represents a significant milestone in the realization of Pro-Pac’s vision to become the preeminent flexible and industrial packaging manufacturer and distributor in Australia,” said Fahour. “The opportunity to combine two very complementary businesses will deliver significant long-term value to Pro-Pac shareholders.” The combined business will have annual sales of more than $450 million. The merger will be funded through a combination of $60 million Pro-Pac…

An estimated 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups are used in the UK each year, creating around 25,000 tonnes of waste. The difficulties in recycling paper coffee cups are two-fold – in their composition and in any contaminants. The scheme involves Bywaters, facilities management partners Sodexo and Tenon Group, and UCL. It will include all paper coffee cups, paper soft drink cups, paper vending machine cups, and paper water fountain cups from UCL’s buildings in central London. Bywaters is to provide the logistics and collection of paper coffee cups to be converted into quality packaging. It will collect designated bins then…

One of the most common frustrations during packing of bags is the time consumed by the labeling system. Changing tape, tickets or ribbons means halting the process while another tape or ticket roll is being loaded. This leads to unnecessary delay, accumulation of costs per bag and increases in lead time. Furthermore, the tape or tickets attached to the bag can easily tear off or be removed and can fade when subjected to sun light, causing logistical problems and loss of identification. Depending on the number of customers and products being packed, storage of all the different tape and tickets…

More than 90% of Britons want supermarkets to introduce an aisle free of plastic packaging in stores.Plastic free aisle Environmental campaign group A Plastic Planet commissioned a Populus survey of 2,000 UK adults. Respondents were asked if they support or oppose the introduction of a supermarket aisle that features only products that are free of plastic packaging, with 91% saying they supported it. Additionally, 81% of those surveyed said that they were concerned ‘about the amount of plastic packaging that is thrown away in the UK’. Support for a supermarket aisle featuring only goods not wrapped in plastic packaging was…

 BOBST – one of the world’s leading suppliers of equipment and services to packaging and label manufacturers, and Radex – a startup company owned by multiple stakeholders with a long track record in the field of DOD inkjet digital printing, today announced the launch of Mouvent, a joint venture that will become the digital printing competence center and solutions provider of BOBST. Mouvent, which is comprised of 80 employees in Switzerland, will focus on inventing and delivering the future of digital printing. Central to the digital innovation at Mouvent is an ingenious digital printing technology developed by Radex, which is…

An exclusive report in Packaging News reveals that UK supermarket icon,  Sainsbury’s,  is to undertake a “root and branch” review of its procurement processes for the sourcing of own-brand packaging. The supermarket giant revealed to Packaging News that the initiative will evaluate the supply chain and identify a set of preferred suppliers meeting Sainsbury’s standards and specifications for quality, value and service. Speaking exclusively to Packaging News, Chris Grobler, packaging commercial manager at Sainsbury’s, said: “Closing the loop between the best packaging suppliers, our Sainsbury’s brand suppliers and ourselves will create a strategic, efficient and cost-effective way to procure our…

Brewing giant Carlsberg is setting itself ambitious targets to achieve zero carbon emissions at its breweries by 2030.The announcement follows the company’s plans to roll out ‘Green Fibre’ bottles by 2018. The bottles are designed to degrade into “environmentally non-harmful materials”. Carlsberg has now said that it will eliminate carbon emissions from breweries by 2030 through “greater use of renewables”. It also wants to reduce “beer-in-hand” emissions for consumers globally by 30% by 2030 by “engaging with partners along the value chain”. Cees ‘t Hart, chief executive of the Carlsberg Group, said: “We’re committed to delivering zero carbon emissions and…

Tetra Pak has teamed up with Microsoft to introduce management and diagnosis systems and tools to reduce machine downtime and boost productivity.TetraPak_Microsoft2 The carton packaging giant has started rolling out Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality headsets to Tetra Pak on-site service engineers – who are now able to work with the company’s global experts who specialise in production line problems. A service engineer can show live video to the correct Tetra Pak expert, who guides the on-site work through Skype. To help prevent or predict disruptions Tetra Pak is also employing Microsoft Azure Cloud technology that enable its cloud-connected machines to…