FoodBev Media group technical editor Claire Rowan files her final report from Emballage Paris.
Back to the desk following an action-packed Emballage with thoughts continually turning to the environmental headway being made by many of the packaging providers I spoke to, plus the insatiable drive towards automation plus the benefits it can bring the industry.
On my last day at the show in Paris, I visited Barbier, which, since as far back as 2006, has been working on the development of water-based inks with both equipment and ink suppliers and has now perfected its Flex’Eau shrink wrapping solution.
“Printing on labels and cartons with water-based inks has been possible for a while, but no one has been able to offer shrink films using water-based rather than solvent-based inks,” said Franck Leborgne on the stand where he showed me the vibrant range of water-based colours now available for shrink wrapping.
With the new Flex’Eau range, Barbier offers manufacturers the ability to shrink wrap products beautifully, while removing solvents from the process and therefore the environment. A win win for all concerned.
Automation was name of the game on the Egemin stand, where Thierry Belissa, general manager, division handling automation, highlighted the turnkey solution it has provided for Synutra’s baby food plant in France, which, in a joint venture with Sodiaal, will use the milk from Bretagne cows to create safe baby powder for export back to China.
“We began working on the project, which is scheduled for start-up by Christmas 2015, in July. It involves all the internal handling of product in the plant apart from the actual production,” said Mr Belissa. “The Egemin solution includes a warehouse for storing 10,000 different pallets of raw material plus micro ingredients such as vitamins and mineral from individual suppliers, plus consumables such as plastic spoons, cartons and aluminium cans.
“From the warehouse, the Egemin intralogistics solution, including dedicated auto guided vehicles, delivers everything to the processing area as needed; and then picks up the finished product at the end of processing,” said Belissa.
“It is in the gap between the plant manager’s responsibility and that of the logistics manager that Egemin can help make cost savings. Profitability is in this ‘gap’. With customers looking to lower their prices, optimised and automated intralogistics can make a significant difference. Return on investment is quick when quantified in reduced manpower and Egemin ensures that the right solution is sourced for each specific application.”
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