Food & beverage sector drives packaging development in China

SMART production is gaining traction in China’s manufacturing sector, with more companies jumping on the "Made in China 2025" and "Industry 4.0" bandwagon. From sorting and picking, precision wielding, packaging, inspection, to storage and transportation, many companies are starting to integrate robotics, digital network, and automatic equipment in production lines to increase productivity and precision while reducing power consumption and production costs. 

The D3 robotic packaging solutions by Bosch, for example, handles higher payloads of up to three kilograms and ensures faster speeds to boost pick rates. The enhanced D3 robotic platform integrates into the Module ++ biscuit packaging production line through the Paloma D3 feed and top-mounted robot. Its fully modular design allows configurations for diverse applications.

Demag's El-Exis SP 200-67 produces 4 PP food container injection molding (125ml) with a production cycle shorter than 2 seconds. A robotic arm automatically picks up the final product. The 3% to 5% reduction in production cycle time demonstrates the efficiency of the injection molding machine.  

Reflecting breakthroughs in production technology, Guangdong Guozhu Precision Mold Co. Ltd has developed a high-speed injection molding system that can produce 600,000 HDPE bottle caps daily, with each cap weighing only 1.95g. The machine has a full output rate of 28.8 thousand per hour.

 More and more packaging companies in China are adopting robotics and automated equipment to boost their efficiency

The food and beverage, and medical sectors, which require high standard of processing techniques and material requirements, will drive packaging products in 2016, according to Freedonia.

Packaging products can feature high barrier, boiling tolerance, UV and temperature resistance, and high preservation ability. They can also have selective ventilation, anti-microbial, anti-corrosion, deodorization, shape memorization, and easiness of re-closure properties. Film making technology continues to evolve to extrude multiple layers and integrate them seamlessly with the latest co-extrusion technology.

German Kuhne Anlagenbau has partnered with DuPont to launch TripleBubble (R) 1 water quenched and bi-oriented film technology, which can provide up to 11 layers of functional polymers with 20μm to 110μm thickness and up to 60% elasticity. The new co-extrusion technology saves more than 50% in raw materials compared with conventional laminate structures. It also demonstrates puncture resistance, flexibility, softness, seal performance, transparency, and shrink behavior.

American injection company Milacron has developed the Klear Can cooking can, which can withstand up to130°C heat. The transparent food can, which allows consumers to see through the food content and apply in-mold labels with different colors, was produced using a new co-injection system.

The product’s three-layer plastic construction (PP-EVOH-PP) enables a shelf life of 2 to 5 years. Typically, cooking pouches use heat-resistant plastics with an outer layer of PA/PET high-barrier film, a middle layer of aluminum foil for light shielding, and an inner layer of thermal sealing multi-layer PE and PP composite films.  

These products will be on exhibit at CHINAPLAS 2016, from 25-28 April at the Shanghai International Expo Center.