As Joanne Hunter discovers, there’s more than meets the eye to the technologies that were showcased at Japan’s biggest packaging show of 2017 run by the Japan Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Association at the Tokyo Big Sight International Exhibition Centre
Japanese food supply chains are under strain from a national workforce shortage and a shrinking consumer base, and packaging industry growth over the past 10 years has flat-lined monetarily due to cost-pressure from strong domestic competition and prolonged economic deflation. Such concerns added to social and political uncertainty, threat of natural disasters and climate-change see leading converters fire up much-delayed international marketing activities and reportedly “desperately struggling” for overseas business. Japan Pack was an industry show of strength, in terms of how it serves a challenging home market in which retailers relentlessly demand new products and the population is ageing and getting smaller. Between 2015 and 2030 it will have decreased by 7.7% according to Euromonitor International. Japan is re-thinking the operative’s role and the nature of human interaction with factory-floor processes, automating wherever possible, both for efficiency and to create workplaces that will attract the best from a decreasing pool of recruits. Concern for worker health started Japan’s journey into water-based printing (WBP) and 20 years later it markets itself on the wider environmental advantages. The 2020 Olympic Games host is encouraging ‘green’ purchasing as a step towards providing cleaner air for athletes to breathe. A special logo helps shoppers identify ‘eco-friendly’ packs and those printed with water-based inks are eligible to carry it.
A WBP front-runner, Fuji Tokushu showed what can be produced on the ‘breakthrough’ Fuji MO inkjet-gravure hybrid printing machine co-developed by Miyakoshi digital technology, Orient gravure expertise and inks supplier Fujifilm, UK. Fuji Toku president Shin-Ichro Sugiyama is proud this major piece of capital investment is run by two young women with no prior printing experience and that Chinese converters wanting to know how to reduce their VOC emissions are coming to his company to learn the ropes. The combination of full-colour inkjet printing and water-based white photogravure printing on transparent film is claimed to cut levels of organic solvent by 95%.
“We want to increase water-based printing in the world [and] are considering seriously joint ventures,” says Sugiyama.
Orihiro started out as a food manufacturer and still markets a self-branded fruity gel snack, and now is applying vertical form, fill and seal (VFFS) expertise to make a healthier version with less sugar and salt and no additives. “Nobody has a system that produces aseptic packaging for acidic products, and the next target is a dairy dessert in aseptic packaging,” says senior managing director at Orihiro Mark Tsuruta, hinting at what’s to come.
The company’s newly simplified On Pack A2 is for low acid, high protein dairy and soy-based products up to 10 litres and spouted packs up to 125g. Peroxide gas replaces liquid peroxide for SIP film sterilisation, a dry process that’s quicker and minimises heating to prevent damage. A new multi-head filler will complete the project by the end of 2017 says Tsuruta. Orihiro sells around 100 machines every year through Sealed Air in a co-branding arrangement that gives the company worldwide markets where it lacks the capability to service machines. “In Japan and Asia we sell for ourselves,” says Tsuruta.
A VFFS set-up by Taisei Lamick that switches between stand-up pouches and standard format with a simple change of module is claimed a “first” for the sector . Dual-use Dangan G2 will launch in April 2018 and build on the company’s reputation across South-East Asia and the US in single-use foodservice sachets. The stand-up Inst Pouch with a size range of 40-160mm x75-150mm benefits from having no headspace and can use easy-open film says Ichiro Tomita, head of production HQ at Taisei. A move into bigger pouches continues with the Dangan LA Plus, offering fast filling with no leakers at 50 packs per minute, easy changeover without tooling, sizes between 330-530mm wide, 200-400mm long and 500-3000g.
Also featured, an upgraded Dangan G2 Dix-eye camera-based leak detection system is now suitable for aluminium foil and metallised film applications in addition to transparent film. The technology by France-based TTK can be retro-installed to a customer’s existing machine.
Project partners Ishida and Nippon Paper are working to cut the use of plastics in bagged snacks, combining the “easy-open” Inspira bagmaker and Shield Plus, a paper-based material coated with a heat-sealable polyethylene film. Use of biodegradable PLA (polylactide) potentially increases the environmental benefit says Hitoshi Fujieda, Asia department manager at Ishida.
Scissors can stay in the drawer with the Chokushin Kun (translated as Mr Straight) zippered pouch by Maruto that guarantees a hand-teared clean straight edge. Inverted v-shaped perforations are arranged in three rows on the surface of a two to four layer film that function as stoppers and ensure success every time.
International division director Koichi Haraguchi demonstrated a double-sachet system designed for two different products with potential uses in food- and non-food applications. When the pack is squeezed, the contents mix together. The combination can be a wet and a dry product, as in a cosmetics face-mask. An existing user in the medical sector is combining solid CaCO3 (lime) plus a liquid to create a chemical reaction says Haraguchi. The mixing action is achieved by introducing two melting points. “It’s not normally possible to create two different seal strengths in one pack. The higher melting point creates a stronger sealed portion,” says Haraguchi. Having launched a moisture-absorbing film, Maruto is working on a retortable pouch that shows temperature change in the factory and in transit, to avoid unprocessed pouches reaching the consumer.
For the Japanese “taste is critical and needs to be excited, with changes not only in the mouth but also in the eye”, says Hitoshi Fujieda, manager of the Asia department at Ishida. Convenience-store buyers in particular put pressure on suppliers for something new, and “year by year it is getting more difficult”, he says. Ishida is market-testing smartglasses to assist troubleshooting and improve productivity.
Language is no barrier for the Yaskawa Motomini, a small, six-axis robot weighing 7kg and payload limit of 500g. Its party-piece was to spell out ‘welcome’ on command in English, Japanese or Chinese characters by picking and placing cubes in the correct orientation. In normal operation it works remotely by a wireless internet system but seemed to relish the company of humans.
A ‘deep learning’ function allows the Fanuc LR mate 200i D to improve picking rate using technology by Preferred Networks, a Japanese AI company, among whose clients are carmaker Toyota and Japanese telecoms company NTT. Quick to pick up is the 144 pc/min Fanuc M-2iA3 robot with camera and a pulse coder that detects the speed of the conveyor so the pick and place speed can adjust accordingly.
A highly competitive convenience sector pushes the supply chain hard. On city streets, stores are within sight of one another targeting mainly single people who crave a continually refreshed menu, a recipe for a food-waste problem at retail level that food and beverage manufacturers want the packaging industry’s help to resolve.
When the temperature drops, the Lawson chain, part-owned by Mitsubishi, lures in shoppers with hot food to go called oden, and freshly fried chicken. Freezers are topped up with extravagantly packaged desserts and treats and chilled cabinets with short-life ready meals for one.
High-end chain Seijo Ishii, a Lawson subsidiary, is a happy hunting-ground for good-looking, functional packs. A curry by Rock Field is packaged using PET/C-PET and heat-treated at low temperature for chilled distribution, to protect the original texture and aromatic spices. An extraordinary design for a traditional Japanese winter drink called Amazake based on fermented rice is a spouted and ribbed, multi-layer barrier bag suitable for vacuum thermal processing. A quirky 187ml pouch pack of Chenet wine references the brand’s signature crooked-necked bottle.
Active technologies are put to use by Japan’s most popular brands. Kewpie mayonnaise has an active barrier inside the bottle which is film-wrapped, and a new 200ml pack of Kikkoman soy sauce now comes in a high-barrier version combining a rigid plastic bottle and collapsing inner bag that prevents air from getting in. The waste-saving smaller pack has a shelf life of 18 months and 90 days after opening and commands the same selling price as a conventional 900ml bottle with a standard 30-day shelf life. In traditional foods, the prominent sachet-style oxygen absorber is widely used and consumers get reassurance from its presence. But its days are numbered thanks to active film technology.
The typical Japanese consumer likes novelty and adapts well to change when the advantages are clearly spelled out. This receptive audience give designers freedom to explore possibilities, disrupt and innovate. Seen in personal care aisles everywhere, the latest refill pouch for a Bioré bodywash by Kao is a compact design with a central spout that’s new to this category but familiar to beverages and carries a prominent warning not to drink from it.
But retailing is a different story. Japan is slow to adopt shelf ready packaging (SRP) although leaders in the sector, Crown Package and Rengo, are pushing for its introduction. In many supermarkets it is often poorly displayed. But a beautifully finessed design for a special edition Kit Kat turned up in a tourist shop on the concourse at Japan Pack – a sample of sublime Japanese perfection.
Consumers are natural environmentalists and very discerning. A water refill scheme found in a HalloDay store involves a reusable bottle that a customer initially pays for, then brings back for refilling and gets charged per refill. A self-service system that sells loose teas by weight provides zippered pouches.
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