SupplySide News
Seneca Foods Introduces Large Premium Fruit Bowls
Seneca Foods Corporation, Marion, NY, the largest manufacturer of canned and glass vegetables in North America, asked the question “what could be better than fresh fruit in a wholesome snack?” Their answer: how about even more orchard-fresh fruit, packaged in a take-anywhere snack bowl.
That’s the secret behind Seneca Foods’ new 6-ounce fruit bowls. Each see-through plastic bowl is filled with premium U.S.A.-grown fruit, so consumers can see the quality inside.
“When you use the best ingredients, you want people to see them,” explained Dean Erstad, Seneca’s Senior Vice President of Sales. “We made sure all our packaging had windows so consumers can see the fruit cups inside.”
In addition to quality, the other big difference in Seneca’s new fruit bowls is their size. Each contains 50 percent more fruit than the typical fruit cup. Fruit bowl varieties are diced peaches, diced pears, mixed fruit and fruit medley with cherries.
Seneca Foods began operation in 1949 and has been dedicated to providing quality food products and service excellence to its customers ever since. Seneca produces a variety of frozen and canned fruits and vegetables at seven state-of-the-art processing plants across the United States.
For more information about these healthy snacks, contact Lisa Block at 608-757-6715.
Appointments
STR Hires President of Quality Assurance Division
Specialized Technology Resources, Inc. (STR) announced that Mark A. Duffy has joined the company as president of its Quality Assurance Division. He will report directly to Dennis Jilot, chairman and chief executive officer of STR.
Mr. Duffy will have the full responsibility for all strategic and operational plans for STR’s Quality Assurance Division, which has laboratories and offices in over 30 countries across six continents. STR provides testing, audit, accreditation, and responsible sourcing services to help ensure that clients have the highest level of confidence in the quality, safety, and social standards of their products and systems. STR works with companies around the globe in the chemical, electronics/electrical equipment, food, garments/textiles, general merchandise, household, nutritional supplement, personal care, pharmaceutical, and toy/toy premium product categories. Visit STR at www.STRQuality.com.
Logix3 Teams Up With Tree of Life
Logix3, LLC announced that Tree of Life, Inc., headquartered in St. Augustine, FL, has selected its Resource Center Business Service to facilitate collection and collaboration of all product data from all manufacturers. Tree of Life is a leading marketer and distributor of natural, organic, gourmet, specialty, and multicultural food products to supermarket chains, independent grocers, natural/health food stores, and specialty/ethnic stores throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Logix3 was formed in January 2001 by a team of managers with extensive background in the development and marketing private label and national brand consumer products. Headquartered in Jacksonville, FL, the company’s primary services provide web-enabled technology to manufacturers, retailers and distributors helping manage the vast array of product information necessary for CPG execution. Logix3 has significantly reduced the time to find and sort product data from days to minutes.
Tree of Life’s more than 2,000 suppliers will be able to manage multiple tasks through the efficient Logix3 online service. Business processes such as new item activity, document management, packaging approvals and product development workflows will be deployed through Tree of Life’s branded online service, OAK. Suppliers benefit by improved “Speed to Market” as well as significant efficiencies gained through accuracy and accountability of product information.
“Providing more efficient product information through better data management is a great benefit for our customers,” said Tree of Life Senior Vice President of Category Management Troy Benscoter. “We’re always looking for ways to improve our services, and making the change to a more technology-savvy integrated system will help us and our partner retailers and suppliers be more successful in all of our businesses. With more than 40,000 individual products available through Tree of Life, having an easier to navigate and well-organized system is a win-win for everyone.”
For more information about Logix3 go to Logix3.com, call 877-847-9372 or e-mail Bruce Kern, president, at bkern@logix3.com or Andrew Brown, sales consultant, at abrown@logix3.com. For more information about Tree of Life, visit their web site at www.treeoflife.com.
Sopakco, Your Partner for Shelf-Stable Meals
Frozen meals used to be the height of convenience; just five minutes from microwave to mouth.
Ah, but consumers clamoring for convenience have raised the bar, leading to the creation of an entirely new category of prepared meals: portable, individually portioned entrees that require no refrigeration and take just 90 seconds to heat and serve. Savvy brand owners and retailers recognize a significant opportunity to provide seniors, working adults, the diet conscious, and school kids with delicious, nutritious, shelf-stable meals. Speed to market is key!
Sopakco (SOPAKCO) is just the partner to make it happen. For more than 40 years, South Carolina-based Sopakco has been a leading retort food processor and among the world’s largest producer of meals ready to eat (MREs) for the U.S. military. Each year, the company prepares and packages 80 million MREs and is consistently ranked number one in quality, performance and service.
Sopakco is also a major producer of retort entrées, side dishes, sauces, and gravies for retail and institutional applications. Leading brand owners, retailers, and private labelers look to Sopakco for turnkey solutions that include recipe formulation, food processing, packaging, meticulous quality controls, and logistics in what have become the hottest new packaging formats: retort pouches and semi-rigid plastic bowls and trays.
Customers also look to Sopakco as a solid, collaborative, long-term business partner. With 60 years in business and $128 million in 2008 sales, we have the financial strength and longevity that inspires confidence and a willingness to partner with customers on new ventures.
Multiple facilities, automation and process flexibility enable us to take seasonal surges in volume, new product ramp ups and last-minute orders in stride. We can also assist customers with primary and secondary package design and sourcing.
Sopakco offers warehousing facilities in South Carolina, Tennessee, and Nevada for nationwide distribution. For more information, visit www.SOPAKCO.com.
NACDS Launches New Website
On September 8, 2009, NACDS will launch an enhanced NACDS.org–with a new look and expanded capabilities.
You will be able to update your personal information on the new NACDS.org, including your preferred contact information. Enhancements to NACDS.org will deliver a fresh new look and Google search engine that makes it easier to find the information you are looking for. The website also will feature an enhanced meeting registration and exhibit booth purchasing process.
The Standard Group Adds New Equipment
As one of the leaders in the printed packaging industry, The Standard Group (TSG) has taken another step in securing their position as a key supplier to Private Label Manufacturers. With the recent purchase and installation of the new Maxson 65–inch Sheeter, 41-inch 8-color Mitsubishi offset printing press, Bobst Expercut 106 and Heidelberg Diana Feeder/Packer, they can accommodate a more diverse customer base.
The Maxson Sheeter will allow TSG to streamline the entire sheeting process. The new Maxson has an overall output of up to 1300 feet per minute, which is supported by continuous changeover and automatic splicing technology. These capabilities allow for increased flexibility, quality and responsiveness.
The new Mitsubishi 8-color press introduces a new size format into TSG’s current arsenal. This 41-inch format allows them to address customer demand for smaller print runs, which target goals for reducing inventory levels. This new press is equipped with interdeck UV lamps and can run 8 colors and UV or Aqueous coating. This configuration will allow TSG to offer its customers innovative options to optimize shelf impact.
The new Bobst die-cutter has state of the art register systems, intelligent feeders and quick-change tooling systems. The Power Register II system is designed for maximum accuracy and brings each sheet into perfect cut-to-print register, ensuring unequaled quality of production.
TSG’s new Heidelberg Diana Feeder/Packer uses a continuous feeder system that allows the cartons to go from feeding, gluing, folding and packing in one non-stop process. The highly flexible efficient system automatically packs over 200,000 cartons an hour. This means accurate and timely boxing of cartons each and every time.
These purchases exemplify TSG’s commitment to reinvest in their business and the marketplace. The accuracy of the new die-cutter, efficiency of the sheeter and feeder/packer along with the high-end graphical printing capabilities of the new press will allow them to meet the printed packaging needs throughout the Private Label and consumer goods markets.
The Standard Group has corporate headquarters in Jackson Heights, NY and manufacturing in Louisville, KY. They are a premier folding carton, specialty packaging and paperboard converter that specialize in the food, pet and liquor markets to both name brand and Private Label manufacturers.
Presto Does Magic With Green and Innovative Products.
Sustainability, eco-friendly products and biodegradability have always been front-and-center concerns for Presto Products Company, Appleton, WI. Although this past year’s economy has put some green efforts to the backburner, Presto expects and is prepared for a renewed consumer interest in green products in most markets.
Presto is a market-leading supplier of private label food storage bags, disposer bags, containers and plastic wrap. As a business of Reynolds Packaging Group, Presto has the strength and agility to provide leading-edge products and services that enable leading retailers to build successful private brand programs.
Presto offers eco-friendly products, such as their biodegradable trash bags and compostable EcoSafe® trash bags. Mike Curtin, Presto’s senior vice president of sales, marketing and R&D, sees continued consumer interest in eco-friendly products as certain areas of the country are making concerted efforts to go green.
“Municipalities that have residential composting programs such as Seattle and Houston are working with retailers to offer compostable bags,” says Curtin. Presto’s EcoSafe bags are engineered to degrade in 10-45 days and fully biodegrade in less than 6 months when disposed of in a commercial composting facility. They come in 2.5 gallon and 13 Gallon for organic/food waste, and 30 gallon for yard waste. Presto’s additional “green efforts” include biodegradable trash bags, available in 13 Gallon and 33 Gallon sizes, that are designed to break down and fully biodegrade in landfills.
“Presto stands ready with concepts, products, and technology to help retailers continue to further develop their ‘green’ private brands,” explains Curtin. Private brands such as Publix’s Green Wise, Topco’s Full Circle and Safeway’s Bright Green are examples. Presto’s space saving packaging reduces supply chain costs and has been an industry standard for twenty-five years that only recently the brand companies have emulated as a sustainability program.
At PLMA this year, Presto will be showcasing these and other green products, as well as their new 32-oz. Large Entrée container, an innovative product coinciding with another trend in the market. The brands have seen success with the 32-oz. size, but Presto knows that consumers are looking for private brand products not just to compete with national brands, but also to offer a unique and better feature and benefits on existing products. Presto’s Large Entrée container has an increased surface area for multiple foods items. This way consumers can store more than one thing without stacking items on top of each other. It also allows consumers quicker reheating and the ease of eating directly from the container. The 32-oz. large entrée container’s lid is compatible with the existing Deep Dish 64-oz. container.
