Page 18 - Packaging News Magazine Nov-Dec 2021

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SUSTAINABILITY | www.packagingnews.com.au | November-December 2021
Australia’s largest organic meat supply chain, Arcadian Organic & Natural Meat Co, has moved its modified atmosphere packed sausage and vacuum skin pack steak product ranges to Ravenwood’s linerless technology.
Arcadian opts for linerless
ARCADIAN’S decision to move to this more sustainable method of label- ling for its MAP and VSP products is, according to the company, assisting it to reach its sustain- ability targets and align with its carbon offsetting program.
Arcadian’s COO for retail opera- tions, Rick Vella, has known about the benefits of linerless for some time, having had first-hand experience of working with the technology in a pre- vious role. After fully researching linerless for Arcadian, Vella decided to purchase and install two Nobac 5000 sleevers at Arcadian’s West Gosford factory, six months ago. Vella says he’s never looked back.
“There were three significant fac- tors in the decision making,” says Vella. “The elimination of the label liner, greater application and machine efficiency, coupled with improved product presentation.”
“I believe linerless and the Nobac 5000 to be the market leading applica- tor. Furthermore, the service provided by Ravenwood Australia and its agent Linco, is outstanding,” Vella adds.
Arcadian says it cannot fault Ravenwood’s Circle of Linerless. The tried and tested formula boasts fault- less linerless labels backed up with
a performance guarantee. That guarantee is 98 per cent uptime. All of Ravenwood’s labelling materials are fully tested and sus- tainably approved. And when things take a turn for the worse, Ravenwood’s
disaster recovery programme means that 24/7 support, is only a phone call or email away.
Commenting on the Nobac 5000 technology, Vella says, “It is one of the best supported pieces of equip- ment we have in our facility.”
The Nobac 5000 sleever is an inline machine, designed for maximum flex- ibility, capable of applying labels at a rate of 150 packs per minute. Vella said that fewer labels are wasted dur- ing machine set up, as well as when switching reels for product change- overs. As a result, Arcadian has experienced a 34 per cent reduction in downtime, associated with labelling related stops on these two lines. The 5000 also eliminates the need to turn the packs so production is streamlined further. Vella also says that disposing of the label liner is costly and dam- aging to the environment, so this is another ‘feather in the linerless cap’.
Arcadian consider its products as a niche market and subsequently labelling volumes
ABOVE: Arcadian’s range of fresh-packed sausages and steak sport Ravenwood linerless labels, converted and printed by TMA.
BELOW: Labels are applied in-line using a Nobac 5000 sleever.
are relatively low for the SKU count, which puts changeover times as a high priority. TMA Group of Companies, with offices located in Australia and New Zealand, converts and prints Arcadian’s linerless labels.
“Product changes are simple and efficient, and the Nobac 5000 is per- fectly suited to operations,” says Vella.
Prior to the Nobac 5000 installation, Arcadian was using a conventional self-adhesive applicator for applying d-wrap labels to its MAP sausage and VSP steak product ranges.
Arcadian’s supply chain is focused on processing ‘Certified Organic’ and other high welfare beef, pork and lamb, every week at its processing plants across the Australian Eastern Seaboard. Its product lines are sold into all of the major retailers, as well as Harris Farm Markets and various smaller independent supermarkets across Australia.
Arcadian has a comprehensive program to manage its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Implemented in June 2019, Arcadian is certified as a LowCO2 business by Carbon Reduction Institute (CRI). All prod- ucts packed using linerless are certified 100 per cent carbon neutral.
Vella says that he is looking forward to the future and harnessing the ben- efits that linerless has to offer. “As a business, Arcadian is passionate about sustainability and our carbon neutral products. We believe linerless will help us achieve our goals.” ■