Alf Taylor, founder of packaging solutions company tna, has been named one of Australia's 100 most influential engineers of 2009 in the June edition of Engineers Australia. The list, published annually, identifies the country's leading engineers in academia/research, associations, consulting, engineering expertise, industry, public service and politics, according to tna.

The Packaging Council of New Zealand elected David Carter, group environment and technical projects director Lion Nathan, as its new President, at its AGM last week. Also at the meeting, Melissa Hodd, executive director Foodstuffs NZ, was appointed vice president.

International food and beverage company PepsiCo has opened a green packaging plant in China. The company says it is the first plant of any kind in the industrial centre of Chongqing to comply with the rigorous sustainable engineering standards known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), set by the Green Building Council.

Winners of the Australian Packaging Machinery Association (APMA) Excellence Awards were announced during this month’s Auspack. Product identification solutions provider Matthews took out the best new product award.

Taiwanese based label press manufacturer Orthotec has announced that two of the winning labels, which were entered into the World Label Association Awards were printed on Orthotec presses.

Drawing gazes on the Visy Automation stand during Auspack was the DYNAC Conveyor System from Hartness International, which Visy says brings improvements to line throughput and product volume while providing, pressureless product handling and accumulation.

One of the highlights at the Carter Holt Harvey stand during Auspack was the Kliklok Certiwrap C150 wraparound cartoner, which is built to handle a wide variety of items including ready-meal trays, tubs, and many other rigid containers, according to the company.

Label manufacturer Label Power has launched the VP485 Industrial Colour inkjet and label printer. The printer, which was released at last month’s PacPrint is perfectly positioned for users who need to print larger runs than traditionally printed on short run inkjet label printers, according to the company.

Visitor attendance to last week's Auspack was down nine per cent in comparison to the previous Sydney event in 2005. However the Australian Packaging Machinery Association (APMA) and organisers have dubbed Auspack 09 a success given the turbulent financial climate.

A panel of label industry experts has reviewed the votes for the 2009 Label Industry Global Awards and announced that the winner of the prestigious R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award is the well-known label consultant, Michael Fairley.