Birmingham gears up to welcome Pakex

Thousands of visitors will be flooding in to Birmingham's NEC for the Pakex show, where companies from all areas of the packaging supply chain will be exhibiting

The triennial Pakex show returns to Birmingham's NEC this year. Held from 2;6 April in five halls of the exhibition centre, well over a thousand exhibitors will be present. Around 20% of these are from overseas, representing 34 countries. Over 25,000 visitors have pre-registered for the show on its website, www.pakex.co.uk.

A new feature this year is a central supply chain feature. Sited in the NEC Piazza, it will consist of two 'pods' providing a general Q&A facility, and covering packaging materials, packaging print machinery, packaging machinery & contract packing, design & retail and e-commerce & logistics.

Claricom will be launching its latest Clarisoft generic image design software package. It claims this is the first generic image design software for on-line coding and labelling equipment, and it is launched alongside the company's Clarinet network control system for reducing package coding errors.

A range of GMP compliant washing systems will be featured on the Lancer stand. The PCM machines are used for the critical cleaning of glassware, parts and equipment in production and clinical trials in the pharmaceutical industry.

A non-destructive leak tester is to be launched by SephaScan. The BlisterScan test cycle takes 30s, and identifies the precise pocket that leaks. Product from failed blisters can be deblistered and immediately repackaged, unlike the existing 'blue dye' test which destroys both pack and product. All of the machine's functions are accessed using virtual instrumentation on a touch screen display, and product changeover takes 2min.

Logopak will be displaying its latest real-time industrial pallet labelling system, the 920DK, which can print and apply labels to two adjacent faces at a rate of 240 pallets/hr. The company will be showing the labeller with an automated conveyor system.

pharma metal detectors

Lock's WeighChek range of checkweighers and MET30+ pharmaceutical metal detectors will be on show. The WeighChek's display panel is fully rotatable and tiltable, with an electroluminescent touch screen. The metal detectors can detect and reject microscopic contaminants in pharma production lines at speeds of up to 30,000 tablets/min.

Among the machinery on show on the Packaging Overhaul stand will be an Omas G2 automatic monobloc filler/capper, integrated into a complete line incorporating an Omas GL1 labeller and rotary accumulation table. It will also have an Omas DVP semiautomatic filler for viscous or pasty products.

Skerman Promac will be exhibiting the new Anritsu SV series, which operates at speeds up to 600 packs/min, and accuracy of ±10mg at 300 packs/min. The speed and accuracy are a result of a new force balance weigh cell and microprocessed indicator. It can be manufactured from stainless steel for pharmaceutical applications, and the range ultimately will include machines with integral metal detectors.

Equipment on display on the Adelphi Manufacturing stand will include automatic and semi-automatic filling machines to handle liquids and creams, such as the compact monobloc Cerberus filling and capping unit, and ampoule and vial processing machines. It will also be showing a new collapsible tube filling machine from TGM.

Weber's LegiJet ML500 coder for cases, cartons and outer packaging incorporates a fully-addressable, 500-nozzle printhead that produces codes up to 7cm high.

Sessions' stand will include the Sequence front and back labeller, and the RC30 labeller will be demonstrating precise ampoule labelling. It will also show a range of Guard Tag retail security solutions, and label products designed to meet specific needs, such as visial indication of g-ray sterilisation and UV lamp strength monitoring.