Flowserve Gestra, a subsidiary of Flowserve Corp. and supplier of steam trap solutions for flow control, has introduced the new Econoline series of steam traps. Featuring a compact energy-saving design, the Econoline series is available in three styles: thermostatic capsule, thermostatic bimetallic and thermodynamic disc. The Econoline series fits all existing universal connectors, and requires no initial setting or readjustment. Designed to prevent steam loss, the traps introduce a new level of steam trap performance in an economic and compact form, according to the company. — Flowserve Corp., 5215 N. O'Connor Blvd., Ste. 2300 Irving, Texas 75039; 972/443-6500; flowserve.com

MRC Bearing Services has stainless steel take-up frames available for food industry conveyor systems that are designed to provide support for conveyor shafts and deliver correct conveyor belt tension while withstanding frequent washdowns and harsh food-industry chemicals. The design features side and bottom openings for draining during washdowns, and the frames comply with sanitation requirements of HAACP programs. Available in wide and narrow styles and in a range of frame sizes, they can be installed to conveyor systems with four mounting bolts. — MRC Bearing Services, 1510 Gehman Rd., Kulpsville, Pa. 19443-0332; 215/513-4568; mrcbearingservices.com

Industrial Consortium and Nercon Manufacturing have introduced an infeed system for cooler or pasteurizer bottle feeding. The ICwedge is designed to handle non-round bottle difficulties associated with high-speed single-file feeding to mass flow in hot-fill applications. By increasing throughput by more efficient use of cooler space, the ICwedge also improves package quality by gently handling the containers. — Industrial Consortium, 110 Gilmer St./P.O. Box 655, Sulphur Springs, Texas 75482; 877/990-5099; icwedge.com

Squid Ink has launched CPS-1000, a case printing system that helps users eliminate purchasing pre-printed boxes. The CPS-1000 allows users to print as much as 1.4 inches of barcodes, graphics or text on corrugate cases.
— Squid Ink Manufacturing Inc., 1173 Osborne Rd., Spring Lake Park, Minn. 55432; 800/877-5658; squidink.com

Hitachi America Ltd. has introduced the SJ200 series of inverters. The SJ200 employs Sixth Generation Sensorless Vector Control technology, which eliminates a complicated auto-tuning process to achieve optimal performance. Incorporating Hitachi‘s latest Inverter System Power Module, the SJ200 is a compact drive that features advanced trip avoidance function, side-by-side mounting capability, built-in timing logic and analog input math (PLC) functions, DIP-switch hand-off-ratio, removable control terminal connector and RS485 Modbus RTU communication interface. An optional NEMA4X keypad kit is also available. — Hitachi America Ltd., 50 Prospect Ave., Tarrytown, N.Y. 10591; 914/524-6645; hitachi.us

Thermo Electron Corp. has introduced Orion Aquafast AQ4500 Turibidimeter for lab and field measurements for food, beverage and wastewater applications. Featuring dual light sources that allow readings to comply with EPA 180.1 or ISO 7027, Aquafast AQ4500 also conforms to guidelines of both the American Society of Brewing Chemists and European Brewing Chemists. As many as 100 data points can be stored for download, and the battery can last as long as 1,000 hours. — Thermo Electron Corp., 81 Wyman St., Waltham, Mass. 02454-9046; 877/THERMO-U; thermo.com

Emerson has released a brochure for its Fisher Enviro-Seal valve-stem packing system, serving both environmental and non-environmental control valve applications. The 12-page brochure reviews the system's design principles that result in valve stem sealing to below 100 ppmv. The brochure also illustrates the company‘s sliding stem and rotary valve systems. In other company news, Emerson Process Management, a branch of Emerson, has released version 6.2 of its AMS Suite Intelligent Device Manager. — Emerson, P.O. Box 4100, 8000 W. Florissant Ave., St. Louis, Mo. 63136-8506; 314/553-2000; gotoemerson.com

Avantis, part of the production management division of Invensys plc, has announced Release 3.2 of the Avantis XA product line is available. Release 3.2 builds on capabilities of the IBM AS/400 hardware platform, Avantis XA with many new and advanced features designed to further enhance user productivity. — Invensys plc, 33 Commercial St., Foxboro, Mass. 02035; 508/543-8750; invensys.com

Millipore has introduced a Polygard Trap prefilter for beverage manufacturing. The prefilter offers 98 percent retention of hard particles over 2 mm (greater than 99.99 percent retention of hard particles over 5 mm), and the cartridge features a dual-zone structure and increased resistance to pressure changes and bleed-through. The prefilter is constructed from graded density-depth polypropylene media for broad chemical, including NaOH, and thermal compatibility. In addition, the prefilter eliminates backwash steps for easy cleaning and maintenance, according to the company. Available in 10-, 20-, 30- and 40-inch lengths, each Polygard Trap prefilter comes with a Certificate of Compliance.
— Millipore Corp, 290 Concord Rd., Billerica, Mass. 01821; 800/MILLIPORE; millipore.com/foodbev

DDS Technologies USA Inc., Boca Raton, Fla., has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Colombia‘s second-largest sugar producer, Ingenio Riopaila S.A. and Central Castilla S.A. that is expected to result in a joint venture between the two companies to produce ethanol.

eSkye Solutions, Indianapolis, recently announced its acquisition of Blend Winery Software, based in Santa Rosa, Calif. BWS serves more than 60 winery customers, including Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton‘s Domaine Chandon, Fortune Brands' Geyser Peak Winery, Silverado Vineyards, King Estate Winery and Golan Heights Winery in Isreal with its wine production systems.

Vexure Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has added six sales and operations agents to its network. The new agents are located in Redondo Beach, Calif.; Jacksonville and Payette, Ind.; Kresgeville, Pa.; and Houston, Texas.

Alcoa has sold its packaging equipment business to American Industrial Partners for approximately $45 million.

Flowserve Flow Control, Raleigh, N.C., received Constellation Energy‘s first “Outstanding Supplier” award for its parts and engineering support of two of Constellation's nuclear power generating facilities.

Millipore, Billerica, Mass., recently announced the debut of the 2004 Fisher Scientific Catalog. The catalog offers a comprehensive selection of the latest tools for laboratory technicians in the life science and pharmaceutical industries.

Bosch Rexroth AG, Lohr, Germany, has invested approximately $10 million in its new manufacturing plant in Wujin, an area of Changzhou, China. An opening ceremony took place in January.

Transaction Network Services, Reston, Va., and Systech Corp., San Diego, recently announced a strategic alliance to simplify the transition from legacy processing protocols to an IP infrastructure. As a result of the agreement, TNS and Systech are allowing merchants to benefit from the use of IP transaction transport without installing costly new equipment.

Checkpoint Systems Inc., Thorofare, N.J., an integrator of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology into consumer product packaging, has made an initial minority investment in Goliath Solutions. Goliath is a start-up developer of RFID-based technology for point-of-purchase advertising and display compliance for the grocery, chain drug, mass merchandise and convenience store channels.

Maxxium Worldwide, Amsterdam, recently announced that SAP Systems Integration AG has overhauled its global business processing systems with the introduction of mySAP CRM. The new system, which includes SAP Business Information Warehouse and SAP R/3 ERP, will allow Maxxium to track, evaluate and tailor its worldwide sales and marketing initiatives.

Stahlman Engineering Corp., New London, N.H., and Stahlman Construction Management Services Inc. announced that they have changed their name to the Stahlman Group Inc. The change is a result of reorganization allowing the company to better compete in the engineering marketplace.

Global Logistics Services Inc., Atlanta, recently opened a new third-party logistics distribution center in Morrow, Ga. The new center provides a range of services, including warehouse and transportation management for its clients. In other company news, Mark Stanton has been appointed Global Logistics Services vice president of consulting services and business development.

Graphic Packaging International Inc., Marietta, Ga., was named 2003 packaging integration Supplier of the Year by Coca-Cola North America. Graphic Packaging provides cartons and machinery to package cans, plastic and glass bottles for Coca-Cola brands worldwide.

Satellite Logistics Group, Houston, Texas, has been retained to manage empty keg returns throughout the United States for Beck‘s North America with its Kegspediter System. The system handles approximately 55,000 U.S.-bound kegs annually within the Beck‘s distributors network. The company also opened a distribution center near the Port of Houston Authority's Barbour's Cut Terminal. With the new center, Satellite Logistics Group has expanded its warehouse space to more than 200,000 square feet, double the space available at the previous Houston location.

Alvey Systems, a division of FKI Logistex, St. Louis, has been awarded three U.S. patents for new conveyor technologies. A conveyor roller with a telescoping axle and tapered ends, a snag-resistant opening for conveyor guide rails, and a conveyor driver pad with a built-in wear indicator have been added to the list of the company's material handling innovations. In other company news, FKI Logistex Automation Division, Cincinnati, Ohio, will automate a new 1.2-million-square-foot distribution center for Dollar Tree Stores Inc. in Joliet, Ill. Work is scheduled to be completed by mid-2004.

Alcan Packaging, Chicago, recently received an FPA Gold Award in printing achievement for the Heinz Premium Condiment Stand-up Pouch at the Flexible Packaging Association‘s Annual Achievement Awards in Naples, Fla. The company also received trophies in both the technical innovation and packaging excellence categories for the Rapak EvacuFilm Bag-in-Box.

Alliance, a division of Rock-Tenn Co., Norcross, Ga., has acquired Decision Point Marketing Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C., a full-service marketing and merchandising company serving the consumer products industry. The purchase also includes Cold-Sell Ò Systems, and 10 former employees of Decision Point Marketing have joined the Alliance team.

PEOPLE Stuart Watson has been appointed technical sales manager for D.D. Williamson’s U.S. subsidiary in Louisville, Ky. Watson is originally from Auckland, New Zealand, where he began his flavor career. Parrish Stapleton was named worldwide sales manager of Fluid Packaging Solutions LLC, Alpharetta, Ga. Stapleton was the former vice president of marketing and sales for Dixie Canner Co., Athens, Ga. Greg Crnkovich has joined The Austin Co.’s food and beverage group as director of planning, food and beverage facilities. Ed Orick was recently named director of marketing at Douglas Machine Inc., Alexandria, Minn. He was formerly the company’s global director for beverage and the national account manager for beverage. Jeff Adams has joined as general manager, and Kyle Thomas has been named marketing manager of Hi-Speed Checkweigher Co. Inc., Ithica, N.Y. Adams is responsible for providing the strategic and operational leadership for the company’s business in the same regions. Thomas will be responsible for marketing programs that build awareness for the company's checkweighers, robotic case packers and material handling systems in North America and Latin America. James Dahlke was recently appointed president at Fogg Filler Co., Holland, Mich. Dahlke was most recently vice president, group executive for the pump products group of IDEX Corp., a fluid handling technologies company.