Douglas Machine Inc. has received a patent for its Smartrak Steady Stream Infeed, which is used on its Axiom Servo Case/Tray Packers and Contour Shrink-Wrap Systems.  The Smartrak’s distinguishing features include solid adjustment cross members, rigid lane guides and cam style adjustment clamps for stable operation and quick changeovers. The company will exhibit this and more of its newest case packing, shrink-wrapping and sleeving technologies at Pack Expo International in Chicago. — Douglas Machine Inc., 3404 Iowa Street, Alexandria, Minn. 56308; 320/763-6587; www.douglas-machine.com.

Hitachi America, Tarrytown, N.Y., announces the enhancement of its PXR Series of small character inkjet printers. The series has been redesigned to meet the European restriction on hazardous substances directive, which prohibits electrical devices from containing dangerous metals. The new PXR Series has increased brightness, contrast and viewing angle on its large color LCD touch panel screen. The company also announced its intelligent sensorless vector control technology also received the Award for Excellence in Technology from Frost & Sullivan. — Hitachi America Ltd., Power and Industrial Division, 50 Prospect Ave., Tarrytown, N.Y. 10591; 914/524-6645; www.hitachi.us/ijp.

MeadWestvaco launches its new Pack Center, the industry’s first one-stop multiple packaging consulting, design, testing and fulfillment service. The new Pack Center will fast-track products to market by handling every aspect of the packaging process from carton design and printing to packing and shipping. — MeadWestvaco Packaging Systems, 1040 West Marietta Street, Atlanta, Ga. 30318; 404/897-6700; www.meadwestvaco.com.

Sato America has partnered with ThingMagic Inc. to provide to provide ThingMagic’s Mercury 4e readers on Sato RFID printers. The reader is designed to provide high powered, agile RFID capability to the Sato CL408e/CL412e and M8485Se printers. Sato printers offer high-speed data transmission, unparalleled processing speed and large amounts of one-board memory to quickly and easily print labels. — Sato America Inc., 10350A Nations Ford Road, Charlotte, N.C. 28273; 704/644-1650; www.satoamerica.com.

Wulftec International introduces a new approach to rotary ring wrapping: its revolutionary Wring-500 Automatic Rotary Ring Wrapper. It features high-speed wrapping for increased productivity, different wrap patterns for versatility, film saving one-way wrapping, banding and split wrap capabilities. It has a carbon fiber ring for lighter, more resistant response to speed change and radio frequency technology for reduced maintenance. — Wulftec International Inc., 209 Wulftec, Ayer’s Cliff, Quèbec, Canada, J0B 1C0; 877/985-3832; www.wulftec.com.

Thermo Electron Corp. introduces its new CrystalVision CO2 sensor, which is designed to measure CO2 concentrations in carbonated beverages. The CrystalVision sensor revolutionizes CO2 measurement with infrared energy and attenuated total reflectance to ensure accurate, real-time measurement. It can withstand clean in place cycles with continuous monitoring, which can save natural resources and reduce waste. The sensor installs into a standard Varinline access port and connects to a wall-mounted control display. — Thermo Electron Corp., 81 Wyman Street, Waltham, Mass. 02454; 800/227-8891; www.thermo.com/crystalvision.com.

Thompson Scale Co. releases the new 4693-R Heavy-Duty Checkweigher designed for industrial and institutional packaging applications. The Checkweigher has a production weight of up to 30 units per minute and a pneumatic reject ram to quickly, accurately reject all off-spec packages. The menu can hold 75 unique product recipes in memory and display useful information in both English and Spanish. — Thompson Scale Co., 2738 Bingle Road, Houston, Texas 77055; 713/932-9071; www.thompsonscale.com.

Smith Flow Control introduces new QL and GL mechanical valve interlocks to support ‘Permit to Work’ procedures. The valve interlocks ensure potentially hazardous valve operations are performed in the correct sequence, eliminating possibility of operator error. Both can be retrofitted into any size of ball, plug, gate, butterfly and globe valves. They are made from stainless steel and can be re-coded onsite if needed. — Smith Flow Control, 21 Kenton Lands Road, Erlanger, Ky. 41018; 859/578-2395; www.smithflowcontrol.com.

Schneider Electric released Osiprox Inductive Cylindrical Sensors by Telemecanique. The sensors were developed to exceed the demanding requirements of beverage processing. Osiprox sensors meet aggressive environment conditions including extreme temperatures, humidity and resistance to washdowns. — Schneider Electric, North American Operating Division, 1415 South Roselle Road, Palatine, Ill. 60067; 847/397-2600; www.us.schneider-electric.com.

Thomas & Betts introduces the Sta-Kon Heat-Shrink Terminal Kit complete with ring terminals, butt splices, ratchet crimp tool, wire stripper and butane torch. The contents are all that is needed to make fully sealed connections even in corrosive or high-moisture environments. The Sta-Kon Heat-Shrink Terminal kit includes multiple splices, studs and ring terminals that are all UL listed and CSA approved. — Thomas & Betts Corp., 8155 T&B Boulevard, Memphis, Tenn. 38125; 901/252-5000; www.tnb.com.

Kohler Power Systems expands its generator product line with a new Kohler 5-kilowatt Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) for the heavy-duty trucking industry. Available later this year, it will offer trucking fleets, OEMs and truck owner/operators the only air-cooled APU in the 5kW, side-rail mounted size. All Kohler APUs are designed to be small, light-weight and air-cooled with a direct-drive alternator. It also comes equipped with an advanced digital controller that allows the driver to start and stop the generator and adjust the heating and cooling from inside the cab. — Kohler Co., 444 Highland Drive, Kohler Wis. 53044; 800/544-2444; www.KohlerPowerSystems.com.

Standard-Knapp introduces its advanced Bottle Laner for balanced, jam-free packing lanes. Engineered for a variety of bottles, it is designed to distribute bottles into multiple lanes by a smart sensor that counts each bottle. It is powered by a servo drive and timing belt to ensure the lanes remain steadily supplied and balanced. The Bottle Laner can be integrated with a case packer and features a user-friendly touch-screen for easy changeover. The company will also exhibit its Pac-Assist soft placement module at Pack Expo in Chicago. — Standard Knapp Inc., 63 Pickering Street, Portland, Conn. 06480; 860/342-1100; www.standard-knapp.com.

A-B-C Packaging Machine Corp. announces its exclusive Model 156 decaser/single filer is now equipped with an Intelligent Control package. The package automatically monitors container flow and adjusts the de-casing speed to ensure a continuous fill rate, which optimizes line productivity. Operating at speeds up to 50 cases per minute, the machine functions as a flap opener/positioner, uncaser and container single filer. The Model 156 is built to run a variety of bottle or container styles in both glass or plastic. — A-B-C Packaging Machine Corp., 811 Live Oak Street, Tarpon Springs, Fla. 34689; 800/237-5975; www.abcpackaging.com.

Klüber Lubrication delivers the newest technology in synthetic, high-temperature gear oils for the beverage industry with its Klübersynth UH1 6 Series. The oils offer corrosion protection, high-temperature stability, aging and oxidation resistance and are USDA-H1 authorized. The series is suitable for lubrication of machine elements; bevel and spur gears; lifting, drive and transport chains; as well as worm gears with steel or bronze pairings. — Klüber Lubrication North America, 32 Industrial Drive, Londonderry, N.H. 03053; 603/647-4104; www.kluber.com.

Primera Technology introduces the new LX810 Color Label Printer for printing photos and barcodes on labels. The LX810 inkjet printer prints full-color, photo-quality images on labels with 4800 dpi. It can be used for short-run individual product, box-end labels or market testing. The printer also is equipped with print drivers for Windows and Macintosh in addition to label design software. — Primera Technology Inc., 2 Carlson Parkway North, Plymouth, Minn. 55447; 800/797-2772; www.primeralabel.com.

National Adhesives introduces a bundled solution for its Easy-Pac adhesive with the equipment and adhesive. The Easy-Pac bundled solution equipment includes applicator, dispensing unit, vacuum feeder and storage bin. The system also comes with a three-year warranty and free replacement for nozzles, modules and filters. — National Adhesives, a division of National Starch and Chemical, 1 Finderne Avenue, Bridgewater, N.J. 08807; 800/797-4992; www.nationalstarch.com.

Schneider Packaging Equipment Co. Inc. will unveil the Robox Vi, the latest in portable vision-guided robotic solutions for orienting and packing molded bottles at Pack Expo in Chicago. The new Robox Vi combines Schneider’s robotic case packing and palletizing system technology with the lastest in vision intelligence technology, which eliminates the need for product orientation before case packing. Its robotic arm can identify, pick up and orient bottles from a conveyer, arrange and pack the items into corrugated cases. — Schneider Packaging Equipment Co. Inc., P.O. Box 890, 5370 Guy Young Road, Brewerton, N.Y. 13029;  315/676-3035;www.schneiderequip.com.

Goff’s Enterprises Inc. offers a Draw-Tite powered roll-up door that is suitable for high positive or negative pressure areas and can withstand up to 70 mile-per-hour gusts of wind. The door comes standard with an in-tube style 100 volt motor to move the door at 6 inches per second with upgradeable external motors available. Draw-Tite doors have a responsive safety edge, are weather tight and resistant to weather-related damage such as mildew. Available sizes range from 8 feet by 8 feet to 14 feet. – Goff’s Enterprises Inc., 1228 Hickory Street, Pewaukee, Wis. 53072; 800/234-0337; www.goffscurtainwalls.com.

Steinfurth, specialists in customized quality control instruments, will present its automatic CO2-tester, torque tester TMS 5000 and pasteurization logger machines at InterBev in Las Vegas. The effective instruments are easy to operate and can be used in the laboratory or directly on the filling line. Steinfurth’s range of products for the beverage industry include CO2 measuring systems, devices for calibrating pressure and temperature, torque tester, logger for pressure, temperature and pasteurization, packaging testing devices, measuring systems for beer quality, laboratory carbonization systems and sampling devices. — Steinfurth Inc., 530 Means Street, Suite 120, Atlanta, GA 30318; 404/586-6817; www.steinfurthinstruments.com.