What is the EEC symbol?

The “e” is a so-called EEC symbol. EEC stands for European Economic Community. It indicates that the manufacturer has packaged the product in accordance with the EU Prepackaging Regulation. Among other things, the regulation governs filling quantity labeling.
Products that are filled or weighed have a so-called nominal filling quantity, which must also be indicated on the packaging. It is the net filling quantity and must be adhered to. For example, a coffee package that states 500 grams as the quantity should also contain 500 grams of coffee.
With the EEC mark e on the packaging, the manufacturer now assures that the information is also correct and that he complies with the specifications of the prepackaging regulation with regard to the filling quantity. At the same time, the authorities carry out random checks.

The EEC mark is optional, but may only be displayed on packages with a nominal quantity of 5 grams or milliliters to 10 kilograms or liters. Where exactly the mark is to be affixed is prescribed by the Prepackaging Ordinance: within sight of the nominal weight or nominal volume. However, this is often printed several times, in different places. The ordinance does not regulate whether in such cases the “e” must then be placed after each filling quantity indication. The regulation also specifies the minimum height of the EEC symbol “e”. This is three millimeters for food packaging, for example. The affixing of marks that could be confused with the EEC mark “e” is prohibited.

In which situations is the EEC symbol relevant?
The EEC mark plays a role primarily for cross-border trade in the EU, less so for the individual consumer. Packaging marked with an “e” is only inspected by the responsible authorities in the respective country of manufacture. For the importing countries, the EEC mark “e” on the packaging represents the confirmation that all legal requirements regarding filling quantity and labeling have been met. Separate controls are not provided for. Exceptions to the control are only made if a consumer complains. In this case, the authorities in the importing country check whether the complaint is justified or whether the legal requirements have been met.

In the case of goods without an EEC mark, it is quite possible that EU member states will reject them. If a product nevertheless enters the European market without an e-mark, the dealer in the respective country of sale is responsible for ensuring that everything is correct. This means that in case of doubt, he must check and measure whether all legal requirements have been met.

Do you have questions about the topic of marking? The labeling specialist Weber Marking Systems will be happy to answer them.

The need: to give the machine operator enough time to inspect down stream operations and refill the hotmelt station.
The solution: An extended bag magazine that holds 3X the number of bags and gives the operator 15 minutes to carry out other tasks before needing to replenish it.

The solution can be retrofitted to all existing FA 217 lines and is part of an upgrade package that we can offer. Enquire today and learn what options are there for you.

Supporting the sector we find Food & Beverage, Pharmaceutical, Home & Personal Care. Even the Italian manufacturers recorded a decline of 6.8% on the domestic market with a turnover of 1,574 million euros. Exports, which have always been our strong point, account for 6,065 million euros and lose 4.5% compared to 2019.

We report the comment of Matteo Gentili, president of Ucima, who confirms that the numbers are not surprising and reassuring, recalling how the sector of packaging technologies represents a strong and robust sector of our economy. “We expected this slowdown but our sector remains strong and looks to the future with confidence. The Covid emergency did not catch us unprepared: on the contrary, we have shown our strength even in difficulties. Thanks to our 4.0 technologies, which allow remote control of plants, testing and remote assistance, we have always remained close to our customers all over the world. In 2021 we plan to return to growth, but we need caution. We are aware that our competitors are very fierce and that, due to the pandemic, uncertainty in many markets still reigns supreme ”.

In this regard, the start of the National Transition Plan 4.0 will prove decisive, with an investment of approximately 24 billion euros by the Italian government to finance companies that invest in new technologies.

Mentone, Australia, 28 October 2020 – SATO, a global pioneer in the development of auto-ID and labelling solutions today announced that Officeworks, Australia’s home for office supplies, furniture, technology and student supplies, has implemented SATO’s CL4NX and CT4-LX PDF Direct Print solution at its distribution centres and retail stores.

Established in 1995, Officeworks operates 167 stores nationwide, a website with more than 40,000 products, a national call centre and a business team that helps micro, small and medium-sized businesses start, run and grow.

Every day, Officeworks’ distribution centres and retail stores are required to process order data generated from their SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to create and print labels for click-and-collect and customer delivery. In order to enhance efficiency and cater to increasing customer demands, Officeworks sought to simplify this tedious and time-consuming process with help from SATO.

Using a consultative approach, SATO Australia worked closely with Officeworks to understand its current processes and challenges to propose a tailored solution. In moving on to deliver the solution, different SATO teams also made extra efforts to expedite the development of the PDF Direct Print function for CT4-LX, CL4NX and CL4NX Plus, SATO’s latest next-generation desktop and industrial printer models.

After months of dedication to providing a solution that improves key operations, the solution is now fully rolled out with more than 100 SATO industrial and desktop printers equipped with SATO software deployed at Officeworks’ distribution centres and retail stores. Using this solution, Officeworks can now send PDF-based data directly from its SAP ERP system to label printers and print without the need of additional middleware.

This PC-less operation significantly reduces cost, space and manpower required to manage and maintain PCs and peripheral devices. In addition, Officeworks also enjoys productivity gains from a leaner printing process that allows customer orders to be handled more efficiently.

“SATO’s PDF Direct Print solution has enabled Officeworks to significantly speed up our labels design and development, providing us with the agility and speed to respond to evolving business needs in a reliable way and for a lower cost,” said Mark Scira, Officeworks’ IT Manager Corporate.

“We are very thankful for the opportunity to work with Officeworks and help them streamline their label printing processes to accelerate order fulfilment. It has been a great collaboration between the two teams and we look forward to the continued partnership with Officeworks to further enhance their operations,” commented Chris Powell, Managing Director of SATO Australia Pty. Ltd.

About Officeworks

Established 26 years ago in Richmond, Victoria, Officeworks is committed to making bigger things happen for its customers, team, the community and stakeholders. It operates 167 stores across Australia, a website that is home to more than 40,000 products, a national call centre, and a business team that helps micro, small and medium-sized businesses start, run and grow. Officeworks offers customers a wide range of office supplies, technology, furniture, art supplies, education resources and helpful services like print & copy and on-site and remote tech support through Geeks2U – delivering an experience that is easy and engaging, no matter how customers choose to shop. Officeworks is focused on the safety, wellbeing and career progression of the more than 8,000 team members it employs. It’s also dedicated to operating in a sustainable manner, including building and maintaining meaningful connections with the communities in which it operates, fundraising for its national partners and local community groups, continuing to reduce its impact on the environment and source responsibly.

About SATO

SATO (TOKYO:6287) is a global auto-ID solutions provider for leading manufacturing, logistics, retail, food & beverage, health care companies. With a bottom-up understanding of on-site use applications, SATO tags items with identifiers to improve supply chain flows of tomorrow by solving managerial and operational challenges of today. An industry pioneer with 80 years of expertise and a 5,400+ strong global workforce in 27 countries, SATO engineers solutions to streamline operations, boost accuracy, support sustainability initiatives, provide assurance and emotional connections, extending value all the way to the consumer. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, it reported revenues of JPY 116,372 million (USD 1.07 billion*). More information about SATO can be found at www.sato-global.com, linkedin and twitter.

*Based on an average exchange rate of 1 US Dollar = 108.69 Japan Yen

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For media inquiries:

Misha Tan

SATO Global Business Services

misha.tan@sato-global.com

Tel: +65 6370 0278

Emma Rowland

Officeworks Corporate PR Manager

ERowland@Officeworks.com.au

M: +61417 679 662

Located in Ala in the province of Trento, Transcend’s 5,000 sqm Italian facility will have a production capacity of two billion straws per year (almost 40 million per week) and will be operated in partnership with ICIS Group, a producer of printed cartons and multipack clusters.

Transcend straws are manufactured using FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paper and meet the high EU standards for direct contact with food and drink.

“With Brexit approaching, we want to reassure our partners of the strength of our supply chain across Europe. The part of Italy we’re expanding to offers easy access to Northern Europe, specifically Germany and Austria,” said Lorenzo Angelucci, CEO of Transcend Packaging.

Transcend’s primary aim is to support customers in the transition towards sustainable paper straws in time for the new single-use plastics ban which will come into effect in July 2021.

We spoke with Mark de Boer (Technical Sales Manger) and Dino Boot (Sales Support Engineer), both working in Halfweg and responsible for the projects in the field of End-of-Line automation, and Milou Jansen (Marketing & Communication Manager). We asked them about the developments they see in the market and with which success formula Lan Handling is responding to this.

High variety of packaging
Mark de Boer: “We continue to innovate, because standing still in this sector equals going backwards. One of the developments we see is that our customers in the fruit and vegetable sector and supermarket suppliers increasingly have the desire to be able to handle a high variety of packaging (bags, nets, boxes, MAP trays) and these in or on various product carriers ( crate, box, pallet, dolly). Automation is becoming increasingly important in this. With a payback period of less than 2 years in many cases, where physical labor is replaced by a robotic solution, our End-of-Line automation leads to a more efficient process and a safer working environment. ”

Multifunctional machines, small footprint solutions
Lan Handling Technologies provides solutions that are often multi-deployable (for multiple product and crate sizes) and only require a small floor space. An example of this is the combined dolly / crate loader. Milou Jansen: “For example, a potato producer who has a contract with various retailers can provide each of them with a different product carrier without having to make a disproportionately high investment. When he wants to switch from crates to dollies, the system ensures that the robot arm automatically switches gripper. This makes the solution very interesting from a technical and operational point of view, because less movement on the shop floor is required, which increases the efficiency of the production environment.

Robot case packer for Heemskerk fresh & easy
Although Lan Handling Technologies relies on its portfolio with a proven standard, all solutions remain tailor-made. The entire engineering, assembly and development of electronics and software is in-house. Mark de Boer: “We are distinctive in the market in the field of robot integration. A good example in this area is our project at fruit and vegetable processor Heemskerk fresh & easy. They were looking for an automation solution for packaging 3 types of products, namely oval, square and hexagonal salad trays. Lan Handling Technologies developed a set of scale-specific grippers and a user-friendly exchange system for this packing process. Placing the salads is a very precise process, because these cardboard boxes ('display boxes') are smaller than a standard size box (600 x 400 mm) and also have overhanging top edges. We deliberately opt for a 6-axis robot arm instead of a delta / spider robot, because the former can perform more complex movements. And because we pre-form products in a smart way, we always achieve the desired speed. With this automation, Heemskerk can run 24/7, process more volume on a smaller footprint and better predict costs. ”

Switch between full and half crates at the touch of a button
In the fruit and vegetable market, the folding crate is very popular because of the considerable savings in transport and storage space. Dino Boot: “In addition, a fully automatic crate erector can generate enormous savings in labor costs and increase efficiency. Various European customers therefore consciously choose us. A crate erector from Lan Handling Technologies can process no less than 1,200 whole folding crates (600 x 400 mm) per hour. With half folding crates (300 x 200 mm) the speed is almost twice as fast. ” The crate erector can operate standalone or be integrated into a complete production line. In the latter case, Lan Handling Technologies automates, for example, the pallet handling towards the crate erector and then the transport of the empty, unfolded crates to case packers.

Remote AR Tool
Lan Handling Technologies recently expanded its services with a remote AR Tool. This has been widely used since the introduction of Covid-19. Due to travel restrictions, Lan Handling Technologies engineers also performed the initial installations and commissioning remotely. Via a simple link with a smartphone, the customer can, by using voice and screen pointers, quickly switch with a mechanic or engineer from Lan Handling Technologies. In the event of a malfunction, this reduces machine downtime and thus additional costs for the customer to a minimum.

The “50 Sustainability & Climate Leaders” initiative is a response from the international business community to take effective action in the fight against climate change. As the global population soars, more than ever before it’s becoming essential to ensure that food is not being mishandled or wasted. From production and shipping to storage, in order to feed the world, food supplies need to be treated with care. Protecting goods and preventing unnecessary food wastage is at the core of Schur Flexibles’ operations. Schur Flexibles Group specialises in made-to-measure, tailored packaging and protective packaging solutions. Throughout the production process, sustainability is a top priority.

“Our team has a strong willingness to shape the future of the organisation of the whole industry,” explains Schur Flexibles CEO Michael Schernthaner. “We at Schur Flexibles are the accelerator of change for a better world through protective packaging solutions. This means to consistently focus on ‘HOW we produce’. To us, protecting the packed goods is just as important as taking responsibility for the effects of our business on people – employees, consumers and partners along the entire value chain, as well as our environment.“

5R Strategy and Collaboration to drive sustainability
This is why Schur Flexibles follows the goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and partners with organisations like the Save Food initiative, which seeks to raise awareness of food waste, and start-up Recyda, whose database will provide access to European-wide information on recyclability of packaging material. The group’s 5R sustainability programme, with its focus on responsibility, follows an approach to Recycling, Replace, Reduction and Renewal along the group’s value chain.

Partnering with “Operation Clean Sweep”, Schur Flexibles is dedicated to eliminating plastic flakes, powders and granulates. As a voluntary scheme taken on by leaders of the plastic industry, Operation Clean Sweep ensures that the industry holds itself accountable for reducing carbon emissions and plastic waste materials. “As a group, we assume our common responsibility to avoid the release of our materials into the environment – this includes all our sites, not only the ones that handle granulates,” says Fiene Berger, Manager Corporate Responsibility, Schur Flexibles. In addition, Schur Flexibles has introduced its own regular internal audits, which help to both prove Schur Flexibles’ track record for responsible waste management and position the company as a global climate leader.

Digitisation leads the way to save resources
Working across Europe means working together with not only different companies, but different governments, laws, restrictions and regulations. This is one of the ways in which advanced and specialised software solutions come into play. Another valuable use of technology comes from the implementation of their digital maintenance programme, which makes the use of augmented reality technology to allow the company’s so called “flying doctors”, the company’s technical specialists, to help out with maintenance remotely. This tool is also used to support customers in implementing sustainable packaging alternatives.

This waste management scheme also includes the development of a site-specific recycling management system. The company's own solvent recovery plant is currently being expanded at one of the largest production sites. This will enable the company to absorb emissions from the printing process directly at the production site, clean them and convert them into reusable solvents on site.

Schur Flexibles Group is proudly committed to fighting against climate change and rallying the rest of the industry to join its efforts. For plastics to stay relevant in an age of increased environmental awareness, producers must prove to be sustainable and responsible; and Schur Flexibles is working hard to excel in this and to make sure that, much like its packaging, its climate policies are airtight.

The “50 Sustainability & Climate Leaders” programme presents a global documentation series in cooperation with TBD Media, features placed via international news agency Bloomberg and a summit in cooperation with the UN in 2021. All aiming to show concrete solutions of the business community to fight climate change. Find out more: https://www.50climateleaders.com/home/.

Wiener Neudorf, December 15th, 2020

About Schur Flexibles

Headquartered in Wiener Neudorf, Austria, Schur Flexibles Group specialises in innovative, high-quality and made-to-measure high-barrier packaging solutions for the food, tobacco and pharmaceutical industries. With its integrated chain of added value, from extrusion via print and laminating, to extensive bag and pouch making, the Group, which was founded in 2012, currently generates sales of around EUR 520m, making it one of the top European companies in the industry. Schur Flexibles employs around 1,900 employees and is made up of 22 production plants in Western and Eastern Europe, all of them highly specialised and each of them enjoying technology-leadership status in their own fields. This center-of-excellence concept and its holistic sustainable approach makes the group an attractive and expert partner for client companies in selected industries.

Media contact:
Schur Flexibles Holding GesmbH
Romy Sagmeister, Head of Group Communications
T +43 2252 266014 39 · M +43 676 841205 239
E romy.sagmeister@schurflexibles.com;

www.schurflexibles.com