The facility is the company’s first corrugated plant in Morocco and is expected to be operational early next year.

Smurfit Kappa, a paper-based packaging company headquartered in Dublin, has announced the investment of more than 35 million euro ($37 million) in the construction of a new packaging plant in Morocco—the first corrugated plant in the country.

Construction on the nearly 27,000-square-foot facility, which will be located in the capital city of Rabat, began in late May, with operations expected to commence early next year.

“We are very proud to announce the construction of this advanced new facility, the first of its kind owned by the company in Morocco,” Smurfit Kappa Europe CEO Saverio Mayer says. “It will be located in an area with significant growth potential and create 300 direct and indirect jobs in the region.”

The company says the facility will create packaging for the industrial, agricultural, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), automotive, pharmaceutical and ceramics sectors, and serve both local customers and multinationals based in Morocco, adding that in a market where demand for corrugated packaging currently exceeds supply, the plant will “play an important and strategic role.”

“Our customers will also benefit from our fully integrated and circular business model, which will ensure a reliable supply of quality, value-adding and sustainable products,” Mayer adds.

Smurfit Kappa Spain CEO Ignacio Sevillano says the Moroccan facility also will incorporate a Smurfit Kappa Experience Centre—the 30th overall worldwide. The company uses the centers to allow customers to explore how paper and packaging can meet their business needs, learn from behavioral insights, analyze supply-chain trends and observe paper and packaging design tools.

“[This] will foster enhanced collaboration with our customers and provide creative ideas and insights,” Sevillano adds.

Edwin Goffard, chief operating officer of corrugated and converting of Smurfit Kappa Europe, adds, “This new plant is being built at the right time and in the right place. High demand for corrugated is ongoing, and customers want to know that their products are being transported and presented in the most efficient and sustainable way.”

He continues, “We use the huge wealth of data gained from working with over 65,000 customers worldwide to identify the best solution for the task at hand.”

In January, Smurfit Kappa also announced a $33 million investment to expand the capacity of its plant in Fortaleza, Brazil, citing the “growing demand for more innovative and sustainable packaging.”

The expansion included the installation of a new corrugator, several high-end printers and an innovation center to foster customer collaboration and “enhance the development of impactful, sustainable and market-leading packaging solutions.”

Included are two protocols that assess the compatibility of film packaging with current recycling infrastructure.

The Association of Plastic Recyclers, Washington, has published two testing protocols that will determine whether film packaging is compatible with the current recycling infrastructure and an additional document detailing polyethylene (PE) film standard practices.

The two protocols, the PE film critical guidance test protocol and the metal sortation potential test protocol, will measure the capability of innovative film packaging to be sorted and recycled into new thin film applications.

The PE film standard processing lab practices document will detail the steps recommended by the APR to prepare PE film and flexible products for use in protocols that evaluate the compatibility of the materials with commercial PE film recycling processes.

"PE film and flexible packaging is a fast-growing segment for consumer brands," says Sandi Childs, director of films and flexible packaging for the APR. "The ability to measure compatibility with recycling is vital to keeping a clean stream of materials flowing to recyclers from retail store drop-off bins."

To achieve APR critical guidance recognition, a part of the APR design recognition program featuring new technologies or package components that solve problems in sustainable package design, companies must first successfully complete the protocol with a third party testing laboratory, and then present the results to APR for formal review and approval according to the association. After receiving approval from APR, companies are eligible to market their innovation as formally recognized by APR and compatible with current recycling infrastructure.

See how CP Group assisted Iowa's Metro Waste Authority in providing sustainable future for Des Moines.

The new MRF processes 25 tons per hour of single-stream recycling from more than 100,000 residents in the Des Moines metro area.

To create a successful operation, MWA emphasized advanced technology, a commitment to education and strong industry partnerships.

CP Group was selected to provide the innovative sorting system: one that would capture more material, reduce contamination and provide safe working conditions.

MWA’s new, innovative system follows the design CP Group’s design principles for the successful recovery of commodities with lower operating costs.

CP has pioneered their newest machine, the Auger Screen, in a single-stream environment to eliminate presorting. This means MWA’s process requires no traditional presort.

This nonwrapping machine fractionates material, increasing sorter safety by removing small fraction, including contamination like needles and sharps.

MWA is the first residential facility with patented nonround augers, which agitate material and create clean OCC product, omitting the need for an OCC screen.

The overs of the OCC auger screen go to a combined postsort/OCC QC. This eliminates the need for multiple sorters and sort stations.

The unders of the 6” primary auger screen go to a glass breaker, which removes the fines. These discs are specialized, long-lasting cast-chromium steel discs.

This air drum separator for glass processing is very low maintenance and uses air to remove contaminants from glass.

By agitating materials with high amplitude disc screens, glass and dirt fines are liberated from the commodities and captured by the third cut on the CP Screen.

The unders fraction from the OCC auger screen go to a glass breaker deck to remove any fines, then go directly to a MSS Fibermax.

These high-volume optical sorters have belt speeds processing at 1,000 feet per minute with the capability of more than 1,000 picks per minute, the fastest in the industry.

Optical sorting separates and recovers polyethylene terephthalate, high-density polyethylene and mixed plastics with minimal manual sorting.

This system emphasizes low maintenance, utilizing nonwrapping cantilevered auger screens and antiwrapping disc screens to fractionate/liberate material and high-capacity optics to make yes or no decisions.

The system is performing exceptionally well, reducing contamination early in the sorting process, allowing MWA to produce great output for material sales.

The education center features an exhibit space that includes kiosks, infographics and a hands-on sorting activity where visitors of all ages can learn about recycling.

The center also boasts a vibrant mural designed by a local artist, an observation deck above the sorting floor and multipurpose space for community meetings.

The tip floor spans 27,600 square feet and is completely enclosed to prevent blowing litter and protect the material from rain and snow.

“This facility will improve recycling and benefit metro communities throughout the state for years to come,” says MWA Executive Director Michael McCoy.

6795 Calle de Linea, San Diego, CA 92154

From retail to health and safety, computer vision will play a larger role in business efficiency.

Computer vision is one of the most exciting applications of artificial intelligence. Algorithms that can understand images—both still pictures and moving video—are a key technological foundation behind various innovations from autonomous, self-driving vehicles to smart industrial machinery and the filters on mobile phones that make the pictures uploaded to Instagram look pretty. 

Along with language processing abilities, called natural language processing (NLP), it’s fundamental to AMCS’ efforts to build machines that are capable of understanding and learning about the world. It generally involves applications powered by deep learning and neural networks trained on thousands, millions or billions of images until they become experts at classifying what they can see. 

The value of the market in computer vision technology is predicted to hit $48 billion by the end of 2022 and is likely to be a source of ongoing innovation and breakthroughs throughout the year. So, let’s take a look at some of the key trends involving this fascinating technology. 

Data-centric artificial intelligence (AI) is based on the idea that equal focus should be given to the quality of data used to train algorithms as is given to developing the models and algorithms themselves. Championed by Andrew Ng, a renowned pioneer of deep learning, this newly emerging paradigm is relevant across AI disciplines, particularly in the field of computer vision. 

Some of the first deep learning-based image recognition models were developed by Ng at Google for the purpose of training computers to recognize pictures of cats, and the models are particularly dependent on the quality of the data they are fed, rather than just the quantity. 

This focus on iteratively improving the quality of labeling and using automated techniques of extracting and labeling data will enable developers to apply computer vision technology to problems where far less data is available, potentially lowering costs and opening new potential use cases. 

A key use case for computer vision is spotting dangers and raising alarms when something goes wrong. Methods have been developed for allowing computers to detect unsafe behavior on construction sites, such as workers without hard hats or safety harnesses, and monitor environments where heavy machinery, such as forklift trucks, are working in proximity to humans, enabling vehicles to be automatically shut down if someone steps into their path. About 2.7 million injuries are caused due to workplace accidents every year, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is an area where businesses are increasingly investing to reduce the human and financial costs caused by oversight or inattentiveness. 

Of course, preventing the spread of illness caused by viruses also is an important cause these days, and computer vision technologies are increasingly being deployed to monitor compliance with social distancing requirements and mask mandates. 

Computer vision algorithms also have been developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to assist with diagnosing infection by looking at chest X-ray images for evidence of infection and damage to the lungs. 

Shopping and retail are other aspects of life where we are sure to notice the increasing prevalence of computer vision technology during 2022. Amazon has pioneered the concept of cashier-less stores with its Go grocery stores, which are equipped with cameras that recognize which items customers are taking from the shelves. More branches will open throughout 2022, and other retailers will jump on the bandwagon, including Tesco, which will open the United Kingdom's first checkout-free supermarket. 

In addition to relieving humans of the responsibility of scanning purchases, computer vision has several other uses in retail, including inventory management where cameras are used to check stock levels on shelves and in warehouses and automatically order more inventory when necessary. It's also been used to monitor and understand the movement patterns of customers around stores to optimize the positioning of goods and in security systems to deter shoplifters. 

Another increasingly popular use allows customers to get information on products by scanning barcodes using their mobile phones. In fashion retail, one application of computer vision is the “virtual fitting room,” which enables shoppers to try on items without touching them. Cameras in the mirror superimpose images of the clothing on the mirror’s reflection and can identify products customers are trying on and suggest matching accessories to go with them. 

Computer vision is an integral element of the connected systems in modern cars. Although our first thoughts might be of the upcoming autonomous vehicles, it has several other uses in the existing range of connected cars that already are on the roads. Systems have been developed that use cameras to track facial expressions to look for warning signs that we may be getting tired and risking falling asleep at the wheel. Since fatigue is said to be a factor in up to 25 percent of fatal and serious car crashes, it’s clear that measures like this could easily save lives. 

This technology already is in use in commercial vehicles such as freight trucks, and in 2022 we could see it start to make its way into personal cars, too. Other proposed uses for computer vision in cars that could make it from drawing board to reality include monitoring whether seatbelts are being worn and even whether passengers are leaving keys and phones behind as they leave taxis and ride-sharing vehicles. 

Of course, computer vision will play a big part in self-driving vehicles, too. Current thinking is that it will be the most important onboard element of autonomous navigation. Tesla announced this year that its cars will rely primarily on computer vision rather than lidar and radar, which use laser and radio waves, respectively, to build a model of the car’s environment. 

Edge computing describes systems where computation is carried out as close as possible to the data source. It’s a term used in contrast to the paradigm of cloud computing where data is collected via sensors and sent to centralized servers for storage and processing. In the domain of computer vision, it is an increasingly useful concept, as computer vision systems often do jobs where action needs to be taken immediately and there isn't time for data to be sent to the cloud. 

Edge computing in relation to computer vision has important implications for security, an important factor to consider as businesses face tighter scrutiny and regulation over the way video data is captured and used. With edge devices like computer vision-equipped security cameras, data can be analyzed on the fly and discarded if there is no reason for it to be kept, for example, if no suspicious activity is detected. 

Bernard Marr is a technology consultant and contributing writer for AMCS and will be a guest speaker for the AMCS Inspire Series Executive webinar "How to unlock the advantage of AI to transform your organization with automation and actionable insights" June 14. Register to join the webinar:  http://ow.ly/ZM6J50JlPR7 .

Suppliers Partnership for the Environment’s updated guidance includes information on the recyclability of 35 different packaging material types and designs used in the automotive industry.

The Washington-based Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP), an association of global automakers and their suppliers working to advance environmental sustainability through the automotive supply chain, has published an updated guidance document, “Sustainable Packaging Specification Recommendations for Automotive Manufacturing Operations.”

According to a news release from SP, the document provides straightforward industry-supported guidance to help automakers and their suppliers source sustainable packaging designs for use in automotive manufacturing operations based on best practices that have been implemented by industry environmental sustainability leaders. The document can be downloaded for free here. 

Building on an earlier sustainable packaging guidance published by SP in 2020, this new document was produced through a collaborative process by SP’s Sustainable Materials Work Group Sustainable Packaging Sub-Team. Members of the work group include automotive original equipment manufacturers such as Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., Honda Development & Manufacturing America, Stellantis, Toyota Motor North America and their suppliers. The process to review and update the guidance was co-chaired by Magna International and Toyota Motor North America.

“Toyota is working to reduce the use of packaging and wrapping materials in our operations as we work toward our long-term goal to support a recycling-based society, and we expect our suppliers to undertake similar activities,” says Matt Marshall, a supply chain sustainability consultant at Plano, Texas-based Toyota Motor North America. “Through this collaborative project, we are working to provide tools and resources to help the industry in its drive to minimize automotive packaging waste and continually improve sustainability.”

The latest version of the guidance document includes information on the recyclability of 35 different packaging material types and designs commonly used in the automotive industry in the United States. The guidance also provides new information on common packaging attachment methods that can be detrimental to recycling as well as information on alternative designs that have viable outlets for recycling in key automotive regions. SP says this information is intended to support consideration of opportunities to minimize automotive packaging waste and address barriers to recyclability in the design phase where possible.

“When considering materials to create a packaging design it is important to think about not only the quality and performance but also the sustainability and recyclability of those material choices,” says Bridget Grewal, director of packaging continuous improvement at Ontario-based Magna International. “We brought in packaging and sustainability experts from across the value chain and developed a list of common packaging designs that can create a challenge for recycling as well as a list of alternative designs that tend to be more viably recyclable. We rely on our packaging engineers to design packaging that minimizes environmental impacts, and these new guidelines are a strong step forward in providing consistent information to help the industry source more sustainable packaging.”

The SP Sustainable Materials Work Group is recommending that the sustainable packaging strategies outlined in the guidance document be entered into automotive companies’ product sourcing considerations, where appropriate, and distributed widely across the automotive supply chain as best practice guidance.

Representatives from across the automotive value chain provide their input and review in the document, including companies such as Action Wood 360, AI Trading, Arplank Direct, Avangard Innovative, Denso Corp., Doug Brown Packaging Products, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., Green Processing Co., Honda Development & Manufacturing America, JSP, Lear Corp, Magna International, Mustang Innovation, Primex Design & Fabrication, Real Quality Services, Stellantis, Toyota Motor North America, Toyota Tsusho America and UGN.

“This was an outstanding collaborative effort bringing together automakers, tiered suppliers, packaging vendors and recyclers to work toward a shared goal of minimizing packaging waste,” says Kellen Mahoney, director at SP. “Going forward, SP intends to build on learnings from this process to promote further alignment on sustainable packaging practices across the automotive supply chain and pursue targeted opportunities to further improve packaging sustainability in support of industry sustainability goals.”