Liberty Intercept Blog

Most people appreciate a well-tested recipe. For that reason, I'm happy to share the recipe depicted at left, which was submitted to Southern Living Magazine by a Texan named Kathryn Watkins in 1984, and tested to be delectable by me and my dinner guests many times over. It would be a rich and delicious addition to your Thanksgiving (or regular day) table.

We've discussed here before the notion that manufacturers and distributors of packaging take a beating in the press, particularly from those who (rightfully) would have us be "greener" or more "eco-friendly". The fact is, the packaging industry makes changes to implement a more environmentally friendly focus daily. New materials, processes, waste elimination, recycling and upcycling capabilities and more are always in progress, coming to a grocery or factory shelf near you. More discussion is given in the mainstream press about retail packaging, however, the same eco-friendly mindset is being established within all industries, not just those to which the consumer has direct access.

I had the opportunity in the last few weeks to visit some factory floors. It is always thrilling for a curious man to view and hopefully participate in how things are made; the tools and equipment used, the noise of machine activity, laborers exerting, monitoring, being creative, deriving solutions, being productive; good old work fun. Because of the unique heavy duty barrier packaging we represent, Liberty Packaging has the opportunity to work with people at companies pursuing changes that help them become more environmentally safe while gaining cost savings. We help them by reviewing their processes to see if we can help things work better, easier, more efficiently. In my recent visits, these factory floors were busy and vibrant; very satisfying.

We think the invention of the Intercept Technology packaging product line makes for a pretty nifty story. Like so many inventions, Intercept packaging materials came from a project that was started to solve a problem otherwise unrelated to its current use, which is to eliminate the challenges of rust, corrosion, and ESD on metals and electronics.

Within the business journals I read most days (chiefly, Industrial News and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce), all in the business community seem to agree that the recent Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Columbia, and Panama will be a boon for the United States’ economy. This enthusiasm is easily recognized when industry-leading businesses seem genuinely excited about this news. Here are some past quotes from prominent U.S. industry CEOs:

A recent article in Packaging News prompted me to consider our role in the packaging industry as innovators and promoters of more efficient materials and processes. Rather than consider ourselves the victims of "wrap ragers" or "packaging bashers", we in the industry must be arbiters of change.

I read an article in Packaging News this week admonishing people within the packaging industry (specifically food packaging, but it could apply to all) to stop playing the victim. That phrasing took me by surprise briefly, but I understand. Packaging, particularly in the retail realm, is often thought of as wasteful and unnecessary. According to this article, at the Ardagh Group’s sustainable packaging event in Paris, Professor Dr. Michael Braungart told Packaging News, "the packaging industry is saving more lives than any other industry, by protecting food and ensuring longer shelf-life for food." He went on to accuse the packaging industry of "guilt management", for example, "we were 100% bad and now we are 90% bad and our goal is to minimise our impact".

Liberty Packaging enjoys long-term affiliations with some first class innovative organizations. We've been involved with NDIA New England, IEEE, and ThomasNet (formerly Thomas Register) for many years, and more recently have joined forces with both SME and Women in Packaging.

We’re often asked: when considering Intercept Technology heavy duty flexible film barrier packaging for the storage and/or shipping of electronics, which product would be best?  Intercept barrier protection is currently used for all sorts of electronics such as complete equipment, circuit cards, printed wire boards, chassis and frames, even the most sensitive devices and chips.

Here are three Intercept materials that protect electronics:

Manufacturing companies seeking to save time by eliminating the application of protective oils to their products may want to consider heavy duty barrier packaging as a solution. Besides time savings, other benefits to this approach include cleaner products and cleaner more streamlined operations.