One of the pillars of Enercon's philosophy is to help educate the industries we serve. Our efforts take a wide array of formats. It could be presentations at conferences or tradeshows; we've also got a great library of public webinars that we've hosted.

Additionally, we've customized presentations and content for customers and partners alike. Traditionally we've presented at your facility - and we love to do these! The face to face contact with our induction cap sealing customers and partners builds strong relationships.

Last week we created a targeted presentation to a customer who was rolling out systems across a number of plants spread across the country. Getting everyone in one place wasn't going to be quite as easy. So we leveraged our webinar technology and hosted a private webinar targeted to their specific needs. The response was outstanding.

If you'd like to see us tailor an educational event on Enercon cap sealers and the process, contact me and we'll determine which format will best fit!

After an extremely vibrant ExpoPack Guadalajara, we're excited about ExpoPack in Mexico City coming up next month - June 18-21. Enercon, along with our partner Grupo Rasch, will be in booth 1604 featuring our innovative Super Seal Touch and versatile Super Seal Jr models.

Stop by to see our Latin American road warrior Gerry Makovec and learn what new features the Super Seal Touch offers!

Each week we get a phone call or email from a packager who inherited an Enercon induction cap sealing system. We're fortunate to have systems that can last upwards of 20 years, so there are quite a few Enercon's working on packaging lines around the world.

Whether the system is 20 years old or 2 months old, we can typically tell you a lot about the system from the serial number on the side or back of the cap sealer. We can give you insight on the system's original configuration - what it was setup to seal. If it's a manual you need, you'll likely have one in your inbox within 5 minutes of talking with us!

Maybe the system isn't quite right for your application or there is a problem with the sealer; we'll give you the good news (or bad news if we have to) and get you up and running quickly.

If you've got a system you're curious about drop us a note or give us a ring at +1-262-255-6070.

One of the key variables in the induction cap sealing process is torque. As it relates to induction sealing, torque stands to be the topic your packaging team needs to understand most. There are two types of torque your team should know about - application torque & removal torque.

We get questions about application torque every day. The questions we don't seem to get quite as often pertain to removal torque. That changed this week when, a curious packager asked the question ... what should my removal torque be after sealing?

The answer isn't necessarily difficult, but you're really going to want to look at a couple of items. The first piece  is the immediate removal torque. We talked a bit about this in our latest webinar - immediate removal torque refers to the removal torque measured after letting the bottle relax for one minute after capping but prior to sealing. The removal torque you'll measure, as referenced in this chart from our friends at TricorBraun, should be about 50% of the application torque.

So, if you've got a 38mm closure that you've applied 18 in-lbs of torque to, your immediate removal torque will be approximately 9 in-lbs.

When you add induction sealing to the mix, you'll likely be a bit lower than what the immediate removal torque is. I say a bit lower because the actual amount will vary based on the specific heat induction seal material used.

Let's talk about this a bit more. Any time you heat an induction seal you are shrinking the overall height of the liner. The heat seal layer will compress as it begins to flow & adhere to the land area of the container. Secondly, if you are using a two-piece liner with a wax release layer this layer of wax is absorbed into the pulp board secondary liner, again creating a shrinkage in the overall height of the liner.

Knowing all this you will want to take a representative sample of your packages and measure the immediate removal torque from all heads of your capper. This will verify you have consistent application torque being applied by any and all heads of your capper.

Additionally, you'll want to measure the removal torque after induction sealing. If you have consistency in your process leading up to the sealer, you will see consistent removal torques exiting the sealer.

If the removal torque after sealing ends up being lower than what you package requires, you may choose to add a re-torquer into your line. Where we see this most often today is with child resistant closures (CRC). You may need to apply some additional torque to the closure after sealing to ensure you meet the required torque to activated the child resistant feature of these closures.

That's a long answer to a short question. The key to most aspects of the induction sealing process is consistency. Removal torque is no different - if you can apply torque consistently, you'll see consistency after sealing as well. 

As my friend and mentor Bill Zito retired a couple years back we established the Bill Zito Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded every two years in conjunction with Pack Expo International. We sweeten the pot at the show in Chicago with every badge our team scans.

This year's winner hails from the University of Wisconsin - Stout. Jennifer Leigl is a student in packaging currently gaining valuable experience studying in Germany. We had a great pool of candidates again this year and Jennifer stood out from the crowd. Congrats Jennifer!