Category: Technology

  • Pakistan Court Cancels Track-And-Trace Contract

    Pakistan Court Cancels Track-And-Trace Contract

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    A court in Pakistan canceled a multi-million dollar track-and-trace contract for tobacco products after complaints that the company awarded the contract was given undue preferential treatment.

    The National Radio and Telecommunication Corp. (NRTC) was awarded the contract after submitting a very low bid. The bid was apparently in error, and the NRTC was allowed to correct the bid before the contract was awarded. According to the rules, the contract should have been awarded to the next lowest bidder following the error.

    “If modifications in financial bids are allowed after the results of the bidding were made known … it would afford a pretext for unscrupulous bidders to prey on the public,” the judge stated in his decision.

  • Trade Commission to Probe Altria and Philip Morris

    Trade Commission to Probe Altria and Philip Morris

    The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will investigate Altria and Philip Morris after a complaint was filed by R.J. Reynolds. The ITC will look into certain tobacco heating elements and components.

    The ITC has not made a decision on the case but has said it will make its “final determination … at the earliest practicable time.”

  • Cannabis Technology House Launches HNB Device

    Cannabis Technology House Launches HNB Device

    Image: Cannabis Technology House

    Cannabis Technology House (CTH) is launching QUB, a heat-not-burn product that can contains cannabis flower or tobacco leaf.

    According to Greg Kunin, CTH’s co-founder and chief product officer, the product does not have to be cleaned because the heater is replaced with each new consumable.

    The difference between QUB and other vape pens is that the user consumes a product that is pre-packaged dry material in a cube-shaped piece. Most vape pens come as a reusable hardware device, but the consumer typically adds an oil cartridge to one end or it comes prepackaged with an oil cartridge. The result is that the consumer inhales an oil that is extracted from the original dry material.

    While QUB was originally conceived as mostly a cannabis product, the crossover between tobacco and cannabis provides consumers flexibility. Cigarette smokers could use their QUB device for both tobacco and cannabis.

    CTH was created by former Altria employees who worked with an Israeli R&D group that patented this concept.

    The company has received $1 million from private investors to further develop QUB.

     

  • Cerulean Presents X-Ray Measurement Technology

    Cerulean Presents X-Ray Measurement Technology

    Cerulean has introduced into its Quantum Neo physical test station a shelf capable of routinely and rapidly X-ray imaging cigarettes and filters.

    The need arose from the limitations of current inspection methods when testing complex, combined products such as those used for tobacco-heating products. X-ray imaging allows visualization and accurate measurement of the size and position of hidden elements without damaging or destroying the product under test. Compliant with all U.K. radiological protection standards, the fully shielded system is suitable for the factory floor for automated routine product analysis.

    Beyond the obvious R&D application, adding the powerful X-ray tool to the Quantum Neo QA/QC stack enables the producer to speed product release to the market with confidence that the constructional features in his products are fully compliant to specification. The power of the tool can be applied to complex tobacco-heating products and conventional products. Location of flavor capsules radially and longitudinally is simple and not limited by the proximity of other capsules or features, such as carbon filters, a significant limitation of microwave systems.

    The Cerulean system utilizes a low-power X-ray source and a custom detector array. This arrangement (patent pending) produces a full rod image in less than six seconds. A suite of advanced software tools, automatically applied to the brand specification, measures hidden features’ length and size with an accuracy of up to 20 microns. Additionally, tube concentricity, capsule position and integrity as well as voids and defects can be detected and measured. Thick or metalized tipping paper does not present difficulties of measurement for the system.

    The straightforward software tools make this suitable for use by operators and technicians as well as laboratory scientists.

    This novel hardware configuration is both robust and competitively priced when compared with more conventional standalone systems such as CAT scanners.

    Integrating the X-ray shelf (designated “Q” by Cerulean) into the Quantum Neo test station provides a powerful analytical tool when coupled with more conventional measurements, such as PDV, size or weight measurements, with the added benefit of leveraging other Quantum Neo capabilities, such as autosampling from the mass flow or from a GD combiner for the ultimate in QA measurements.

    Orders for Quantum Neo containing the Q shelf can now be taken on standard lead times.

  • Smooth Move

    Smooth Move

    Photos: Hauni

    Hauni, ITM and Focke join forces to offer a new equipment relocation service.

    By Stefanie Rossel

    Claus Peters

    Moving to a new house can be an exhausting experience, but what if you must migrate a tobacco processing line in a factory or even an entire production area?

    With LinkUp Relocation, German original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Hauni, together with its business partners Focke & Co. and International Tobacco Machinery (ITM, which is part of Tembo Group), has introduced a comprehensive service program that takes care of all technical and logistic tasks during the relocation process.

    Customers can choose between several relocation packages ranging from a module that offers inspection of the production floors of the donating and the receiving factories, through dismantling, packaging and installation, to an all-inclusive solution that also includes a complete condition check of the equipment, transport to the new location and an inspection-based maintenance package inclusive of service. All modules can be booked for a single machine as well as for entire production lines.

    While relocation services have long been part of Hauni’s portfolio, the LinkUp program provides a new element: Relocation services now also cover machinery from ITM and Focke. Working with only one relocation partner, customers are hence spared complex procedures with multiple OEMs while the full service is carried out by all three OEMs, reducing project management costs and ensuring productivity at the target site, Hauni says.

    “As the tobacco industry has been experiencing a profound change recently and an increasing number of nicotine products with reduced health risk [have] entered the market, production requirements of our customers have changed accordingly,” explains Claus Peters, group manager of key accounts at Hauni. “A large part of the next-generation products (NGPs) are being manufactured on new, dedicated machinery. In order to make room for sufficient production area in a plant, large-scale equipment relocations are required. Usually, this does not mean single machines but complete production lines, which are called ‘link-ups’ or ‘complexes.’”

    Working with a single relocation partner reduces complexity and saves cost.

    Complementary expertise

    Typically, a link-up is a production unit consisting of several machine brands, which means that in case of a relocation, coordination efforts increase in proportion to the number of OEMs involved. To facilitate matters for customers and offer them an end-to-end solution, Hauni, Focke and ITM therefore teamed up. In this cooperation, Hauni has taken on the role of general contractor, according to Peters.

    The collaboration of competitors in certain fields of expertise is well known from other sectors, such as the aviation industry, for instance. Lufthansa and Air France, for example, are tough competitors in their core business of flying passengers, but that doesn’t prevent them from cooperating in technical areas.

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    Peters calls ITM a “market companion” but admits that there are technology overlaps between the companies in the machinery sector. “However, we jointly wanted to offer our customers added service value along the lines of ‘complementing competences.’”

    As all three manufacturers continue to offer their own relocation services, the added value for customers lies in the area of link-up relocations, according to Peters. “Here, the respective OEMs can advise with their expertise regarding the condition of the equipment to be migrated. During disassembly of the machines, they can make recommendations to increase efficiency or tackle maintenance backlogs, which is essential in order to achieve the scheduled production volume to cater to market needs at the machine’s new location.”

    Preserving value

    Some years ago, many leading tobacco manufacturers shifted production from declining cigarette markets to more promising locations, thereby requiring increased relocation services. While these moves have long been completed, Peters says that relocations as such remain a viable business.

    “We’re talking about extremely valuable production lines, many of which provide the backbone of production over several decades,” he says. “If the present trend is to focus on NGPs and to invest there, our joint service may help to increase the efficiency of existing machines at their new destination, thus leaving our customers more time to concentrate on new installations. Because of the dismantling, a machinery move is the perfect time for maintenance, obsolescence or technology upgrades.”

    The new program has been live since the beginning of 2019 and received unanimously positive feedback from customers, according to Peters. “The complete project management, starting from the procurement of adequate tools and mounting material to transport coordination and monitoring to setup and commissioning from a single source, has been perceived as very comfortable.”

    To describe the advantages, Peters makes an analogy with the construction of a house. “You can do everything yourself and coordinate all subsections inclusive of material delivery and rescheduling under adverse weather conditions. Or you buy a house turnkey, ready from a recognized provider at an agreed and guaranteed move-in date,” he says.

    “Of course, the area of equipment relocation is highly competitive with other service providers who have no OEM background and have built their expertise on trial and error. These suppliers appear to be very cheap at first glance, but you better add something for the risk they/you take. And if you do that and calculate this honestly, your better choice will be the turnkey OEM solutions.”

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  • BAT Sues PMI Over IQOS Technology

    BAT Sues PMI Over IQOS Technology

    Photo: Philip Morris International

    British American Tobacco (BAT) has sued Philip Morris International (PMI) in the United States and Germany for patent infringement, reports Reuters.

    The lawsuits focus on the heating blade technology used in PMI’s IQOS heat-not-burn device, which BAT claims is an earlier version of the technology currently being used in its Glo tobacco heating devices.

    BAT filed two patent infringement claims in the United States against Philip Morris, one through the International Trade Commission (ITC) and one in the Virginia federal court, seeking remedies for damages caused and an injunction on importing the product.

    “If we win we may be able to get an ITC exclusion order blocking the importation of IQOS into the U.S. by Philip Morris unless they agree to take a license to our patents,” BAT spokesman Will Hill told Reuters.

    PMI, which started selling IQOS in the United States last year, vowed it would vigorously defend itself against the legal actions.

  • Principal Engineer Leaves Juul

    Principal Engineer Leaves Juul

    Cole Hatton, who was Juul Lab’s principal engineer, left the company on Apr. 6.

    Hatton, who was one of the company’s first employees, was named on the patent for the Juul device as a co-inventor, along with the company’s co-founders, Adam Bowen and James Monsees.

    The personnel changes come amid structural changes at the company that began in December 2018 when tobacco giant Altria Group paid $12.8 billion for a third of the company.

  • Tax Stamp Group Recruiting to Fight Illicit Trade

    Tax Stamp Group Recruiting to Fight Illicit Trade

    The International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) is recruiting new members, including government authorities, universities, foundations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other associations, who can help fight the fraudulent trade of tobacco, alcohol and other products. 

    All prospective associate members must have a legitimate and established interest in tax/security stamps or secure track-and-trace systems. Associate membership is not open to individuals or to organizations that collaborate significantly with manufacturers, distributors or sellers of excisable products or with their subsidiaries and associates.

    “We want to increase our influence in the fight against the illicit trade of tobacco and other products by forging closer links with NGOs, research bodies, government authorities and other key bodies,” said Juan Carlos Yanez, chairman of the ITSA. “Tobacco fraud in particular leads to a rapid increase in poor health and costs revenue authorities millions of pounds in lost excise duty.”

  • Philter Labs Gets $1 Million in Vapor Filter Funding

    Philter Labs Gets $1 Million in Vapor Filter Funding

    Philter Labs, a San Diego-based technology company that produces micro-sized air filters to help reduce the impacts of secondhand smoke, announced it has received $1 million in new investments.

    The capital will be used for research and development, building out an extensive product roadmap, and launching what the company says will be first-of-its-kind personal filtration products, according to an article on Benzinga.com.

    This new round of funding brings Philter’s total to $3 million. Bravos Capital and Explorer Equity both participated in the effort.

    Philter Lab’s patented zero-5 technology utilizes a five step filtration process that manipulates smoke and vapor at the molecular level to dissipate up to 97 percent of emissions and dissolve harmful particulates and pollutants. Also unique to Philter is it’s pocket-sized design, allowing for ease of use and portability.

    For over 20 years, the team behind Philter has been working to solve major medical problems, and identify consumer-centric solutions for common issues. Philter also aims to help re-frame popular associations behind controversial human behaviors, according to the article.

    Philter’s technology encourages consumers to practice responsible vaping and empowers them to protect those they love, and the environment, by drastically reducing harmful emissions and airborne contaminants. The company’s overarching mission is to change the way people perceive vaping tobacco and cannabis.

    CEO Christos Nicolaidis told Benzinga the goal at Philter Labs is to eliminate the impacts of secondhand smoke and harmful emissions while empowering consumers to vape responsibly, according to the article.

    “This new series of funding builds on our momentum and will allow us to expand on our scientific research and launch new innovative, cutting-edge filtration products,” Nicolaidis said. “We want to lead the charge on a cultural shift for cleaner air and a better environment — and hopefully change the way people vape for the better.”

  • RELX Wins Red Dot Award for Design

    RELX Wins Red Dot Award for Design

    RELX Technology has been awarded the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2020 for its latest e-cigarette, RELX Infinity.

    The Red Dot Award: Product Design is one of the world’s largest design competitions. In 2020, designers and manufacturers from more than 50 countries entered more than 6,500 products in the competition. An international jury comprising experts from different disciplines assessed the entries on criteria such as innovation, functionality, formal quality, longevity and ergonomics.

    Unveiled in Shenzhen, China, in January, the RELX Infinity has been designed to deliver a full flavor and a smooth. The smoothness is achieved by RELX’s Active-steam Pro and Air Boost technologies. Active-steam Pro achieves a consistent vapor volume and quality by actively balancing and controlling both atomizing power and temperature; while the aerodynamic Air Boost creates negative pressure that pushes the vapor up from the atomizer.

    Infinity also features enhanced battery performance and wireless charging. RELX also improved the product’s resistance to leakage.

    RELX products have been recognized before. In 2019, the RELX i e-cigarette was awarded the 2019 Bronze Prize at the European Product Design Awards and the Bronze award at the 2018 International Design Awards.