2006 Pack, Process, and Converting Expos Share McCormick Place

By David Feder, Managing Editor

The slogan for the show is, “You need to be here.” This key food industry packaging and equipment show, sponsored and produced by the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) and by the Food Processing Suppliers Assn. (www.processfood.com), will be held  Oct. 29 through Nov. 2 at McCormick Place convention center in Chicago. The international expo is celebrating its half-century mark.

The sponsors promise “more than 2,000 packaging and processing exhibitors covering virtually the entire packaging supply chain.” This year for the first time, the Converting, Package and Printing Expo (www.cppexpo.com) is co-locating.

As always, the expo will feature everything processors need for the floor, including: components, containers, converting machinery, materials and packaging machinery.

“Inspiration” is the watchword of this year’s Showcase of Packaging Innovations. The centerpiece pavilion will highlight design breakthroughs in packaging material media as well as concepts, such as minimal packaging and green packaging.

Keeping up with the growth of its subject, this year’s radio frequency identification (RFID) pavilion has expanded. According to the Pack Expo web site (www.packexpo.com), the coverage will include a full crew of:

• RFID technology providers with operations experience.
• Systems integrators who have identified RFID solutions specifically for packaging operations.
• Packaging technology providers who offer RFID-enabled upgrades.
• RFID technology providers who offer “bolt-on” units for packaging equipment.
• Solution providers who can offer practical, operational solutions for a variety of challenges, including: upgrading conventional lines into RFID-enabled packaging lines capable of printing or applying primary package, multi-pack, case and pallet tags, online; verifying the presence of pre-placed tags; writing electronic product code (EPC) on tags; validating EPC tags; solutions for “smart” packaging machines that use RFID to adjust operational settings.

Safety First

Security is the hot-button issue of the 21st century. All the more reason to visit the Brand Protection Center pavilion. On hand will be packaging-security professionals, service providers and government experts to guide you through the latest in packaging security.

With safety in mind, catch the “Safety Issues Tracks” sessions, especially the  9:25 a.m. Monday “21st Century Safety Solutions for the Packaging Industry.” Gil Guajardo, safety product marketing manager for Omron Electronics LLC,  will outline new options and uses of established technologies and associated “functional safety standards.” He’ll also discuss how safety is seen as a benefit rather than an obligatory hindrance.

In addition to the opportunity for networking with industry colleagues from all over the world, you’ll experience a line-up of other specialized education sessions covering more topics than ever.
Consumers are smarter — and greener — than ever before. One of the keynote sessions on the hot topic is the Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club Packaging Vision, covering “packaging innovations and how they relate to consumer and environmental trends.” The presentation stars two Sam’s Club packaging execs: Amy Zettlemoyer, director of packaging, and Matt Kistler, vice president of package and product innovations for the world’s largest packaged goods retailer.

Halloween is a good time to be thinking about ghosts and gremlins, and Miller Brewing Co. packaging equipment specialist Don Stevens is au courant with his “Miller Brewing Trains Talented Eye on Equipment Faults” session Tuesday, Oct. 31. Stevens discusses how to rapidly get to the “root cause” of those ghosts in the machine-type equipment problems via such gremlin-spotters as high-speed video monitoring to help make packaging lines run more smoothly.

And finally, on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 8:30 a.m., Food Processing’s own Heidi Parsons will co-moderate the Material/Container Advances session. The session will discuss “how label application methods and product life-cycle expectations influence label design.”

Register for all the shows at www.packexpo.com.