11.22.16
On the 60th Anniversary of its debut, Pack Expo International and the co-located Pharma Expo served as the world’s largest and most comprehensive processing and packaging show in 2016. Show owner and producer PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, reported that Pack Expo International and Pharma Expo 2016 was the largest show in the history of Pack Expo. A record breaking 2,512 exhibitors spread over an unprecedented 1.25 million net square feet of exhibit space welcomed more than 47,000 targeted buyers.
“Exhibitors reported that not only were leads up, but the quality of the attendees continues to grow,” said Jim Pittas, sr. vice president of PMMI. “A full audit of the event will be forthcoming, but all initial reports from exhibitors and attendees clearly show Pack Expo International and Pharma Expo 2016 was an overwhelming success.”
The buzz on the McCormick Place show floor also confirmed that exhibitors and attendees from companies of all sizes found a rewarding, and some claim unparalleled, experience at the four-day event. "This Pack Expo International was our best show yet,” said Virginia Price, CEO and founder of exhibitor Planet CanIt, Highland Park, Illinois. “We are always excited when we have the opportunity to meet manufacturers seeking a high-end packaging solution. At this show, we [saw] top-level executives, marketers and package designers for brands across the food, toy, personal care and other industries we serve.”
Exhibitors and exhibit space were not the only records broken. In no previous year has Pack Expo received as many endorsements as this year with the largest ever Partner Program including 31 associations. International pavilion organizers came from all corners of the globe, including Argentina, Bavaria, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Taiwan.
Long-time attendee Preston Jackson, shipping supervisor for LECO Corporation in St. Joseph, MI, appreciates that a show as large as Pack Eexpo offers opportunities for everyone. He said, "We are a small manufacturing company looking for big ideas and came to the show specifically for sealers for a low-volume project. Even being a small company we have been able to find solutions at the show."
One particularly well-received new addition to Pack Expo's features was the NextGEN Networking Fair, the event that connected both supplier companies and consumer goods manufacturers with student talent in the Education and Workforce Development Pavilion. Fourteen teams of students from 10 partner schools also participated in the Amazing Packaging Race, sponsored by ASCO. A team made up of undergrads from Indiana State University, Cal Poly, Virginia Tech and Rutgers University took home iPads for finishing first in the seventh annual competition. ASCO also awarded $5,000 academic scholarships to Nathaniel Weger, a junior at the University of Iowa, and Quinnlan Sweeney, a junior at Clemson University.
In addition, PMMI hosted the sixth annual "PACK gives BACK" event, featuring the magic and comedy act of Penn and Teller. The sold-out event, sponsored by co-title sponsors Rockwell Automation and DuPont and Bronze sponsor Massman Automation Designs, LLC, had over 1,400 attendees. A portion of the proceeds will benefit No Greater Sacrifice (NGS), a nonprofit organization providing educational scholarships to the children of wounded and fallen military.
“We took the band Chicago to Las Vegas last year so we thought we should bring a little Las Vegas to Chicago this year and raised money for a great cause,” said Jim Pittas. “Thank you to the sponsors and all those who attended and donated to NGS.”
Announcements and Innovations
During Pack Expo, 3M launched its new Scotch Clean Removal Strapping Tape 8899HP, which offers a long lasting hold with clean removal from a wide variety of surfaces.
“Customers were asking for a product that was easy to apply, allowing users to save time and costs associated with rework,” said Mitch Hallan, US Product Marketer at 3M Industrial Adhesives and Tapes Division. “Applying 3M’s expertise with adhesives, we developed a tape that can reduce costs by ensuring a secure hold with less tape and reducing the risk of residue damage.”
The tape is designed with 3M’s proprietary pressure-sensitive rubber adhesive, which can be applied to and adhere to common surfaces, such as vinyl, painted metal, stainless steel, plastic and glass. Applied by hand or with a dispenser, Scotch® Clean Removal Strapping Tape 8899HP adheres to hold shelving, racks, doors, panels, electrical cords and other parts in place during the shipping process. It also features a tensilized polypropylene film backing, which provides proper stiffness and resistance to moisture. After exposure to hot and cold conditions, the tape can be successfully removed without leaving a sticky residue or stain.
During Pack Expo, Ashland announced a strategic collaboration with HP Inc. to develop laminating adhesives and coatings that are compatible with HP Indigo ElectroInk, reinforcing the viability of digitally printed labels and flexible packaging.
"Ashland's relationship with HP will benefit our customers, helping us to solve their challenges with the efficacy, usability and integrity of their packaging, particularly in the food segment," said David Hatgas, global business director, adhesives and coatings, Ashland.
Building on a collaboration spanning four years, the structured working relationship will expedite the development of laminating adhesives and coatings that improve the usability of digital printing for a wide variety of packaging applications.
"HP is constantly innovating to reinvent our customers' application possibilities," said Nurit Raccah, labels and packaging media and materials business manager, Indigo division, HP Inc. "This strategic collaboration with Ashland, a world-class adhesive supplier, demonstrates our continued commitment to providing HP Indigo customers full end-to-end solutions to grow their businesses."
Ashland's PureRadTM and PureKoteTM overprint varnishes are certified by the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) under the HP Indigo Overprint Varnish Performance program. These radiation-curable and water-based products are available in a range of finishes from high gloss to matte. They provide improved adhesion to HP Indigo ink and deliver excellent scratch and chemical resistance for labels. Some products in these lines also provide outstanding heat and UV resistance.
Also during the show, HP Inc. announced new worldwide customer installations of the HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press. The press boasts an installed base that has more than doubled since drupa 2016 and now stretches across six continents, demonstrating HP’s pivotal role in driving global digital adoption with leading labels and packaging converters. In addition, HP announced commercial availability of innovative packaging solutions unveiled at drupa 2016, HP Indigo Pack Ready Coating and the HP Bulk Solvent Ink System.
Helping flexible packaging converters address high-performance packaging applications, such as retort pouches, Pack Ready Coating is the first commercially-available solution from the HP Indigo Pack Ready ecosystem.
Additionally, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can now leverage the HP Bulk Solvent Ink System to develop printers for the coding and marking sector, with the new system offering superior print quality, low cost per copy and minimal user intervention in high-volume production environments.
“Steady demand for customized, short-run packaging is driving a paradigm shift in the packaging industry, and converters are seeking solutions to maintain profitability in the face of change,” said Alon Bar-Shany, general manager, Indigo division, HP Inc. “Leading converters worldwide are turning to HP’s proven digital labels and packaging printing portfolio, including the HP Indigo 20000 and end-to-end solutions like Pack Ready Coating and the HP Bulk Solvent Ink System, to not only adapt, but thrive in today’s packaging market.”
Alabama-based ColorMasters, an innovative flexible packaging converter serving the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market for 30 years, has installed an HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press. The company is using the press to provide high-quality, high-performance packaging to food and beverage brands, with a focus on meeting the demanding delivery requirements of today’s retail environments.
“ColorMasters’ clients now require customized, smaller-quantity packaging with faster speed-to-market, which is challenging to deliver efficiently and cost-effectively with our legacy equipment,” said Mark Pfeiffer, sales director, ColorMasters LLC. “The HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press offers increased ease of use with ‘art file-to-print’ capabilities and will allow us to improve margins with reduced waste and makeready, while opening up new high-value application opportunities.”
Journey through the supply chain with UPM Raflatac
UPM Raflatac featured at Pack Expo a multi-faceted approach to helping packaging companies find new ways to distinguish their brands and capture consumer attention at the point of sale. Expo attendees were invited to visit UPM Raflatac's team of experts in the Containers and Materials Pavilion to discover how the company's labeling solutions are a perfect fit for the world of packaging decoration, from sustainability and efficiency to design and functionality.
Upon entering the booth, guests saw four distinct areas where they were led through the material and packaging value chain. The first stop was sustainability, where UPM Raflatac's innovative Label Life tool was on display. Then, they moved on to efficiency, where attendees learned about the productivity gains from thinner materials and will be able to demo efficiency calculators. At this point, visitors received an empty candy jar with a clear film front label fresh off UPM Raflatac's on-site label applicator. The next stop was design, where participants could print a unique label on demand and apply it to the top of their jar by hand. The final stop was functionality, where guests filled their jars with delicious color-coordinated candy and learn about label application tips and techniques.
New film solutions
As a complement to the company's existing high-performance clear and white film products for rigid and conformable containers - as well as adhesives tailored to specific end-uses - UPM Raflatac displayed new PP and PET options to its metalized and foil product family. With their bright, shiny appearance, these materials are the perfect canvas for graphics that "pop" - and offer the ultimate experience in product decoration and shelf appeal. Whether they are metalized on top of the face sheet (PP Chrome TC) or underneath the face sheet (PET and PP Metalized Silver), each of these products provides excellent ink reception and performance for personal care, beverage and food packaging applications.
UPM Raflatac's new VANISH 120 products are constructed with a thin 1.2 mil PET face material that offers all of the benefits of VANISHT 92 materials, but with increased stiffness for better dispensing on standard equipment. These thin, yet robust products provide the perfect canvas for innovative imagery previously considered unattainable by creative designers. Additionally, their dimensional stability, excellent ink reception and dispensing properties simultaneously allow manufacturers to embrace new productivity gains, reduce material and packaging costs and increase storage space.
UPM Raflatac also showed how its label materials for the food segment perform in a variety of packaging types – including glass, hard and soft plastics, metals and fiber-based materials, such as paper and corrugated fiberboard. The products provide eye-catching branding to motivate point-of-sale purchases while communicating critical nutrition information, such as product ingredients and "sell-by" dates. Additionally, these products provide exceptional performance in challenging environments, from cold, moist and greasy surfaces to freezing conditions.
Esko offers brand owners packaging solutions
Esko showcased its comprehensive solutions for CPG & Pharma companies and their entire supply chain at two booths during Pack Expo International and Pharma Expo. Esko integrates its leading CPG & Pharma packaging management solutions with third party business systems, allowing companies to leverage the power of their integrated supply chains. Esko Software Platform 16 was featured including four popular components: ArtiosCAD and Studio for 3D structural and graphic design, WebCenter for specification, process management & collaboration, and MediaBeacon for digital asset management. The company will also demonstrate embedded technologies from its partner, Global Vision, to eliminate time-consuming manual proofreading.
At its booth, Esko focused on complete demonstrations including project briefing, structural packaging development, graphic design development, the merging of 3D structure & graphics, packaging management, automated content and design inspection, project collaboration and approval, and digital asset management. Especially with increased regulatory requirements—including the recent changes to the Nutritional Facts Table—there is need for information and guidance. At Pack EXPO, Esko can show brand owners how to maintain accurate copy and assure regulatory compliance."
Esko Software Platform is the latest version of Esko’s portfolio of integrated software solutions for packaging management, design, prepress, workflow automation, color management and supply chain collaboration used for packaging and labels. These solutions enable CPG brand owners, Pharma companies and packaging & label converters to reduce time-to-market and raise productivity, while ensuring complete compliance with FDA and other local regulations.
Due to the importance and short timeline for compliance of the recent changes and requirements to the US FDA Nutritional Facts Table, there was considerable focus at the Esko booth on content management and new software to easily create—and proof—updated FDA nutritional templates on existing packaging. Esko customers will be able to automate updates to packaging and label designs for a timely and efficient transition to the new Nutrition Facts table format, minimizing time to market and ensuring accuracy.
Epson's ColoWorks
During Pack Expo, Epson showed its full lineup of ColorWorks on-demand inkjet label printers, including the ColorWorks C7500G with Wasatch SoftRIP, the newest addition to its line. In addition, Epson’s partners will be demonstrating how various solutions can be used with Epson’s lineup of commercial desktop label printers in the label and packaging industry. The following partners were in Epson’s booth:
Pack Expo returns to Las Vegas in 2017, and will take place September 25-27.
“Exhibitors reported that not only were leads up, but the quality of the attendees continues to grow,” said Jim Pittas, sr. vice president of PMMI. “A full audit of the event will be forthcoming, but all initial reports from exhibitors and attendees clearly show Pack Expo International and Pharma Expo 2016 was an overwhelming success.”
The buzz on the McCormick Place show floor also confirmed that exhibitors and attendees from companies of all sizes found a rewarding, and some claim unparalleled, experience at the four-day event. "This Pack Expo International was our best show yet,” said Virginia Price, CEO and founder of exhibitor Planet CanIt, Highland Park, Illinois. “We are always excited when we have the opportunity to meet manufacturers seeking a high-end packaging solution. At this show, we [saw] top-level executives, marketers and package designers for brands across the food, toy, personal care and other industries we serve.”
Exhibitors and exhibit space were not the only records broken. In no previous year has Pack Expo received as many endorsements as this year with the largest ever Partner Program including 31 associations. International pavilion organizers came from all corners of the globe, including Argentina, Bavaria, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Taiwan.
Long-time attendee Preston Jackson, shipping supervisor for LECO Corporation in St. Joseph, MI, appreciates that a show as large as Pack Eexpo offers opportunities for everyone. He said, "We are a small manufacturing company looking for big ideas and came to the show specifically for sealers for a low-volume project. Even being a small company we have been able to find solutions at the show."
One particularly well-received new addition to Pack Expo's features was the NextGEN Networking Fair, the event that connected both supplier companies and consumer goods manufacturers with student talent in the Education and Workforce Development Pavilion. Fourteen teams of students from 10 partner schools also participated in the Amazing Packaging Race, sponsored by ASCO. A team made up of undergrads from Indiana State University, Cal Poly, Virginia Tech and Rutgers University took home iPads for finishing first in the seventh annual competition. ASCO also awarded $5,000 academic scholarships to Nathaniel Weger, a junior at the University of Iowa, and Quinnlan Sweeney, a junior at Clemson University.
In addition, PMMI hosted the sixth annual "PACK gives BACK" event, featuring the magic and comedy act of Penn and Teller. The sold-out event, sponsored by co-title sponsors Rockwell Automation and DuPont and Bronze sponsor Massman Automation Designs, LLC, had over 1,400 attendees. A portion of the proceeds will benefit No Greater Sacrifice (NGS), a nonprofit organization providing educational scholarships to the children of wounded and fallen military.
“We took the band Chicago to Las Vegas last year so we thought we should bring a little Las Vegas to Chicago this year and raised money for a great cause,” said Jim Pittas. “Thank you to the sponsors and all those who attended and donated to NGS.”
Announcements and Innovations
During Pack Expo, 3M launched its new Scotch Clean Removal Strapping Tape 8899HP, which offers a long lasting hold with clean removal from a wide variety of surfaces.
“Customers were asking for a product that was easy to apply, allowing users to save time and costs associated with rework,” said Mitch Hallan, US Product Marketer at 3M Industrial Adhesives and Tapes Division. “Applying 3M’s expertise with adhesives, we developed a tape that can reduce costs by ensuring a secure hold with less tape and reducing the risk of residue damage.”
The tape is designed with 3M’s proprietary pressure-sensitive rubber adhesive, which can be applied to and adhere to common surfaces, such as vinyl, painted metal, stainless steel, plastic and glass. Applied by hand or with a dispenser, Scotch® Clean Removal Strapping Tape 8899HP adheres to hold shelving, racks, doors, panels, electrical cords and other parts in place during the shipping process. It also features a tensilized polypropylene film backing, which provides proper stiffness and resistance to moisture. After exposure to hot and cold conditions, the tape can be successfully removed without leaving a sticky residue or stain.
During Pack Expo, Ashland announced a strategic collaboration with HP Inc. to develop laminating adhesives and coatings that are compatible with HP Indigo ElectroInk, reinforcing the viability of digitally printed labels and flexible packaging.
"Ashland's relationship with HP will benefit our customers, helping us to solve their challenges with the efficacy, usability and integrity of their packaging, particularly in the food segment," said David Hatgas, global business director, adhesives and coatings, Ashland.
Building on a collaboration spanning four years, the structured working relationship will expedite the development of laminating adhesives and coatings that improve the usability of digital printing for a wide variety of packaging applications.
"HP is constantly innovating to reinvent our customers' application possibilities," said Nurit Raccah, labels and packaging media and materials business manager, Indigo division, HP Inc. "This strategic collaboration with Ashland, a world-class adhesive supplier, demonstrates our continued commitment to providing HP Indigo customers full end-to-end solutions to grow their businesses."
Ashland's PureRadTM and PureKoteTM overprint varnishes are certified by the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) under the HP Indigo Overprint Varnish Performance program. These radiation-curable and water-based products are available in a range of finishes from high gloss to matte. They provide improved adhesion to HP Indigo ink and deliver excellent scratch and chemical resistance for labels. Some products in these lines also provide outstanding heat and UV resistance.
Also during the show, HP Inc. announced new worldwide customer installations of the HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press. The press boasts an installed base that has more than doubled since drupa 2016 and now stretches across six continents, demonstrating HP’s pivotal role in driving global digital adoption with leading labels and packaging converters. In addition, HP announced commercial availability of innovative packaging solutions unveiled at drupa 2016, HP Indigo Pack Ready Coating and the HP Bulk Solvent Ink System.
Helping flexible packaging converters address high-performance packaging applications, such as retort pouches, Pack Ready Coating is the first commercially-available solution from the HP Indigo Pack Ready ecosystem.
Additionally, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can now leverage the HP Bulk Solvent Ink System to develop printers for the coding and marking sector, with the new system offering superior print quality, low cost per copy and minimal user intervention in high-volume production environments.
“Steady demand for customized, short-run packaging is driving a paradigm shift in the packaging industry, and converters are seeking solutions to maintain profitability in the face of change,” said Alon Bar-Shany, general manager, Indigo division, HP Inc. “Leading converters worldwide are turning to HP’s proven digital labels and packaging printing portfolio, including the HP Indigo 20000 and end-to-end solutions like Pack Ready Coating and the HP Bulk Solvent Ink System, to not only adapt, but thrive in today’s packaging market.”
Alabama-based ColorMasters, an innovative flexible packaging converter serving the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market for 30 years, has installed an HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press. The company is using the press to provide high-quality, high-performance packaging to food and beverage brands, with a focus on meeting the demanding delivery requirements of today’s retail environments.
“ColorMasters’ clients now require customized, smaller-quantity packaging with faster speed-to-market, which is challenging to deliver efficiently and cost-effectively with our legacy equipment,” said Mark Pfeiffer, sales director, ColorMasters LLC. “The HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press offers increased ease of use with ‘art file-to-print’ capabilities and will allow us to improve margins with reduced waste and makeready, while opening up new high-value application opportunities.”
Journey through the supply chain with UPM Raflatac
UPM Raflatac featured at Pack Expo a multi-faceted approach to helping packaging companies find new ways to distinguish their brands and capture consumer attention at the point of sale. Expo attendees were invited to visit UPM Raflatac's team of experts in the Containers and Materials Pavilion to discover how the company's labeling solutions are a perfect fit for the world of packaging decoration, from sustainability and efficiency to design and functionality.
Upon entering the booth, guests saw four distinct areas where they were led through the material and packaging value chain. The first stop was sustainability, where UPM Raflatac's innovative Label Life tool was on display. Then, they moved on to efficiency, where attendees learned about the productivity gains from thinner materials and will be able to demo efficiency calculators. At this point, visitors received an empty candy jar with a clear film front label fresh off UPM Raflatac's on-site label applicator. The next stop was design, where participants could print a unique label on demand and apply it to the top of their jar by hand. The final stop was functionality, where guests filled their jars with delicious color-coordinated candy and learn about label application tips and techniques.
New film solutions
As a complement to the company's existing high-performance clear and white film products for rigid and conformable containers - as well as adhesives tailored to specific end-uses - UPM Raflatac displayed new PP and PET options to its metalized and foil product family. With their bright, shiny appearance, these materials are the perfect canvas for graphics that "pop" - and offer the ultimate experience in product decoration and shelf appeal. Whether they are metalized on top of the face sheet (PP Chrome TC) or underneath the face sheet (PET and PP Metalized Silver), each of these products provides excellent ink reception and performance for personal care, beverage and food packaging applications.
UPM Raflatac's new VANISH 120 products are constructed with a thin 1.2 mil PET face material that offers all of the benefits of VANISHT 92 materials, but with increased stiffness for better dispensing on standard equipment. These thin, yet robust products provide the perfect canvas for innovative imagery previously considered unattainable by creative designers. Additionally, their dimensional stability, excellent ink reception and dispensing properties simultaneously allow manufacturers to embrace new productivity gains, reduce material and packaging costs and increase storage space.
UPM Raflatac also showed how its label materials for the food segment perform in a variety of packaging types – including glass, hard and soft plastics, metals and fiber-based materials, such as paper and corrugated fiberboard. The products provide eye-catching branding to motivate point-of-sale purchases while communicating critical nutrition information, such as product ingredients and "sell-by" dates. Additionally, these products provide exceptional performance in challenging environments, from cold, moist and greasy surfaces to freezing conditions.
Esko offers brand owners packaging solutions
Esko showcased its comprehensive solutions for CPG & Pharma companies and their entire supply chain at two booths during Pack Expo International and Pharma Expo. Esko integrates its leading CPG & Pharma packaging management solutions with third party business systems, allowing companies to leverage the power of their integrated supply chains. Esko Software Platform 16 was featured including four popular components: ArtiosCAD and Studio for 3D structural and graphic design, WebCenter for specification, process management & collaboration, and MediaBeacon for digital asset management. The company will also demonstrate embedded technologies from its partner, Global Vision, to eliminate time-consuming manual proofreading.
At its booth, Esko focused on complete demonstrations including project briefing, structural packaging development, graphic design development, the merging of 3D structure & graphics, packaging management, automated content and design inspection, project collaboration and approval, and digital asset management. Especially with increased regulatory requirements—including the recent changes to the Nutritional Facts Table—there is need for information and guidance. At Pack EXPO, Esko can show brand owners how to maintain accurate copy and assure regulatory compliance."
Esko Software Platform is the latest version of Esko’s portfolio of integrated software solutions for packaging management, design, prepress, workflow automation, color management and supply chain collaboration used for packaging and labels. These solutions enable CPG brand owners, Pharma companies and packaging & label converters to reduce time-to-market and raise productivity, while ensuring complete compliance with FDA and other local regulations.
Due to the importance and short timeline for compliance of the recent changes and requirements to the US FDA Nutritional Facts Table, there was considerable focus at the Esko booth on content management and new software to easily create—and proof—updated FDA nutritional templates on existing packaging. Esko customers will be able to automate updates to packaging and label designs for a timely and efficient transition to the new Nutrition Facts table format, minimizing time to market and ensuring accuracy.
Epson's ColoWorks
During Pack Expo, Epson showed its full lineup of ColorWorks on-demand inkjet label printers, including the ColorWorks C7500G with Wasatch SoftRIP, the newest addition to its line. In addition, Epson’s partners will be demonstrating how various solutions can be used with Epson’s lineup of commercial desktop label printers in the label and packaging industry. The following partners were in Epson’s booth:
- Label Global Services and Epson’s strategic partnership delivers best-in-class, end-to-end solutions for on-demand color compliance-based label printing in the medical device, pharmaceutical, life sciences, and petrochemical markets. The enLabel Integrated Packaging Management (IPM) Software Platform provides accurate and compliant information that is brought to life via Epson ColorWorks label printers.
- METAS LLC showed its 1-Series digital label finisher. As the need for a label finisher arose and through their experience in the labeling industry, METAS developed the 1-Series digital finisher to help customers achieve production at a significantly lower cost.
- NiceLabel is a global developer of label and marking productivity software solutions that help companies reduce complexity and mitigate risk while meeting compliance requirements and increasing productivity, quality and agility. NiceLabel’s design, print and management solutions are modular, easily configurable and scalable so they enable best practice labeling processes to be implemented quickly with significant ROI.
- TEKLYNX is a developer of barcode labeling software solutions. TEKLYNX’ solutions help streamline business operations while staying ahead of industry-specific compliance and emerging regulations spanning from the food and beverage industry, chemical, healthcare, and general manufacturing. TEKLYNX software is suited to help businesses from small and mid-sized organizations to global enterprises with label design, label printing, label management, and data collection solutions.
- Wasatch Computer Technology, LLC is a leading developer of RIP and Print Management solutions for label printing, wide format digital printing, screen separations, digital textile printing, dye sublimation, and other specialized processes in the digital printing market. They demonstrated their RIP software and how to manage CMYK control on color labeling.
Pack Expo returns to Las Vegas in 2017, and will take place September 25-27.