PACK EXPO Connects 2020 review: The show goes virtual
Brenton, a manufacturer of robotic systems for material handling, high-speed pick and place, palletizing and other packaging applications, showcased its expertise in end-of-line packaging and robotic integration. Its demos included practical applications for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical device, personal care, and household products.
Delkor’s Performance Case Packer is a case and tray packer designed and engineered with key performance features in mind including pick-and-place gantry and an innovative infeed system to reach loading speeds up to 250 containers per minute. Optimized for packing tapered cups, bottles and a range of other container shapes and styles into a variety of retail ready packages, cases, trays, and other secondary packaging styles.
Dorner, a manufacturer of low profile conveyor systems and related equipment, exhibited its new Edge Roller Technology ERT250 Conveyor. The ERT250 is a pallet handling conveyor capable of zoning for accumulation and automation assembly applications. As implied by its name, the ERT250 uses rollers to move pallet conveyors smoothly with no friction (a byproduct often seen in belt-driven platforms).
At PACK EXPO Connect, Fortress Technology unveiled its expansion into checkweighing with the launch of its inaugural ‘smart’ weigher series: Raptor. Designed for new-generation manufacturers embracing the digital revolution, Raptor checkweighers include an intelligent conveyor removal system and intuitive digital process monitoring technology to advance inspection efficiency, target operational inefficiencies and slash product giveaway.
Fresh-Lock closures showcased its expanded portfolio of closures at PACK EXPO Connects 2020. New closures in the Fresh-Lock 8000 series of sustainable closures were a major highlight, including Fresh-Lock Zipper Top 8253, a recyclable closure that forms the top of a package in a single component process that can help save time, money, and is more sustainable than other processes. Another closure highlight included Fresh-Lock style 345, a double zipper designed for the popular 15.9mm single flange configuration.
Loma Systems demonstrated a number of their key products at PACK EXPO, including eight live demos. Demos included an introduction to Loma’s new IQ4 RUN-WET Metal Detector Conveyor—a solution specifically designed for high-care environments where machinery clean-up is particularly harsh and frequent. Additional sessions covered Loma’s IQ4 Metal Detector and X5 X-ray ranges, focusing on metal detection vs. X-ray inspection and which one is right for your food or pharmaceutical application, as well as how to create a comprehensive critical control point comprising both inspection and checkweighing with a Loma Combination System.
Matrix, a manufacturer of flexible packaging machinery such as form fill seal; pre-made pouches; stickpacks and sachets, exhibited its Matrix Mercury, a high-speed vertical form fill seal bagger that’s capable of filling up to 140 flexible packaging bags per minute. The Mercury is known for its easy operation and quick changeover and setup. It can accommodate bag widths between 2” and 11”, and bag lengths between 3” and 15”.
Orion, a manufacturer of stretch wrapping and pallet unitizing machinery, demonstrated its latest innovations in stretch-wrapping technology. Virtual demos focused on the value a high-speed/high-performance pallet wrapper can bring to warehouses and loading docks; the differences between entry-level semi-automatic stretch wrappers versus hand wrapping; and a case study on how the Orion MA-DX LoPro Drag Chain Conveyor System helped a beverage distribution center greatly improve their speed and efficiency in wrapping and moving tall pallets of product.
Ossid, a manufacturer of sustainable, efficient tray packaging, weigh/labeling and form fill seal machinery for the food, healthcare and other industries, exhibited the Reepack ReeTray 30 Semi-Automatic Tray Sealer. Designed as a go-to sealer for many small- to medium-size processors packaging case ready proteins, seafood and ready-to-eat meals, the ReeTray 30 can produce ambient, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and vacuum skin packs (VSP).
Quest, a manufacturer of robotic industrial automation equipment, hosted nine virtual demonstrations focusing on robotics and vision-guidance systems for the food, beverage, dairy and packaging industries. Demonstrations included how the Quest Quik Fill QF Series can automate the filling of single/multi-compartment trays, bowls and clam shell containers.
Rennco, a manufacturer of vertical semi-automatic and automatic bagging solutions using centerfolded packaging material, showcased its vertical packaging capabilities that focus on both the food service disposable market and E-Commerce bagging. Virtual demos highlighted how its machinery excels in food service disposable applications involving cup counters, lid packaging and plate infeed systems, as well as how Rennco’s semi-automatic vertical bagging machine are an ideal solution for packaging round, odd-shaped items and E-Commerce applications.
Schubert showcased six different live demos at PACK EXPO, addressing current challenges and requirements FCMG manufacturers are facing worldwide. Show attendees were offered virtual tours through Schubert’s headquarters in Germany and through its North American headquarters and training center in Charlotte, North Carolina. A compact casepacker for an American manufacturer was also introduced.
The versatility of SOMIC America’s high-speed, retail ready packaging systems was on full display at PACK Expo Connects, November 11-13. The virtual event featured a new 424 series machine that originally was to be demonstrated live at PACK Expo in Chicago before the show was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This compact machine is configured with Rockwell automation controls to handle a variety of blow-molded bottles.
Texwrap, a manufacturer of automatic, standard and custom shrink-wrapping systems, demonstrated how its high-speed shrink bundlers reduces costs while achieving a rapid ROI. Additionally, the company showcased its e-Pack line of machines and demonstrated how its solutions help E-commerce operations improve profitability by increasing throughput, preventing errors and creating right-sized packaging that reduce film waste and DIM weight shipping costs.
The Thermo Scientific Sentinel 1000 Selectscan Metal Detector system features two technologies to help food manufacturers achieve a higher level of safety and quality. Selectscan enables the user to select the ideal frequency, from 50 to 1000 kilohertz, to maximize the probability of detecting ferrous, nonferrous and stainless-steel foreign objects. Autolearn rapidly guides the user through product setup to maximize operational efficiencies and detection performance to support plant production goals. Combined, these features raise the bar for safety, reducing the risk of costly contamination events, scrap, rework and recalls.
tna presented roundtable discussions on conveying, packaging, processing, and seasoning. They also had three of their customers participate in different sessions, sharing their insights and experience on tna’s solutions expertise.
Videojet Technologies introduced the new Videojet 1280 continuous inkjet (CIJ) printer, the new Videojet 9550 6” print and apply labeler, and the full range of packaging solutions from the extensive Videojet coding and marking portfolio at PACK EXPO. Class-leading solutions include airless thermal transfer overprinters (TTO) and the revolutionary Videojet 7340 and 7440 fiber laser marking systems.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PACK EXPO went all-virtual this year, with plans for its original event at McCormick Place shuttered.
PACK EXPO Connects brought the industry together during its launch week Nov. 9-13, with nearly 18,000 attendees engaging with more than 700 exhibitors to find solutions to critical packaging challenges.
Despite exhibitor preparedness, technical issues kept the live demonstrations from launching as intended on Monday, but the PACK EXPO Connects exhibitors adapted and demos returned for attendees looking to see technology in action the remainder of the event.
“This event was able to connect the industry, which was our number one goal in a year when professionals cannot attend physical trade events,” says Jim Pittas, president and CEO, PMMI. “And our exhibitors were remarkable in their ability to react and deliver effective demonstrations despite the technical challenges entirely outside of their control.”
To date, PACK EXPO Connects has seen 137,000 unique directory visits with 475,000 total showroom visits since the event website went live. During the show week, attendees viewed demos over 32,000 times. Those numbers will continue to grow as engagement continues on packexpoconnects.com with on-demand demos and exhibitor showrooms available through March 2021.
Exhibitor Engage Technologies Corporation and its family of companies, including Squid Ink, Eastey and AFM, attained nearly 1,000 new contacts through PACK EXPO Connects, according to Marketing Manager Josh Nelson.
“We were successful in providing live demonstrations of our equipment after switching over to the Zoom platform after [a few] technical difficulties on Monday morning,” Nelson said. “We formed a plan as a team to put our demonstration agenda into an easily emailable format and each morning I downloaded our list of demonstration attendees from the Exhibitor Section of the PACK EXPO Connects website.”
Nelson was pleased with the feedback he received regarding their virtual showroom. Customers were particularly pleased with the interactions and detailed information his team could provide in the chat as the demonstrations were live.
Josh Becker, senior manager, packaging systems, Hershey, appreciated the flexibility that the online format offered him and his team.
“At PACK EXPO Connects, I enjoyed taking advantage of attending the exhibitor demonstrations the most. It’s been helpful to attend the various sessions available and learn more about the latest cutting-edge trends in packaging operations, such as augmented reality,” Becker says. “The structure and flexibility of the show allowed us to see a diverse range of what the industry is offering.”
In addition to demos, educational offerings—many debuting for the first time at PACK EXPO Connects – produced engagement surpassing expectations. More than 800 attendees tuned in live to Dr. Kim Houchens, director, Customer Packaging Experience, at Amazon’s keynote address, which remains available on-demand at packexpoconnects.com. The daily Jumpstart sessions each averaged 400 viewers seeking insights into key trends and technologies. And every day, over a dozen Innovation Stages and afternoon Trend Chats and Daily Downloads with PMMI Media Group editors attracted high daily participation. The Solutions Room wrapped up the week on Friday with targeted interactions from the OpX Leadership Network, Organization for Machine Automation and Control (OMAC), the Institute of Packaging Professionals and the Contract Packaging Association.
“PACK EXPO Connects offered a unique opportunity to report on industry developments via a new digital format,” comments Jim Chrzan, vice president, content and brand development, PMMI Media Group. “I’m incredibly proud of our team and grateful to Amazon, General Mills, Bush Brothers and many industry experts who presented. Engagement from the packaging and processing community was exciting to see and the experience has expanded our vision of the many ways we can deliver content.”
Engagement will continue through March 31, 2021, with on-demand demos, educational sessions and showrooms remaining available as resources for industry professionals in the coming months. Access all live recordings from the show through March 2021 here.
Click through the above slideshow to see a roundup of equipment and technologies presented at the virtual expo.
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