After months of narrowing down 80 qualified entries to 12 finalists, onsite voting allowed PACK EXPO Las Vegas attendees to be the ultimate judge of the most innovative materials and technologies at the show. Attendees were encouraged to visit the booths of these four category winners to see these state-of-the-art materials and technologies in person.

“Congratulations to this year’s winners for their outstanding materials and technologies. The abundance of quality entries received this year made the selection process quite challenging,” says Laura Thompson, vice president, trade shows, PMMI. “We are proud to celebrate and showcase the best of the industry, and encouraged to see that the Technology Excellence Awards are attracting the top innovations.”

The 2023 Technology Excellence Award Winners are:

Food and Beverage – Aneko, (N-10165)

• Aneko Emsys
• Designed specifically for the beverage industry to empty in a simple, quick, and effortless manner all kinds of concentrated liquids, contained in drums, barrels or jerricans. Its completely sanitary construction and simple operation makes it an ideal equipment to integrate in the syrup preparation rooms.

General Packaging and Processing – Harpak-ULMA Packaging, (SL-6188, SL-6101)

• AI Enabled Augmented Reality for Transforming Packaging Operations
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly popular tool to optimize and streamline analytics and business processes. The ability to leverage granular data sets to quickly and accurately produce recommendations and results can transform good solutions into great ones. This technology utilizes AI to help businesses identify patterns, predict outcomes, and optimize decision-making processes.

Personal Care/Pharmaceuticals – Catalyx, (SL-6185)

• Catalyx Digital LineClearance Assistant™ 
• Catalyx Digital LineClearance Assistant uses a network of fixed position cameras that are deployed across the entire line, covering the risky and hard to reach areas. The product inspects the entire line in seconds and highlights areas where rogue components are detected. Operators manage the Line Clearance by exception and rapidly handle these detections which means the Line Clearance checks are completed in lightening quick time.

Sustainability – Amcor Healthcare Packaging, (SL-6635)

• Amcor HealthCare Recycle Ready Sachet
• The pharmaceutical space presents several unique challenges when designing packaging for recyclability. One of these challenges is that many flexible products incorporate the use of a foil lamination with WVTR barrier currently unmatched by recyclable materials. Standard foil laminations combine multiple materials with the properties needed for successful filling and protection of pharmaceutical products throughout their shelf life. Amcor has developed a metallized polyolefin material to be used in a lamination to provide barrier properties competitive with the current multi-material foil laminations while designing for recyclability. 

For more information, please visit http://packexpolasvegas.com/tea.