Food and beverage manufacturers filed into the Las Vegas Convention Center this past September for PMMI’s largest PACK EXPO Las Vegas ever — more than 27,000 attendees, over 40 vertical markets; 1,788 exhibitors and over 700,000 net square feet of exhibit space. They were looking for solutions to their production line issues and challenges, and many were also seeking out insights from technology applications in other vertical industries to apply in their own operations.

Among the technology showcased at PACK EXPO, highlights included clean-in-place and modular equipment to help manufacturers address evolving food safety regulations. Solutions to extend the shelf life of food products included advanced nanotechnology developments with oxygen scavenging and antimicrobial benefits. Also found on the show floor were multi-sensory packaging technologies that target one or more of the consumer’s senses – including sight, touch and even the sense of smell using microencapsulation (e.g. scratch & sniff effects).

In addition to discovering innovation to advance their businesses, attendees took advantage of the market-oriented networking centers throughout the show floor. They stopped to network and speak to experts in their fields at The Baking–Snack Break lounge, endorsed by the Snack Food Association and sponsored by Kliklok-Woodman; The Candy Bar lounge, endorsed by the National Confectioners Association, and The Beverage Cooler lounge, endorsed by the Institute for Beverage Technologists. There was also a networking spot for professionals from small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) — an offshoot of the SMB FastTrack program, which connected more than 1,400 SMBs with solutions they need to grow.

PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2013 also brought a new, more efficient model of educational opportunities all hosted on the show floor. Sessions at the Food Safety Summit Resource Center, Center for Trends and Technology and three Innovation Stage locations were packed – especially the daily presentations by Mintel that addressed consumer perception on sustainable packaging, packaging strategies targeted towards senior citizens and the products and packages that best serve the mobile consumer.

Attendees can expect even more opportunities to source technologies and solutions across industries at next year’s co-located PACK EXPO International and the inaugural Pharma EXPO, with partner ISPE (November 2-5, McCormick Place, Chicago). With 2,000 exhibiting companies and over 1.1 million net square feet of exhibit space, 50,000 visitors will learn new ways to advance their business. Information about next year’s show in Chicago is online at Packexpo.com. Sign up to be notified when registration opens.

About PMMI

PMMI, the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, is a trade association representing over 600 packaging and processing supply chain companies that provide a full range of packaging and processing machinery, materials, components and containers. PMMI actively brings buyers and sellers together through programs and events such as The PACK EXPO family of trade shows, packexpo.com, PMT Magazine, PACK EXPO Show Daily, networking events and educational programs.

PMMI organizes the PACK EXPO trade shows: PACK EXPO International, PACK EXPO Las Vegas, PACK EXPO East, EXPO PACK Mexico and EXPO PACK Guadalajara, connecting participants in the packaging and processing supply chain with their customers around the world. Coming Up: PACK EXPO International 2014, Nov. 2-5, 2014 (McCormick Place, Chicago); Pharma EXPO, co-located with PACK EXPO International 2014, presented jointly with the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE); EXPO PACK México 2014; PACK EXPO East, debuting Feb. 2–4, 2015 (Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia); EXPO PACK Guadalajara 2015, March 18-20, 2015(Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico).

Learn more about PMMI and the PACK EXPO trade shows at PMMI.org and Packexpo.com.