Packaging Equipment

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In boxing, a TKO indicates a technical knockout that officially ends the fight. For beverage manufacturers competing “in the ring,” it’s the TCO that drives much of the battle in regard to filling equipment.

As a proliferation of new brands and flavors continues to hit the market, the beverage industry also has experienced an influx of new package styles and designs to help those products stand out on the shelf.

As Disney’s “Toy Story 3” movie portrays, children’s interests in toys change as they grow up. Similarly, as the beverage can industry matures, its interest in packaging sizes changes. These changes have a domino effect on the equipment that fills and seams these cans.

Approximately 55 percent of the plastic bottles manufactured in the United States are used for beverage bottling, and half of the plastic bottle manufacturing industry’s revenue comes from carbonated soft drink bottles, according to Santa Monica, Calif.-based IBISWorld’s Sept. 2013 report “Plastic Bottle Manufacturing in the US.”

Pack Expo International 2013, which took place Sept. 23-25 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, was the trade show’s largest event in Las Vegas yet, according to PMMI, the Reston, Va.-based host of the event. In fact, in early estimates, the association for packaging and processing technologies reported an attendance increase of 7.4 percent to 27,759 attendees, a 15.5 percent increase in exhibitors to 1,788 companies, and a 14.7 percent increase in net square footage to 722,437 net square feet, all compared with the 2011 show, which also set event records.

Experiencing strong growth since its 2011 show, Process Expo, taking place Nov. 3-6 at McCormick Place in Chicago, will feature more than 200,000 feet of exhibit space dedicated to showcasing the latest in food processing technology from more than 500 equipment suppliers.

In the 1983 holiday classic “A Christmas Story,” Ralphie eagerly checks the mail for his decoder pin from the “Little Orphan Annie” radio show only to be disappointed when he finally solves the code and discovers it is nothing more than an advertisement. Although Ralphie’s first coding experience might not have met his expectations, within the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market, coding technology is living up to its reputation.

Attendees at drinktec 2013, Sept. 16-20, Munich, will have the chance to learn about innovative solutions affecting the beverage market.

The Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute’s (PMMI) Pack Expo International 2013 is on schedule to be another record-setting event, with its Processing Zone, which hosts processing technologies for manufacturers in the beverage, dairy, baking and snack, and confectionery industries, as well as other vertical sectors, selling out as early as May.

When it comes to choosing labeling equipment, customers are interested in machines that offer the widest range of applications and uses, explains Roy Oomen, category manager of labels and packaging for HP Indigo and Inkjet Press, Tel Aviv, Israel.