Innovation takes center stage at Pack expo international 2010

Brand owners and packaging and processing professionals gathered in Chicago for PACK EXPO International 2010.

Preliminary results show the four-day event, Oct. 31–Nov. 3, spanned more than 1 million net square feet in McCormick Place, and attracted over 44,000 attendees and 1,835 exhibiting companies — 132 (7 percent) more than the 2008 edition.

PACK EXPO International 2010, organised by PMMI (Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute), launched the show’s expansion to include processing solutions alongside packaging.

“We mirror the industries we serve, and consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs) see production as a single, continuous function,” says Yuska. He pointed out that roughly 20 percent of exhibitors — including the 179 exhibiting companies in the Processing Zone — showed their processing-related solutions.

Also new to Chicago, The Brand Zone put the focus on ideas and concepts driving packaging and package design by serving as home to three special PACK EXPO features:

• The Showcase of Packaging Innovations^®, sponsored by The Dow Chemical Company, displayed award-winning packages from a record 19 organizations from around the world.


• The 10 finalists in the 5th Annual PACK EXPO Selects™ were on display, and voting was open. KOLD-TO-GO Thermal Insulated Pouches, submitted by Coldkeepers, LLC, took the top prize in this very tight race.


• To open attendees’ and exhibitors’ eyes to the best in today’s packaging communities — and to spark their thinking for the future — PACK EXPO introduced Project 2020: The Consumer Experience, sponsored by DuPont. Project 2020 explored packaging developments and concepts likely to occur over the next 10 years.