Packaging—especially for foods—will play a prominent role when Emballage 2000 and the new IPA 2000, a world food processing exhibition, share the Paris-Nord Villepinte venue, Nov. 20 to 24. Emballage is sponsored by Exposium, represented in North America by Imex Management (Charlotte, NC).
Although packaging equipment can be seen at about half of Emballage’s 2귔 exhibits (1귔 more at IPA 2000), it’s expected that great innovation will be displayed in the form of materials and packages. This summer, packaging editors from across the globe journeyed to Paris to judge the Top Selection of innovations submitted by Emballage exhibitors.
Just three of the 40 Top Selection winners were machinery-oriented. The remaining 37 winners were all from suppliers of containers, components or materials. This balance reflects overall packaging sales. In Western Europe, according to Emballage 2000, the packaging marketplace totals about $100 billion, with 90% of those sales in containers and materials. The show expects that eight of the world’s top 10 largest packaging companies will be exhibiting.
The machinery winners in the Top Selection competition included the ACTIS 20 plastic bottle barrier system from Sidel, a French company with U.S. representation (Norcross, GA); a robotic film wrapper from Construcciones Mecanicas S.A. (De Malavella, Spain) that encloses five sides of a package; and a machine from Cefma (Genas, France) that applies tear tape to shrink-wrapped bundles for easy opening.
In all, the two exhibitions are expecting to attract a total of 150ꯠ visitors to the 2.2 million sq’ of exhibit space, virtually all of the space at the expanded exhibition center. The two businesses most prominent in French packaging are foods (65% of all French packaging) and health and beauty aids (11% of packaging sales). Emballage also says that France is the leading producer of luxury goods packaging, one reason why the show will have a Luxury Showcase area of exhibits. A special labeling exhibit area will also be prominent on the show floor.
Acting in conjunction with IFEC (French Institute of Packaging), Emballage 2000 will present four roundtable discussions. On Tuesday, Nov. 21, Packaging and marketing: purchasing behavior and new packaging will be the subject at 2:30 p.m. On Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 5 p.m., the IFEC 2000 Packaging Oscars will be presented, and the winners will be on display for the balance of the show.
Packaging and the future, 1950 to 2050 will be the topic Thursday, Nov. 23, at 10 a.m. This will be a counterpoint to the Packaging of Yesteryear exhibition on the show floor. At 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, the subject is New technology in labeling and tagging, including security labeling. The final roundtable will be held at 4:30 on Thursday. Packaging and the environment: solutions for conformity is the topic.
This year, Emballage’s preview of tomorrow’s packaging becomes PACK.VISION for students. The program, in effect since 1994, has helped hundreds of packaging projects from nearly 80 schools in 20 different countries. The editors who judged the Top Selection also voted on new projects accepted for this year. Themes this year include global packaging and sociological trends in product consumption. The projects will be featured on Emballage’s Web site, and many will be on exhibit at the show.
Full details regarding Emballage 2000 are available in five languages on the show Web site, www.emballage2000.com, including the opportunity to preregister.
