Best of Connects: Our Editors' Favorite Innovations

Available for only two more weeks, here are short clips from our editors discussing their personal picks from last Fall's PACK EXPO Connects. Make plans to be back live in Vegas this September.

Mar 17th, 2021

Our editors have seen it all. Dozens of shows, hundreds of plant tours. So what turns their heads at a show?

We asked the team to record short videos of the exhibits that caught their eye last Fall during PACK EXPO Connects. No, they did not walk the aisles, but they attended both live and pre-recorded demos, Innovation Stages, Trend Chats and our own TV Show, Jumpstart.

At the end of each day of the virtual show, we elected a pair of writers to download the best of Connects - real innovation from exhibitors. We offer these insightful observations one last time before we take down more than 60 hours of educational material at the end of this month (March 31). Our team could not catch it all. But we will be walking the aisles again for PACK EXPO Las Vegas September 27-29, 2021.

SEE IT ALL ONE LAST TIME Sixty hours of educational sessions from sustainability to cannabis. Amazon and e-commerce, remote access and workforce development.

Now for the editorial team's head-turning picks...

Top Virtual Show Finds with Packaging World’s Pat Reynolds and OEM Magazine’s Stephanie Neil

PACK EXPO Connects Daily Download: Monday

Best of Tuesday’s Demos and Presentations by Packaging World’s Matt Reynolds and Editor at Large Aaron Hand

PACK EXPO Connects Daily Download: Tuesday

OEM Magazine’s Natalie Craig and ProFood World’s Joyce Fassl Discuss Packaging and Processing Equipment Innovations

PACK EXPO Connects Daily Download: Wednesday

Life Sciences & Controls Innovations with Healthcare Packaging’s Keren Sookne and Automation World’s David Greenfield

PACK EXPO Connects Daily Download: Thursday

Matt Reynolds and Pat Reynolds from Packaging World Wrap Up the Show

PACK EXPO Connects Daily Download: Friday

Security Alert for Industrial Control Systems

U.S. Government issues warning about new cyberthreats that impact control systems and SCADA devices across industries.

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Innovation Not Keeping Pace With Sustainability Demands

OEMs and CPGs agree that right now, packaging and processing technology hinders any significant sustainable solutions. Consumers and brands want it yesterday, but how?

Coresight Online Grocery Shopping Us Consumer Survey

New Survey Reveals 54.3% of U.S. Consumers Bought Groceries Online in Past Year

The Coresight Research survey dives into changes in online grocery shopping habits and demographic drivers.

Great Resignation Driving Employee Poaching

It’s a buyer’s market for job seekers as 81,000 left manufacturing from Aug. 2020 through Aug. 2021. Manufacturers are climbing over each other to poach workers to meet increases in production.

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Three Tips for Chief Procurement Officers Navigating Packaging Shortages

Gartner, Inc. provides tactics for chief procurement officers attempting to deal with packaging material shortages amidst supply instability and rising costs.

Error Detection Automation Simplified: Introducing the In-Sight 2800

Error Detection Automation Simplified: Introducing the In-Sight 2800

See how easily the Cognex In-Sight 2800 can automate error detection. Powered by deep learning, it can solve a wide range of inspection applications quickly and easily — no programming experience required.

Neither gas prices nor inflation, rising interest rates nor global conflict, will deter financially well-situated Americans from spending their way through the new Roaring 20s.

Economist: Improving Supply Chain, Easing Demand, Let Packaging Machine OEMs Catch Up

ITR economists forecast a soft landing—not a recession—in coming months as consumers ease out of the pandemic and the revved-up stimulus-era economy fades. This will allow the supply chain to recalibrate and packaging machine OEMs to catch up on orders.

Craft Brew Conference Report: New Products for an Industry at a Crossroads

In an industry that’s quickly maturing, craft breweries are forced to reinvent themselves to stay relevant. We’ll talk about the trends, equipment, & materials shown at the 2022 Craft Brew Conference designed to help brewers take on the next chapter.

The Brewing Association's Economist Bart Watson delivers the good news and the bad news in Minneapolis.

Live at the Craft Brew Conference: Is the Pint Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

Pandemic-related channel shifts subsided in 2021, and on-premise sales bounced back, but there are both encouraging and concerning signs for the craft brew industry. Brewers Association's Bart Watson captures the landscape in his State of the Industry.

Inflationary pressure on packaging materials will continue to rise in 2022 leading to double-digit price increases, with food packaging being a major contributor.

How Will Inflation Affect Packaging Material Costs in 2022?

In light of the Russia-Ukraine war, new report provides the 12-month inflation outlook in North America for packaging materials, including plastic, paper, glass, and aluminum.

Standout Innovations from PACK EXPO East

From compact and modular cartoners to entry-level pouch baggers, these PACK EXPO East innovations cater provide flexibility.

Wrap It. Strap It. Secure It.

Wrap It. Strap It. Secure It.

While there has been an increased focus on automation investments across the supply chain – with an estimated $244 billion forecast in 2022 – an often-overlooked area is the importance of consumables of all types.

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Cobot Case Erector

Onexia shows its collaborative robot-based case erector system using a Universal Robots cobot.

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Cobot Case Packing System

Onexia highlights its collaborative robot-based case packing sytem featuring a Universal Robot cobot to reduce the case packing footprint.

Peer Expo East 2022

Discover Why Your Peers Attended PACK EXPO East 2022

Watch interviews with PACK EXPO East attendees on what they came to find and what they discovered at the largest comprehensive packaging and processing event in the world this year.

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Forum Stage Interview: Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: Trends Shaping the Future

Pharma manufacturers are seeking strategies to accommodate increased product customization and changing dose formats. Live from PACK EXPO East, Donna Ritson, president at DDR Communications, shares insights on industry player collaboration and more.

Manufacturers are seeking to improve efficiency by increasing visibility into their operations.

Pharma Manufacturers Seek Visibility into Processes to Drive Efficiency

The rise of shorter, customized runs in the pharmaceutical industry has strained production capacity at many plants. To keep up with this demand, manufacturers are seeking to improve efficiency by increasing visibility into their operations.

Doting Pet Parents Drive Innovation in Packaging Design, Technology

Pet food brands are embracing new packaging design strategies and technologies to meet pet parents’ desire for fresher, healthier pet food products and sustainable packaging. See four recent examples.

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Innovation Overload at Natural Products Expo West 2022

A small sampling of the many innovative products seen at Natural Products Expo West, some of which were launched at the show.

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Tips for Exporting Goods in 2022

Live from Natural Products Expo West: An international trade expert discusses why you need to know your buyers, what you can ship to a sanctioned country, insurance for sea cargo, and more.

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Printing and Labeling Use Cases for Sanitizer and COVID-19 Tests

Health Supply US and Bioneer use printing and labeling machines to enable hygienic and efficient packaging of single-dose sanitizer sachets and COVID-19 test kits, respectively.

PMMI specialists in IT, Andy Lomasky, and in OT, Bryan Griffen, conducted a podcast and video days after threats came in from Russia with the following five steps to keep your company and supply chain secure.

Thwart Foreign Cyberattacks

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Aseptic Filling Safety

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Automation and Flexibility in EOL Equipment Needed for Expanding SKUs

As the trend of more variety, more sizes, more choices, and ultimately more SKUs increases, end of line machinery is keeping up by including more robots, cobots, and modularity.

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How to Get Started Designing Packaging for Cannabis

Looking for a primer on the cannabis market and how to start designing packaging for cannabis? Download this free PDF below.

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PACK EXPO Innovations Report: Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Packaging

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Three Sustainability Trends Driving End of Line Machinery Innovations

EOL machinery needs to be flexible, adjustable, and adaptable to function efficiently with packaging changes that are a result of these sustainability trends.

Supply Chains Improving? | Welcoming Natalie Craig to Packaging World

As I sit down to type this, it’s 10°F in Chicago, it’s dark by 4:30 p.m., the Bears are in year 37 of their rebuild, and I’m quarantining with COVID-19.

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Future Looks Bright for End of Line Equipment Market

Four trends will affect continued growth on EOL machinery through 2026, with the food and beverage industries driving the majority of purchases.

PACK EXPO Innovations Report: Robotics

PMMI Media Group editors fanned out across the many booths at PACK EXPO Las Vegas to bring you this Innovations Report. Here’s what they saw in the robotics category.

When is a Retrofit Appropriate for Packaging Machinery?

Retrofits of existing packaging machinery can result in substantial cost savings, and enable an incremental approach to Industry 4.0 initiatives. But they may not always be the right choice.