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'Flexibility' sought in machinery at Pack Expo 96

Versatile machines that will allow manufacturers multiple packaging options was one of the frequent answers in Packaging World's second exclusive survey of Pack Expo registrants. Large buying teams and longer visits are also planned this year.

Charts 2, 3 and 4
Charts 2, 3 and 4

Although a few people admitted they'll still be searching for high-speed, dedicated packaging machines, the vast majority of Packaging World survey respondents want flexible and versatile equipment.

That was easily the clearest message in a telephone survey of readers who had already registered to attend Pack Expo 96, scheduled for Nov. 17 to 21, at Chicago's Mc-Cormick Place, and sponsored by the Packaging Machinery Manu-facturers Institute (Arlington, VA). A preview of the show begins on page 36.

The research was conducted for PW by Frambach & Co. (Elm Grove, WI) a fulfillment and telemarketing consultancy. Although the survey sample was small, the people contacted represent a wide variety of companies from quite small to very large. This diverse cross-section may mirror quite closely the attendance at Pack Expo.

We're also showing some specific comments from these attendees. Comments in answer to the question, "What is your primary objective at the show?" will be displayed along with our listing of Pack Expo exhibitors in our 23 product categories (see page 42). We also asked our participants "What improvements in packaging machinery would you like to see in the future?" Some answers to that question are shown here with the results of the survey.

Looking for specifics

The PW survey asked registrants about their primary objective at Pack Expo 96, especially whether they sought specific machines, a turnkey line, an integrated system or even all three (Chart 1).

Not surprisingly, 71% of all respondents indicated their objective was to evaluate individual machines. Still, some 13% were planning to look for a complete turnkey packaging line. About 4% said their primary goal was to look for integrated systems for their plants, and the balance, about 12%, said they had plans to look for individual machines and integrated systems and even turnkey packaging lines.

Our survey also asked the respondents to identify the types of machines they sought in three different ways, and some of the answers are a bit surprising. For example, we asked whether they sought semi-automatic, automatic or true state-of-the-art equipment. Since each smaller company response carries the same weight as each large company, we truly expected semi-automatic and automatic equipment to log similar results.

However, four in 10 respondents (Chart 2) say that the equipment they seek will be automatic, while just 26% say they're looking for semi-automatic machines. Meanwhile, more than a third (34%) really want cutting-edge equipment.

In some ways this contrasts to the answers we heard when we inquired about the machinery output and adjustability. As noted above, flexible equipment was an overwhelming winner (Chart 3), when we gave respondents two choices of equipment types: flexible/moderate-output, or high-output/nonadjustable.

Finally, we got little consensus when we asked participants their preferences to equipment by type of operation (Chart 4). A full third had no preference, and 20% favored pneumatic machines. The remaining participants were evenly divided between mechanical and electronic operation, 23% each.

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