Exclusive: What’s in Store for Bakers at Pack Expo East 2017?

With Pack Expo East 2017 just two weeks away, WorldBakers talked edition’s highlights with Sean Riley, senior director, Media and Industry Communications, PMMI. The show will be held February 27–March 1, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center), produced by the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies (PMMI). It spans nearly 100,000 net square feet and features 400 exhibiting companies.

By Ioana Oancea

The trade fair debuts new app for the visitors this year: Pro Mach, available in the App Store and Google Play. The app helps find products, view exhibitor listings, search conference sessions, plan your agenda and serve as a guide for the three-day event.

To find out more about this edition of Pack Expo East, WorldBakers asked Sean Riley, senior director, Media and Industry Communications, PMMI.  

• What are some of the specifics of the bakery markets at Pack Expo East 2017?

Sean Riley: Attendees from the baking and snack industry will gain access to new technology and innovations for machinery and packaging materials, such as conveyors, fill, form and seal equipment, coding and labeling, automation, robotics, sanitary equipment, flexible packaging and much more. Attendees can also benefit from conference topics that relate to trends like organic foods, regulatory matters, automated data capturing and archiving and baking industry best practices.  

• What can baking professionals expect from the program of this edition, which are some of the highlights? What will be some of the main topics/speakers of the conference? 

Sean Riley: The Innovation Stage will cover a range of topics of importance to the baking and snack industry, specifically a Spotlight on Baking discussion about industry-derived best practices from the OpX Leadership Network (manufacturing, engineering and operations professionals convened by PMMI to improve operational excellence). In addition, the Innovation Stage will include topics on hygienic design considerations for conveyor systems and top trends and issues impacting enterprise resource planning (ERP). Other areas of interest include factory acceptance test (FAT) checklists to supply original equipment manufacturers (OEM), new approaches and tools to advance structural and behavioral worker safety, compact optimized automation packaging, and an overview of automatic identification and data capture and collection (AIDC).  

• How does consumer demand influence packaging trends for baked items?

Sean Riley: Consumer demands for ingredient variety and for specialty food categories like organic, gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, sugar-free and non-GMO products. These are prompting manufacturers of baked goods and snacks to change their production lines in an effort to bring these products to market. The diversifying tastes of consumers require more flexible operations, with ample measures in place to prevent cross-contamination of ingredients and potential allergens. Additionally, these line installations or adjustments must provide greater efficiency, as working with organic and natural ingredients can place pressure on manufacturers to process and package goods in a more time-sensitive manner. Fast changeovers, easy cleanability, user-friendly interfaces, greater automation and hygienic equipment design are all in-demand features.  

• What are some of the main trends you can anticipate for the bakery industry, on long term? If you were to single out one game-changing trend, what would that be? 

Sean Riley: There are several trends that we see, but perhaps the most striking is the Internet of Things (IoT) and the resulting connectivity and data collection that is continuously changing all industries as well as the baking sector. Bakery and snack packaging is moving toward more interactive and intelligent coding and labeling. These will enhance food safety through track and trace technologies as well as prompt greater consumer engagement with brands. Quick Response (QR) codes on packaging can direct consumers to online content demonstrating brand values, sustainable practices and healthy ingredient choices. Integrating data collection for track and trace across a snack brand’s supply chain can also maximize efficiency in the event of a recall. This way brand managers can quickly identify where the contamination or adulterated product emerged and resolve the problem.

Other key trends in the baking and snack industry that we see include the rise of clean labeling, which is in response to consumer demands, as well as the rise of packaging that extends shelf life. More consumers than ever before desire food products that contain no additives or unrecognizable ingredients, and this is prompting food processors to search for new solutions to extend product shelf-life. 

• What is the profile of the bakery professional visitor?

Sean Riley: Attendees from the baking and snack sector will include professionals ranging from packaging engineers and operators to brand managers, C-suite executives and company owners. Essentially, these include all the parties that have a role to play in package design decisions as well as equipment material and specifications. Additionally, the location of PACK EXPO East 2017 in Philadelphia places the event within 200 miles of one-third of U.S. consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs). This centralized location makes the event one of the most efficient ways to engage suppliers of packaging technologies in the East Coast.