Sustainable Packaging
Industry Experts discuss all the new materials and ways that packaging can be more sustainable and how we can do our parts to help recycle and reuse. Sustainable Packaging is and will continue to affect us all in our daily lives. We have lots of fun and get down to the real data of what's working to help our planet!
Sustainable Packaging
PACK EXPO 2023 with Jorge Izquierdo / PMMI
https://www.packexpolasvegas.com/
Join 30,000 of your closest friends in Las Vegas to learn about the latest in packaging.
There will be a sustainability central and a sustainability stage that I'm very excited to take part of. I'll be speaking 9/12/23 at 2pm with Jonathin Quinn and Adam Peek and Evelio Mattos.
The largest show in the USA this year for packaging!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/packaging-today-show/id1656906367
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Packaging Today Podcast
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-connors/
I'm here to help you make your packaging more sustainable! Reach out today and I'll get back to you asap.
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Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors. Today's guest is my friend Jorge Izquierdo from PMMI. He is a VP of Market Development. How are you,
Jorge Izquierdo:sir? Doing great, Corey, and thank you for having me here again with you. Appreciate
Cory Connors:it. It's, it's my honor to have you on. I, like we were just talking about, we just, just posted your episode from last year onto YouTube. So, that was a good reminder of what we talked about then.
Jorge Izquierdo:Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah.
Cory Connors:Well, let's talk about you and let's talk about PMMI and the amazing events that you all put on and what you do there. Can you tell us what, what PMMI is and how it works?
Jorge Izquierdo:Sure, absolutely. So PMMI is a trade association. Basically what we do, the core of what we do is to connect users and suppliers of packaging and processing technologies. We do that mainly through trade shows, publications, online printed. and to market research and trends, for the industry. And of course, the big one here, this year is, PACK Expo Las Vegas. Yes. this show is, it's, breaking every record, in terms of size, in terms of registration. we have over 2000 exhibitors. We are Just on there just a bit under 1, 000, 000 square feet of, activity space that we sold. and, it's great. we're very pleased. registration is ahead of past years. so, the immediate past show that we have here was, 2021 where COVID was still kind of, Prevalence. so we are comparing against, 2019th and, we're very happy. We're ahead of the game. So,
Cory Connors:so, yeah, it's kind of known in the in North America as the packaging event. And, Well, because it is, I think it, it's, the biggest, it's, in my opinion, one of the best in the world. And, I just have to congratulate you and your team for the experience that you, set up for the rest of us packaging professionals. Thank you. No, no, no.
Jorge Izquierdo:Our pleasure. And I can say it because I'm part of PMMI, but I'm not part of the trade show team. they do an amazing job. One of the things that really differentiate, our shows against other shows is the amount of the equipment you can see while you're running, the number of, engineers, service, staff, that, are present at the booth, there to answer your questions. So it's not just, taking your name and a sales pitch. It's a lot about technology about, a lot about solutions. A lot about matching what attendees are looking for and what's on display at the show. I agree
Cory Connors:a hundred percent. Getting to see a machine run and watching how the material interacts with the equipment and how it's adjusted and getting to speak to the engineer that designed it, in person while you're looking at the machine is such a valuable experience. very true. Very well said. And so who should go to PAC Expo?
Jorge Izquierdo:Basically, every person that touches packaging within a company, they should be attending PACEX. When we're talking, from marketing, design, and a big part of our attendance is, everybody from operations, like from, engineering, maintenance, plant managers, quality, service, even, warehouse, as well, with all the warehouse automation that's, happening now. so everybody that touches packaging, in the industry, this is their show.
Cory Connors:It is the show. It's a show for the people. It's, we've been talking at Orora a lot about automation. And how automation equals sustainability, because it makes you more efficient because it, you can use less material because you can be more, efficient with that material. so what an opportunity to see the latest and greatest in, automation equipment. And, like you said, not just automation for production, but automation for the warehouse for everything. incredible. Yeah. And
Jorge Izquierdo:Corey, it's, You're just touching, when we're talking about key trends driving, the investment, in our industry, automation that you just mentioned, it's right there, automation, productivity, all the integration of all these technologies, I IOT and predictive maintenance. everything, and when I say everything, it's, from simple semi automatic solutions, the most, advanced technology available. We find it at the show and Corey, it's all about automation. these days, of course, it's all about workforce, significant challenge in general in manufacturing, trying to address, all these workforce, challenges from, labor, operators, engineers at every level. and how technology is being used to address those challenges, how the technology is transforming to make it easier for the operators to be trained. sometimes, it's making that training shorter and also making all those, resources available like, remote assistance, remote training, so they can immediately get help, right? it's not like, the machine stops and you need to wait for somebody to come, more and more is just making sure that, the operator has all the resources available for them at, remotely at the tip of their hands. and finally the last one, it's sustainability, these days, everything seems to be going around sustainability. Yes,
Cory Connors:and, I'm thankful for that because the, that's what we've been pushing for many years in, in our industry. And, you have something new to offer at the event this year called Sustainability Central. can we speak to that a little bit? What's that all about?
Jorge Izquierdo:Absolutely. we are very excited, for a number of years, we've offered, several sustainability, resources at, our show. this year we wanted to, consolidate many of them, get many of the actors all together, right? We're talking about, having everything from, manufacturing, materials, recovery. Logistics, analytics and design, sometimes it's, how to design packaging to be recycled properly. Right. And sometimes it didn't design and the recycling is, very significant within the industry. So it's how to put all of them together, how to show all these solutions. the objective here, it's to create, an alternative for inspiration, practical solutions, when you talk about sustainability, it seems many of the solutions that you see, many of the solutions that you hear about seems like far, like, not feasible. this is totally the opposite. this is what's happening with the industry. A lot about, resources, a lot about education. We have, as part of this, we have the sustainability center. As part of the sustainability center, we have the sustainability stage. many presentations talking about, sustainability. We are actually, making a presentation, of, research, we did, earlier, this year, we released earlier. Thank you. The sustainability compass is talking about, where the industry is going in terms of materials. and it's a very cool exercise. So we run a survey later last year asking everybody, A, where are you going with materials, right? Are you going, are you keeping plastics? Are you keeping flexible? What are the materials that you're dropping? Are you going for compostables? and one of the things that, are kind of great and that PacExpo is doing, rather than just having that as a research and a data point in the past. This year, it's every people. that's attending PacExpo, they're completing a registration form. As part of that registration form, we are asking them, Hey, what are you doing with your materials? So the goal here is to keep updating this, what we call the sustainability compass. We've got a data point from late last year. We're updating that data point by basically everybody attending the show is helping us, update that data point. so we can, keep telling the industry how everything is moving, right? We call it sustainability compass because we know it's not a, it's not a precise point in the future, right? It's something that keeps moving and adjusting.
Cory Connors:So I like that a lot.
Jorge Izquierdo:Very excited about that. if you think about the this year, we're talking about 30, 000 attendees. So if you think about those 30, 000 attendees, many of them completing this information, we'll have thousands and thousands of data points to It's been a pleasure, and we'll see you to help the industry kind of, explain where we're going, where the industry's going.
Cory Connors:That's amazing. I'm often asked on this podcast or on other podcasts where I'm interviewed, what's the future? What's going on next? And I think this is the answer people, are looking for. here's a whole bunch of aggregate data that from the people in the industry who are actually buying and using packaging. And so you're exactly right. This is what we've been waiting for. Essentially. Well, how will it be presented? Will there be some charts and graphs? Will there be a presentation? Thanks
Jorge Izquierdo:for us, Corey. as part of the Sustainability Central, we have a section showing, the findings, from, from our first research earlier this year, and we will have actually live updates, based on how the registration information is coming in as, during the show, we will keep collecting, data and we will be sharing that as, live, as it's being updated at the show. Thank you. So it's, to be honest, I, we're not aware of, another, exercise at this, of this size, right? Again, we're having 30, 000 attendees. I'm pretty sure many of them, most of them will be responding to this question. So it's not what we think. It's not what we say. It's pretty much what they, what the industry is doing, what they think where they are standing today, what are their plans today. And next year we will be updating this again on our show in Chicago, and the day, the year after we'll be updating again for our next edition in Vegas. So it's, it's not just a number that's static, we will be able to see the evolution of the industry.
Cory Connors:That's wonderful. And so it sounds like the sustainability central won't be a one time thing. It sounds like this is going to be a new feature moving
Jorge Izquierdo:forward. And that's correct. that's, and that's one of many features, in fact, we. We started by talking about all their, how we are collecting within Sustainability Central many of the different initiatives. so what we do, a show of organizers is part of the sustainability answer. Really most of it, and maybe the most important part, is what the exhibitors are bringing to the show. Right? And there are so many solutions, so many things out there. That, we put together something that we call the sustainability finder. let me see if I'm using the right name here. I think I am. yeah. Back Expo sustainability solutions finder. So it's, very cool because. When you're talking about sustainability, suddenly it seems like you fall into a pool of so many things, right? Right. Here on the Solutions Finder, you're able to select, for example, if you're interested in flexible materials, if you're interested in compostables, if you're interested, so you can filter. And rather than like, like having thousands of names in front of you, you're suddenly no kind of filtering and just getting exactly what's interesting for you. So again, a pack expo will provide you with the sustainability central, with all these great presentations around sustainability. For sure. But again, most importantly, it's all the solutions that the industry, the sustainability solutions that the industry will bring to the show and that you have access to these, PacExpo Sustainability Solutions Finder.
Cory Connors:That's a, that's an amazing feature because I think that can be very confusing for a lot of people is. How do I find the things that I'm interested in? And I know Peck Expo does an amazing job of, planning your event for you and putting in, here's the things I'm interested in, and then these are the booths you should visit, which is wonderful. So. Look, can you give us a pro tip? Maybe somebody that's never been before, maybe somebody who's been before and been frustrated by, Oh, I didn't feel like I got to see everything, what do you recommend, Jorge?
Jorge Izquierdo:Corey, that's the challenge, really. Now you're, to be honest, Many of our shows tend to be so big, it's hard to see everything. Right. It's not like you can come to the show and walk the aisles and see everything. No, you don't have enough time. So what's key here is just plan ahead. We have a great tool. It's called the show planner. please, don't hesitate just immediately, create your show planner account. your show planner account is going to be tagged with your badge. And you can go ahead and from, selecting, by product category with, companies you're interested in visiting with, which exhibits, which pavilions, what, educational sessions you're interested in. And you can select everything. And this application is going to do two things for you. It's going to put, together an agenda. That's very helpful, right? But even better, it's going to put together a map. Okay. It's going to show you where you should be going. And it's going to be much easier for you in terms of, where should I start? What's my next stop? So instead of spending half of the day walking from one end of the building to the other end of the building, just being very efficient, where you go first, second, at what time you need to be where, so it's, that's a key to, and I strongly would recommend that to everybody new to the show and, old timers.
Cory Connors:There's nothing more frustrating than walking down an aisle and saying, Oh, I've already done this one. I need to go to the next one. you feel like you, you wasted that time, but what a great problem to have that there's so much to see that, that you have to be selective, right? and I, one thing I would suggest is, make sure you look at the speakers, speaking at the different stages, including the sustainability central stage. I'll be there at two o'clock on Tuesday with Evelio Mattos and Adam Peek and Jonathan Quinn. I'm very excited about that and honored to be a part of that, group, but you're exactly right. We need to, plan for the whole event. Yeah, in fact,
Jorge Izquierdo:as part is sustainability central, we have a presentation actually on, on, with a merry pen on the policy and, a lot of regulation that's needed around sustainability. That's going to be Wednesday, September 13 in the morning, it's 1030 am, and again, all these effort. is we are we're working very closely with Dow. That was will be making also, will be have an extra strong presence on the educational sessions that they are big supporters of the Sustainability Central. So we're very happy to have a down support for these first Sustainability Central at PACExpo.
Cory Connors:Some amazing innovations in the world of sustainability. And I think a lot of things we'll see at Pack Expo for the first time. So that'll be really cool. This is a, I know this event is in the USA, but it's an international event, right? You'll, you're expecting people and companies from all over the world to present what they have. And you're expecting visitors from all over the world. Is that right?
Jorge Izquierdo:Correct. in terms of, exhibitors, a significant amount of, of our exhibitors are, international companies, from, a lot for sure from Europe, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands. of course, we'll have Japan. We'll have also. North Korea. some pretty sure Chinese companies as well. But, technology from all around the world. And in terms of attendees, so we're talking about a total of, we expect a lot about 30, 000 attendees, 15% of those 30, 000, should be international. So you're talking about a significant number. I see it happens, Corey, Las Vegas is a good destination as well for many international visitors. Yeah. So we have a strong presence. We work closely with the Department of Commerce on attracting, delegation from different countries. we're having a very strong showing this year for international delegation. So we're very pleased with that. We're one of the things we're doing this year. Actually, we have, On top of all the educational sessions, we have a number of networking events, right? We have a networking event specifically for internationals, and, that's going to be, the morning Tuesday morning. but, in addition to that, we have network events for, We have a woman's networking event. We have, let me, we have so many that I need to look for them.
Cory Connors:Again, what a wonderful problem. This is awesome.
Jorge Izquierdo:So it's great. we have, confectionery industry networking reception. We have first timers attending. If you're a first time, the first time attending the event, there's a networking, event for you. There's, actually, a room, especially. assigned for first timer so you can find resources at the show. There's people that will help you identify, exhibitors and help you through the process. we have also the young professionals, networking event. we are talking about workforce challenges. So a big part of this is attracting and retaining all the professionals we can in this industry.
Cory Connors:Amazing. and not just college, students, but high school students, if I recall from your last event. That's
Jorge Izquierdo:correct. In past events, we have had, high school students, this year as, the same as in past years, we will have, our, amazing packaging race, different colleges competing against each other with great prices for them. And again, this is all about, attracting talent to the industry, and making sure we have, enough talent to keep growing at the pace we're growing.
Cory Connors:Well, keep up the great work, sir. Thank you and the team at PMMI for all the hard work. I've been really impressed with the team this year. how do we sign up for this event?
Jorge Izquierdo:So, it's pretty straightforward. It's, PackExpoLasVegas. com is the, it's the website. Uh, the registration, it's very accessible. It's 30 until August 18, but this is the caveat, it's. Please pre register. It's $30 only. Yeah. After August 13, it's gonna go up to $130. Wow. Oh wow.'cause it's on site and it's much more expensive for us. So please pre register. we're looking to see, of course to see you Corey down there, but also to see all your, viewers, it's, it would be great to see all of you there.
Cory Connors:Right. Well, thank you, sir. I really appreciate this and, looking forward to seeing you in Las Vegas very soon.
Jorge Izquierdo:Okay. See you, Corey. Thanks again.
