Why Pack Expo Tops Favorite Packaging Trade Shows List

Frenzy of sights, sounds, and conveyor sales highlight PMMI event

For a conveyor manufacturer in the USA like Volkmann, there are dozens of trade shows where it would be appropriate to exhibit our automated conveyor systems. After all, our pneumatic vacuum conveyor equipment transfers bulk materials and ingredients in hundreds of food, chemical, pharmaceutical, additive manufacturing, and other types of industrial facilities worldwide. We could be exhibiting at any of the excellent events serving any of these industries, and we often do. But as a conveyor company with a proven track record in designing and manufacturing automated conveyors for packaging applications, we tend to look forward to Pack Expo with a little more anticipation than other trade shows.

Pack Expo is organized by the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI), the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. Since packaging machines have traditionally taken up large spaces and large capital equipment budgets, it was always a challenge for the manufacturers to properly showcase their machinery in operation, and for customers to see these large, impressive feats of engineering up close before purchasing. Pack Expo became known as a destination where processors and other customers could see, hear, touch, use, and test a variety of packaging machinery and equipment, live and in action.

At a time when a number of manufacturers think twice about running their machines at trade shows, or about exhibiting altogether, we know that attendees expect the inspiring sights and clamoring sounds of a packaging line in operation – and so do we. Given the effort and cost involved in attending an event today, a trade show booth needs to offer a tangible, tactile experience beyond watching a video. To provide a firsthand experience, we setup a fully operating pneumatic vacuum conveyor for packaging at our booth to simulate how it would work in a customer’s plant.

This recirculating setup demonstrates how powders, pellets, granules, mixtures, blends, and other bulk materials are gently transferred by our Volkmann vacuum conveyor from one point, such as a mixer discharge, tablet press, day bin, or hopper, to another point, such as to a VFFS machine, stick pack machine, or tablet counter at the filling and packaging lines.

When conveying to a packaging line, preserving the quality and integrity of the material throughout the process also ranks as a top priority. Our gentle process safeguards particle shape and size and keeps mixtures together in exacting proportions without generating heat or dust.

The conveyor design simplicity and ease of maintenance are most apparent when cleaning is needed. In fact, we disassemble and reassemble the conveyors right in the trade show booth. For contract packagers and others who often need to switch from one product to another, this versatility has become one of the many reasons that attendees learning about conveyors for packaging make sure to see us at the show.

See us at Pack Expo Las Vegas on Sept. 11 – 13, booth #8260.

See us at Pack Expo International Chicago on Nov. 3 – 6, 2024 in Chicago, IL at booth #N-5451.

If you cannot attend this year, see us in our Bristol, Pa. headquarters and see a fully operating pneumatic vacuum conveying system in our test lab. Schedule your tour or test here.