Pack Expo East gets warm welcome in Philadelphia

Data from Pack Expo East, which debuted last week in Philadelphia, show the event exceeded expectations on several fronts, reporting more than 6,500 attendees, 386 exhibiting companies and 92,413 net square feet of exhibit space, according to show owner and producer PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

Its location in Philadelphia placed Pack Expo East within 200 miles of one-third of U.S. consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs), including the life science and pharmaceutical industries, which have a stronghold in the region. Attendance — which drew primarily from Pennsylvania (35.5%), New Jersey (24.6%) and New York (10.3%) — surpassed initial projections by 60%.

“PMMI is always looking for new ways to achieve our mission to convene the processing and packaging supply chain, and Northeastern manufacturers needed an easier way to connect with leading processing and packaging suppliers,” said PMMI president and CEO Charles D. Yuska. “Based on initial feedback, I’d say buyers and sellers found Pack Expo East fostered connections, discussions, and, ultimately, solutions for end users’ operational challenges.”

Attendee Ronald Yakubison, director of GTO Packaging Technical Operations, Merck, said that because Pack Expo East was close to home, his company was able to send larger teams than it does to Pack Expo Las Vegas or Pack Expo International.

“A local trade show allows us to give the whole staff the opportunity to attend,” Yakubison said. “In addition, the team reported seeing some things of interest that they may have missed at a national event, since they typically fill up their time with known suppliers.”

Pack Expo Las Vegas will see its first Pharma Expo co-location, in partnership with the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering, on Sep. 28–30, 2015. Pack Expo International and Pharma Expo will return to Chicago Nov. 6–9, 2016; and Pack Expo East will be back in Philadelphia in February 2017.