Arlington, VA, October 25, 2007 – Consumer and industrial goods companies broke PACK EXPO Las Vegas attendance records as they flocked to the largest, most comprehensive packaging event in 2007 to find innovative packaging solutions from the record number of exhibiting packaging suppliers.

PMMI’s PACK EXPO Las Vegas (October 15-17, 2007, Las Vegas Convention Center), set new highs in visitor attendance (+10 percent), Exhibitor Attendance (+19 percent), Total Attendance (+13 percent), International Attendance (+34 percent), Number of Exhibiting Companies (+12 percent) and Net Square Footage (+17 percent).

“PACK EXPO Las Vegas continues to attract a strong buying audience because attendees know that they will find the innovations they need to grow their business and create strong brands,” notes Charles D. Yuska, president and CEO of PMMI. “PMMI was extremely pleased to see the strong growth in international attendance following a dedicated marketing effort to attract the international buying audience from key market segments.” Statistics from this year’s show follow:

*Includes Process Expo and CPP Expo Attendance Data

Process Expo and CPP Expo Add to Event

For the first time, both Process Expo and Converting and Package Printing Expo (CPP Expo) were co-located with PACK EXPO Las Vegas. Combined, the three shows featured 1,776 exhibitors and 701,326 net square feet of space.

Process Expo had 345 exhibitors and 106,255 net square feet, while CPP Expo accounted for an additional 150 exhibitors and 28,675 net square feet.

Food Safety and Sustainability: Key Trends at Show

Protecting the food and drug supply chain and focusing on sustainability in a manner that benefits the environment and business were the focus of keynote addresses made by: Cal Dooley, President & CEO, Grocery Manufacturers Association/Food Processors Association (GMA/FPA); John A. Luke Jr., CEO, Mead Westvaco; and Dr. David Acheson, Assistant Commissioner for Food Safety; US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Acheson alerted the industry to the fact that a new government food safety approach is in the works.

“The new plan, once it’s cleared, will have more specifics to build better prevention, stronger intervention and faster response components,” he told the PACK EXPO audience, noting that focusing on just one of the three components would not suffice. “We need a new approach to food safety and food defense across the board.”

Keynote speaker Luke, honing in on a central theme of the Conference at PACK EXPO, discussed the leading-edge sustainability efforts of his company, MeadWestvaco, as he challenged industry to take a “holistic” look at sustainability to ensure that industry moves beyond the simple construct of “reuse, reduce and recycle.”

Sustainability was also a strong component of the exhibit floor. More than 25 percent of the exhibits featured packaging solutions highlighting some aspect of sustainability such as recycling, operational efficiency, low energy usage components or biopolymers.

My PACK EXPO™ Locator Finds Sustainable Subject Matter

Thanks to PMMI’s My PACK EXPO feature attendees could easily find the packaging solutions they needed throughout the Central and South Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

More than 70 percent of the attendees used the My PACK EXPO business tool to pre-plan their visits. There were 27,500 personal maps printed to guide attendees to the solutions they wanted to learn more about at the show.

“We offer the My PACK EXPO feature free to all registered attendees so they can organize their days ahead of time and arrive ready to start working,” Yuska said.

PMMI Total Access and Packexpo TV Debut

PACK EXPO Las Vegas marked the debut of Packexpo TV. The new service from PMMI gives the association and its members the opportunity to broadcast video news releases online.

The Packexpo TV launch featured 100+ interviews with industry leaders, live newscasts each day of the show and “person on the street interviews” conducted throughout the exhibit halls.

“This is a dynamic new way to share news and create excitement at the show, while also leveraging the tool all year long on Packexpo.com,” reported Tom Egan, vice president, industry services at PMMI. “In addition to the footage attendees viewed at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, PMMI will show segments throughout the year on packexpo.com.”

Total Access, Total Booth

PMMI also launched the Total Access program at the show. PMMI Total Access unites the PACK EXPO Trade Shows, Packexpo.com Web-based business tool and Packaging Machinery Technology (PMT) magazine under a single banner.

The program, thought to be a first for a major industry trade association, gives packaging industry buyers and sellers a single, integrated one-stop shopping offering that supports the entire packaging supply chain.

Benefits include custom content, supplier information and immediate access to PMMI’s considerable industry resources through a personal desktop widget for the buyers. In addition, PMMI Total Access offers suppliers a single, consolidated media kit that gives packaging industry suppliers an easy way to work with PMMI’s tradeshow, online and print properties.

“Our efforts at PACK EXPO Las Vegas were, as always, centered on maximizing the experience for attendees and exhibitors. We’ll take what we learn here and apply it in the future — so expect even more excitement and success at EXPO PACK Mexico and PACK EXPO International in 2008,” Yuska said. “As always, we truly appreciate the support of the industry and look forward to 2008 as PMMI celebrates its 75th anniversary of delivering products and services to the industry.”

PMMI is a trade association whose more than 500 general members manufacture packaging and packaging-related converting machinery in the United States and Canada. PMMI’s thirty-two supplier members manufacture commercially available packaging machinery components. PMMI's vision is to be the leading global resource for packaging. Its mission is to improve and promote members' abilities to meet the needs of their customers. Visit www.pmmi.org for more information.

PACK EXPO Las Vegas was held October 15-17, 2007 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV. The show was co-located with the PROCESS EXPO, the Converting & Package Printing EXPO and the International Bottled Water Association’s 2007 Convention and Tabletop Trade Show. PACK EXPO International will be held November 9-13, 2008 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.  PMMI also produces EXPO PACK México, the premier packaging show in Mexico serving the Latin American region. This show will be held June 24-27, 2008 at Centro Banamex, Mexico City, Mexico.

Visit www.packexpo.com for more information. 

# # #