Drink industry success based on design, packaging
For manufacturers and bottlers of beverages and liquid food, sustainability and design in filling and packaging are just as important as an efficient and cost-reducing technical solution.
At drinktec 2017, the leading global trade fair for the beverage and liquid food industry, these topics will be dealt with intensively from all angles in the coming year. Secure supply of consumers in a globalised world would be impossible without packaging. There are many new and untapped opportunities to reduce packaging, use it more sensibly or consume fewer resources in its making. Manufacturers will exhibit solutions to these topics at drinktec, which will take place in Munich from September 11 to 15, 2017.
This is because drinktec 2017 is not only focusing on the topic of water and energy management, but also packaging design. Almost half the exhibitors will present specific packaging solutions for the beverage and liquid food industry. In addition to filling and packaging technology with aseptic systems, this also includes cleaning, filling and sealing technology, inspection and sorting machines, labelling and equipment technology and — as of recently — digital direct printing, unpacking and packing machines, multiple packing machines, palletizers and depalletizers as well as conveyor systems. Containers, packaging materials, packaging accessories and closures, multipacks and multi-unit packages represent a second focal point. Consequently, the leading trade fair also provides an incredible variety, especially when it comes to packaging. Visitors also concur with this viewpoint, 97 per cent of whom awarded top grades for containers, packaging materials and closures as well as filling and packaging technology at the last drinktec. One thing is certain: packaging should always be part of the solution. For the World Packaging Organisation, “better quality of life through better packaging for more people” is the goal. “Sustainability is evolving from a secondary concern into a necessary component in the design of new product innovations,” the market research institute Mintel wrote in its study “Global Food and Drink Trends 2016”.
Volker Kronseder, chairperson of the advisory board of drinktec and deputy chair of the professional association Food Processing and Packaging Machinery in the German Engineering Federation, concurs with this. He says environmental protection as well as saving energy and resources are the most important tasks for the industry in the future. Kronseder believes the greatest potential for innovation is in the topics Industry 4.0, digital direct printing, intralogistics and sustainability. Visitor magnets at drinktec on these topics will be the "PETpoint" and the "World of Labels" as well companies’ own exhibition areas dealing with the topics of PET, labeling technology and labels, among other things.
