From: FoodProcessing

AUSPACK 2019, which wrapped up in Melbourne at the end of March, has been hailed as a success, with a 25% increase in the number of visitors to nearly 8000.

Mark Dingley, Chairman of the Australian Packaging & Processing Machinery Association (APPMA), which owns AUSPACK, said: “This year we had the largest floor space we’ve ever had — it was close on 20,000 square metres. Not only did floor space sell out nearly six months before the event, but we attracted 105 international exhibitors, which is the most ever and a 15% increase compared with the previous edition.”

Running alongside the exhibition were a number of events, including the inaugural Business & Industry Conference, the NextGen Breakfast forum and the reinstated APPMA Awards of Excellence. The Business & Industry conference attracted more than 40 speakers and over 300 attendees, which Dingley described as “a monumental achievement for an inaugural conference”. Around 50 people also heard how to attract and retain Gen Z into the workforce at the breakfast forum, while the awards attracted 50 award entries and 400 guests.

Finally, AUSPACK 2019 provided a platform to discuss Industry 4.0 and showcase Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions. “With IIoT very much becoming part of the vernacular in Australian manufacturing, it was excellent to see the interest in newly formed Industry 4.0 user group, Open IIoT, comprising prominent Australian automation brands SMC Corporation, Beckhoff Automation, NORD Drivesystems, Balluff and ZI-Argus. It was also excellent that this first-time exhibitor group found AUSPACK was the perfect way to reach their market, both as an exhibitor and as part of a panel about Industry 4.0, ‘Taking the Next Step’,” Dingley said.

AUSPACK 2021 will be held in Sydney.