In This Section

Student Innovators will Showcase Robotics Skills at PACK EXPO

October 10, 2012

Editorial Contact
Kate Achelpohl
Director, Member Communications
703.243.8555
kachelpohl@pmmi.org

Follow PMMI on Twitter: PMMIorg

FOR IMMEDIATE Release

Student Innovators will Showcase Robotics Skills at PACK EXPO

Siemens and Massman Sponsor display of top robots from2012 FIRST Robotics competition

Reston, Va.; October 10, 2012 – PMMI, the owner and producer of the PACK EXPO trade shows, is pleased to announce PACK EXPO International 2012 (McCormick Place, Chicago; Oct. 28–31) will host teams from the 2012 FIRST Robotics competition at the “Future Innovators — Robotics Showcase” (Booth #6300) in the Education & Workforce Development Pavilion.

The teams of high school students will display and demonstrate the hoop-shooting robots they entered in this year’s “FIRST Robotics Rebound Rumble,” a national robotics competition. The annual FIRST Robotics Competition, which began in 1989, inspires youth to leadership in science and technology by engaging them in exciting, mentor-based programs that foster science, engineering and technology skills, as well as critical life skills including self-confidence, communication and leadership.

Massman Automation LLC and Siemens are sponsoring the “Future Innovators — Robotics Showcase,” and Dorner Mfg., Flexicell, the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Consortium (Aagard, Douglas, ITW Heartland and Massman) and Pearson Packaging Systems have come forward to support student teams from their local areas.

Each High School Presents Half Day of Demos

Each day of the show will see two teams demonstrating their robots in half-day shifts with a one-hour overlap for “friendly competition.” PMMI’s Education & Training Foundation will donate $500 to each high school to support the teams, and PMMI members are providing funds to cover travel expenses for those coming from outside the Chicago area, including:

J.R. Tucker High School (Henrico, Va.)
Sponsor: Flexicell
Arrowhead High School (Hartland, Wisc.)
Sponsor: Dorner Manufacturing
Jefferson High School (Alexandria, Minn.)
Sponsor: Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Consortium
St. George’s School (Spokane, Wash.)
Sponsor: Pearson Packaging Systems

Benefiting Industry, Benefiting Workforce

Education & Workforce Development Committee Chairman Jeff Bigger, president and owner of event sponsor Massman Automation, sees more than one benefit to the program, which launches a new PMMI initiative to reach out to high school students to expose them to packaging and processing as a potential career choice.

“To keep our industry strong, we need to continuously bring in fresh ideas and thinking – and high school is a perfect place to start. It’s to our benefit as an industry to start making these kids aware of what they can do in packaging and processing. There’s so much room for innovation and problem-solving in the packaging and processing area, and these students are the best in the country at doing just that,” Bigger says.

The Future Innovators project seeks to promote high school engineering programs to attendees and exhibitors, encouraging them to support their local schools in developing future innovators, and to encourage young innovators while introducing them to PACK EXPO and packaging/processing as a career choice. Other goals include providing financial support to participating high schools and growing PMMI’s General Scholarship Fund.

“The earlier that technology becomes part of young innovators’ consciousness, the better it is for all of industry as well as Siemens. This is a generation for whom ‘mechatronics’ is standard technology, and we want them to know they can depend on our thought leadership and rely on our expertise when they enter the workforce,” says Walt Staehle, business development at Siemens. “That is why we have stepped up to be an event sponsor.”

About PMMI
PMMI is a trade association of more than 600 member companies that manufacture packaging, processing and related converting machinery in the United States, Canada or Mexico; machinery components and packaging containers and materials. PMMI’s vision is to be the leading global resource for the packaging and processing supply chain, and its mission is to improve and promote members' abilities to meet the needs of their customers.

PMMI organizes the PACK EXPO trade shows: PACK EXPO International, PACK EXPO Las Vegas and EXPO PACK México, connecting participants in the packaging and processing supply chain with their customers around the world. Coming Up: PACK EXPO International at McCormick Place in Chicago, Oct. 28–31, 2012; EXPO PACK Guadalajara, Feb. 27–March 1, 2013, in Guadalajara, Mexico. EXPO PACK México, June 18-21, 2013 in Mexico City, Mexico.

Learn more about PMMI and the PACK EXPO trade shows at PMMI.org and Packexpo.com.

# # #