Guest: Pat Finlay, R&D Sr. Director, Global Beverages Packaging at PepsiCo

The answer to how to solve the packaging and processing workforce crisis often remains incomplete. PepsiCo, the largest food company in the U.S., is doing its part to tackle workforce issues head-on, sponsoring many programs targeting the next generation of workers, like PACK EXPO’s PACK Challenge. PepsiCo R&D Sr. Director, Global Beverages Packaging Pat Finlay joins the unPACKed podcast to discuss additional PepsiCo work, like the Million-Girl Moonshot to engage one million more girls in STEM learning opportunities and direct initiatives with SWE, Society of Women Engineers and NSBE, the National Society of Black Engineers.

Guest: Stephanie Neil, Edito-in-Chief, OEM Magazine

In the third installment of our must-see technologies and trends from PACK EXPO International 2022, we welcome editor-in-chief of OEM Magazine, Stephanie Neil. Loyal listeners of unPACKed with PMMI all know by now that the weakening workforce is a stress across our entire industry, and each editor has touched on that in parts one and two. Stephanie tackles the issue from the point of view of the OEM, who indicate that their customers are now looking to them for help with the unskilled labor force, whether it be with more simple intuitive machines or robots for rent.

Guests: Keren Sookne from Healthcare Packaging and Lilián Robayo from Mundo PMMI

After part one of our review of PACK EXPO covered trends and technologies focused on food processing and packaging at large, this episode of unPACKed with PMMI offers a pair of unique views from PMMI Media Group Editors. Keren Sookne from Healthcare Packaging provides highlights targeting the healthcare sector and Lilián Robayo from Mundo PMMI provides her view of top technologies applicable to her market in Latin America.

Guests: Matt Reynolds from Packaging World and Michael Costa from ProFood World

PACK EXPO International returned with a vengeance in 2022, surpassing numbers from the good old days when nobody was familiar with COVID-19, and pandemics were things you learned about in history class. While the show is in the books, unPACKed with PMMI discussed some of the trends and technologies seen on the show floor with PMMI Editors, Matt Reynolds from Packaging World and Michael Costa from Pro Food World. The pair provide just a glimpse at some of the technologies that stood out to their trained eyes as well as trends that continue to emerge.  

Guest: Dawn Hudson, Former Chief Marketing Officer at the National Football League and Former President and CEO of Pepsi Cola North America and PepsiCo Foodservice, Stephanie Neil, Editor-in-Chief of OEM Magazine

Stephanie Neil, Editor-in-Chief of OEM Magazine interviews Packaging and Processing Women’s Leadership Network keynote speaker Dawn Hudson after she headlined the massively successful PPWLN breakfast at PACK EXPO International. Neil and Hudson detail her journey from the advertising industry to designing packages as a brand manager for Clairol to executive leadership roles at Pepsi and the NFL. Every step of the way, Hudson was the minority simply because she was a woman. She describes her earliest days when only 1 in 10 in advertising were female and navigating the male-dominated rooms she walked into in the NFL. She also provides insight into how to navigate microaggressions and the importance of authenticity in the workplace.

Guest: Sean Spees, Market Segment Manager for Consumer Packaged Goods North America, Bosch Rexroth

Automation use in packaging and processing continues to explode, with CPGs looking to improve operations while also coping with a labor shortage. On this episode of unPACKed with PMMI, Sean Spees from Bosch Rexroth joins us to discuss what CPGs should ask from automation suppliers to keep up with shifting consumer demands and, with that, how they can adapt their packaging and packaging lines to stay flexible and nimble to keep up with all the changes.

Guests: Kyla Fisher, AMERIPEN and Rebecca Marquez, Director of Custom Research, PMMI

One of the main drivers for AMERIPEN and PMMI’s upcoming 10 Year Packaging Material Compass is trying to understand packaging and packaging recovery, as the recycling community clamors to better understand and adapt to the future of packaging. AMERIPEN’s Kyla Fisher and PMMI’s Rebecca Marquez join the unPACKed with PMMI pod to explain the need for this tool to see into the future about potential legislation, what consumers and CPGs are going to be looking for in sustainable packaging and what changes OEMs will need to make to adapt to this new reality. It’s sure to be a terrific report and this is just a taste of some of the early findings from the 10 year Packaging Material Compass.

Guest: Jorge Izquierdo, Vice President of Market Development, PMMI

PMMI’s State of the Industry Report has long served as a reliable baseline of machinery shipment statistics incorporated into an in-depth report on the packaging machinery industry. PMMI vice president of market development Jorge Izquierdo offers a 30,000-foot view of his initial findings from the exhaustive report. After two years of unprecedented growth, Izquierdo predicts sustained growth, but perhaps not at the levels of 2020 and 2021.

Download The State of the Industry Report

Guest: Donna Ritson, President, DDR Communications

The 2021 PMMI Business Intelligence Committee white paper Beverage Trends Driving Change explores how the dominant trends in the beverage market are shaping the future of beverage packaging and machine purchases. Hear Donna Ritson, president of DDR Communications, take a detailed look at how consumer, market, and production trends are influencing both the packaging choices at manufacturers and the machine features coming from industry OEMs.

Guest: Laura Thompson, Vice President, Trade Shows, PMMI

Nobody thought when PMMI closed the curtain on PACK EXPO International 2018 that it would take four years to return to Chicago’s McCormick Place. This unPACKed with PMMI podcast welcomes PMMI vice president trade show Laura Thompson to remind everyone exactly why the PACK EXPO International in-person experience is so important to the global packaging and processing community. Thompson covers all of the PACK EXPO staples and takes a deep dive into a laundry list of new features making their 2022 debut.

Register for PACK EXPO International 2022