PACK EXPO International 2026

Yeah, yeah.

I think the last time we got together was Pack Expo, and it seems like every Pack Expo is now a tradition for us, right?

It has to be.

It has to be.

So that was kind of my first foray.

They brought together people with packaging experience to help design that website so to assist users coming in and being able to get to the information that they needed, finding the right vendor for their application, getting to that quicker than some of their standard searches.

And I think it's so awesome because, you know, so we're at Pack Expo every year.

This year it's a Chicago biggest packaging show here in North America.

What's the throughput? How fast can it run? What's the latest technology? And of course, what does it cost? But conversations with PacExpo exhibitors suggest processors are increasingly asking a different set of questions.

How flexible is this equipment? How easy is it to operate and maintain? How will it integrate with the rest of my process? And what will it cost me or save me over the life of the machine? I'm Nate Todd, Senior Editor at Processing, and today we're looking at what several Pack Expo exhibitors told us about the biggest processing and operational challenges their customers are facing in 2026.

Let's start with the big picture.

Don Pendleton, president of VacuMax, summed up the challenge processors are facing by saying that manufacturers are being asked to increase throughput with fewer operators while accommodating more products and more frequent changeovers.

In today's episode, I connected with David R. Glover at 3M.

He is a portfolio marketing manager, and we are both excited to see you all at Pack Expo International this October 18th through 21st.

3M will be at booth N5720.

Be sure to stop by to see these innovations in person.

That's, that's a good feeling.

And yeah.

But I want to talk about we've got an exciting event coming up here where you and I will both be there at Pack Expo International in Chicago, October 18th through 21st.

Can you tell us about your 3M booth and some of the materials that you're going to have on display there?

Great.

What about Pack Expo?

Yes, I go to some of the Pack Expos, not all of them.

Usually the one that's in Las Vegas I go to.

Okay.

In today's episode, PMMI's Vice President of Market Development, Jorge Izquierdo, breaks down the top challenges facing packaging and processing operations heading into PAC Expo International 2026.

He also explains what operational resilience means today and how to use new tools such as Pack Expo's AI search to walk away with real solutions.

Let's have a listen.

So with all the fancy introductions out of the way, welcome back to the podcast, Jorge.

It's always a pleasure to chat with you.

It's a joy to speak with you, and I'm glad to have you back here on Unpacked.

We're heading into Pack Expo season.

What are the biggest concerns that you're coming across with your research? over there in business intelligence global marketing that's keeping operations and engineering up at night right now what are those things that are keeping them up at night and how have those concerns maybe changed a little bit in the last couple of years

Let us know what's going on.

And then I guess we might as well talk a little bit about Pack Expo for the first 30 seconds.

So Vlad and I in Manufacturing Hub, we're going to be at Pack Expo primarily Monday, October 19th and maybe a little bit early on Tuesday, the 20th.

So if you guys are going to be at Pack Expo in Chicago, let us know.

It's my first time at Pack Expo since COVID, and so I'm not really sure what to expect.

I mean, outside of knowing what to expect, I am not really sure what to expect.

So if you guys are long-time Pack Expo attendees, let me know what to expect and i suppose let us know uh if there's anything in particular to check out i think i saw about seven booths uh during the entirety of automate vlad and there are more booths here this year at pac expo than there were at automate and i'm not sure i'm going to see more than the seven that i saw at uh at automate so if you guys have been there and are regulars please let us know please let us know what to make sure that we hit and we'll try not to miss anything of critical importance

i will add i guess like while we're on the topic of uh different trade shows i will also be at the isa event in fort lauderdale following icc which is going to be a first for me i am getting a lot more involved with isa as of this year so i will be purely attending for networking and just getting i would say a bit more ingrained in the organization and just trying to learn from anyone that is attending i did see that there are technical presentations which was a little bit surprising i believe nikki gonzalez is going to be presenting some kind of a talk with wine tech so i uh if you have been to this isa event which from what i understand is a global not necessarily trade show but is for anyone that is connected to isa send me a note would be very happy to connect i think it's going to be extremely interesting and that's going to be for me i believe that during the weekend it's only isa directors of different chapters that i'll be attending and then the monday as well as the tuesday of that following the icc week is where the trade show is actually taking place but in any case i've done some research but not enough to comment on everything that's going on but i am registered and i'm flying into fort lauderdale for the event

That brings us to the technological breakthrough happening behind the curtain.

The sources highlight a massive new piece of machinery that just debuted at the Pack Expo called the Hyperbaric 525.

OK,

what is that?

I've never been to a show in Vegas.

So next year I'll be at Automate and Pack Expo in Vegas.

But I think we're all kind of like, I wonder how that goes.

Is everyone that comes to regular Automate going to come? Is it going to be a different audience? Is it going to be a different crop of exhibitors? Is there going to be like a different...