38,452.
That’s the number of steps my Apple Watch clocked over the course of my two days as PACK Expo.
The event took place the last week of September at the Las Vegas Convention Center – tucked right in the middle of what you might call trade show “season.” What I expected was a beleaguered group of exhibitors, already blistered and road-weary, going through the motions in a business climate that’s been, frankly, a little strange.
What I got was much different.
From the moment I hit the show floor, I realized this event was remarkable. And I’ve been to A LOT of trade shows. Machines buzzed and hummed within expansive, crowded aisles – the largest show floor in history, according to its presenter PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.
According to Jim Pittas, president & CEO, PMMI “The scale and energy of PACK EXPO Las Vegas this year reflect how fast our industry is advancing.” And while this may sound like a platitude, I actually have to agree.
Over a million square feet of floor space, 2,300 exhibitors showcased wares to some 30,000 exhibitors, with a few key topics dominating the conversation:
Artificial intelligence is dominating the conversation on how leading edge technologies can move the needle in packaging applications. Take for example Champion AI for Redzone, the company’s latest suite of capabilities focused on enabling plant teams with AI-generated assistance. Champion AI delivers predictions and recommendations while also using agentic AI to carry out tasks on behalf of employees to free up their time to work on solving problems. Redzone said Champion AI can predict run problems and receive prescriptive recommendations to avoid them; even auto-generate a safety incident form after a near miss.
FlexLink displayed its AI-enabled Mixed Palletizer for the first time. The system uses AI to optimize pallet stability, space use, and productivity. According to the company’s CEO Marco Andriano, it helps businesses “speed up fulfillment, protect workers, and achieve a stronger return on investment.”
Workforce talent gaps are influencing the design of packaging equipment. Consider Rockwell’s Automation’s Rockwell end-to-end autonomous manufacturing demo, enabling manufacturers to “extend autonomy from raw-material movement via its OTTO autonomous mobile robots
(AMRs) into the production process through integration across the Rockwell portfolio.”
Likewise, Matthews Marking Technologies unveiled brand new technology – its proprietary Axian Inkjet (XIJ) printing technology – that offers plug-and-play integration and removes cumbersome maintenance procedures.
Sustainability objectives aren’t dead, as evidenced by the event’s “Sustainability Central,” a dedicated education hub featuring presentations and discussions on sustainable packaging. The event also offered a "Reusable Packaging Pavilion," which featured packaging solutions designed to help users reduce waste and cut costs simultaneously.
PMMI shared some post-event feedback from Ali Slavens, senior packaging manager with CPG company Curology, who touted this benefit: “We’re exploring a mix of equipment and material solutions, along with scalable ideas to improve lab automation. Show features like Sustainability Central have been especially insightful. It’s been interesting to see how the industry's definition of sustainability has evolved and apply those learnings to our own thinking.”
PMMI believes the U.S. packaging machinery market will reach $11.2 billion this year, and it’s clear the industry has risen to the challenge of supplying the right technology in order to address customer needs.
Said PMMI’s Pittas, “From AI and robotics to next-generation sustainability, the technologies on display aren’t just meeting today’s needs, they’re driving the growth, efficiency, and innovation that will define packaging and processing for the next 30 years.”
And while 30 years is certainly a long time, one year isn’t. Mark your calendars for PACK Expo 2026 – set to kick off in Chicago, Illinois on October 18th.
