Pharmaceutical Industry Takes Center Stage in PACK Solutions Challenge

The PACK Solutions Challenge will return to PACK EXPO Las Vegas (Sept. 28-30; Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas) and the co-located Pharma EXPO with a focus on issues facing the pharmaceutical industry, according to PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, and owner and producer of the PACK EXPO portfolio of trade shows.

“Every year the PACK Solutions Challenge tasks students from PMMI Partner Schools around the country with finding solutions to real world packaging problems,” says Maria Ferrante, vice president of Education & Workforce Development, PMMI. “With Pharma EXPO making its Las Vegas debut, it’s appropriate that this year’s challenge should focus on the pharmaceutical industry.”

The annual PACK Solutions Challenge, sponsored this year by B&R Industrial Automation, pits teams of packaging college students against each other in a competition to develop the best solution for a particular packaging need.

In the competition’s 2015 edition, students will be tasked with developing a packaging solution for fictional company “Innovative Pharmaceuticals Inc.” and its new fast-dissolving OTC product. Packaging mentors from manufacturers exhibiting at the show will guide students in their efforts, and they’ll use packexpolasvegas.com as one of their primary research tools. On site, they will visit booths and conduct interviews to complete the project.

Students will present their proposals to a panel of end user judges on Tuesday, Sept. 29, with winners announced that afternoon at B&R Industrial Automation’s Booth (S-5956). Attendees can submit their votes for the “People’s Choice Award” after picking up their Education Passport and judging the poster presentations of student solutions in the Education & Workforce Development Pavilion on Monday, Sept. 28. All attendees who turn in their completed Passport will be entered to win a PS4 game system.

The PMMI Foundation will provide scholarships to the winning teams. First place team members will share $4,000; second place, $2,000; third place, $1,000.

“The PACK Solutions Challenge gives the industry’s next generation of leaders real experience developing solutions that meet a customers’ specific needs,” says Marc Ostertag, president, B&R Industrial Automation. “B&R is excited to be part of this event.”

Schools participating in the 2015 PACK Solutions Challenge as of August 7, 2015 include California Polytechnic State University, Michigan State University, Purdue University Calumet, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rutgers University and Virginia Tech.

PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2015 is co-located with Pharma EXPO 2015, a joint venture from PMMI and the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE). The two shows have over 800,000 net square feet of combined exhibit space and are expected to attract 30,000 processing and packaging professionals and more than 2,000 exhibiting companies.

Registration is $30 through Sept. 14, when it increases to $100. Register for PACK EXPO and Pharma EXPO at www.packexpolasvegas.com.

About PMMI
PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies is a trade association representing more than 700 companies that provide a full range of processing and packaging machinery, materials, components and containers. PMMI actively brings buyers and sellers together through initiatives such as packexpo.com, educational programs and world-class events, connecting participants in the processing and packaging supply chain with their customers around the world. PMMI produces the PACK EXPO portfolio of trade shows that include PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2015 (Sept. 28–30, Las Vegas Convention Center); Pharma EXPO, co-located with PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2015; EXPO PACK México 2016, May 17–20, (Mexico City, Expo Bancomer Santa Fe); PACK EXPO International 2016, Nov. 6–9 (McCormick Place, Chicago, Ill.); Pharma EXPO, co-located with PACK EXPO International 2016; PACK EXPO East 2017, Feb. 27–March 1, (Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia) and EXPO PACK Guadalajara 2017, June 13–15, 2017 (Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico). PMMI owns PMMI Media Group, a market-leading B2B media company that produces information for processing and packaging professionals, bringing together solution providers and end-users and facilitating connectivity throughout the supply chain. Its world class media brands Packaging World, Automation World, Healthcare Packaging, Contract Packaging and Packaging + Processing OEM are proven leaders in covering this diverse and dynamic marketplace, and its digital products incorporate leading edge media technologies to deliver informed, actionable business intelligence to the industry. PMMI Media Group also produces The Automation Conference, an annual education and networking forum, taking place in Chicago each spring.

Learn more at PMMI.org and Packexpo.com and pmmimediagroup.com.