PACK EXPO owner and organizer PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, has released the preliminary schedule for Innovation Stage at PACK EXPO Las Vegas and the co-located Pharma EXPO 2015 (Sept. 28–30; Las Vegas Convention Center). More than 40 sessions will give visitors a glimpse of cutting edge technology presented by industry leaders. The education sessions — on the show floor at PACK EXPO and Pharma EXPO — provide free, convenient access to insights into processing and packaging trends as well as challenges in food safety regulatory compliance, workforce development and measuring line efficiency.

“One of the greatest benefits offered by our on-floor educational programming is the opportunity for a ‘cross pollination’ of ideas,” says Maria Ferrante, vice president, Education & Workforce Development, PMMI. “This enables attendees to tap the potential of practices and applications proven in one industry but unexplored in their own.”

The presentations are a valuable opportunity to understand cutting-edge technologies, with subject matter experts, including industry consultants, exhibitors and association partners, describing specific applications and benefits. Subjects range from explorations of the latest innovations and regulations in flexible packaging to ways to engage the workforce. Other topics include:

• Impact of serialization on the pharmaceutical industry
• Advanced simulation software for packaging lines
• Anti-counterfeiting technologies for packaging
• Transforming automated packaging with reusability
• Roadmap for creating a highly engaged workforce
• The latest snacking trends and their impact on packaging
• The next evolution of metal detection

The OpX Leadership Network will also be among presenters, discussing the latest in one voice solutions for workforce engagement, total cost of ownership and factory acceptance testing. OpX Leadership Network is a dynamic community of manufacturing, engineering and operations professionals dedicated to operational excellence.

“PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Pharma EXPO is where the industry will go this fall to find winning solutions from top-tier suppliers,” Ferrante says. “The value of the Innovation Stage presentations is that they provide context attendees need to put those solutions into action at their plants.”

The 30-minute long presentations will run hourly between 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. on Sept. 28 and Sept. 29; sessions end at noon on Sept. 30. There will be three adjacent locations of the Innovation Stage on the PACK EXPO Las Vegas show floor, in Booths C-1041, C-1045 and C-1049, and a fourth stage in Booth N-559 on the Pharma EXPO show floor.