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Leaves Are Falling, Shows Are Calling

ControlDesign.com
10/02/2008

If it’s autumn, it must be show season for machine automation professionals. Start your tour off in Chicago, head to Nashville, Tenn., and you can still make it home in time for the holiday.

Pack in a Lot of Expo

The Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute brings Pack Expo to Chicago’s McCormick Place, Nov. 9-13, with an overarching theme of “Change, Innovation and Sustainability,” highlighted by a three-day program of presentations and speakers to complement the exhibit hall.

The conference sessions are organized into several tracks, which include sustainability, brand protection, containers and materials, upgrading operations, processing and converting.

Amy Zettlemoyer-Lazar, packaging director of Sam’s Club and co-manager of the Wal-Mart Sustainability Value Network, will kick things off with a special keynote address, “Keeping Score: How Wal-Mart and Its Suppliers Continue to Advance Packaging Change, Innovation and Sustainability,” on Nov. 9.

Conference-day keynotes will be given by Betsy Cohen, vice president of sustainability at Nestlé; Trevor Cusworth, director of Deloitte Consulting; and Glenn A. Wright, commercial vice president of North American basic plastics at Dow Chemical.

The OMAC Packaging Workgroup (OPW) will showcase the “Benefits of Packaging Line Integration” in its booth, which will include demonstrations from six different equioment companies highlighting the integration of various packaging line functions (control, HMI, MES) when using the Connect-and-Pack standards.

All’s Fair in Automation

Rockwell Automation’s 17th Annual Automation Fair event will be held Nov. 19-20 at the Gaylord Opryland Complex in Nashville. Targeted industrial forums and labs will offer an educational range for professionals at all levels. The program includes more than 50 technical sessions, 21 hands-on labs and eight focused industry forums. More than 100 exhibitors will demonstrate their automation technology.

The industry forums present examples and concepts that different manufacturers have used to increase  productivity and improve the efficiency of their businesses. Representatives from several industries will present their experiences and applications of the latest automation technologies in eight forums, including tire and rubber, water/wastewater, automotive, pulp and paper, oil and gas, consumer and packaged goods, mining and metals and global machine builders.

Technical sessions will cover 15 areas of interest and will be offered during both days of the Automation Fair.