Sustainability replaces innovation at PackExpo

I was underwhelmed by the number of innovative machine applications at PackExpo. A colleague with the same observation expressed it succinctly: it was all about sustainability. The emphasis on green and sustainable is being driven by political correctness. Technological innovation, not political correctness, is necessary to sustain our industry. Let's not allow this to become yet another distraction that allows our international competitors to increase their competitive advantage.

In my post prior to PackExpo 2009, I predicted a lack of advanced machine applications but a huge emphasis on robotics. I was half wrong. There were far fewer robotic applications on display than I expected to see. Driven by recently expired patents, the robot manufacturers came out in mass with new delta-style pickers in new sizes, both larger and smaller, and with new features aimed at packaging. Robustness and software capability remain to be proven, but these new competitors are bound to drive the industry and the applications forward. But I believe that there were actually fewer real robotic packaging applications on display at this year's PackExpo, even after adjusting for its smaller size.

Last year the word innovation was over-used to the point of making it trite. To the visitors' benefit, the word was rarely seen this year, but neither were innovative machines. New printers and printing applications commanded a great deal of booth space to support end-user emphasis on supply chain, logistics and security issues. I also detected a wider variety of controls platforms in the machines on the floor, with a few advertising their use of PLC-Open.

In the course of may career, I've seen many seemingly important social and political issues come and go. Company leaders get caught up in trying to portray that their company is giving proper, responsible attention to these issues. The distractions that are caused throughout an organization are huge. Engineers are often redirected to tasks that affect appearances more than they affect innovation. Green and sustainable are issues that are creating a huge distraction for the packaging machinery industry. Those who remember to keep the main thing the main thing will create both sustainable solutions and keep their businesses sustainable through profits driven by technological innovation. Those who allow themselves to become distracted will provide opportunities for others to increase their competitive advantage. Innovation first, sustainability will follow.

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Comments Ouch. As a machinery manufacturer, this just stings. In general we've taken the wrong sustainability message. Traditional sustainability ideas like using less and eco friendlier materials, and optimized pack sizes, are much more relevant to packaging material suppliers than machinery manufacturers. Machinery manufacturers should offer lower energy consumption and the ability to run multiple products, but almost never at the cost of innovative ways to increase production rate and efficiency. Our sustainability mission should be to send production rates higher and higher for more and more products, which would allow companies to package more goods for more people in less time with fewer plants. Love the blog Posted by: Ben Garvey on November 20, 2009 Post a comment (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) Name: Email Address: URL: Remember personal info? Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style) Type the word 'packaging' (required):