Packaging MEA technology editor Vikram Fotedar reports from FachPack Germany on the highlights of the show
FachPack 2019, the European trade fair for packaging, processing and technology, held in Nuremberg from 24 to 26 September 2019, brought together around 1,600 exhibitors in 12 exhibition halls with roughly 44,000 trade visitors from packaging-intensive sectors.
The focus at Fachpack were sustainability and digitalisation. The trend was towards making the machines more user friendly, more easily serviceable and everybody wants to be able to have performance benchmarked with overall equipment effectiveness within the console of the system. Key manufacturers are working towards a future goal of achieving predictive and preventive maintenance using sensors in critical areas and also continuously monitoring process parameters to ensure that wastage is reduced, which in turn makes processes more sustainable.
In terms of sustainability itself you could clearly see a push towards monopolymer packaging. There were two key streams that were being discussed. One was the polyethylene stream and the other was the polypropylene stream. Taghleef Industries and Jindal Films Europe had current solutions for polypropylene stream, which included high barrier solutions that were transparent and low SIT films for sealability as well as a film that could handle high temperature sealing.
In the polyethylene stream there is a similar buzz. ITP, Kraus from Poland, Bischof Und Klein and few other film manufacturers had solutions for polyethylene mono polymer packaging. There were also some interesting solutions by ITP and Mondini, which was for thermoformable trays where the film and the paper could be separated thereby allowing the paper to go into the paper recycling stream and film to go into the film recycling stream. There were similar solutions by Schur.
Finally, there was also a contingent of the fare on alternative packaging solutions like palm leaf, molded fiber and many other sustainable solutions from environmentally renewable sources. Renewable polymers was another area of display at the show. So over all the industry has taken cognizance of the work done by Ellen MacArthur Foundation wherein we need to go towards circular economy and that was clearly visible at the show.
We are fully embracing and supporting the drive of the market to deliver more sustainable solutions for flexible packaging, which means to create structures which allow recyclability.
Mirek Tokaj, Marketing Director, Jindal Films