Maiden Pack Expo East 2015 features students' innovation for future packaging industry

The maiden Pack Expo East 2015, organized by The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies (PMMI), will be held in Philadelphia, the US from February 16-18.

According to "Inspiring the Next Generation Workforce: The 2014 Millennial Impact Report" from The Case Foundation, this group of young workers is over 35 million strong, with approximately 14 million 20 to 24-year-olds and almost 32 million 25 to 34-year-olds employed in the US as of April 20141.

"Companies must continue to adapt to the rapidly changing face of the workforce," said Maria Ferrante, Vice President, Education & Workforce Development, PMMI. "Hiring millennials can come with distinct advantages. The students who participate in the Rutgers and Vanderbilt programs exhibiting at Pack Expo East exemplify the drive, talent and commitment to excellence that they share with so many of their counterparts in engineering programs across the country."

Rutgers' elite Packaging Engineering Program will present The Packaging Design Studio to demonstrate the latest student-developed packaging equipment. The new technologies on display will include automated systems for loading and unloading, custom-order snack mix production machines and innovative packaging prototypes.

The Future of Pneumatics, sponsored by Vanderbilt, the National Fluid Power Association (NFPA) and The Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP), will showcase advancements in pneumatic technology, including live demonstrations of the school's pneumatic exhaust gas recovery system.

The team says its system can help companies meet sustainability goals by reducing air consumption of pneumatic actuators by up to 25%. This system is neither commercialized nor widely used yet, and the display will offer attendees an early look into the next generation of pneumatics technology.