The Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) has dubbed its National Technical Forums, which were held alongside Auspack, a success. The Institute says the forums – which fit perfectly within the scope of the larger event –brought together packaging member from throughout the country who gained insight into the advancements and technologies currently available.
This year’s theme of –Packaging Mega Trends –was headlined by the issue of openability and design for the aging population, which according to AIP president Craig Wellman can’t be ignored by packaging technologists, designers, engineers or marketers.Wellman says, “Openability needs to become an integral component of packaging design, just as sustainable design has become. The demand for easy to open packaging is being driven by an aging world population which has become a significant consumer interest group.”
Meanwhile, other highlights of this year’s forums included the addition of a panel debate on the topic of Bioplastics. The panel was made up of speakers from Plantic, Biopak, NatureWorks, Biograde, the Australasian Bioplastics Association, Plastral and Innovia Films.
Robert Hogan of Zip-Pak, USA investigated the next generation of sustainable reclosable and re-usable packs, touching on LCAs and new innovations such as elapsed time indicators for consumer convenience brand differentiation.
The leading expert in nanotechnology, Terry Turney, CEO of Asia Nanomaterials, canvassed nanotechnology and its future in packaging applications.
Other topics that were covered included sustainable design, in-store merchandising, terminal shelf velocity, private labels, nano-technology and the lifecycle management of a brand.
Wellman concludes, “The AIP were very proud to have had five international speakers from the United States, Italy and the United Kingdom present at the 2009 Technical Forums. If every delegate walked away from the 22 speaker, two-day program having learnt one new thing to add to their packaging technology roles then the AIP has achieved its objective.”
