McLean, VA - The PROCESS EXPO show, co-located with PACK EXPO and CPP EXPO at the Las Vegas Convention Center, (LVCC) October 5 - 7, attracted a total 22,721 attendees to the event.
During the 3-day event, many attendees were interviewed in the South Hall of the LVCC to get their impression of this year’s show and their view of the new co-location with IFT.
“PROCESS EXPO is an excellent show for us because it provides us the ability to see what’s new in the industry and also interface with not only existing OEMs that we currently use, but to see what’s new out in the marketplace,” said Mike Alagna, President of Nation Pizza Products. “The show provides me the venue whereby I can see what’s new in the market, also what’s been upgraded in the market, and it allows me to take a look at some of the new items in packaging, processing technologies, films, cartons and the type of products that we are always looking for,” he continued.
Another attendee, Wade Myers, Plant Manager from Everson Spice Company, added, “I think staying up to date with the latest technology is a great benefit of seeing PROCESS EXPO, where we can expand and compete on a more national and global market level.”
Richard Jarrett from Praxair Corporation – an exhibitor at PROCESS EXPO, said “We’ve been [exhibiting] at this show for a number of years, and we’ve found that it’s a great opportunity for us to reach out to people in the industry that are looking for solutions to some of the processing problems that they have.”
100% Food Focus in 2010
In 2010, PROCESS EXPO moves to a 100 percent food focus with their new co-location partners, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). IFT’s Annual Meeting & Food Expo®, which includes an extensive scientific education program, draws thousands of food professionals from around the world. The combined shows will be held in adjoining halls at Chicago’s McCormick Place, July 18 – 20.
FPSA’s President, David Seckman, elaborated on the business decision to co-locate with IFT. “FPSA is an association of suppliers to the food and beverage industry,” said Seckman. “We wanted our tradeshow, PROCESS EXPO, to be more reflective of that concentration. IFT is the preeminent scientific society focusing on the science of food and the issue of food safety. We consider the issue of safe food as the single most important factor that will shape the future of our industry. Another consideration was the compatibility of the IFT Food Expo to PROCESS EXPO. The IFT Food Expo is an extremely successful show that focuses on product formulation, QA/QC, and R&D. PROCESS EXPO focuses on processing and packaging technologies and services. Together, we provide the visitor the whole spectrum of food and beverage production…from product concept through processing and primary packaging.”
Processors and Exhibitors also voiced their opinions about the new co-location between FPSA and IFT.
Keith Forneck, Senior Scientist at Kraft Foods Global Bread and Dough Technology division, referred to the new co-location as the “perfect merge,” elaborating further by saying, “Because you take a lot of scientists who haven’t had the chance to see all this processing, all this equipment, and now they can marry the knowledge that they have at the micro level and transfer it to fully processing all these products all the way to the end of the line through some of the packaging equipment.” Mr. Forneck concluded by saying, “It’s a great merge, it’s a great fit and I think it’s going to benefit everyone. “
Mike Alagna (Nation Pizza Products) added “Right now, our R&D goes to IFT and our operations and engineering comes to the PROCESS EXPO. So now, we’ll come as a team and work, I think, a little more efficiently.”
Joseph Johnston, Process Engineer from Campbell’s Soup, noted, “Travel budgets are getting much, much tighter, and the availability of people to be able to go to the different process shows and IFT and things like that, I think it’s really helpful to combine them. You get one trip, one stop shop.”
Exhibitors seemed pleased with the new co-location arrangement as well. “We’re very happy to see that,” said Murray Smith, Director of Business Development at Nelson Jameson Inc., ”because from our perspective, the ingredient is the one portion of the industry that PROCESS EXPO has been missing. So, we think the combined shows, PROCESS EXPO on the equipment side, IFT on the ingredient side, will make an excellent combination, so we’re very excited about it.”
Richard Jarrett, (Praxair Corporation) added from his earlier comments, “I was quite pleased to hear that IFT [Food Expo] and PROCESS EXPO were combining with each other because from our perspective, we’ve always found that it’s very important to work with people at the front end of the process.”
Mr. Seckman added some final thoughts. “We’re partnering with our customers, over 20,000 strong. The combined events, including the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo and PROCESS EXPO, will have a total food and beverage focus. And, importantly, the visitor will experience an educational emphasis, both in the classroom and the exhibit floor, far in excess and importance compared to our past shows. We think this is a winning combination.”