KEREN SOOKNE’S PERSPECTIVE

A Festive Return to Chicago

Life sciences manufacturing has been tested the past two-plus years. PACK EXPO International in Chicago (Oct. 23-26) offers opportunities to tackle the next hurdles.

It’s been a trying few years for the life sciences industry, and the packaging community has risen to many exceptional challenges. A pandemic, skyrocketing product demands, and raw material disruptions and price increases have caused much overtime and pivoting by people in packaging. But it’s not all bad news. Newly confident, the workforce appears to be more risk-ready than last year according to IoPP’s salary survey. Check out our coverage on pp. 51.

Speaking of pivoting, our cover story highlights Nourished’s personalized supplement stacks produced by 3D printers. They switched packaging based on feedback not long after launch (pp. 26).

On the inspiration front, are you ready to step outside the facility and network in-person? Looking to evaluate new tech after two years of hunkering down with existing lines? Meet with your peers and suppliers to solve problems at PACK EXPO International, featuring the Healthcare Packaging Pavilion and Logistics Pavilion.

The show will feature tons (literally) of new machines and packaging technologies, ideas for reusable packaging, chances to network, and plenty more. When reviewing the show’s features (pp. 32), I was excited to see brand new opportunities like PACK Match to get unbiased, one-on-one guidance, in addition to the ever-popular educational and interactive sessions at the Innovation Stage and The Forum. Plus, Styx is headlining PACK gives BACKTM. Hope to see you there!

KEREN SOOKNE is the Director of Editorial Content of Healthcare Packaging. She may be reached at ksookne@pmmimediagroup or at linkedin.com/in/kerensookne