Packaging Machinery Conference 2025 in Munich in June

After a very positive response to its premiere in Munich, the Packaging Machinery Conference – neue verpackung's platform for packaging machinery manufacturing – is entering its second round. FACHPACK customers will benefit from attractive conditions when purchasing tickets.

Paricipants at Packaging Machinery Conference — The Packaging Machinery Conference 2025 in Munich brings together top experts from the packaging machinery industry.

For 2025, the Packaging Machinery Conference and its advisory board – consisting of Richard Clemens, Managing Director of the VDMA Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association, packaging expert Valeska Haux, Jana Götz, Strategic Business Development Manager at SEW-Eurodrive, Prof. Dr. Matthias Niemeyer, CEO of the Uhlmann Group and Christian Traumann, CEO and Spokesman of the Management Board of the Multivac Group - have once again put together an exciting program on the most important topics in the industry, featuring top-class speakers.

Participants at the Packaging Machinery Conference — Visitors to the Packaging Machinery Conference 2025 can expect a top-class, practical program.

Sustainability Stays Hot Topic

Whether recyclates, fibers or exotic candidates such as algae: There are plenty of alternative materials for packaging that should enable greater sustainability. However, in addition to ecology, economics must not be forgotten, especially in the packaging process. So how can the machinability of alternative materials be ensured? Prof. Dr. Marke Hauptmann, Head of the Packaging and Processing Technology Department at IVV Dresden, will talk about this.

Last year's conference already discussed the question of how the carbon footprint of a packaging machine can be calculated. This time, the discussion went one step further: how realistic can an LCA be for a packaging machine if over 90% of the emissions are generated during the operating phase – i.e. outside the manufacturer's sphere of influence? Manfred Weidlich, Senior Project Manager Sustainability at the GEA Group, presents an approach.

Digitalisation and Automation in Focus

The trend towards more automation and digitalisation continues unabated - and is currently being given an additional catalyst by artificial intelligence. It is therefore clear that this year's Packaging Machinery Conference is once again dedicating a separate thematic block to this topic, including these presentations:

AI can do more than generate beautiful texts and photorealistic images from prompts – it also has what it takes to change mechanical engineering. As a qualified computer scientist and Managing Partner of Gerhard Schubert GmbH, Ralf Schubert is probably better qualified than almost anyone else to give a presentation on the practical use of AI in mechanical engineering – about the possibilities, but also the limits.

Steffen WInkler, CSO Business Unit Automation bei Bosch Rexroth, at Packaging Machinery Conference — Steffen Winkler, CSO Business Unit Automation at Bosch Rexroth, will again be speaking at this year's conference.

Investments are particularly worthwhile when they pay off in the long term. This also applies to the automation of packaging machines. But how can it be ensured that individual components do not have to be cancelled prematurely because, for example, the required software update fails to materialise? Ingo Hamel, CTO at Rovema, and Steffen Winkler, CSO Business Unit Automation at Bosch Rexroth, report on this.

‘Software-Defined Machines – Making Machines Connected and Software-Defined’ is the title of the presentation by Milan Licina, Programme Market Manager at SEW. This refers to a pilot project in which a virtual version was used instead of a hardware/electronic machine control system at a tubular bag machine manufacturer. The presentation reports on the implementation and the advantages in practice.

Red Tape: Pure Nuisance or Driver of New Business Models?

The packaging machinery industry, like the rest of industry, is constantly confronted with new legal requirements, whether they come from Brussels or Berlin. This topic is so powerful that the Packaging Machinery Conference is dedicating a separate block of topics to it at the start of the second day of the event:

Last year, the participants of the Packaging Machinery Conference were presented with the study by IFM Bonn, commissioned by the VDMA, on the burden of bureaucracy on mechanical engineering.

It is therefore all the more gratifying that Dr. Annette Icks, project manager at IFM Bonn, is presenting the update of this study, which is currently being prepared, and new developments at the Packaging Machinery Conference.

The affected companies have recognised that the CSRD presents them with major challenges because a lot of data has to be collected and evaluated for this. What many are not yet aware of is that this data can be used not only to fulfil the reporting requirement, but also to generate real added value in many cases. Tabea Hosak, Sustainability & Decarbonisation Specialist at Tanso, explains how.

When it comes to the question of how sustainability goals or regulations such as the PPWR can be implemented, the focus is usually on packaging manufacturers. However, the packaging machinery industry plays a crucial role here – it is the ‘enabler’ of the circular economy, according to Matthias Giebel, partner and authorised signatory at Berndt+Partner Consultants, probably the most important management consultancy in the packaging industry.

Germany: World Export Champion Today – and Tomorrow?

The German packaging machine industry is heavily dependent on exports – this will be taken into account at the Packaging Machinery Conference with the topic block ‘Globalisation’:

Matt Sieverding will get things started. The CEO of Kiefel will focus on the USA, which continues to be the most important sales market for packaging machines from Germany. As a true expert on the country and its people – Sieverding lived and worked in the States – he provides important insights.

Conference participants can also expect insights into the most exciting sales markets of the future. And not just from the perspective of a machine manufacturer, but including insights from the inside: the Indian Consul General, Shatrughna Sinha, has announced his attendance at the Packaging Machinery Conference and will provide valuable information for anyone looking to gain a foothold in what is arguably the most important emerging market.

The coronavirus pandemic and, even more so, the incident in the Suez Canal clearly showed that global supply chains were extremely fragile. So what now? Cristian Reiter, CTO & Managing Director at Uhlmann Pac-Systeme, talks about lessons learned in mechanical engineering and what modern risk management for supply chains looks like today. So that packaging machines always arrive on time at the customer's premises – no matter where in the world they are to be delivered.

FACHPACK Customers Benefit from Reduced Prices

All FACHPACK customers can use the following link to get their ticket with a 20% discount. Just click, register and benefit.

A guest article by Philip Bittermann.