Listen Now

Packaging World editors Anne Marie Mohan and Matt Reynolds return to unPACKed for the fifth episode of its six-part sustainability sit-down, turning the spotlight on monolayer materials. All plastics and foils are not created equal, and the complexity that allows them to protect food or beverages, for instance, also makes recycling significantly harder. Mohan and Reynolds cover sustainability and packaging materials daily and discuss how monolayer materials could be one of the major keys to a more sustainable packaging supply chain. Join us for more of this important conversation at the Packaging Recycling Summit, presented by Packaging World Nov. 6-8, 2023, at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. For more information and to register, please visit: PackagingRecyclingSummit.comSupport the show

Part four of unPACKed’s six-part sustainability sit down with Packaging World editors Anne Marie Mohan and Matt Reynolds takes us to the world of reuse and refill. Reuse and refill is more than just the ubiquitous beverage containers everyone carries around to do their sustainability part. Mohan and Reynolds cover sustainability and packaging materials daily for Packaging World and discuss how reuse and refill is making inroads in various markets, including health and beauty, cleaning supplies, and food and beverage. Join us for more of this important conversation at the Packaging Recycling Summit, presented by Packaging World Nov. 6-8, 2023, at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. For more information and to register, please visit: PackagingRecyclingSummit.comSupport the show

As one of the oldest, if not the oldest, packaging materials, paper was also one of the earliest package types to be recycled and is the topic for part three of a six-part sustainability sit-down with Packaging World editors Anne Marie Mohan and Matt Reynolds. Mohan and Reynolds cover sustainability and packaging materials daily for Packaging World. The pair discuss how paper’s relative ease to recycle created growth in its use in place of plastic films and even bottles. Plus, we get to the bottom of exactly what to do with pizza boxes when it comes to recycling. Join us for more of this important conversation at the Packaging Recycling Summit, presented by Packaging World Nov. 6-8, 2023, at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. For more information and to register, please visit: PackagingRecyclingSummit.comSupport the show

Aluminum is the topic for part two of a six-part sustainability sit-down with Packaging World editors Anne Marie Mohan and Matt Reynolds. Mohan and Reynolds cover sustainability and packaging materials daily for Packaging World and rank among the most knowledgeable in the industry on current trends and breakthroughs. The pair discuss how aluminum could be infinitely recyclable and why the general public embraces—or at least appears to embrace— aluminum recycling more than other materials. Join us for more of this important conversation at the Packaging Recycling Summit, presented by Packaging World Nov. 6-8, 2023, at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. For more information and to register, please visit: PackagingRecyclingSummit.comSupport the show

Advanced recycling kicks off part one of a six-part sustainability sit down with Packaging World editors Anne Marie Mohen and Matt Reynolds. Mohen and Reynolds cover sustainability and packaging materials daily for Packaging World and rank among the most knowledgeable in the packaging and processing industry on current trends and breakthroughs. In this episode, the pair discuss how advanced recycling could be the next step in ensuring packaging sustainability, as it focuses on breaking down difficult-to-recycle materials to a molecular level before reuse. Join us for more of this important conversation at the Packaging Recycling Summit, presented by Packaging World Nov. 6-8, 2023, at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. For more information and to register, please visit: PackagingRecyclingSummit.comSupport the show

For our 100th episode, unPACKed spoke about workforce initiatives with Pat Finlay, who serves as R&D Sr. Director of Global Beverages Packaging for one of the world's largest and most recognizable brands: PepsiCo. We couldn’t let a guest from a high-profile company like that leave without prodding him on PepsiCo’s current sustainability initiatives. Large companies will ultimately drive real change, so let’s hear what the biggest food and beverage company in the U.S. is currently working on regarding sustainability.  Join us for more of this important conversation at the Packaging Recycling Summit, presented by Packaging World Nov. 6-8, 2023, at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. For more information and to register, please visit: PackagingRecyclingSummit.comSupport the show

How we communicate influences everything from sales, communication with our boss or employees, or even conversations at home with the family. Jeff Bloomfield has made a career out of teaching others what he’s learned about the biology, psychology, and physiology of the brain. He takes these complex topics and simplifies them, revealing that most people communicate with their customers using the wrong information, in the wrong way, at the wrong time, and in the wrong order.Support the show

UnPACKed welcomes a woman who has made a career out of breaking barriers in typically male-dominated positions, Super Bowl Referee Sarah Thomas. Thomas kicked down doors as the first woman in major college football, the first full-time female NFL referee, and the first-ever female referee at an NFL playoff game. While she didn’t set out to be a trailblazer, she recognizes that her role as a prominent woman impacts younger women and offers tips on navigating unusual career paths. Support the show

Culture, Culture, Culture. Every article on workforce issues deals with the importance of good company culture. On this episode, we sit down with the inventor of Culturetopia, Jason Young. He highlights the crucial role culture plays in staving off any remnants of the Great Resignation and breaks down his definition of culture and what he feels is good company culture based off of his previous stops at Southwest Airlines, Walt Disney, 3M and Cisco Systems.Support the show

In an era where employees jump from job to job, NextMapping founder Cheryl Cran has studied how a company's first impression during the onboarding process can lead to better employee retention. This 10 Time Author also speaks on how the future workplace will look and how leadership by managers immediately after onboarding can be the key to keeping employees for the long haul.Support the show

The answer to how to solve the packaging and processing workforce crisis often remains incomplete. PepsiCo, the largest food company in the U.S., is doing its part to tackle workforce issues head-on, sponsoring many programs targeting the next generation of workers, like PACK EXPO’s PACK Challenge. PepsiCo R&D Sr. Director, Global Beverages Packaging Pat Finlay joins the unPACKed podcast to discuss additional PepsiCo work, like the Million-Girl Moonshot to engage one million more girls in STEM learning opportunities and direct initiatives with SWE, Society of Women Engineers and NSBE, the National Society of Black Engineers.  Support the show

In the third installment of our must-see technologies and trends from PACK EXPO International 2022, we welcome editor-in-chief of OEM Magazine, Stephanie Neil. Loyal listeners of unPACKed with PMMI all know by now that the weakening workforce is a stress across our entire industry, and each editor has touched on that in parts one and two. Stephanie tackles the issue from the point of view of the OEM, who indicate that their customers are now looking to them for help with the unskilled labor force, whether it be with more simple intuitive machines or robots for rent.Support the show

After part one of our review of PACK EXPO covered trends and technologies focused on food processing and packaging at large, this episode of unPACKed with PMMI offers a pair of unique views from PMMI Media Group Editors. Keren Sookne from Healthcare Packaging provides highlights targeting the healthcare sector and Lilián Robayo from Mundo PMMI provides her view of top technologies applicable to her market in Latin America.Support the show

PACK EXPO International returned with a vengeance in 2022, surpassing numbers from the good old days when nobody was familiar with COVID-19, and pandemics were things you learned about in history class. While the show is in the books, unPACKed with PMMI discussed some of the trends and technologies seen on the show floor with PMMI Editors, Matt Reynolds from Packaging World and Michael Costa from Pro Food World. The pair provide just a glimpse at some of the technologies that stood out to their trained eyes as well as trends that continue to emerge.  Support the show

Stephanie Neil, Editor-in-Chief of OEM Magazine interviews Packaging and Processing Women’s Leadership Network keynote speaker Dawn Hudson after she headlined the massively successful PPWLN breakfast at PACK EXPO International. Neil and Hudson detail her journey from the advertising industry to designing packages as a brand manager for Clairol to executive leadership roles at Pepsi and the NFL. Every step of the way, Hudson was the minority simply because she was a woman. She describes her earliest days when only 1 in 10 in advertising were female and navigating the male-dominated rooms she walked into in the NFL. She also provides insight into how to navigate microaggressions and the importance of authenticity in the workplace. Support the show

Automation use in packaging and processing continues to explode, with CPGs looking to improve operations while also coping with a labor shortage. On this episode of unPACKed with PMMI, Sean Spees from Bosch Rexroth joins us to discuss what CPGs should ask from automation suppliers to keep up with shifting consumer demands and, with that, how they can adapt their packaging and packaging lines to stay flexible and nimble to keep up with all the changes.Support the show

One of the main drivers for AMERIPEN and PMMI’s upcoming 10 Year Packaging Material Compass is trying to understand packaging and packaging recovery, as the recycling community clamors to better understand and adapt to the future of packaging. AMERIPEN’s Kyla Fisher and PMMI’s Rebecca Marquez join the unPACKed with PMMI pod to explain the need for this tool to see into the future about potential legislation, what consumers and CPGs are going to be looking for in sustainable packaging and what changes OEMs will need to make to adapt to this new reality. It’s sure to be a terrific report and this is just a taste of some of the early findings from the 10 year Packaging Material Compass.      Support the show

PMMI’s State of the Industry Report has long served as a reliable baseline of machinery shipment statistics incorporated into an in-depth report on the packaging machinery industry. PMMI vice president of market development Jorge Izquierdo offers a 30,000-foot view of his initial findings from the exhaustive report. After two years of unprecedented growth, Izquierdo predicts sustained growth, but perhaps not at the levels of 2020 and 2021.Support the show

The 2021 PMMI Business Intelligence Committee white paper Beverage Trends Driving Change explores how the dominant trends in the beverage market are shaping the future of beverage packaging and machine purchases. Hear Donna Ritson, president of DDR Communications, take a detailed look at how consumer, market, and production trends are influencing both the packaging choices at manufacturers and the machine features coming from industry OEMs. Download the report Support the show

Nobody thought when PMMI closed the curtain on PACK EXPO International 2018 that it would take four years to return to Chicago’s McCormick Place. This unPACKed with PMMI podcast welcomes PMMI vice president trade show Laura Thompson to remind everyone exactly why the PACK EXPO International in-person experience is so important to the global packaging and processing community. Thompson covers all of the PACK EXPO staples and takes a deep dive into a laundry list of new features making their 2022 debut.Register at https://www.packexpointernational.com/Support the show