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Once again, the RPA has put together its Reusable Packaging Pavilion at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, a format which allows attendees to explore a complete range of reusable packaging solution providers all conveniently located in the same area of PACK EXPO, as well as to attend a very solid group of presentations at Reusables Learning Center. Whether you are just starting to investigate the opportunity for reusables or a veteran user looking for even greater efficiencies – you can learn something of value at the RPA Reusables Learning Center at PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2017.

Reusable Packaging Pavilion Exhibitors

RPA Exhibitor List

Reusables Learning Center

MONDAY, September 25, 2017

10:00 a.m. – RPA Keynote presentation: Connecting Reuse – Networks for Greater Use and Value of Reusable Packaging Systems

Presenter: Tim Debus, RPA. The reuse of transport packaging in a managed system delivers superior supply chain performance today, and the future offers even greater promise for reuse. Learn how connecting products and services and expanding networks will take reusable packaging to new levels of impact and value.

11:00 – ORBIS Corporation Presentation: Leveraging Packaging Material Innovations to Support Supply Chain Compliance

Presenter: Ryan Roessler, Product Manager, ORBIS Corporation. Ensuring a safe and clean supply chain is critical to today’s major food, beverage and pharmaceutical companies. Inspections and ongoing compliance are standard in modern distribution practices. Now, in addition to choosing the right pallet or container for the supply chain, understanding material options helps companies identify the right total solution to reduce risk. From FDA compliance to fire-retardant compliance to the need for detectability in load inspections, materials provide the added level of reliability and confidence required in today’s supply chains.

11:45 – Retail Replenishment Strategies Across the Supply Chain

Presenter: Brandon D’Emidio, Director, Product Management & Marketing, CHEP. Retail is changing – but some things will always be the same. Every time a product is touched in the supply chain on its journey from production to the shelf it impacts costs and availability for the consumer. Merchandising and supply chain need to be connected and unified. Retail needs to be looked at End to End, not just function by function. This session will highlight the role of reusable packaging in optimizing the end-to-end supply chain as the product moves from production to the end consumer & the value it can bring to your organization’s bottom line – labor reduction on shelf availability, and sales.

12:30 – Industry Panel on Retail Applications

Panel members:

Hillary Femal, Vice President Global Marketing, IFCO Systems
Brandon D’Emidio, Director, Product Management & Marketing, CHEP
Holly Maher, National Director Retail, Rehrig Pacific Company
Jim McKay, President, The Avleca Group

A reusable transport packaging system offers significant advantages to the retail sector, from product sourcing through point-of-sale, by delivering benefits in key areas such as product protection and quality, handling and merchandising, and waste prevention. But the complexities of the retail supply chain can pose unique challenges in optimizing the system performance. Learn from experts about reusable packaging in retail operations, the latest innovations, and trends for reusable packaging at retail, and tips on getting the most out of your packaging system.

1:30 – Hot Stamping: Tips and Tricks for the Branding Process (Quality, Scrap Reduction, Production Flow)

Presenter: Tom Molfese, Strategic Market Manager, United Silicone. Hot Stamping is a dry decorating process providing a permanent brand for reusable container applications — Totes, Crates, Pallets, Waste and Recycling Carts, etc… Challenges including inconsistent decorating surfaces, large/bulky containers and combination graphics (bold and fine artwork detail together) are achievable when the appropriate machine size, tooling, and brand plates are utilized. This session will identify the different variables that affect a quality image while introducing tips, tricks and tools to counter these roadblocks resulting in optimized set-up times, scrap rate reduction and improved image quality.

2:15 – New Generation Material for Reusable Packaging

Presenter: John Petrofsky, President, Worldwide Foam, Ltd. Worldcell® Extrusions is introducing a new product line, Utilaboard™. The initial product being introduced is a conductive grade material. Utilaboard™ is a 3-layer construction polypropylene board (sandwich board). The middle PP foam layer is encapsulated by two PP plastic outer shells. This unique construction gives Utilaboard rigid, lightweight, and cost efficient characteristics when compared to conventional solid HDPE board. Additionally, Utilaboard is fully reusable and recyclable. The conductive grade has a surface resistivity that typically measures from 10^3 to 10^5 Ohms per square.

3:00 – Industry Panel on Ecommerce Applications

Panel members:

Tim Debus, President & CEO, Reusable Packaging Association
Bob Petersen, Vice President, Product Management, ORBIS Corporation
Mike Newman, CEO, Returnity
Jim Lowry, Director New Business Development, Sonoco Protective Solutions

With the accelerating growth in the e-commerce sales channel, there is much room for development and innovation for transport packaging to optimize product protection needs, handling and logistics requirements, and consumer satisfaction. A reusable packaging system can be a viable option for e-commerce distribution, but new thinking and collaboration is needed to address the unchartered territory of shipping reusable packaging direct to households. Listen to an industry dialogue about the e-commerce opportunity for reusable packaging and be a part of this new thinking and effort to eliminate packaging waste at home.

TUESDAY, September 26, 2017

9:30 – Industry Panel on Asset Tracking Technologies

Panel members:

Laszlo Horvath, Director Center for Packaging & Unit Load Design, Virginia Tech
Cindy Goodman, IoT Business Development Manager, AT&T
Bill Wark, Sales Director, Sigfox
Mike Marzolf, Director Operations & Business Development, Xtreme RFID

The identification and tracking of reusable transport packaging products are critical functions for the movement of goods, including inventory management, quality control, and asset recovery. Rapid technology advancements – from barcode labeling to radio-frequency identification (RFID) to Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity – are offering enormous potential for supply chain visibility and new breakthroughs in data collection and use. Learn about the latest trends and developments associated with the deployment of tracking technologies for reusable packaging.

10:30 – Reality Check: How IoT-Enabled Reusable Packaging Drives Business Benefits
Panel members:

David Kalan, SVP Marketing & Business Development, RM2
Cindy Goodman, IoT Business Development Manager, AT&T
John Schulz, Director Sustainability, AT&T
Tim Greiner, Managing Director, Pure Strategies

The buzz around the Internet of Things (IoT) is deafening, so it can be difficult to know what are real-world solutions and what are hopeful ideas. This panel convenes a range of experienced practitioners to share the latest thinking about how RM2 and AT&T have joined to create a solution that is in the market today and how companies can adopt similar methodologies to meet their own operational and sustainability goals.

11:15 – Cut Reusable Packaging Losses Using Smart Logistics

Presenter: Shawn Stockman, Director of Business Solutions, ReturnCenter.com.

How many of your reusables never get returned? Learn how ReturnCenter applies smart reverse logistics technologies to reduce or eliminate packaging asset losses. See how cloud-based tools connect all parties to a common set of data for maximum visibility, accountability, and control. If you are considering switching to reusable packaging, but are concerned with how you will manage it, here you will learn how other companies have solved this challenge. See lessons learned in controlling a managed logistics loop, optimizing routing, maximizing packaging inventory turn and how to automate traditionally manual processes.

12:00 – Industry Panel on Reverse Logistics

Panel members:

Mike Wasson, Vice President Supply Chain & Operations, Tosca
Shawn Stockman, Director of Business Solutions, ReturnCenter.com
Mike Hachtman, President & CEO, reLogistics
Tad Anderson, Manager Reverse Logistics, CH Robinson

The successful reuse of transport packaging is fully dependent on the ability to timely and cost-effectively recover and reposition the packaging asset following its market use. Through continuous and coordinated processes in a system approach, the logistics of identifying, consolidating and moving the packaging products from end-of-use back to the site of packing often involves multiple steps and parties to complete the cycle. With advancements in technology, new asset tracking capabilities and collaboration tools are creating new opportunities in the reverse side of the loop. Learn from experts on what is takes to achieve reuse for transport packaging and what the future looks like in reverse.

1:00 – The Digital Supply Chain Era: Are You Ready?

Presenters: Raj Valame, Vice President, Products, BXB Digital and Tom Cometa, Head of Worldwide Business Development, BXB Digital.

Do you have what it takes to move beyond physical supply chain logistics to a digital business that puts you in control of your supply chain network? In today’s fast paced world, partners across the supply chain and end consumers want what they want when they want it, and their expectations are high.

Join BXB Digital, the sister company of supply chain industry leaders CHEP and IFCO, for a collaborative discussion on how you can harness digital to orchestrate an intelligent, efficient supply chain. Hear first-hand how we are combining the physical with the digital to help customers move from siloed, inefficient operations to optimized networked platforms. We’ll share how you can leverage cloud-based systems, data analytics, and real-time monitoring to move beyond traditional ways of doing business to become a connected digital partner. Join us to learn how you can prepare for the digital supply chain era.

1:45 – Latest Trends in Track and Trace for Reusable Packaging

Presenter: Bob Petersen, Vice President, Product Management, ORBIS Corporation.

Ensuring product integrity throughout the supply chain cannot be done without at least a little digitization. No matter where products are along the supply chain, knowing their status, where they came from and where they are going is imperative to consumer safety and operational efficiency. Technology that can track a product’s location in the supply chain and connect its path from point A to point B is a simple way to define discrete asset tracking. Even though tracking a product back to its origin is the original reason for installing this technology, discrete asset tracking can do so much more. To come closer to achieving end-to-end traceability, companies can consider two of the most common, reliable discrete asset tracking technologies: radio frequency identification (RFID) and bar code.

2:30 – Excellence in Reusable Packaging Award Program

The winners of the 2017 Excellence in Reusable Packaging Award –STIHL INC. and Goodwill Industries International – will receive their Excellence trophies and present their award-winning case studies.

Presentation by Award Winner: STIHL INC.

Presentation by Award Winner: Goodwill Industries International

WEDNESDAY, September 27, 2017

9:30 – Industry Panel on Corrugated Plastic Products

Panel members:

Fred Dowd, President, Technology Container Corp
Jason Amatangelo, Director Business Development, AMATECH
Steve Harris, Sales Director, Inteplast Group

Packaging products in the form of boxes, sleeves, and panels from plastic hollow twin-wall, triple-layer and corrugated manufacturing processes have widespread applications for reuse. These products are known for their light weight but rigid and durable properties, folding characteristics for maximum shipping density, and customization capabilities to meet unique supply chain specifications. As companies are looking to get more uses out of their packaging, these plastic-corrugated transport packaging products offer performance and economic solutions. This session at the RPA Learning Center convenes experts from suppliers of this product category to share their knowledge and experiences about the expanding market applications and product advantages.

10:30 – Breaking Asset Tracking Cost Barriers with IoT Technology

Presenter: Bill Wark, Sales Director, Sigfox

What if you could track and recover any supply chain asset – a crate, a pallet, even an envelope, and do so cost efficiently? In the age of digitization, this is now a reality made possible through Internet of Things (IoT). Learn how IoT technology like low-power wide area networks are able to break the cost barriers with a network built specifically for IoT; to consume as little energy as possible, as simply as possible, and as cost efficiently as possible. Hear the stories of asset tracking use cases from around the world that have found value in this technology.

11:15 – Industry Panel on Liquid and Bulk Shippers

Panel members:

Rod Armstrong, Director, Sales and Marketing, CHEP Pallecon
Matt Denney, Senior Application Engineer, Buckhorn Inc.
Scott Starbuck, Packaging Sales Manager, Inteplast Group

Due to performance including unit strength and stability, volume and load capacity, cube utilization, and fill and discharge effectiveness, reusable packaging in the form of large bins, tanks and Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs) play an important role in the transport of liquid and bulk granulated substances. Advancements in product design and innovative features continue to offer new benefits and value in reusable packaging for the liquid and bulk commodity supply chains. Learn about the latest developments and market trends for these large and high-volume workhouse packaging products.