Food & Drug Packaging: Success is in the cards at Las Vegas packaging show: Pack Expo Las Vegas

There will be one sure bet in Las Vegas this year: The latest advances in the packaging field will be spread out at Pack Expo Las Vegas like cards on a blackjack table.

Pack Expo Las Vegas 2003, to be held Oct. 13-15 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, will feature more than 800 suppliers of packaging machinery, materials, components and containers over more than 400,000 square feet of exhibition space. The Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI), which sponsors the show, expects about 17,000 attendees, including more than 2,000 international visitors from more than 75 countries.

"Past exhibitors know that Pack Expo Las Vegas delivers the senior decision-makers from corporate buying teams across multiple market sectors," says PMMI president Charles Yuska.

Pack Expo Las Vegas is held every odd-numbered year, as a complement to the Pack Expo International show held in even-numbered years in Chicago.

"Pack Expo Las Vegas will feature real-world packaging applications that brand managers can leverage to increase sales and brand exposure on the retail shelf," says Mark Garvey, president of Garvey Corp. and chairman of PMMI's show committee.

One of the show's major attractions will be the Containers and Materials Pavilion. An area of 70,000 square feet will be set aside at the front of the convention center's South Hall for the latest innovations in materials, containers, and converting machinery.

The Containers and Materials Pavilion also will feature exhibitions from leading suppliers and industry trade groups of award-winning packaging. These include some of the most established and prestigious awards in the packaging field:

* DuPont Co.: DuPont Awards for Innovation in Packaging

* Flexible Packaging Association: Packaging Achievement Awards

* Glass Packaging Institute: Clear Choice Awards

* Institute of Packaging Professionals: AmeriStar Awards

* Paperboard Packaging Council: National Paperboard Packaging Competition

* The Tube Council: Tubes of the Year Awards

AT-A-GLANCE

What: pack Expo Las Vegas

When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 13-15

Where: Las Vegas Convention Center

For more Information

Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute

703-243-8555; http://pelv2003.packexpo.com