Page 24 - Food & Drink Business Magazine March 2019

AUSPACK PREVIEW
Melbourne hosts ‘main event’
Australia’s top packaging and processing exhibition, AUSPACK 2019, will focus on growth through business excellence. We share a taste of innovation to roll out at the MCEC on 26-29 March, and take a look at the line-up of supporting events.
✷ FAST FORWARD
BREAKFAST FORUM
ON THE FUTURE
WORKFORCE
The NextGen Breakfast Forum will focus on attracting, retaining and motivating the next generation into the workforce.
Speakers at the NextGen Breakfast Forum are business leadership experts from different industries in organisations that are leading the way on best practice around utilising the next generation in the workplace. These experts will dig way beyond the fact Gen Z are not ‘mini Millennials’, and have some quite different characteristics to their older counterparts. It’s a must-be-at for every manufacturing employer.
“While we tend to hear a lot about Gen Y, or the Millennials, manufacturers need to ensure their
businesses gain maximum value from the unique skills set of Gen Z.
Australian Packaging & Processing Machinery Association (APPMA) chairman Mark Dingley says: “It could be easy at face value to gloss over this cohort, who are between the ages of 8 and 22 now, but when you think that in just six years, Gen Z will comprise more than a quarter of the Australian workforce, then it’s really time to address this area now so businesses have the right skilled workforce in place.”
The NextGen Breakfast Forum will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, on Friday 29 March.
THE largest AUSPACK exhibition in the shows 30-plus year history, kicks off on 26 March in Melbourne as part of Packaging and Processing Week 2019. This year, in addition to the flagship packaging and processing exhibition, the four-day event will also feature a conference, a gala awards dinner and a breakfast forum.
One of the record-breaking achievements is the large international contingent.
“At AUSPACK 2017, there were 87 international exhibitors among the 351 exhibiting companies. AUSPACK 2019 is our largest ever, with an additional 1500 square metres of exhibition space helping to accommodate the 100-plus international exhibitors,” says Mark Dingley, chairman of the Australian Packaging & Processing Machinery Association (APPMA), the owner of AUSPACK and presenter of the week’s events.
“In the past decade, AUSPACK’s growth and success has seen it play an increasingly prominent role in the Asia-Pacific region for packaging and processing machinery. The progression and development in this part of the world has drawn increased global attention, and thus led to higher levels of interest and participation by international exhibitors,” Dingley says.
“Reflecting that international interest, this year we’ll proudly host an Italian Pavilion. Italy has a large number of packaging and processing machinery manufacturers, with many being current suppliers into Australia. Australia, and indeed the APAC region, is important for their ongoing growth so they’re keen to attend, while there are many other Italian suppliers who are looking for business-growth opportunities Down Under.
24 | Food&Drink business | March 2019 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au