Bottle Zone to debut at NPE2018

The NPE2018 will feature a new 100,000-square-foot pavilion, known as The Bottle Zone,  highlighting the innovations, technologies and solutions for the beverage bottling and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) market, SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association announced.  

Plastics are integral to the bottling world’s ongoing success and continued innovation, according to SPI President and CEO William R. Carteaux. But this important segment hasn’t had a single event and exposition where solutions providers and industry professionals can gather to exchange new ideas, technologies and answers to the unique challenges facing the beverage, bottling and PET market, Mr. Carteaux stressed.

At  NPE2018, the Bottle Zone  will serve as venue for every company in the bottling supply chain to connect with market-leading equipment and solution providers and access the combined expertise they need to move their businesses forward.

Due to early interest from key bottling industry players, SPI expects the Bottle Zone to feature at least 100 exhibits, and could eventually expand the area to allow for more participation from other solutions providers in the industry.

In addition to the exhibits, the Bottle Zone will also feature an education program on the latest technological advancements, market insights and business strategies in the bottling industry, and other relevant topics.  Industry experts will lead these short-form programs that will focus directly on meeting the needs of today’s bottlers and bottling professionals. The International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT) and PETplanet have already agreed to provide assistance to the Bottle Zone’s educational program.   .

According to Brad Williams, SPI vice president of marketing and business development, demand in the beverage and bottling industry encouraged the NPE2018 committee to consider and launch the Bottle Zone. The new zone  will be the industry’s one-stop shop for solutions to manufacturing process challenges, from purchasing pellets to putting finished, filled and labeled plastic bottles on the back of a truck.

SPI is targeting approximately 170 global suppliers to exhibit within the Bottle Zone, and has received verbal commitments from several major players in the bottling and beverage industry already.