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Breaking down the silos: OEMs, CPGs and Contract Packagers have an honest conversation at PACK EXPO Las Vegas

Early morning shirtsleeves “Vision 2025” sessions tackled asset reliability, writing better requests for proposal, and multi-functional equipment and changeovers.

Vision 2025 at PACK EXPO Las Vegas
Multi-Functional Equipment & Changeovers were discussed at Vision 2025 at PACK EXPO Las Vegas

CPGs called for OEMs to build partnerships beyond the transaction, requesting that machinery manufacturers get involved early in the process of equipment selection, training and installation.

Certainly, the processing and packaging market is undergoing massive, disruptive change.  Retailers driving differentiation, e-commerce and the proliferation of SKUs are dragging plant efficiency down and stressing the entire supply chain.  

A major CPG said, “Our conversations with an OEM always started with speed and reliability.  Now we are starting with agility, flexibility, formats and sizes.”

He added, “it’s all about the partnership now.” The business unit tells us what they want, and often the OEM comes back and says, here’s something else we can do. And many times, we deliver a different solution the business team did not know was possible.

A co-manufacturer added, “I can’t emphasize enough, when you buy a piece of equipment you are married to that OEM for five, ten, fifteen years.”


Asset Reliability key takeaway: While data is key, changing company culture is biggest challenge.


“We are data rich and information poor,” said one panelist from a controls company. Most participants agreed, saying the resources to have people dedicated to gathering and analyzing the data often fall prey to “we need to get this done, now.” Indeed, keeping the asset reliability process top of mind is a challenge.  You tend to become great at putting out fires, agreed the group, but a long-term culture change is harder to establish.

A contract packager/manufacturer, stressed that improving efficiency at first might be easy—moving from 30% to 60% is not that complicated. But moving from 85% to 87% efficiency is not easy.

CPGs recognize that OEMs are in business to sell equipment, but they should take notice when a CPG is reordering a particular part more often than expected, and they should reach out to the CPG to see if a change needs to be made to equipment design.

CPGs requested of OEMs more inclusive warranties, short training videos, and recognizing that operability, maintainability and reliability should be a focus from day one of any project.


Break out of the ordinary: see what’s new in food packaging & processing
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Break out of the ordinary: see what’s new in food packaging & processing
List: Digitalization Companies From PACK EXPO
Looking for CPG-focused digital transformation solutions? Download our editor-curated list from PACK EXPO featuring top companies offering warehouse management, ERP, digital twin, and MES software with supply chain visibility and analytics capabilities—all tailored specifically for CPG operations.
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List: Digitalization Companies From PACK EXPO