Smithers Pira to present at ISTA’s 2011 European Packaging Symposium

09 August 2011

Leatherhead UK, 9 August, 2011. Smithers Pira will be presenting at Europe's leading conference on packaging for distribution. The International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) European Packaging Symposium is being held in Valencia, 18-19 October 2011.

Smithers Pira Chief Consultant Dave Shires will be discussing Smithers Pira's latest research on the home shopping shipment environment and how the findings will affect packaging decisions in the future.

Sam Sheppard Fidler, Global Head of Smithers Pira's Distribution Testing and Consulting Business, is a Director of ISTA and chairs ISTA's European Board. He explains: "Packaging for distribution offers rich opportunity for increasing brand and shareholder value by delivering reduced damage, reduced costs and elimination of unnecessary material-use. Customer service can also be enhanced through increased reliability and improved lead times."

Sheppard Fidler will be co-chairing the event and says "the symposium will provide practical benefit to delegates on the critical link between packaging and logistics, focusing on cost savings and delivering against sustainability requirements."

Themes at this year's event include management of packaging, cost reduction and light weighting, as well as new materials with transit packaging applications. Presentations include: Global Cost Reduction by Ocean and Air Freight without Pallets from Hewlett Packard, Ericsson's Approach to Controlling Global Distribution Packaging, BP and Smithers Pira on Light-weighting of 1L lubricants packaging, and Bio-based Materials in Distribution Packaging from Novamont. Also presenting will be: Sealed Air, UPS, SCA Cool-Logistics, BSH, Billerud, BASF and INCPEN.

Presentations will give a practical insight into economic and environmental optimisation of packaging for distribution, and on the latest techniques in pre-shipment testing of packaged products. The event will appeal to packaging users and producers as well as retailers and other supply chain stakeholders. Content will be relevant to a range of market sectors, from consumer goods, personal care, food and beverage to industrial products and medical/pharmaceutical sectors.

Delegates will also be invited to participate in two lively debates, joining Smithers Pira and other panellists to discuss the key themes raised each day.

This ISTA event is hosted by Valencia-based ITENE who promise great networking and an enjoyable and informative event, building on the success of the 2009 and 2010 events. The European Packaging Symposium format compliments ISTA's long standing events in the US which have an unrivalled track record of delivering value in these areas to large audiences for more than 30 years.

Click for further information on Smithers Pira's Transit Testing services
Click for further information on this year's European Packaging Symposium

Smithers Pira
Smithers Pira - the worldwide authority on packaging, paper and print industry supply chains.
Established in 1930, Smithers Pira provides strategic and technical consulting, testing, intelligence and events to help clients gain market insights, identify opportunities, evaluate product performance and manage compliance.