Although there were fewer members attending the WPO meetings and events in Mexico City, from June 29 to July 01, the quality of all the proceedings were of the highest standard. The host, Mexican Packaging Organization (AMEE) did a wonderful job making all the arrangements in the midst of recovering from the disruption that the Swine Flu epidemic had forced upon Mexico.
Before the meetings, there was the possibility to visit Expo Pack, with 870 exhibitors from twenty four countries. The exhibition covered an area of 32,000 square meters. AMEE were well represented at the exhibition and in addition to its own stand there was a very interesting display of its award winning packaging entries.
On Saturday WPO board members were hosted on a number of factory tours. The factories visited in the morning were all situated in an area called Toluca City. The first one was the Fomosa Aluminum Canning Factory where all the equipments were running at designed speeds; on a good day the plant can produce one million cans a day. Next stop was the Coca-Cola Femsa PET bottling plant. Once more the efficiencies and management practices were most impressive. A short journey and they were at the Cuauhtemoc Brewery. The next stop, after a wonderful typical lunch at La Hacienda, was a visit to Vioreira Tolula the glass factory situated at Cosmos that supplies, basically, packaging for cosmetics and fragrances.
On 29 June AMEE hosted its International Congress which theme was “Strengths and Weaknesses in the Packaging Industry Around the World”. The papers presented were well received and enlightened the congress attendees regarding packaging activities around the world.
Tuesday and Wednesday all the WPO meetings took place with good discussions and decision making. And finally a great time of celebration took place at the WorldStar Award Ceremony, with awardees from all over the world attending the evening. Details of the prize winners can be found on the WPO web site.
Published on: 9/4/2009, 2:36 PM
