Packaging Machinery Open House

Aside from being a really nice place to live (especially in winter), the Tampa Bay area has another unique distinction. It is home to an unusually large number of packaging machinery manufacturers. There is no other geographical location in the US that contains so many different packaging machinery builders and suppliers. A packaging industry magazine advertising salesman told me he spends a week at a time in the Tampa Bay area several times a year and still doesn’t visit all the companies he wants to see in this area. No one is quite sure why or how this phenomenon occurred. It just seems to have evolved over the years. Granted, the weather alone is a great draw to all northern companies. Combine that with lower taxes and wage scales and it makes sense for companies to locate to the west coast of Florida. Regardless of the reasons, a group of these companies has decided to use this as an opportunity to help our customers.

The week of February 22 through February 26, 2010, ten local packaging machinery manufacturers will be hosting an Open House at their plants. The companies are opening their doors for customers to see them do what they do best at their plants. Production companies planning a new line will have a unique opportunity to travel to one location and actually visit the plants that make the machinery they need. The ten companies are all located within a few hours drive from one another (some are mere minutes away).

The companies involved include: Mettler-Toledo Safeline, Inc. (metal detectors & x-ray inspection), Osgood Industries, Inc. (fillers & more), Westlund Engineering Co. (customer engineering services), Pitney Bowes, Inc. (friction feeders, booklet collators & more), Polypack, Inc. (shrink & stretch wrap equipment), ABC Packaging Machine Co. (case packers, palletizers & more), Universal Labeling Systems, Inc. (pressure sensitive labelers & more), New England Machinery, Inc. (bottle unscramblers, bottle cappers, orienters, retorquers & more), Inline Filling Systems (liquid fillers & labelers), and KHS (cartoners, pouchers & shrink wrappers).

For more information about the Open House, to get addresses and directions to the participating companies, or find hotel and local attraction information, visit the website: www.tampabaypackging.com. Or give us a call at New England Machinery, Inc. (941) 755-5550. We’ll be happy to add you to our list of Open House visitors and give you contact information on special rates at local hotels.

The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at www.neminc.com.