The Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) recently ran 3 new educational seminars on packaging for over 600 people at the inaugural ProPak Philippines trade show. Powered by ProPak Asia, ProPak Philippines was truly the first-of-its-kind food, drink and pharmaceutical focused international trade exhibition for the regions rapidly expanding processing & packaging industries.

The AIP educational program was developed and run by Ralph Moyle, FAIP, CPP, in conjunction with the organisers, and was designed to help businesses in the region to better understand packaging and the important role it plays in their business.

The three sessions covered:

1. Understanding the value of Sustainable & Save Food Packaging to your business
2. Understanding Packaging Economics & Product Life Extension Seminar
3. A better understanding of the value and benefits to introducing new and innovative automated packaging systems into your business workshop.

According to Ralph Moyle, ‘The attendance was so high that the room was expanded twice on the first day and the seminar and workshop relocated to a larger room on the second day. Such a high-level of interest in the sessions was a true indicator that the local Philippines packaging community is eager for knowledge and training,’

“I was so pleased to see such a higher percentage of attendees were female which is a true reflection of the diversity within the packaging industry in The Philippines. I also found that the nature of questions we received over the three days was the same as we are asked from packaging technologists and designers over in Australia or New Zealand. Questions around how to design Fit-for-Purpose packaging, how to move to sustainable packaging, trying to understand the recycling side of packaging design within their country regulations, how to extend shelf life and to ensure that food isn’t wasted were high on everyone’s agenda. It is important to note that not one of these issues are limited to The Philippines and it is evident that the AIP must continue to provide education on these topics across the ASEAN Region, as these are global issues that we must continue to discuss collectively.”

“We were also pleasantly surprised at how much interest there was in The Philippines for all of the AIP’s other educational offerings and there is a thirst for knowledge in the region that is extremely encouraging. The Institute has a responsibility now to ensure that we work with the local packaging organisations to develop a strong educational program that meets the industries needs in the future,” Mr Moyle said.

“To be able to assist with upskilling the Food and Beverage industries over there, train more packaging technologists and encourage people to consider attaining their Certified Packaging Professional designation would be a great achievement for the AIP in the region,” he said.

When asked what they were hoping to learn from the AIP program the majority of attendees indicated that they wanted to…

“Improve their level of packaging knowledge”
“Gain access to global packaging trends”
“Understand more about the fundamentals of packaging”
“Improve their understanding of what is needed to design Sustainable and Save Food Packaging”
“Achieve a better understanding of how to improve shelf life extension for their products”
“Access to packaging training and knowledge from a globally recognised association like the AIP”
“Please allow me to congratulate you and your team for the wonderful courses you have prepared. Not only are they very relatable, they are such an eye opener for better approaches for various industries. I hope that we will see more educational activities such as these from the AIP in the future in The Philippines. Thank you and more power to AIP!”

The AIP looks forward to developing more educational offerings for The Philippines and will also be working with the organisers of ProPak Philippines to develop a new educational program for the 2020 trade show. ProPak Philippines 2020 is scheduled for 6 to 8 February.