UK – The Processing and Packaging Machinery Association, which organises the PPMA show, and Reed Exhibition Companies, which runs Pakex, are to join forces and run the two exhibitions as complementary events.

The combined PPMA-Pakex will now be held every three years at the NEC in Birmingham, while the PPMA machinery-only shows will continue in the two intervening years. The two exhibitions will be organised jointly but with one governing body and a single show management team.

Barry Tucker, president of PPMA, hopes that the move will give the UK packaging industry the quality, relevance and frequency of exhibitions that its customers want, while developing the show as the “complete production line event”.