Xait Experts Visit PACK EXPO 2022

We were pleased to be a part of PACK EXPO International 2022 held recently in Chicago. For the first time in four years, PACK EXPO gathered in person over 2,000 exhibitors and 40,000 attendees from 40+ vertical industries — all looking for the latest solutions in packaging and processing technology. We were impressed! The show was very well attended, and there was a vibrant focus on improving operations, reaching sustainability goals, and embracing innovations.

Paul Towne, Business Development Director at Xait, and Kevin Geraghty, Head of CPQ practice and Managing Director, took the trip to Chicago to learn more and share our approach to sales automation and intelligent pricing solutions for the packaging and processing industries. According to Kevin, many manufacturers he spoke with were interested in integrated and automated approaches in their configure-price-quote process, especially as the variety and complexity of their sales proposals increased.

“We found that combining products and services, or equipment and services, is a big challenge,” explains Kevin. “We asked several manufacturers to tell us how they quoted to their customers, and a vast number of those were still using Excel spreadsheets, and that has invariably led to problems around the speed of execution and the quality of their quotes and proposals.”

Paul noted that several manufacturers, from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, for example, were looking to target US customers for their machines and equipment. Gaining new markets is a top priority, but new approaches are needed even though these manufacturers are already quite tech-savvy. “While these organizations often have existing ERP systems, like SAP and others, not all of those were using sophisticated ways of quoting,” explains Paul.

With nearly 50,000 attendees, Kevin and Paul had a first-hand view of an industry experiencing a great deal of growth and evolution. According to show owner and producer PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, the market for packaging machinery is now over $10 billion – a 40% growth since 2019. “The show itself was an interesting mix of traditional manufacturing machinery and products and high-tech approaches. We saw a surprising mix of tradition and innovation happening at the same time,” says Paul.

In addition to manufacturers who sell direct to customers, there was a number in attendance that use channel partners to sell indirectly to end customers. Kevin was pleased to have the opportunity to discuss how Xait can help channel partners as well. “We realized there was an equal need for solutions to help manufacturers assist their channel organizations to automate the quoting process and have greater visibility of their downstream pipeline,” says Kevin. “Everyone was keen to adopt systems that strengthen support of the sales chain between manufacturers, partners, and distributors.”

The success of PACK EXPO is a testament to the industry’s continued growth. We were pleased to be a part of the event this year and look forward to 2023. The event will be held in Las Vegas, September 11 – 13. We’ll see you there!

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