UBM Canon Packaging Group announced the winners of the inaugural Visionary Awards the evening of June 19. The gala event, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, was held in conjunction with the AmeriStar Package Awards and EastPack Conference and Exhibition. The awards paid tribute to individuals and teams who showed vision and leadership in advancing their company's goals of innovation, differentiation, savings and growth.
Presented by UBM Canon, and sponsored by Packaging Digest, Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News and EastPack, the Visionary Awards recognizes teams or individuals involved with product packaging anywhere in the world at a manufacturer/marketer of food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, electronics, personal care or other packaged products.
Visionary Award winners were selected based on the significance of their accomplishments, the measureable results of their accomplishments, and their success in motivating their team, based on personal accounts/testimonials. Judging was performed by an impartial panel of third-party jurors with expertise in packaging.
2013 Visionary Award Winners
PACKAGING PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS CATEGORY
GOLD AWARD - Summit & Graco InvisiPac Development Team, consisting of Kenny Gunderman, Packaging Manager and Thom Thomasser, Chief Operating Officer, for their successful installation of an innovative on-demand hot-melt adhesive dispensing system that sets a new standard in the packaging industry.
SILVER AWARD - Perrigo Nutritionals Team, led by George Salg, Director of Engineering and Dennis Phillips, Engineering Manager, for their development of the ground-breaking SmarTuB package and an innovative packaging line featuring one-off equipment with advanced systems for automated on-line quality inspection.
PACKAGING DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN CATEGORY
GOLD AWARD - Oliver Campbell, Director, Worldwide Procurement & Packaging Engineering, Dell, for his efforts-internally and externally-in positioning Dell as a leader in sustainable packaging. He created Dell's 3Cs program, a multi-year packaging framework structured on reducing cubic volume, increasing sustainable content and increasing curbside recyclability.
PepsiCo Silver winners Clarence Sequeira and Nicole Green along with Lisa Pierce, Packaging Digest executive editor.
SILVER AWARD - PepsiCo Tropicana Inspiration 89-oz ePET Team (in photo at right), consisting of Nicole Green, Senior Manager, Packaging R&D, Neil Enciso, Director, Packaging R&D and Clarence Sequeira, Senior Principal Scientist, Global R&D, for their launch of Tropicana's new 89-oz extrudable PET (ePET) bottle and flip-top closure-the first commercial recycle-compatible ePET container.
The ceremony also honored winners of the AmeriStar Package Awards, sponsored by the Institute of Packaging Professionals. For a complete list of 2013 AmeriStar winners, click here.
