Interpack, held in Düsseldorf every three years, is the world’s largest trade show for packaging and processing technology. Three themes defined the show: smart manufacturing and automation, innovative and sustainable materials, and the growing operational weight of the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
For New Zealand manufacturers supplying domestic or export markets, the developments on display in Düsseldorf are worth understanding. European buyers are already asking for compliant packaging. Equipment sold at interpack today will be arriving in production facilities in New Zealand over the next two to three years.
Smart Manufacturing: Automation, AI, and Operational Efficiency
Automation was the dominant theme across the interpack 2026 exhibition floor, driven by two converging pressures: labour availability and the need to run more format changeovers with the same workforce. The push toward smarter manufacturing is a response to the practical reality that food, dairy, pharmaceutical, and consumer goods manufacturers are running smaller batch sizes of a larger number of SKUs, often on the same production line.
Key developments on display included:
- AI-assisted vision inspection: inline quality inspection systems now integrate machine learning models trained on defect libraries, enabling real-time detection and rejection without manual calibration for each product variant
- Predictive maintenance integration: equipment with embedded sensor packages transmitting performance data to cloud-based dashboards, alerting maintenance teams to wear indicators before failure occurs
- Robotic pick-and-place and case packing: collaborative robots handling secondary packaging tasks — carton erection, product collation, and palletising — with programming interfaces designed to be operated by non-specialist production staff
- Rapid format changeover systems: filling, sealing, and labelling equipment engineered for single-operator changeovers in under ten minutes, reducing line downtime when switching between product formats or pack sizes
For New Zealand manufacturers, the practical message is that automation investment is becoming the norm, not the exception. Manufacturers that delay will find it increasingly difficult to compete on cost with facilities that have integrated these systems.
Innovative Materials: Paper, Monomaterials, and Recycling-Ready Design
The materials theme at interpack 2026 was dominated by the shift from multi-layer laminates to formats that can be mechanically recycled in existing waste streams. This is partly a response to PPWR’s recyclability requirements (see below), but it also reflects genuine commercial pressure from major European retailers and food brands that have committed to recyclable packaging targets in their own sustainability reporting.
The most significant trend was the expansion of paper-based flexible packaging. Barrier papers, papers with PFAS-free coatings that provide grease, moisture, and oxygen resistance, have moved from early-stage trials to commercial availability across a wide range of food applications. Confectionery, snacks, bakery, and fresh produce packaging are all seeing commercial volumes of barrier paper formats.
Monomaterial flexible films, structures made from a single polymer type, such as all-PE or all-PP, are another significant development. Monomaterial structures are compatible with existing mechanical recycling streams in a way that multi-layer laminates are not. Converting from a mixed-polymer laminate to a monomaterial structure often requires adjustments to sealing parameters and tension control on form fill seal equipment, but the machinery itself is typically adaptable without replacement.
For food and dairy manufacturers in New Zealand, the materials shift has direct implications. Packaging manufacturers are already offering these alternatives. The question is whether your filling, sealing, or cartoning equipment can run them effectively — and whether your EU customers and retail buyers are already asking for recyclable packaging documentation.
PPWR: The Regulatory Pressure Shaping Every Purchase Decision
The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) was not a sideshow at interpack 2026 — it was the commercial context for virtually every new product on the exhibition floor. With the PFAS ban in food contact packaging taking effect on 12 August 2026, and broader recyclability and recycled content requirements phasing in through 2030, European manufacturers are making packaging investment decisions right now on the basis of PPWR compliance.
What this means in practice is that equipment displayed at interpack 2026 has been engineered to run the materials that PPWR requires. Machinery validated for paper-based flexible packaging, monomaterial films, and recyclable carton formats has been tested by European manufacturers who are already operating under PPWR timelines. The equipment works with the compliant materials, not just in theory, but on production lines in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and elsewhere.
For New Zealand manufacturers exporting to the EU, or supplying products that enter European supply chains, this matters directly. If your packaging format requires change to meet PPWR, the machinery you invest in now should be specified for the compliant alternative, not the format you are currently running.
European Equipment Partners and What Interpack Means for New Zealand
Advanced Packaging Systems partners with several European packaging machinery manufacturers whose primary markets are the EU. These companies were exhibiting at or represented at interpack 2026, and their customer base is already navigating PPWR compliance in live production environments.
VH Vertical Packaging, based in the Netherlands, designs and manufactures vertical form fill seal machines used extensively by European food manufacturers. The Dutch market has been particularly active in transitioning to paper-based and monomaterial formats, and VH equipment is already configured and validated for these substrates. Wire Belt Company, with deep roots in the European food processing industry, manufactures conveyor belt systems used across baking, dairy, confectionery, and meat processing — applications where hygienic design and material-specific conveying requirements are well understood from decades of European customer experience.
UET (Germany) produces cartoning machinery for pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetics manufacturers across Europe. Zalkin (France) supplies capping and cap handling systems to beverage, dairy, and food companies throughout the EU. Silverson Machines (UK) manufactures high shear mixers used by pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food manufacturers across Europe.
The relevance for New Zealand customers is straightforward. Equipment that has been engineered for, tested with, and commercially deployed by European manufacturers running PPWR-compliant packaging materials is a lower-risk investment than equipment that has not. When a New Zealand food manufacturer needs to run a PFAS-free paper bag or a monomaterial flexible pouch, there is machinery that has already done it.
Planning a processing or packaging project?
Speak with Advanced Packaging Systems about equipment selection, line integration, and local support in New Zealand.
- Local technical and commercial support in New Zealand.
- Obligation-free advice on equipment and line fit.
- Useful next steps, even if your project is still early-stage.
What to Watch in the Next 12 Months
Based on what was on display at interpack 2026, the developments most relevant to New Zealand manufacturers over the next year include:
- Barrier paper availability and converter capability: the range of food-grade barrier paper formats available from New Zealand-accessible converters will expand significantly as European suppliers scale commercial production
- Equipment validation for new substrates: manufacturers considering new filling or sealing equipment should ask suppliers specifically whether the machinery has been validated for paper-based or monomaterial flexible formats, and under what conditions
- PFAS-free transition deadlines: August 2026 is the EU’s hard deadline for PFAS in food contact packaging. New Zealand exporters with EU exposure should confirm compliance status with their packaging converters well before that date
- Automation investment cycles: as European manufacturers complete interpack-driven equipment upgrades, there will be renewed availability of well-maintained secondary-generation automated systems — some of which may enter New Zealand through upgrade cycles over the next two to three years
Advanced Packaging Systems can discuss packaging equipment requirements for manufacturers navigating format changes, automation upgrades, or new material substrates. Contact the team to discuss your specific production requirements.
