Packaging savvy

The Institute of Packaging, the provider of packaging training and education, and PIABC-the UK's Packaging Industry Awarding Body Company-are to locate their stands side by side at the PPMA Show in an effort to promote their packaging industry education and training.

The Institute of Packaging will be putting emphasis on its recently restructured packaging qualifications. There are two key qualifications. The Diploma in Packaging Technology is internationally recognised as the premier degree level qualification for packaging professionals. It has recently been restructured into five units all of which must be successfully completed to gain the Diploma. Specialist units may also be taken separately to gain a Certificate of Achievement and those attending the PPMA may be particularly interested in Unit Four which covers Packaging Processes including packaging machinery and packaging line operations.

The recently introduced Certificate in Packaging is claimed to be useful to individuals working in or alongside the packaging industry in disciplines ranging from production through to sales and marketing. The Certificate provides a broad knowledge centred upon achieving success in one core unit and four out of twelve elective units. There are specialist units covering the process and production operations in the industry and each may be taken separately for a Certificate of Achievement.

The Institute also says it will be promoting the new concept of Corporate Partnering under which packaging companies can benefit from a free professional survey of their training and education needs as well as a tailored training schedule.

IOP​ chief executive, John Webb-Jenkins said, "In the last year we have introduced fundamental changes in the way packaging education and training is offered in this country - and to students around the world. The PPMA Show represents an ideal opportunity to keep the machinery sector informed about these and other developments. Continuing substantial capital investment in state-of-the-art machinery is crucial to the packaging industry, but so too is the much smaller but equally important investment in well-trained and knowledgeable people."​

PIABC, the Packaging Industry Awarding Body Company, is a division of the Institute of Packaging but functions separately as the UK awarding body for vocational and S/NVQ qualifications which it develops and accredits for the entire industry.

Fred Hoyland, chief executive of PIABC said, "The processing and packaging machinery sector is a key driver in the progress of the industry. It must continually move forward in innovation and technology in order to provide the packaging excellence demanded by product manufacturers, retailers and consumers. It follows that there is a constant demand for well trained people capable of optimising the role played by machinery in our industry. We hope to persuade machinery producers, and users, of the need to keep education and training at the top of their priority list."​

Both the PIABC and the IOP will be located on stand number10008 at the PPMA show​, held at Birmingham NEC, 23-25 September.