Packaging and processing lines don’t get simpler year over year. PMMI’s Inside the Workforce Gap report found 95% of packaging end-users are struggling to find skilled operators and technicians — and at the same time, PMMI’s 2026 outlook on AI in packaging equipment points to manufacturers leaning harder on automation and AI-driven maintenance to close that gap while still handling more SKUs and shorter production runs than ever. The manufacturers doing that well aren’t just automating more. They’re getting every stage of the line — filling, capping, labeling, coding, robotics, sterilizing, end-of-line — to work like one integrated packaging system instead of a row of separate machines bought at separate times from separate vendors.

Built to Run as One

That’s the environment PACK EXPO International 2026 is built for. It’s also exactly why ProMach is showing up under a new banner this year: Built to Run as One.

For 2026, ProMach is bringing that same filling, capping, labeling, coding, robotics, sterilizing, and end-of-line expertise together — and presenting it the way it’s engineered to work: one connected line, from the first mix to the loading dock. Not four different sales conversations in four different corners of the hall.

ProMach will be at Booth S-3630, South Hall, October 18–21, at McCormick Place in Chicago →

Over the next few weeks, you’ll see what “one connected line” looks like on the show floor — capability by capability, brand by brand, and a few reasons to stick around beyond the machinery. For now, the short version: bring your toughest packaging or processing question. This booth was built to answer it as one turnkey packaging solution, not a scavenger hunt across separate booths.

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Coming up next on The Packaging Observer: more from the show floor — new tech, new markets, and a closer look at what “Built to Run as One” means in practice.