A highly rewarding trip: American students visit Packaging Valley

Students from the packaging program at Stout University in Wisconsin, USA recently visited Packaging Valley for the fourth time. The countless packaging machine manufacturers concentrated around the towns of Schwäbisch Hall and Crailsheim are known around the world for their cutting-edge technologies, pioneering innovations and solid training programs. This makes an excursion to Packaging Valley highly attractive for many students.

kocher-plastik in Sulzbach-Laufen and OPTIMA consumer in Schwäbisch Hall invited the students to tour their facilities and take a look behind the scenes. Prof. Robert Meisner, Packaging Program Director at Stout University, once again accompanied the group this year. They were joined by Prof. Christian Gerhard and his students from the Life Sciences department at Albstadt-Sigmaringen University.

This international group toured Packaging Valley together to learn more about packaging machine engineering and related topics.
How are machines developed, built and installed at customer sites around the globe?
What range do our machine building companies cover and how can students find the right job?
These questions and more were answered in detail by Martin Sauter, Managing Director of OPTIMA Consumer and Martin Schneider, Managing Director of kocher-plastik. Project managers Jochen Wunderlich and Steffen Beyerbach also provided extensive insight into the blow-fill-seal process at kocher-plastik. The excursion extended beyond Packaging Valley itself to include a visit to the New Lounges packaging fair at the Stuttgart Trade Fair Centre and the Virtual Dimension Center in Fellbach. These activities were ideal for showcasing the wide range of technologies used in the packaging industry.
At the end of the visit, Prof. Meisner remarked that he looks forward to continuing the series of excursions, now in its fourth year, for many years to come.