For the fourth consecutive year, Machines Italia and the Italian Trade Commission will be joining, as Gold Leve Sponsors, the Canadian Engineering Competion. This year’s edition of the prestigious event was hosted by McGill University in Montreal from March 10 th to 13 th. For the past quarter of a century, the aims of the Canadian Engineering Competition has been to celebrate and encourage the collaboration of engineers across disciplines, industries and borders for the benefit of all people. The event provides a unique opportunity for students, industry representatives and academics to

In the world of consumer products, shelf appeal is becoming increasingly important and packaging has become a major product differentiator. But sometimes the marketing geeks come up with a packaging geometry that is not compatible with automated equipment, which sets up some interesting design challenges, says Michele Falsini, export sales manager for RONCHI Mario, a manufacturer of flexible packaging machinery in Gessate, Italy. DN: How important is packaging to today’s consumer product companies? Falsini: As a huge element of brand awareness and promotion, packaging can literally be the key

It might not be the first place you think of when it comes to high-tech machine tools, but Italy has a long history of producing equipment that helps manufacturing plants operate efficiently. For instance, The Sacmi Group has been doing it since 1919. The US$1.7 billion company provides machinery for the packaging, beverage, ceramics, food processing and plastics industries. The company has come a long way from its beginnings as a staff of nine mechanics and blacksmiths. Sacmi has survived dictatorships, wars and economic hardships in its 90 years to grow to a worldwide staff of more than 3