Innovation Reports
BROUGHT TO YOU BY PMMI MEDIA BRANDS:
2026
Edition

Conveying

Innovations Report

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From The Editors

Welcome to the 2026 Packaging World/Healthcare Packaging/ProFood World Innovations Report.
This second-year report showcases standout packaging and processing equipment and materials spotted by PMMI Media Group editors at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, held September 29–October 1, 2025.

Editors highlight the defining features of each new product and capture videos of the innovations in action on the show floor. What follows is an organized, category-by-category look at the most noteworthy and genuinely new solutions drawn from hundreds of booth visits, and curated through decades of combined editorial experience.

Participating editors included:

  • Matt Reynolds, Chief Editor, Packaging World
  • Liz Cuneo, Editor in Chief, Healthcare Packaging
  • Derrick Teal, Editor in Chief, ProFood World
  • Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor, Packaging World
  • Lilián Robayo Páez, Editor in Chief, Mundo EXPO PACK
  • Silvia Gamba, Assistant Editor, Mundo EXPO PACK
  • Casey Flanagan, Associate Editor, ProFood World
  • Sean Riley, Editor in Chief, OEM Magazine
  • Pat Reynolds, Contributor, Packaging World
  • Rick Lingle, Contributor, Packaging World
Conveying

Introduction

Modern Conveying

Conveying systems are the backbone of any packaging operation, serving as the critical link between processing, filling, sealing, labeling, and palletizing stages. As packaging demands become more complex and production environments shift toward higher efficiency and automation, conveying technologies are evolving with an emphasis on modular designs, hygienic construction, and smart automation capabilities. Developments in servo-driven conveyors, magnetic and vacuum transport, and adaptive control systems are helping manufacturers achieve higher throughput and better synchronization with upstream and downstream equipment.

Conveying
Innovations Report

Conveying

Technology Excellence

Akona

Conveying and Mixing Solutions
Cablevey Tubular Drag System
A new clean tray sweep to minimize particle waste, a brush box for cleaning pucks as they move through the discharge and product chute, metal-detectable pucks, and wire coatings.
Marion Mixer
New O-ring gaskets that can be removed, cleaned, and replaced easily, and F-type PTFE lip seals to prevent product leakage.
Using a supplier that offers multiple types of processing equipment needs streamlines the sourcing process and creates a single point of contact for maintenance.
Derrick Teal
Editor-in-Chief, ProFood World
Conveying and Mixing Solutions
Akona

Featuring enhanced product safety, sanitation, and compliance as well as increased efficiency in conveying and mixing operations.

Conveying and Mixing Solutions
Akona

Key Features

Akona now represents four brands—Cason, Marion, Spyroflow, and Cablevey—with solutions for conveying, mixing, and material handling, aimed at improving efficiency, sanitation, and product quality.
BEGIN SPONSORED CONTENT

Morrison Container Handling Solutions

Laning

Combining and Dividing Machines

Designed to combine or divide product with ease, our laning solutions integrate into existing lines, reduce manual handling, simplify changeovers, and help downstream equipment operate more effectively.

Timing Screw Drive Units

Drive units that improve container control for metering, feeding, turning, indexing, and more.

Learn More

Change Parts

Custom and retrofit change parts built to support efficient changeovers across a wide range of machines.

Download eBook

Custom Integrated Solutions

Custom solutions designed to integrate seamlessly with existing OEM equipment and production lines.

Watch Video
END SPONSORED CONTENT
Operator Friendly

Ashworth

Plastic Posidrive Spiral Belt
All Plastic
The full plastic construction of this belt makes it lighter in weight and easier to install and repair than metal belts.
Snag-Free Edge
The belt can collapse into a smooth edge to prevent jamming.
All-plastic belts simplify installation and maintenance, and this particular unit's smooth edge design keeps operations moving.
Casey Flanagan
Associate Editor, ProFood World
Plastic Posidrive Spiral Belt
Ashworth

This belt features a plastic rod for an all-plastic construction. The company showcased it alongside its metal PosiDrive Spiral counterpart.

Plastic Posidrive Spiral Belt
Ashworth

Key Features

The Plastic PosiDrive Spiral belt is engineered for proofing, freezing, and more for bakery and frozen food producers. Its smooth edge design makes it fit Lotension and direct drive systems.
BEGIN SPONSORED CONTENT

Frazier & Son

Frazier & Son Bucket Elevators

Sanitary Bucket Elevators for Food & Packaging

Designed for efficiency, our bucket elevators feature sanitary construction, easy-clean surfaces, and gentle product handling. Made in the USA for reliable conveying.

Safe Sanitary Bucket Elevators

Our bucket elevators include full guarding, protective covers, and surfaces designed for cleaning.

See It in Action

Incline Conveyors

Sanitary, quick-clean design and custom-built for gentle and reliable product handling.

Discover More

Quick-Clean Incline Conveyors

Simplify cleaning, reduce downtime with dependable performance.

Download Brochure
END SPONSORED CONTENT
High Speed
Robotic

Coastal Manufacturing

Material Handling Solutions
Metal Detector Conveyor
Detects metal, drops the contaminated bag, then resets to allow other packages to continue.
Floor Load Bin Dumper
No hydraulics with a load capacity of up to 2,200 pounds.
Powder-coated steel can help prevent rust from forming on machines, which adds another layer of protection against product contamination.
Derrick Teal
Editor-in-Chief, ProFood World
Material Handling Solutions
Coastal Manufacturing

The stainless-steel conveyor comes with a white powder coating to resist rust, and the dumper is constructed from solid stainless steel for washdowns.

Material Handling Solutions
Coastal Manufacturing

Key Features

Two material-handling products are designed to speed up production while ensuring food safety of the highest quality due to their ease of cleaning.
BEGIN SPONSORED CONTENT

Span Tech, LLC

Spiral Conveyors

Vertical Spiral Conveying

Move products up or down while saving valuable floor space. Span Tech Spiral Conveyors deliver smooth, continuous flow with modular design, low back pressure, and high throughput.

EZGUIDE® Conveyor Guiderail

Adjust guide rails for fast, repeatable changeovers on high-mix product lines.

Learn More

Helical Conveyors

Change elevation and direction simultaneously. Perfect for facilities looking to maximize vertical space without sacrificing performance.

Learn More

High Speed Switch Conveyors

Cutting-edge solution for high-speed sorting and product flow management.

Learn More
END SPONSORED CONTENT
Conveying
Innovations Report

Small Footprint

D-Riven Engineered Solutions

Vertical Conveyance System
New Features
Upgrades permit stopping at multiple levels on way up or down and with right, left, or front-side discharge.
Bonus Capability
System also offers sortation and buffering.
Impressive year-over-year upgrades make this smarter, more flexible conveyance system worth a first or second look.
Rick Lingle
Contributing Editor
Vertical Conveyance System
D-Riven Engineered Solutions

Today's smarter conveyor and material handling systems like D-Riven’s Vertical Conveyance System add value beyond getting things from here to there.

Vertical Conveyance System
D-Riven Engineered Solutions

Key Features

New and improved Vertical Conveyance System includes the ability to stop at multiple levels on way up or down and with right, left, or front-side discharge.
BEGIN SPONSORED CONTENT

Nercon Conveyor Systems

Micro-Transfer Accumulation

Tip-Free Buffering for Downstream Events

Eliminate the cost of line restarts for tapered or tip-prone products. Our Dynamic Micro-Transfer system ensures smooth, first-in-first-out accumulation without the damage of mass-flow systems.

Stable Micro-Transfer Chain

Micro-transfer chain allows smooth, tip-free transfer for unstable or tapered packaging shapes.

Watch Video

Dynamic Multi-Lane Logic

Sensors and controllers determine lane feeding based on real-time line conditions and durations.

View Specs

Serpentine Path Accumulation

High-capacity buffering in a compact footprint using a serpentine flow for maximum space efficiency.

View Layouts
END SPONSORED CONTENT
High Speed
Operator Friendly
Small Footprint

System Technology, Inc.

Multi-Directional Transfer Conveyor
Directional Flexibility
This system can quickly change conveyance orientation to send product down the correct path, preserving original alignment.
Operational Efficiency
The transfer conveyor uses two pulse-geared drives to eliminate the need for pneumatics, and saves on space and labor in product movement.
Flexible conveyors that quickly redirect products without added labor or pneumatics help operators maintain speed, accuracy, and efficiency.
Casey Flanagan
Associate Editor, ProFood World
Multi-Directional Transfer Conveyor
System Technology, Inc.

Several small rollers quickly change directional movement to send product down the conveyor path needed at that moment.

Multi-Directional Transfer Conveyor
System Technology, Inc.

Key Features

By easily redirecting products, the system helps CPGs move product through multi-directional conveyor layouts while maintaining speed and accuracy.
BEGIN SPONSORED CONTENT

D&F Equipment Sales

Retractable Nose Conveyor for 90 Degree Transfer

At D&F, we convey solutions. No matter the plant challenge, the D&F team is equipped to optimize production, improve process flow, and meet the diverse needs of the poultry, meat, and prepared foods industries.

Roll Stock Machine Infeed Conveyor

Built for efficiency with dual lanes, independent belts, safer layout, and roll-away design.

Learn More

D&F Equipment With Intralox AIM™

D&F manufactures Intralox Active Integrated Motion™ equipment providing reliable handling solutions.

Learn More

D&F’s Elevator Conveyor

Washdown-ready and space-saving, this vertical solution will elevate your operations—literally.

Learn More
END SPONSORED CONTENT
Conveying
Innovations Report

High Speed

Shuttleworth (ProMach)

RallyTrak + Specialty Tip for Empty PET Bottles
Smooth, Safe Accumulation
RallyTrak keeps bottles and cans moving damage-free with low-pressure accumulation that prevents scuffing or breakage.
Handles Empty PET with Ease
A specialty tip design stabilizes even empty, lightweight PET bottles—traditionally difficult to convey safely.
RallyTrak's new, specialty tip tackles one of the toughest challenges in accumulation: keeping even empty PET bottles upright and undamaged. It’s a smart, gentle solution for today’s fast beverage lines.
Matt Reynolds
Chief Editor, Packaging World
RallyTrak + Specialty Tip for Empty PET Bottles
Shuttleworth (ProMach)

Continuous chain-strand surface minimizes back pressure for gentle buffering of glass, plastic, or metal containers.

Available in 5-, 7-, or 10-strand configurations to match throughput and accumulation needs across line layouts.
RallyTrak + Specialty Tip for Empty PET Bottles
Shuttleworth (ProMach)

Key Features

Shuttleworth’s RallyTrak accumulation conveyor ensures smooth, low-pressure handling for glass, plastic, and metal containers. Its specialty tip manages empty PET bottles without tipping or scuffing, while modular strand configurations deliver scalable, damage-free accumulation.
Operator Friendly

NCC Automated Systems (Paxiom)

Glide-Line Multi-Strand conveyors
Modular by Design
Glide-Line conveyors scale from single modules to fully integrated systems, delivering ultimate design flexibility, the company says.
Configure with Confidence
User-friendly tools let teams customize, simulate, and adapt layouts quickly—accelerating build time and installation.
Matt Reynolds
Chief Editor, Packaging World
Glide-Line Multi-Strand conveyors
NCC Automated Systems (Paxiom)

Offers the most flexible suite of conveyor types, from multi-strand and timing belt systems to complex, robot-ready integrations.

Combines modular hardware with software-driven design to simplify engineering and reduce lead times across industries.
Glide-Line Multi-Strand conveyors
NCC Automated Systems (Paxiom)

Key Features

Glide-Line modular conveyor systems deliver scalable motion for any automation line. From simple multi-strand conveyors to complex integrated solutions, the platform combines flexibility, fast configuration, and user-friendly design tools to move production forward.
Operator Friendly
Small Footprint

Dynamic Conveyor

DynaClean Radius Turn Conveyor
Sanitary Design
Features including the belting, sidewalls, supports, and control mount are designed to simplify cleaning for operators.
Ease of Integration
The system also includes a tight nose bar to smoothly connect with the next conveyor.
A 180-degree turning conveyor system provides flexibility to optimize layouts in tight spaces, while sanitary design simplifies cleaning and helps maintain food safety.
Casey Flanagan
Associate Editor, ProFood World
DynaClean Radius Turn Conveyor
Dynamic Conveyor

This conveyor features Intralox Series 2400 blue belting to support visual inspection.

Its stainless steel supports are also designed for easy cleaning.
DynaClean Radius Turn Conveyor
Dynamic Conveyor

Key Features

The DynaClean Radius Turn Conveyor combines several sanitary design features with customizable turning radius up to 180 degrees for a food-safe, small-footprint system.
Conveying
Innovations Report

Other Equipment

High Speed
Operator Friendly

CAM Packaging Systems

Switchback 1LR Singulator
Two-level Separating Solution
CAM sorting machine is compact in size yet high-speed in performance with a two-level separating solution to feed downstream packaging equipment.
Batch Counting
System can batch count and even inspect each piece while speeds can range as high as 350 ppm.
This two-level separating system incorporates 24 servo motors to deliver smooth sortation and batch counting.
Pat Reynolds
Contributing Editor
Switchback 1LR Singulator
CAM Packaging Systems

Another example of how good use of servo technology brings big benefits to packaging machinery.

These packaged meat sticks were taken from mass flow and batched into 8-counts by CAM's new sorting machine.
Switchback 1LR Singulator
CAM Packaging Systems

Key Features

This system singulates, counts, and batches individual items for smooth hand-off to downstream packaging equipment.
Robotic
Fast Changeover

Columbus McKinnon

Pallet Handling Demo
Asynchronous Shuttle Conveyor
Runs with its own DC motors and it's powered by a BUS bar inside the track.
Dorner ERT
Edge Roller Technology from Dorner offers precision edge roller pallet and tray handling.
This PACK EXPO demo incorporated Columbus McKinnon's Dorner, Garvey, and Montratec components—along with a Universal Robotics cobot.
Pat Reynolds
Contributing Editor
Pallet Handling Demo
Columbus McKinnon

Automated conveyance demo thanks to multiple OEM contributions.

Including an elevator system that provides accumulation time and a pickand-place cobot, this demo showed an innovative conveyance solution.
Pallet Handling Demo
Columbus McKinnon

Key Features

Multiple machine components can all be integrated into a harmonized conveyance solution.
High Speed

D&F Equipment Sales

AIM Sorter Technology
Advanced Sorting Capabilities
AIM sorter technology can handle multiple product sizes in a single line as well as sort trays and boxes of different sizes simultaneously.
Optimized Production Loops
Products can be recirculated via a ZTR (zero-time return) back into the AIM sorter, and accurate sorting and reduced product handling errors are ensured.
The ability to integrate with complex production lines to manage varying product types can lead to higher throughput.
Derrick Teal
Editor-in-Chief, ProFood World
AIM Sorter Technology
D&F Equipment Sales

Capable of integrating with complex production lines to manage varying product types.

AIM Sorter Technology
D&F Equipment Sales

Key Features

AIM technology benefits Benefit to food & beverage manufacturers by reducing manual sorting and labor costs, minimizing errors and product waste, and enhancing overall line efficiency and product flow.

Sani-Matic

CleanWorx Buggy Washer BWX-600-S
Purpose-Built for V-Mag Buggies
Specifically engineered to clean 400-lb V-Mag buggies, which are widely used across protein, bakery, produce, and other food processing sectors.
Simplified Design
Provides a straightforward, operator-friendly wash process without unnecessary automation or controls.
Manufacturers can benefit from a practical, standardized approach to buggy cleaning that offers reliable sanitation without the complexity or cost of a fully customized system.
Derrick Teal
Editor-in-Chief, ProFood World
CleanWorx Buggy Washer BWX-600-S
Sani-Matic

Provides a straightforward, operator-friendly wash process without unnecessary automation or controls.

Sani-Matic showcased a 3D model of the CleanWorx Buggy Washer BWX-600-S and provided technical data sheets for interested processors.
CleanWorx Buggy Washer BWX-600-S
Sani-Matic

Key Features

The BWX-600-S Buggy Washer is part of Sani-Matic’s new CleanWorx brand, which was developed to provide simplified, standardized cleaning systems for the food and beverage industry.
Conveying
Innovations Report

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Innovations Report

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Innovations Report

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Our Editors

Matt Reynolds

Chief Editor

Packaging World

Anne Marie Mohan

Senior Editor

Packaging World

Elisabeth Cuneo

Editor in Chief

Healthcare Packaging

Derrick Teal

Editor in Chief

ProFood World

Sean Riley

Editor in Chief

OEM Magazine

Lilián Robayo Páez

Editor in Chief

Mundo EXPO PACK

Silvia Gamba

Editor

Mundo EXPO PACK

Casey Flanagan

Associate Editor

Packaging World

Patrick Reynolds

Contributor

Packaging World

Rick Lingle

Contributor

Packaging World

We'd love to hear your feedback!

editors@pmmimediagroup.com

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