Reflections: Latest edition of PPMA hailed a success, as organisers plan for 2026

The organisers behind this year’s PPMA event in Birmingham, UK have hailed it a notable success, with key machinery and robotics developments among its core highlights, writes Neill Barston.

Confectionery Production was among businesses participating at the event, which saw equipment and systems targeting the complete spectrum of the industry, including for sweets and snacks markets.

This spanned everything from the latest innovations in packaging lines from the likes of Gerhard Schubert, which made its return to the show after an absence of seven years, through to the x-ray systems and inspection lines devised by other major players such as Ishida, AMP, Somic and Mettler Toledo among hundreds of exhibitors. 

Automate UK, which remains at the centre of organising the event, asserted that there had been ‘exceptional feedback’ and significant advance bookings for 2026, which returns to the NEC in Birmingham between September 23-25 next year.

Somic were among notable exhibitors at this year’s PPMA.

In total, the 2025 event played host to more than 350 exhibitors and 1,500 brands, and played host to an extensive programme of seminars and expertise courtesy of guest speakers.

Scott McKenna, Chief Operating Officer at Automate UK, said he was thrilled with the response to the show.

“Now in its 38th year, we were committed to making the PPMA Total Show® the best yet, and I think we succeeded in doing just that – we are absolutely delighted at the feedback we’ve received from exhibitors and visitors alike. The calibre of stands created by our exhibitors was superb, resulting in a thriving? atmosphere and an environment packed with innovation and inspiration,” he said.

“The standout feature of the show was our newly designed theatres, which set the scene for our seminar schedule, live demonstration sessions from our Innovations Eleven exhibitors and keynote speakers.

“As anticipated, our keynote addresses from Priya Lakhani OBE, former Sainsburys CEO Mike Coupe, and Levi Roots were extremely well received, with standing room only for their sessions, while the diverse range of seminars we provided attracted a great deal of engagement from visitors. We were particularly pleased with the interest in our seminars on apprenticeships, as education and development are a huge part of what Automate UK are lobbying for and trying to drive forward,” he added.

In terms of manufacturer reaction, Ishida, which held one of the most striking stands at the event, believed there had been a positive response to its appearance this year.

Torsten Giese, marketing manager for Ishida, said: For Ishida, we have had two new innovations on show here, the tray sealer, and our new production monitoring system (Sentinel), alongside our core range machinery, including multi-head weighers and our latest checkweigher which was launched just over a year ago.

“People have been excited to see these two new lines, as they want to see progress in terms of production efficiency for products, as well as progress on saving space, as well as consumer protection – if you have high credibility in this regard, you don’t have any packs that are out of specification for supermarkets, which may affect shelf-life of ranges, which is what our tray sealing system is designed to address.

He added that while the latter equipment line has primarily been targeted at other areas of the food and drink market requiring sealable containers and trays, it was an area that has been identified as having potential for confectionery and snacking product types.

Furthermore, speaking to Confectionery Production, Ariel Wynn, sales and marketing specialist, from Schubert UK, welcomed the company’s return to this year’s event in Birmingham, especially given the company’s strong track-record in the region.

She said: “We have had some incredible conversations throughout the event, and it has not just been from the food sector, so it has been so good for us, and we won’t be leaving it so long again to come back once more,” explaining there had been particular interest in one of its core machines on display, which was a top-loading packaging system that has just won a major contract for a key food producer in the region, Charlie Bigham, which was marked at the event.

As she added, there had been some strong engagement from potential customers interested in samples of products related to some of its existing clients including Fox’s Burtons, and Thornton’s chocolates, Ferrero, which are among many customers.

Automate awards
As the organisers noted, event also incorporated the Automate UK Awards, which took place on the evening of 24 September and saw comedian Katherine Ryan and Irish supergroup Boyzlife entertain the audience, while recognising innovation and excellence achievements throughout the automation industry.

The ceremony saw Ishida Europe receive the Innovative Processing System accolade, Acrovision presented with the award for Innovative Vision Solution and Scayl awarded with the Innovative Packaging accolade. Fistram Pumps was named as the winner of the highly competitive Outstanding Customer Service award, while the Innovative Robotics/Automation Solution award was presented to Reeco.

Acrovision and Herma UK secured the Partnership of the Year award in recognition of their collaboration in delivering high-performance, reliable labelling and vision solutions.

In addition, Foenix Coding was awarded the Environmental Initiative of the Year for its direct carton printing technology, which eliminates materials from the value chain of a product, and Christian Pullen from Huxley Bertram Engineering was presented with the prestigious Apprentice of the Year award in recognition of his leadership potential, commitment to the sector, and positive impact in inspiring more young people to pursue careers within automation and manufacturing.

The ceremony also presented Albert Bradley, a highly skilled engineer and industry pioneer who retired this year at the age of 84 after 68 years in the packaging machinery business, with the lifetime achievement award.