Volm’s first exhibit of 2023 took place January 4th and 5th in Aurora, Colorado which is just outside of Denver. The venue, Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center, sits on the edge of the Rocky Mountains’ Front Range, minutes from the airport and within 30 minutes of downtown Denver.

Our footprint within the exhibit hall was sizable enough to accommodate both the exciting BD606 Case Packer machine and our newest stainless-steel weigher with easy-to-remove dosing and weighing buckets, the M10i D. Alongside the weigher, we placed an optional accessory to the weigher, a stainless-steel mobility cart for hanging the weigh buckets on. This wheeled cart allows you to hang all 10 buckets at once for quick and easy transfer to an area for hosing and cleaning.

But it was the BD606 that drew the most interest in the equipment offered. We provided live demonstrations using our popular pillow pack style bags with small potatoes being placed into display-ready or tab-lock cases. Visitors and passers-by were impressed by the simplicity of the process as well as the speed and accuracy of the filling.

The Volm packaging display was an impressive array of all the various package and label styles we manufacture and distribute. Available sustainable options for packaging & supplies included consumer paper bags, paper pillow style bags, all mesh wicketed bags using CLAF® Bio Fabric™, CloseIt® Bio-Clip and our newest product, the fully recyclable HiC2 and MDO pouches.

The Volm team was represented well with both sales and marketing support as well as some key supplier partners from Europe.

Michiel Eilander and Dick Bos, both of Manter International of the Netherlands, participated in the show this year for the first time. We thank them for providing many key insights for the Volm team and also for engaging in our conversations with our customers in our efforts to arm them with the best information on potato equipment solutions.

Also, a key participant this year was René Kemp Møller. René is the CEO and Director of Egatec, the firm that manufactures the BD606 Case Packer. This was René’s first Potato Expo and we appreciate him making the trip from Denmark. He was continually demonstrating the capabilities of the Case Packer and engaged in many conversations with customers who were interested in understanding how this machine would fit in their operations. Many thanks to René for taking his time to better educate our customers and our Volm team!

Day one of the show was extremely well attended. Traffic in the Volm booth was consistent from start to finish. Day two was quieter, with many of us exhibitors able to visit amongst ourselves and for the team members to walk the show floor or spend time with our customers.

On Thursday afternoon, Volm’s own Mike Levis took part in a panel discussion on the future of next generation of potato packaging. Mike, along with other packaging professionals, shared with the audience their views on the current challenges and also where opportunities exist for packaging companies to help shape the future with sustainable solutions.

We are thankful for a successful and educational show and are looking forward to seeing everyone in Austin at Potato Expo 2024.