The packaging community celebrates its Visionaries

Pre-fab production operations and packaging solutions that improve patient safety were among the accomplishments that earned Diageo Team Cube and Joe Mase (respectively) Gold Awards in the 2014 UBM Canon Packaging Group Visionary Awards. The program pays tribute to individuals and teams who show vision and leadership in advancing their company’s goals of innovation, differentiation, savings and growth.

Visionary Awards finalists were recognized and the winners were revealed at a gala event yesterday, June 10, at the Javits Convention Center in New York City in conjunction with the EastPack show, which is owned and organized by UBM Canon. Held in partnership with the Institute of Packaging Professionals, the event also paid tribute to recipients of the 2014 AmeriStar Package Awards.

The winners of our 2014 Visionary Awards are:

GOLD AWARD: PACKAGING DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN CATEGORY

Joe Mase, vp of marketing and business development, Sagent Pharmaceuticals, earned the Gold Award for his vision and tenacity in the development of two packaging solutions in recent years that have made a significant improvement in patient safety: PreventIV Measures packaging and labeling, and the Enlightened HRBC high-resolution bar code.

SILVER AWARD: PACKAGING DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN CATEGORY

The Mother Parkers Innovation and Technology Team won the Silver Award for their development of the EcoCup, a single-serve beverage package (similar to a K-Cup) that was designed to ensure easy separation by hand of the EcoCup components for recycling and/or composting.

The team includes Margaret LaRocque, packaging engineer; Shelby Parkinson, analytical lab technician; Yucheng Fu, product engineering manager; Paul Yang, packaging manager; Lib Trombetta, director of innovation and technology; and Dennis Paynter, vp of coffee operations.

GOLD AWARD: PACKAGING PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS CATEGORY

The Diageo Team Cube received a Gold Award for commercializing a low-cost modular production plant for the blending and packaging of spirits in multiple regions within 12 months.

The Diageo Team Cube includes Paul Millar, head of packaging technology; Dawn Reilly, brand technical manager; Ray Webb, project manager; Ian Bell, packaging manager; and Donal Comerford, market support manager for Africa regional markets and business integration manager.

During his acceptance speech on behalf of the team, Millar shared that the company has realized an additional $300 million in sales because of the production of these new operations.

SILVER AWARD: PACKAGING PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS CATEGORY

Another Mother Parkers team also took home a Silver Award for completely gutting an existing plant and doubling its size, driving growth in the company’s private label and branded business in the exploding category of single-serve coffee and tea.

The Mother Parkers RealCup Operations Startup Team consists of Stephen Leung, plant manager; Chris Meffen, production manager; Dennis Paynter, vp of coffee operations, Lib Trombetta, vice director of innovation and technology; Yucheng Fu, product engineering manager; and Janet Nagy, human-resources manager.

Read about all the finalists in “Who will be chosen as this year’s packaging Visionaries?”

http://www.packagingdigest.com/packaging-design/who-will-be-chosen-year-s-packaging-visionaries