Washington, D.C. — A comprehensive educational program featuring plant operations workshops, global trend general sessions, and technical briefings, in addition to the innovations in 1,000 booths, are expected to attract thousands of dairy, beverage and food manufacturers to this year’s Worldwide Food Expo.
“We're offering four general sessions to highlight global demographic, economic and food trends,” IDFA Vice President of Communications and Meetings Susan Ruland said in a release. "And we're excited about the in-depth plant operations workshops the first three days of the show, which are specifically designed to help plant managers cut costs and improve efficiencies."
The convention, sponsored by the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and American Meat Institute (AMI), will be held in Chicago, from Oct. 24 to 27. Organizers said the show would feature more than 20 break-out sessions on topics ranging from organic labeling to sanitary design principles. In addition, IDFA and AMI each are offering pre-show workshops.
In general sessions on Wednesday through Friday morning, leading experts will provide timely insights on the global economy, generational shifts and consumer eating trends. In addition, an AMI general session on Friday morning will include provocative discussion about global markets.
The general sessions are:
Competing and Succeeding in a Global Economy
Former White House economic policy director, trend forecaster and author Todd Buchholz discusses fresh opportunities for manufacturing, service and technology in the face of competitive pressure.
Generations, Lifestyles, and the Future of the Food Industry
Best-selling author Neil Howe is a renowned authority on generations in America, offering powerful insights about today’s generation, what motivates them as consumers and workers, and how they will shape our national future. Howe’s cyclical perspective — oriented around familiar generational life stories — puts the long term view into a sharp, personal focus.
Consumer Trends: What America Eats and Drinks
Harry Balzer, vice president of NPD Group, will roll out the latest research on changing consumer habits and tastes. Find out which trends are just fads, and which ones should make you rethink your current business strategies and product development plans.
Special AMI General Session: ‘The Seven Revolutions”
AMI offers a special general session looking at critical trends — population, economics and security — that will affect Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Russia, India and South Asia, and China and East Asia. Erik Peterson, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, will lead the session.
The convention also will provide attendees a special track of plant operations short courses, giving plant managers insight on improving operations to increase output, quality, efficiency and flexibility while saving money through proven management tools, tested sanitary design principles and actual case studies.
The courses are: Flexible Production Lines; Six Sigma for the Food Industry; Technology for Tracking Milk Processing; and Sanitary Design Principles for Equipment and Facilities.
For a complete listing and schedule of events, or to register for the show, visit www.worldwidefood.com.