New chairman for APPMA

The Australian Packaging and Processing Machinery Association (APPMA) announced that they have a new chairman. After seven years in the chair, Rob Lawrence has decided to step down and Mark Dingley was unanimously elected as his replacement.

Over the last seven years, Rob Lawrence has seen many changes and improvement to the Association including changing the name to the APPMA, expanding the membership into processing machinery, developing a new website, advertising the association in the media and growing AUSPACK into AUSPACK PLUS.

According to Lawrence, his most memorable moments as chairman included hosting the first COPAMA meeting ever held outside of the US and Europe, which was hosted in China.

“I am also very proud of the APPMA’s achievements to continually improve and grow our trade exhibition; AUSPACK PLUS. This is the core activity of the APPMA and we have seen it grow into the premier trade exhibition for packaging, processing and materials in Australia,” said Lawrence.

“In the last seven years I have also seen many changes to the packaging and processing machinery industry including rapid development and advancement in robotics and automation.

“I am very pleased to have been the National Chairman of the APPMA for the last seven years and been on the board for 12 now, I will remain on the national board as a Director and I look forward to seeing Mark and the board grow the APPMA and AUSPACK PLUS over the next few years.

“The APPMA has a strong board and under Mark’s capable leadership the members should look forward to further growth of the association and improved member benefits. I wish him all the very best as the new National Chairman.” said Lawrence.

Mark Dingley has been working in the packaging industry for over 17 years and is known to many as the head of Matthews Intelligent Identification Business Development. He began in customer services and has extensive experience in product management and business development. He has been on the APPMA board for ten years and is looking forward to the challenge ahead.

“I am very excited to become the National Chairman of the APPMA and the first goal in my new role is to ensure that AUSPACK PLUS continues to grow and be recognised as the only exhibition to attend for the packaging and processing machinery industries,” Dingley said.

“After the 2011 AUSPACK PLUS an extensive survey was undertaken with visitors and exhibitors to determine how we can offer an even more diverse and successful exhibition in 2013. The results of the survey have guided our objectives for the Sydney show and one of the key findings will be to focus on welcoming the materials side of the industry to both exhibit and attend AUSPACK PLUS 2013. Materials refers to all elements from film to plastics, through to components and ancillaries of packaging and processing machinery. This is a side of the industry that is sometimes overlooked and yet is critical to the success of production lines. The APPMA will be working hard to build on the success of 2011 and to increase the quality of exhibitors and visitors to the show in 2013.” he said.

“I would also like to explore how we can improve our member services of the association and this will be a growth area that I will be personally focusing on over the next few years. I want to ensure that APPMA members are receiving true value and we will be working with them to understand what they are looking for and how we can help them.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Rob Lawrence for all of his hard work and dedication to the role over the last seven years and to the wonderful board that I work with; they are all volunteers who devote their personal time and energy into helping advance the packaging and processing machinery industry. It is an honour to work alongside them and now to become the National Chairman of the APPMA.” Dingley said.