Organisers of the UK’s biggest processing and packaging machinery, robotics and industrial vision event will address one of the sector’s biggest challenges when it returns to the NEC Birmingham in September: the skills gap and how to bridge it.

EEMUA’s Alarms Systems and Controls Seminar is on Thursday 26 March 2026, at The Park Royal Hotel and Spa, in Warrington, UK – Open to all and free for EEMUA Members and Associates.

In automated production, inefficiencies do not always originate in the core process itself. They often emerge between stages, particularly where labelling still depends on pre-printed stock, manual intervention, or delayed changeovers. As production becomes more flexible, these weak points are increasingly difficult to ignore.

Packaging systems are often imagined as large-scale industrial operations—featuring long conveyor systems and high-speed product handling, where countless items are efficiently packed into flowpacks and cartons within intricate, fully synchronized lines. While such setups certainly exist, the industry is equally defined by smaller, more compact configurations and individual automated packaging steps.