UF/IFAS Packaging Engineering students have produced the first corrugated tray on the Packaging Engineering program’s newly acquired Kongsberg X24 prototyping table. “This simple tray is like that ‘one small step’ that represents a ‘giant leap’ for the UF/IFAS Packaging Engineering program,” said Professor Bruce Welt who plans to use the table in his Spring 2023 course called PKG4101C Computer Tools for Packaging.” Dr. William Pelletier, who also teaches for the UF/IFAS Packaging Engineering program added, “This prototyping table will add many hands-on learning opportunities for UF/IFAS Packaging Engineering students.” Assistant Professor Ziynet Boz added, “With industry increasingly turning to sustainable fiber-based packaging solutions, students will have a great opportunity to develop real package samples using an inherently sustainable medium.”
Professor Welt acknowledged the corrugated packaging industry stakeholders who helped UF to acquire the machine including John Kelley, President of Dusobox (Orlando, FL), Michael D’Angelo, President of AICC – The Independent Packaging Association (AICCbox.org), and especially the International Corrugated Packaging Foundation (ICPF) (ICPFbox.org), which negotiated a discounted price for the table and contributed 50% towards the acquisition in support of corrugated packaging education at UF/IFAS. Welt added that “we were able to pull our portion of funds together from our Packaging Education Forum Endowment with support from Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department Chair, Kati Migliaccio and UF/IFAS teaching dean, Elaine Turner. When we saw that our endowment funds were short of what we needed, we turned to Dr. Migliaccio and Dean Turner and they agreed to plug the gap without hesitation.”
Incoming ICPF President, Caitlin Salaverria said, “ICPF is so pleased to have meaningfully participated in the placement of this machine in the UF/IFAS Packaging Engineering laboratory. As an industry sponsored foundation, ICPF has worked for the last 30 years to advance student and faculty knowledge of the industry and to promote development of a highly trained workforce. UF/IFAS Packaging Engineering students now have access to a primary tool used by the corrugated packaging industry to develop new prototypes.”
UF/IFAS students can pursue careers in Packaging Engineering through the Packaging Engineering track of the Biological Engineering major in the Agricultural & Biological Engineering Department. Additionally, Engineering students may elect to complete the Packaging Engineering Certificate offered through UF’s Hebert Wertheim College of Engineering. Non-engineering students may pursue the Packaging Science minor through UF/IFAS’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Professor Welt added, “demand for graduates with demonstrated interest in packaging careers is very high, and UF/IFAS’ Packaging program is the only packaging education program available to students in the entire state of Florida.”