OCTOBER 2003

Bill Armstrong Named to PEF Hall of Fame

ISTA’s President, Bill Armstrong of Sealed Air Corporation, has been named to the Packaging Education Forum’s Hall of Fame. This prestigious recognition is “for outstanding packaging professionals who, during the course of their careers, have showed an active interest and involvement in expanding packaging knowledge, supported formal packaging education, and furthered an understanding of packaging’s contributions to society; have contributed significantly to the technical, marketing, or economic advancement of the packaging field; and have demonstrated leadership within their organizations, communities, and the packaging business at large”.

Bill is certainly deserving of this recognition. His complete résumé of activities and accomplish-ments is far too extensive to list here, but some of the highlights include:
  • Packaging degree from Michigan State University, now a Life Member of the MSU Packaging
    Alumni Association.
  • Technical Development Manager for Sealed Air, oversees 27 testing facilities worldwide.
  • Active member of Industrial Advisory Groups for MSU, Rochester Institute of Technology,
    and California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly).
  • Personally participates in several fund raising efforts each year for groups such as the
    MSU Packaging Alumni Association, IoPP Student Chapters, and his local Connecticut
    Chapter of IoPP.
  • Over twenty five years as an active participant in both ISTA and ASTM standards writing groups.
  • Part of the group that in 1989 merged two packaging organizations to form IoPP, and was IoPP’s
    first president.
  • IoPP Lifetime Certified Packaging Professional and a member of the IoPP College of Fellows.
  • Chaired IoPP's AmeriStar Packaging Design Competition for many years, and continues to judge
    at the annual event.
  • Helped to consolidate ISTACon and TransPack to form the DIMENSIONS Forums on
    Transport Packaging.
  • 20+ years active member of NIPHLE, 1992 Annual Achievement Award for Packaging,
    and 2001 Military Packaging Hall of Fame Inductee.
  • ISTA Certified Laboratory Packaging Professional, Technician level certification.

Bill was formally inducted into the PEF Hall of Fame at ceremonies held during Pack Expo in Las Vegas. Other inductees in the Class of 2003 are Bill Archibald, Dick Lee and Arnie Orloski, Jr. Click Here for Information on PEF and the award.  Click Here for the PEF “Bill Armstrong” page.

Congratulations, Bill, from all of us at ISTA !

Last-Minute Reminders: ISTA Technical Committee Meeting,
CPLP Workshop
These events will be held next week, but there’s still time to make arrangements to attend one or both if you hurry. They’re scheduled for October 22 (Technical Committee) and October 23-24 (Certified Packaging Laboratory Professional) in the Countryside/Hodgkins area of Illinois near Chicago. Although the special hotel rate time period has expired, rooms are still available in the area.

Complete information on the Technical Meeting may be found in last month’s issue of iNews (September 2003). For information on the CPLP Workshop Click Here.

Because time is so short, please call Meredith Young at ISTA, 517-333-3437 to register and for help with arrangements.

Revised ISTA Test Procedures Are Now On-Line

As announced in last month’s issue of iNews, the 2004 ISTA Resource Book will be available in a few months. Included are revisions to a number of Test Procedures - please note there are Editorial changes as well as Technical changes. The revised Procedures are immediately available to Members on the ISTA website, Click Here.

Following is a summary of the changes:

• General Revisions - Procedures have had the “Test Report General Requirements” removed (these are now covered in the “Guidelines for Selecting & Using ISTA Projects and Procedures). A test report form, specific to each procedure, has been added at the end. 
• 1A - Editorial changes made to Scope and Exception.
• 1C and 1D - Editorial changes made to Compression Conditioning.
• 1E - Editorial changes made to Preface and Face Identification.
• 2A - Technical changes made to Product Damage Tolerance / Package Degradation Allowance (PDT/PDA) and to Compression testing.

• 2B - Technical changes made to PDT/PDA and Compression testing; Editorial changes made to clarify 2nd Impact for non-containerized units.
• 2C - Editorial changes made to Before You Begin Compression.
• 3C - Technical changes made to Sample Size, Equipment Required, Face identification, Before You Begin Vibration under Dynamic Load, Test Procedures for Vibration and for Shock testing.
• 3D - Editorial changes made to Equipment Required and Before You Begin Shock.
• 3E - Technical changes made to Exception for Compensating Factor; Editorial changes made to Preface, Face Identification and Compression testing.
• 3H - Editorial changes made to Compression testing.

These changes are effective immediately, and the revised Procedures should now be used in place of their previous versions.

Dimensions.04 Website and Information



Dimensions.04 is rapidly taking shape, and new/updated information is now available at the Dimensions website. You can see the schedule, presentation abstracts, speaker profiles, and more. Mark your calendars now for April 14-17, 2004 and plan to attend the premier transport packaging event of the year!

Held at Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World in Florida, Dimensions has become the largest annual forum in the world for packaging and distribution professionals. The Dimensions website makes it easy to find out about the program and presenters, choose special events (golf, family event, receptions), learn which companies will be exhibiting, get travel and Disney information, and register on-line.

The web site will be revised frequently as new information becomes available, so check back often. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!