Enercon’s Bill Zito Packaging Scholarship Promotes Education

In commemoration of Bill Zito’s Packaging Hall of Fame Career, Enercon Industries Corporation is pleased to support the packaging industry with a Scholarship administered by the PMMI Education & Training Foundation.

In 2010 Bill Zito earned election into the Packaging Hall of Fame and every two years, coinciding with Pack Expo International in Chicago, Enercon awards a scholarship to a worthy student pursuing a career in packaging. Applications for the scholarship can be submitted through the PMMI Education & Training Foundation.

The Enercon Bill Zito scholarship will be awarded to the candidate who best meets the following criteria:

• Third year student majoring in packaging engineering or related areas
• Excellent academic achievement plus recommendation from faculty
• One page essay from student describing his/her career goals, demonstrating interest in the packaging industry
• Extra-curricular involvement such as athletics etc.
• Candidate should submit resume outlining academic and work experience along with essay

More About Bill Zito & His Career

Enercon’s Bill Zito has been elected to the Packaging Hall of Fame Class of 2010. Vice president, education & workforce development, PMMI, Maria Ferrante says of the inductees, “Each of these gentlemen has helped to shape the packaging industry as we know it today. Whether it’s been by inventing new products, outreach, or education, they’ve all made a positive impact.”

In 1982, induction sealing rocketed to the forefront of both the packaging industry and public consciousness as front page news. Packagers scrambled for an effective tamper evident packaging strategy that could thwart the chance of future Tylenol®-like poisonings. Leading national newspapers including the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and New York Daily News published articles about a solution called induction sealing. Accompanying the articles was a photo of Bill Zito alongside an induction sealer.

The role of induction sealing in packaging changed forever. Bill was front and center at the re-birth of the technology. Prior to that time, hermetic induction seals were used primarily as a means to prevent products from leaking. Packagers adopted the technology for its tamper-evident benefits and the FDA quickly recognized induction seals as an effective means of tamper-evidence. As Bill says, “I began my career when people were trying to keep things in the container and the focus suddenly switched to keeping people out of the container.”

Over the last 30 years, no one has been a stronger advocate of induction sealing technology than Bill Zito. Bill’s success in the packaging field can be attributed to many factors. For starters, he has the rare combination of a highly technical engineering background blended with an engaging personality. He leverages these skills to communicate equally well with highly regarded packaging research engineers, and small start-up business owners who are new to the packaging industry.

Bill has been a prophet in spreading the word on how induction sealing protects products with tamper-evidence, prevents leaks and even preserves product freshness. One of the technical papers that he authored stands out as one of the most authoritative documents ever published about induction sealing. “Myths and Mysteries of Induction Sealing” makes sense of this often misunderstood technology. Anyone interested in the induction sealing process should begin their education by reading this enlightening paper.

His assistance in the development of the popular webinar, Achieving a Perfect Seal, were invaluable in creating a new generation of authoritative content for the packaging community.

Bill’s educational contributions to the industry have been in many forums. In three different decades his views and insights have informed and inspired the readers of every leading industry magazine including; Packaging World, Packaging Digest, Food and Drug Packaging, Canadian Packaging, Prepared Foods, Packaging Technology, Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Equipment, Machine Design and Dairy Foods.

Being well connected within the industry made Bill highly sought after as a speaker at seminars and conferences. His technical presentations at training seminars delivered practical knowledge for end users and suppliers, insightful in a way that only decades of experience can deliver.

Bill also made substantial contributions to PMMI, IOPP, Closure Manufacturing Association, Association for Sauces and Dressings, American Spice Traders Association and SME. He has consulted with organizations such as the Physical Science Laboratory Product Surety Center and presented at major trade shows in North America, Europe, South America and Asia.

In addition to associations and trade shows, Bill regularly spoke at packaging schools including Michigan State, the University of Wisconsin Stout, University of San Jose and The Ohio State University. Bill spearheaded the donation of numerous cap sealers to many Universities.

While Bill’s public speaking efforts are an important component of his industry contribution, his ability to work one-on-one with customers may be just as important. Ask a Director of Engineering for a multi-national company who has worked with Bill on a project and he’ll cite Bill’s integrity and willingness to make an application work. Ask an owner of a small oyster company and she’ll tell you Bill’s patience in working with them has made an invaluable difference to their success.

His engaging people skills have enabled him to become an integral part of the packaging community. Need to know who makes caps in your area? Bill knows. Need to know who makes induction liners? Bill knows. Need to hear a new joke? Bill knows more than a few.

In the early 1990s, Bill recognized that induction liner and cap manufacturers would benefit from being able to demonstrate the induction sealing process. He worked with Enercon’s development team to create the Compak™ Jr table-top induction sealer.

Not only did the cap and liner folks increase their sales effectiveness, the Compak™ Jr became a huge success. Pharmaceutical laboratories, “mom and pop” packaging operations and test marketers found the small unit to be a robust and economical device capable of providing tamper evidence and leak prevention. The unit became the industry’s leading portable cap sealer. Bill was also a driving force in Enercon’s development of the Super Seal™ line of cap sealers which enabled air-cooled cap sealers to become the industry standard. As these highly efficient systems evolved Bill helped educate the packaging community that induction sealers should no longer be evaluated solely on their kilowatt power rating.

As the cap sealing market continued to change, Bill’s efforts focused on pioneering the use of induction for non-traditional sealing applications.  He was instrumental in the development of pressure-belt systems which allow containers with non-torqueable caps to be sealed. Sealing containers without caps is another one of Bill’s active legacies as he travels the globe to consult with packaging leaders to bring this technology to market. Capless induction technology presents packagers with a safe and economical alternative to conduction sealing.