That's a wrap on the PPMA Show 2026.
Three days at the NEC, a lot of coffee, more than a few doughnuts, and a steady stream of people stopping at stand A85 with a real problem from their line. Thank you to everyone who came to see us, and to the PPMA team for another great show.
PPMA news stopped by the stand
The show's own news team spent time with us on stand A85, cameras rolling, to talk about what we brought to PPMA 2026 and why we formulate our adhesives in the UK. Keep an eye on the PPMA news coverage for the interview.
The team on the final day
Gary was back on the stand for Day 3, with Jason backing up Matt and Ted. Dylan kept everyone going with coffee and doughnuts, which were gone almost as quickly as they arrived, and spent the day out on the show floor networking with exhibitors and visitors.
What we saw at PPMA 2026
Over three days, the conversations on the stand covered a lot of ground. A few themes kept coming back:
- Engineers and project managers from food manufacturing looking ahead to new lines and upgrades, and wanting adhesive and glue application considered at the start of a project rather than bolted on at the end.
- Machinery builders and OEMs, from packaging machinery R&D teams to stainless steel food processing equipment makers. Adhesive sits right where the machine meets the pack, so these conversations matter.
- Fibre-based and plastic-free packaging. Paper bottles, paper cups and mono-material packs are moving fast, and every one of them raises a new question about how it is bonded.
- Unusual, very specific enquiries, including long seams on products that live outdoors and have to cope with UV, rain and frost. These are exactly the problems we enjoy.
- Sustainability and regulation. PPWR, recyclability and PFAS were on a lot of people's minds, on our stand and around the hall.
- Running hot melt cooler. Interest in UltimateCool®, our low-temperature range, carried on right through from Day 1.
- Our neighbours in the industry. Application equipment makers, coatings specialists and fellow exhibitors all stopped by. A show like PPMA works best when the whole supply chain talks to each other.
We don't just sell adhesives. We formulate them.
If there is one message we would like visitors to take home, it is this. Alphabond is not a distributor putting a label on someone else's product. Our UK technical and R&D team formulates them. That means when you bring us a problem, we can change the adhesive to fit your line, rather than asking you to change your line to fit the adhesive.
Three of our newest products show what that looks like in practice.
SafeMelt®: the world's first colour-changing hot melt
SafeMelt® runs blue when it is cold and turns red when it is hot, so anyone on the line can see at a glance whether it is safe to touch. It is a simple idea that makes a real difference to operator safety and good housekeeping, and it drew a lot of attention on the stand. We could not buy it off the shelf, so we formulated it ourselves.
CleanPeel® 120: pallet stability with far less plastic
The latest addition to our FastLock® CleanPeel® pallet stabilisation range. CleanPeel® 120 holds loads together between layers and then releases cleanly, giving rock-solid load stability with up to 70% less plastic pallet wrap and 41% energy savings. For anyone under pressure to cut plastic from outbound loads, it is one of the quickest wins we know of.
BioMelt® 30151: bond it and recycle it as one material
BioMelt® 30151 is a polypropylene-based hot melt, around two thirds virgin polypropylene, engineered to match the substrate it is bonding. That means products such as pocket sprung mattresses, flexible pouches and wipe lids can be recycled as one material, without pulling the glue line apart first. It matches or beats established grades on adhesion, open time and set speed, runs at a lower application temperature than typical polypropylene hot melts, and holds its bond through ambient, chilled and frozen storage. Recyclability was the design brief from day one, not a claim added afterwards.
These sit alongside UltimateCool®, running from just 98°C, and LabelLock® for labelling, all formulated and made here in the UK.
What happens next
Every conversation from the stand is being followed up over the coming days by the person you spoke to. If you asked us a question, you will hear back from us with an answer, not a sales pitch.
Missed us at the NEC?
No problem. If you have an adhesive problem, a new line coming up, or you are curious whether SafeMelt®, CleanPeel® 120 or BioMelt® 30151 could work for you, get in touch. We will arrange a chat or a line visit.