Drinktec 2025: PET bottle innovation, SMART Prototyping and sustainable packaging trends from Munich
Drinktec 2025 in Munich was one of the most energising events in the PET packaging calendar, and for BMT, it was an opportunity to connect with the people driving innovation across the entire beverage supply chain, from material producers and preform manufacturers through to converters, brand owners and machine builders.
Here's what we showcased, what conversations stood out, and what we think it says about where the industry is heading.
What BMT showcased at drinktec 2025
Our focus at the show was BMT's integrated approach to smarter, faster, more sustainable bottle development, demonstrating how simulation, lab-scale prototyping and precise measurement work together to reduce risk and accelerate time to market.
SMART Prototyping attracted strong interest from brand teams and R&D engineers looking for a faster route from concept to validated bottle design. The ability to go from a CAD file to physical, production-representative prototype bottles in five days, without touching a production line, resonated particularly strongly with teams managing tight launch timelines and the growing pressure to validate rPET designs before tooling commitment.
THERMOSCAN and THERMOSCAN XL generated some of the most engaged technical conversations at the show. Precise preform temperature mapping is a challenge that every SBM operator faces but few have a systematic solution for, and the ability to visualise heat distribution across the preform surface before blowing sparked immediate recognition from process engineers. Several conversations centred on using THERMOSCAN data to stabilise production when switching between virgin PET and rPET preform batches.
BLOWSCAN drew interest from material producers and quality teams looking to characterise new resins and recycled materials at lab scale. The free-blow and mould-blow capability in a single machine — without the need for ancillary production equipment, is a combination that several attendees noted as genuinely unique in the market.
What the industry is focused on
Three themes dominated our conversations at drinktec 2025, and they are themes we expect to define the next few years of PET packaging development:
rPET adoption at scale.
The direction of travel is clear, regulatory pressure and brand commitments are driving rapid increases in recycled content targets. But rPET introduces variability that virgin PET does not, and managing that variability consistently across preform batches remains one of the most pressing operational challenges for converters and brand owners.
Lightweighting under pressure.
Reducing bottle weight is simultaneously a sustainability priority and a cost-reduction lever, but lightweight designs have less tolerance for process variation. The combination of simulation-led design and lab-scale physical validation is increasingly being seen as the only reliable route to achieving lightweighting targets without compromising performance.
Data-driven production.
The appetite for moving away from experience-based process setting towards measurement-driven, repeatable process control was evident across every conversation. The question is no longer whether to adopt a more data-driven approach, it's how to do it practically, within existing operations and timelines.
The conversations that matter most
Beyond the technology demonstrations, drinktec is always at its most valuable in the conversations that happen away from the stand, with clients, with potential partners, and with the broader community of people who are genuinely invested in making PET packaging better.
It was fantastic to reconnect with existing clients, meet new partners, and be part of the momentum that makes this industry so rewarding to work in. If you couldn't make it to Munich and want to find out more about what BMT has been working on, get in touch with our team, we'd love to hear what challenges you're facing heading into 2026.