PMMI Researches Opportunities and Challenges in Packaging Part III

Earlier this year PMMI (Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute released a research report on the opportunities and challenges for the packaging machinery industry. They held focus groups at the end of 2012 and identified 10 top priorities facing the packaging industry. The final four items on the list were:

7. Enabling end users to benefit from innovations in packaging materials used in innovative package designs and packaging operations. Every company wants their product to ‘stand out’ on the shelf in a marketplace. Machinery manufacturers need to work closely with the designers of new packaging to assure that it can be easily and cost effectively produced. A new package design is only good if it can be mass produced utilizing existing or low-cost, highly efficient machinery.

8. Consciously incorporating U.S. strategies and operations into fulfilling end users’ global packaging requirements and global presence. Creating packaging that can be used in multiple countries without changing can save millions of dollars to multi-national companies. The ability to create an O&M manual that automatically translates into any language may not be possible today, but would be invaluable to the company that develops it.

9. Recognizing that packaging creates a marketplace differentiation platform but that machinery purchases use scarce capital and create expense streams. Machinery manufacturers need to develop machines that are versatile throughout a plant. Production plants are looking to buy one machine that can be used for dozens of SKUs. They cannot afford to have machinery that is ‘dedicated’ to one product.

10. Supporting end users’ environmental strategy emphases in response to consumers’ green interest and behaviors. I recently saw a presentation on a new company that is using the roots of mushrooms to create foam containers for biodegradeable packaging. The roots are highly compressed and will form together in pre-formed shapes similar to Styrofoam. The best part is that once in a landfill they will breakdown safely. This is the future not just for packaging, but for the safety of planet earth.

For more ‘information regarding PMMI’s Top to Top Summit Report contact PMMI at www.pmmi.org.

The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading packaging machinery manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at www.neminc.com.