Disney fans and others may recognize the lyrics, “Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to work we go,” first brought to life in the 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In the movie, it is sung by the group of Seven Dwarfs—actually six, as Dopey doesn’t speak—as they head off to work at a diamond and ruby mine. The song, which made it to No. 4 on “Your Hit Parade” in April 1938 and stayed there for 10 weeks, has been re-recorded multiple times, including by Los Lobos and Dave Brubeck, and most recently for the 2025 live-action remake of the original animated film.
While Walt Disney may not have been focused on workforce development for the Seven Dwarfs, we’re focused on workforce development in this issue of FlexPack VOICE®. According to our 2024 “State of the U.S. Flexible Packaging Industry Report” released earlier this year, the largest reported challenge for our converter members remained access to the labor pool as the industry has tried to get workers to enter the flexible packaging industry.
With an overall U.S. unemployment rate at 4% in May 2024, access to labor was tight as has been the case since we’ve emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. “Management talent” was also cited as a challenge for 2024, so the overall labor market affects not just the production floor but also the management and research and development for converters.
With that in mind, read on for more information about the fantastic work our Emerging Leadership Council (ELC) is doing under the leadership of Alana Carr with Hosokawa Alpine American, Inc., and Weston Harcourt with TOPPAN Packaging Americas to attract and promote new employees and leaders within our industry.
This includes the ELC’s summer internship program, various college outreach initiatives, and FPA’s 21st annual Student Flexible Packaging Design Challenge, managed through the ELC’s Recruitment and Education Committee led by Kara Stoney with Dow and Patrick Clark with Bryce Corporation.
These workforce development efforts are critical to our industry, and help grow and maintain relationships with our academic members, including higher education institutions with packaging curricula or departments with activities related to packaging sciences.
I hope you will also find interesting the article from Capitoline Consultants, LLC, our federal lobbying firm, on new developments, initiatives, and policies under the second Trump administration that may impact U.S. workforce development, training, and oversight. Only time will tell what these changes might ultimately mean for our industry, but rest assured that FPA will be tracking everything very closely and keeping our members updated. In the meantime, it’s off to work we go!
Dan Felton
President & CEO
Flexible Packaging Association