Innovators showcased their top packages at the 66th Annual Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards Competition.
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Contest Judges Offer Insights on Issues
May 2, 2022
Jim Peters, Brian Ludwick, and Martin Golden brought their varied careers in academia, publishing, and consulting to the contest that they judged the 66th Annual Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards Competition in November 2021.
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Euromonitor Identifies Top E-Commerce Trends
May 2, 2022
How will retail brands and their vendors stick to their newfound preferences for online shopping in 2022 and beyond?
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Food Waste Solutions Sought
Glenroy Offers Advances in Packaging Protection for Some Foods
March 7, 2022
While most people abhor when food is wasted, that doesn’t stop food waste from being one of the biggest contributors to environmental concerns. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that 31% of food is lost at the retail and consumer levels. And food waste is one of the largest contributors to the materials that […]
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Polyethylene Plant Brings Jobs, Careers
Pennsylvania Factory Planned Long Ago
March 7, 2022
When drillers began tapping into the Marcellus Shale in 2008, they sparked an economic boom that continues to echo in rural Pennsylvania. One of the biggest follow-on developments is the Shell petrochemicals plant slated to open next year in Beaver County.
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Mergers Accelerate
Deals Remain Robust for Flexible Packaging Industry
March/April 2022
Like so much else in the economy, corporate deal-making roared back to life in 2021 as COVID-19 vaccines blunted the worst effects of the pandemic and companies adapted to the risks that remained.
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Plastics on Tap
Shell Plant in Pennsylvania Going on Line
March/April 2022
This year, flexible packaging companies will have a new source of polyethylene: A major petrochemical plant erected by Shell along the banks of the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania—about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The plant is expected to produce 1.6 million tons of polyethylene per year.
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Packaging Challenges Plague Women’s Bakery
African Company Seeks Help with Solutions
March/April 2022
The Women’s Bakery in Rwanda, Africa, represents a microcosm of the packaging industry’s drive for continuous innovation in sustainability and the universal challenge of keeping pace with recycling mandates.
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Filling the Gaps
Employers Use Creative Measures to Fill Jobs
Jan/Feb 2022
To fill job gaps, manufacturers are seeking employees from nontraditional or largely untapped fields. Veterans, women, re-entrants, and refugees constitute a rich supply of motivated, reliable workers.
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Vaccine Mandates Stir Debate
Business Group Expresses Concern About Long-Term Precedents
Jan/Feb 2022
As the pandemic entered its 18th month in September, the federal government prepared new rules that would require businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure workers were vaccinated. For some observers, the process underway indicated an overreach that raised flags about whether precedents were being set that would undermine the autonomy of businesses for years.
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From Acceptance to Ownership
Peter Sheahan: Transforming Your Company Starts at the Top
Jan/Feb 2022
Executives in the flexible packaging industry grasp the challenges in front of them. The hard work lies in moving from understanding to action—or, as Peter Sheahan puts it, from acceptance to ownership.
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Sheahan: “Brutal Honesty” Needed to Transform Your Company
CEO of Karrikins Group Discusses Path to His Transformation
January 3, 2022
Peter Sheahan spends a lot of time advising other executives on how to manage corporate transformation. The recipe includes what he describes as a dose of “brutal honesty.” It sounds painful. But it’s something that Sheahan has experienced during his own growth as a company leader. The experience also helped cement his belief that corporate change […]
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Flexible Packaging Company Finds Workers Through Second Chance Program
January 3, 2022
As companies struggle to find workers, many of them turned to alternative programs that can offer a pool of available workers. In the January/February edition of FlexPack VOICE®, we explore some of those ideas, which include hiring former prison inmates. (The digital version of the magazine also can be found online). Here is a closer […]
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Milestones: A Glimpse at Loyal FPA Members
28 Companies Celebrate Anniversaries with FPA in 2021
November 5, 2021
Each year, FPA recognizes members who are celebrating anniversaries with the organization in five-year increments. In 2021, 28 companies reached one of those milestones. Some of the companies recently responded to surveys that give a glimpse at what they do in the flexible packaging industry. 5 Years: 2016 CleanPlanet Chemical, Inc.: CleanPlanet was formed in […]
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Seminars Touch on Circularity Worldwide
Different Countries Face Similar Issues Reaching Goals
November 5, 2021
As companies and elected officials in the United States continue to debate plastic waste and a circular economy, they often look toward other nations that are farther ahead in their planning and designs. That focus was behind part of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s SPC Engage online forum held July 20–21, where experts from the European […]
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Watching the States
Recycling Proposals Alarm Observers
Nov/Dec 2021
The long value chain of plastics packaging, from manufacturers to converters to brand owners, is turning a wary eye to state-level recycling developments. Those developments include new laws labeled as extended producer responsibility (EPR), but they fall short of serving as models.
However, the industry hopes to bring about a workable national policy that brings consistency, a steady and inclusive supply of materials, and innovative infrastructure to recycling.
Milestones: FPA Members Weigh In
Companies Celebrating Anniversaries Discuss Trends, Concerns
Nov/Dec 2021
In recent interviews, some company managers offered insights into the state of the industry and what needs to be done to ensure its vitality, with several of them offering tips on how FPA and the industry can do better.
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Sudden Storms: Turbulence Defined 2021
Industry Leaders Seek Stability in 2022
Nov/Dec 2021
From inflation to labor shortages to pinched supply chains, flexible packaging has been going along with the general roller-coaster ride. But the industry has experienced its own unique dynamics based on the diversity of packaged products.
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Emerging Leaders Discuss Careers
Members of the FPA Emerging Leadership Council See Vast Opportunities
September 2, 2021
The industry doesn’t have to look far when it comes to showing career development and interest. Several members of the FPA Emerging Leadership Council (ELC) discuss what got them into the industry and how their careers have gone so far.
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Tapping Tech Schools
Worker Shortages Prompt Proactive Steps
Sept/Oct 2021
After an FPA Emerging Leadership Council (ELC) committee on recruitment was formed last year, its members quickly determined that they would need to branch out beyond traditional internship programs.
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