In 2022, as companies in the flexible packaging realm reach milestone years in their FPA memberships, some shared how they continue to innovate, embrace sustainability, and maximize FPA resources to stay strong and meet the challenges ahead.
Read MoreFrom the Magazine
What Most Concerns You for the Future?
Thought Leader Survey Highlights Legislation, Other Issues
This year, the respondents to the “Packaging Thought Leader Survey 2032” included 165 experts, including leadership from the Flexible Packaging Association. The questions include deep looks into key technologies and trends that will impact packaging by 2032.
Read MoreExpanding Recycling in Upper Midwest
CNG, General Mills, and Others Invest in Mechanical Recycling Plant
A coalition of Minnesota-based CEOs in the agriculture and consumer packaged goods industries wanted to do more to ensure a circular economy, especially when it came to flexible packaging. Business leaders set out to create a regional ecosystem serving the Upper Midwest.
Read MoreInside the Student Design Challenge
Judges and Students Reflect on 2022 Contest
Four members of FPA’s Emerging Leadership Council, volunteered one afternoon in May to judge the association’s annual Student Flexible Packaging Design Challenge.
Read MoreAutomation Takes Hold
Using Technology to Hire, Train, and Schedule Workers
More than two years after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional methods of training workers, flexible packaging companies continue fine-tuning their approaches that rely on technology to limit face-to-face contact.
Read MoreCyberthieves Target Manufacturers
Experts Discuss Trends, Offer Tips
Cybersecurity trends have led FPA to offer its members a cyber risk mitigation and insurance package program, developed by NAM, to help prevent cyberattacks.
Read MoreAluminum Foil Shortage Intensifies
War in Ukraine, Tariffs, Trade Policies Frustrate Supplies
Flexible packaging companies may have been hoping this year would bring relief to a stubborn shortage of aluminum foil. However, relief does not appear likely anytime soon.
Read MoreInvestors Enter Recycling Arena
Private-Equity Firms See Potential for Circular Economy
Private investors want to turn one of the largest curbside recyclers in the U.S. into a test bed for building up infrastructure that will be vital to the success of the circular economy.
Read MoreE-Commerce Evolves
As Pandemic Wanes, Deeper Trends Emerge
The explosion of e-commerce over the last two years fueled a burst of creativity that will leave a lasting mark on flexible packaging, even if online sales retreat from their pandemic-era highs.
Read MoreConnecting Sustainability With Consumers
Challenges with Messages Can Hinder Goals
Sustainability is more than a buzzword for flexible packaging companies. It is spurring a rush to create products that are reusable, recyclable, made entirely from recycled materials, or all of the above. But for many consumers, sustainability is an abstract concept that fails to resonate.
Read MoreAt the Judges’ Table
Experts Acknowledge Fresh Looks and Designs
Innovators showcased their top packages at the 66th Annual Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards Competition.
Read MorePackaging Challenges Plague Women’s Bakery
African Company Seeks Help with Solutions
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.
Read MorePlastics on Tap
Shell Plant in Pennsylvania Going on Line
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.
Read MoreMergers Accelerate
Deals Remain Robust for Flexible Packaging Industry
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.
Read MoreFrom Acceptance to Ownership
Peter Sheahan: Transforming Your Company Starts at the Top
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.
Read MoreVaccine Mandates Stir Debate
Business Group Expresses Concern About Long-Term Precedents
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.
Read MoreFilling the Gaps
Employers Use Creative Measures to Fill Jobs
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.
Read MoreSudden Storms: Turbulence Defined 2021
Industry Leaders Seek Stability in 2022
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.
Read MoreMilestones: FPA Members Weigh In
Companies Celebrating Anniversaries Discuss Trends, Concerns
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.
Read MoreWatching the States
Recycling Proposals Alarm Observers
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.