Cartonmakers Must Accentuate Positives

It may behoove cartonmakers to balance their efforts to branch out with measures to protect the status quo. Kaplan strongly recommends keeping a keen eye on the stand-up pouch's steady inroads. Not only are pouch filling line speeds now competitive with cartoners, she points out, but applications are taking hold in the cake mix, frozen food, and snack markets. Kaplan ultimately believes the stand-up pouch could be a bigger growth threat to cartons in 2000 than coated unbleached kraft was to the segment in the 1990s.