Flexible packaging now has consumer conveniences, sustainability, reduced costs

By Tom Polischuk

Consolidation

The flexible packaging industry continues to be ripe for consolidation at both supplier and converter levels, according to several experts following industry trends. There are any number of ways to look at this. One byproduct of consolidation is that the big get bigger and the small get smaller. The FPA follows this trend by reporting the market share of companies in different revenue classes. For companies with revenues greater than $500 million, FPA reports market share growing from 28 percent in 1996 and 39 percent in 2004, to 43 percent in 2010. During the same period, those companies with less that $50 million in revenues decrease from 25 percent to 23 percent. The FPA also reported the number of flexible packaging companies in the industry as 665 in 2000, 437 in 2005, and 407 in 2010.