State of the Flexible Packaging Industry

Another interesting perspective on the flexible packaging business environment comes from the supplier side of the supply chain. Matt Fyffe is the VP/general manager of Meech Static Eliminators USA, a company that does a good amount of its business supplying auxiliary equipment (static and cleaning systems) to plastic processors, extruders, converters, and printers. He says the biggest difference he has seen in the past two years is the shift in the type of customers that are spending money for new auxiliary equipment. Two years ago, end users (converters/printers) were spending money on upgrading existing equipment, rather than spending precious capital on larger capital investments. Meech's OEM business was down as much as 30 percent during this time. "In the last six months or so, this has turned around," reports Fyffe. "Companies are starting to invest in larger equipment, buying new machinery versus upgrading existing equipment. Our OEM business is just about back to where it was prior to a couple years ago."