State of the Flexible Packaging Industry

Sustainability and innovation

The last three bullet points in Mize's presentation are closely related and do represent the main reasons for optimism in the flexible packaging sector. Even though the business environment requires 'aggressive management' to keep businesses heading in the right direction, flexible packaging has a lot going for it. Maybe not to the same extent as 'plastics' mentioned in the 1967 movie, The Graduate ("One word: Plastics!"), but there continues to be a great future in pouches. An excerpt from recent promotional material from Muller Martini for its variable sleeve offset printing (VSOP) press tells a big part of the story: "One glance at a grocery or drug store shelf says it all: pouches are replacing cans, jars, and bottles as the container of choice for many of today's food and pharmaceutical manufacturers."