Mixed Bag (Top Flexible Packagers Survey)

packagePRINTING's annual ranking balances converters' conservative business outlook with clear evidence of growth.

by Susan Friedman, Editor

Here's the financial low-down: Of the nearly $12 billion in collective sales reported for 2000 by the flexible packaging converters listed below, 75 percent is concentrated in the top ten companies' revenues. Overall, 2000 profit margins for the segment averaged 7.75 percent, with a high of 20 percent and a low of zero percent reported. Annual growth rates for the past year averaged 12.5 percent.

Though packagePRINTING's State of the Industry report (see pP March 2001) portrayed a heavily conservative flexible packaging business climate for 2001, at least a quarter of this year's ranked companies display clear manifestations of growth. Of those who participated in 2000's ranking, 27 percent have added new employees, 17 percent have added new presses, and 4 percent have added facilities in the past twelve months. Ten percent enhanced both staffing and press rosters, and just 3 percent went all out and expanded staff, press lines, and facilities.

Ninety percent of the converters on pP's 2001 list are putting flexo to work on flexible packaging—a level mirroring usage reported in last year's ranking. A significant contrast, however, can be seen in the number of converters solely using flexo from last year to this year; that usage approach dropped from 63 percent to 45 percent, strongly suggesting movement away from specialization, particularly if converters possess in-line flexo printing capabilities that can be easily coupled with other processes.

Gravure usage stayed steady all around, with one in four flexible packaging converters reporting gravure capabilities both last year and this year, and five percent reporting solely using gravure during both time periods.

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