State of the Industry-Tags and Labels

Bowers remembers an economist saying several years ago that the packaging industry generally leads the rest of the economy by about six months. "If this is true, I'm not sure that a firm turnaround has begun yet," he states.

Less business with no drop in capacity would naturally put some pressure on pricing structures. This is exactly what John Hickey, owner of Smyth Companies and president and founder of Interactive Packaging Group, saw in this past year.