What’s the Next Move

Flexible packaging—particularly barrier-coated, unsupported film—is the driver in the packaging industry today. Its many forms, such as portion packs, drinks, snacks “to go” and ready meals, are taking greater market share, both for children’s needs and for the increasing “grey” population. Sachets and pouches, direct-printed, are replacing traditional rigid and semi-rigid containers which would have carried a traditional label in the past—changing the market profile yet again. Mature markets such as North America, Europe, and Japan are embracing flexible packaging more slowly than emerging economies, where the lack of an installed base of packaging equipment makes it easier to take a technology jump to flexibles.