The need for a label of some kind, intrinsic to the product packaging or applied to it, will not go away. However, there are certainly tectonic shifts in packaging buyers' preferences. Such change, however, is the sign of a dynamic, healthy industry that is not only accepting, but welcoming evolution.
Corey M. Reardon
The Global Release Liner Industry Conference, hosted annually by AWA Conferences & Events, took place this year Feb. 6-8 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The event, which alternates annually between North America and Europe, drew 150 delegates from all corners of the globe to focus on the opportunities and concerns in a business that has seen considerable consolidation in recent years, and is facing rising costs, reduced profitability, and environmental issues. Market data Opening the formal conference proceedings, Conference Chairperson Corey M. Reardon, president and CEO of market research consultants AWA Alexander Watson Associates BV, provided the first keynote address—his company’s global update on the
The packaging market is certainly going through a period of change—evolutionary, not revolutionary. Macro issues outside the control of even leading companies are causes for concern and bringing pressures to bear on the sector. Currency exchange rates complicate and inhibit international trade, particularly with the weakening U.S. dollar. Retailer competition in the consumer market is intense. Globalization has become a reality for many companies and, in some cases, an imperative for continuing success. For the packaging industry supply chain, the complexities are also complicated by high raw material costs and an increasing choice of technologies available to the brand manufacturer to package, identify, and
In today’s packaging markets, constant change is just the starting point. Technology is moving rapidly, with flexible packaging now playing a major role—in the form of pouches, often barrier-coated—as the container of choice for many snack foods, drinks, and other consumer products. Molded packaging is a major feature on supermarket shelves, as are all rigid plastics; and metal containers are also showing growth. Increasing awareness of the good environmental characteristics of paper-based products has led to a resurgence of interest in cartonboard as a packaging medium. In the product-decoration field, sleeving in all its forms, is growing fast. Print technologies have also
