EDITOR'S NOTE
Douglas J. Peckenpaugh
Group Editorial Director
During the recent and highly successful in-person PACK EXPO, Jorge Izquierdo, vice president of market development for PMMI, passed along some highlights from his 2021 PMMI “State of the Industry” report, including data noting a significant uptick in packaging equipment purchases. He reported the value of domestic shipments for packaging machinery increased 14.7 percent to $9.4 billion in 2020. That’s an amazing year for packaging—and a bellwether for the industry.
Multiple variables have applied pressure to food. COVID-19 has catalyzed growth in some product categories, as we have seen in multiple areas of snacks and baked goods, while negatively impacting other markets, like key aspects of foodservice and c-store business. Ingredient shortages and other supply-chain disruptions dictated hasty reformulations, while distribution faced its perennial challenges—sometimes resulting in empty supermarket shelves. Adding insult to injury, we’re dealing with an unprecedented labor shortage across sweeping swaths of global commerce. Meanwhile, consumer demographics have grown more entrenched on key purchase indicators like sanitary packaging, product nutrition, and sustainability.
Those factors can combine for some seriously bad weather—or a perfect storm for innovation. I’ve started getting back out into facilities to visit with the industry, and the overwhelming majority of people I’m talking to are working on doing more with less—investing in equipment, digging into better process control, adding more automation and robotics, more-strategic and flexible supply chains, etc. They’re employing approaches toward lean manufacturing and investing in personnel retraining and other types of workforce development. They’re looking back at what held them back over the past couple of years, where the competition caught them, and what will drive them to the next level.
Navigating uncharted territory
Image courtesy of 3DSculptor via iStock / Getty Images Plus
