Several consumer goods companies – including high-profile Unilever and Procter & Gamble brands – have unveiled what they refer to as inclusive or accessible packaging designs in the last few years. These companies often assert...

Climate change. Circular economy. Carbon footprint. Packaging sustainability continues to evolve as we learn more about our environment and as consumer sentiment shifts. People-watcher and packaging design guru Tom Newmaster answers burning questions about these...

More than two years after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional methods of training workers, flexible packaging companies continue fine-tuning their approaches that rely on technology to limit face-to-face contact. The changes also account for the...

October is Manufacturing Month, with October 7 being National Manufacturing Day. This creates an opportunity for Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) members to highlight careers in the manufacturing industry, frame the issues and broadly educate policymakers...

The annual Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) Salary Survey is always a revealing benchmarking tool. But this year, the 2022 edition offers a particularly interesting snapshot of an industry and a workforce in flux. After...

Digital printing for packaging applications continues to advance, enhancing production flexibility and packaging design creativity for converters, as well as for brand owners that do their own on-demand printing and labeling. Recent market research shows...

As is the case with virtually every topic that relates to packaging today, sustainability was a major focus of this year’s E-Pack Europe conference, held June 14 and 15 in Amsterdam. In fact, sustainability was...

According to research by intelligence firm Markets & Markets, the global flexible plastic packaging category is projected to grow from $160.8 billion in 2020 to $200.5 billion by 2025. During the pandemic, several consumer trends...

As a veteran packaging journalist, it’s rare for me to be on the other side of the microphone — that is, answering questions instead of asking them. But at this spring’s IME West event —...

Consumer trends have shifted in the past few years, and many businesses are adapting their product packaging to meet these new priorities. Consumer trends are evolving compared to just a few years ago, and package...

Dawn Cappelli has seen just about everything when it comes to cybercrimes. She knows that smaller businesses along the manufac­turing supply chain make a grave mistake if they think they aren’t targets. “The first thing...

Flexible packaging companies may have been hoping this year would bring relief to a stubborn shortage of aluminum foil. However, relief does not appear likely anytime soon. Economic and political events are continuing to come...

After Paul Hartgen was charged with finding new products and services to assist members of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), he helped develop various initiatives that would increase member value and make NAM a...

Pick your industry. Some long-timers are realizing that the next generation of expertise their teams require isn’t being groomed as they need it. Yet, market conditions continue to change and knowledgeable staff veterans continue to...

At E-Pack Europe 2022, Amazon’s Jeremy Long explains how true innovation around e-commerce packaging requires an upstream strategy that involves both the product and the packaging. The world’s largest online retailer, Amazon knows a bit...

After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, ProAmpac examined major trends in healthcare and their potential impacts on pharmaceutical and medical device packaging. The company spotted four main trends: direct-to-consumer services (DTC), especially virtual healthcare...

New research with UK consumers by Aquapak, a speciality polymers business that develops materials intended to enable a circular economy, reveals that more than half (52%) would be prepared to pay more for environmentally friendly...

Gartner, Inc. provides tactics for chief procurement officers attempting to deal with packaging material shortages amidst supply instability and rising costs. Supply instability and rising costs are prompting chief procurement officers (CPOs) to adopt new...

Last year two states, Oregon and Maine, enacted extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging laws. By the time you read this, Hawaii may have joined them. Several other state legislatures are still considering EPR, while...

The explosion of e-commerce over the last two years fueled a burst of creativity that will leave a lasting mark on flexible packaging, even if online sales retreat from their pandemic-era highs. The mark is...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of manufactured chemicals that have been used in industry and consumer products since the 1940s due to their useful properties. There are thousands of different PFAS, some...

2021 witnessed landmark passage of new laws on recycling and packaging policy, and 2022 is becoming a year of conflicting state perspectives over potential new laws that will govern how flexible packag­ing is made and...

Three judges in the annual packaging compe­tition sponsored by the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) examine the wrapping of the Celebrate HerSHEy’s Bar, a version of the iconic candy company’s mainstay. The design set off the...

The COVID-19 pandemic altered consumer behavior largely by accelerating trends that were already gaining traction, particularly in e-commerce. The question for retail brands and their vendors is to what degree consumers will stick to their...

Before the pandemic, workforce issues were a growing concern for Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) member companies. For several years, the industry faced the initial phase of the massive exit from the labor pool of retiring...

The judges for the 66th Annual Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards Competition have been involved in the packaging industry for decades. Jim Peters, Brian Ludwick, and Martin Golden brought their varied careers in academia, publishing, and...

The United States has one of the fastest growing packaging markets in the world and is expected to have an annual growth rate of 3.5% between 2021 to 2026. In March 2022, the United States...

Inkjet printing reduces prepress costs and make-ready waste while offering mass customization and shorter production runs. We identified these five trends and opportunities that address the fragile foundation of consumer demand and regulatory requirements.