Executive Forecast: How the past year will shape flexible packaging in 2021 (part 6 of 6)

News

2021/02/26 Executive Forecast: How the past year will shape flexible packaging in 2021 (part 6 of 6)

Executive Forecast: How the past year will shape flexible packaging in 2021

2020 proved that not everything can be predicted or planned for, and it left an indelible mark on expectations for the year to come.

Source from: Executive Forecast: How the past year will shape flexible packaging in 2021 | 2021-01-04 | Flexible Packaging (flexpackmag.com)

Trends/Challenges/Opportunities In 2021

LAUREL SPENCER
VP Sales and Marketing- Amcor
Across the last eight months, consumers turned to products they were confident were safe and also were affordable. Part of that confidence has to do with Amcor’s packaging, underscoring our long-held position that packaging has a role to play in making brands successful in the marketplace. The industry may be challenged by the possibility of escalating material costs. This is something that we continue to monitor. For our part, we believe our broad global footprint and industry-leading purchasing power will help reduce the risk of cost increases to our customers, which is always a focus for them.

ELI MAHAL
Head of L&P Marketing- HP Indigo
The healthy growth of HP Indigo labels and packaging printing experienced in 2020 is expected to continue in 2021. Some verticals such as food, beer and cleaning products experienced especially high demand. While the pandemic will be over sooner or later, it has accelerated several mega trends providing tailwind to digital print, especially the need for agile supply chain, fast time to market and a versatile digital press.

MAYA POLEG
Head of Products and Solutions- HP Indigo
This year we also saw a doubling of the use of applications in PrintOS for managing and optimizing production, ensuring the right technical skills and training for their teams, and completing complex processes such as installations and remote services. No less importantly, we saw the importance of collaboration and the support of the community, with so many of our customers and Dscoop stepping up to help their communities and each other. Looking ahead to 2021, we believe that these trends will remain, and likely continue to accelerate. In fact, PSPs will see capabilities like automation, smart manufacturing and diversity of applications move from “contributing factors” to their competitive advantages to capabilities that are business critical.

RUSSELL GRISSETT
VP/GM- Sonoco
Keeping our employees and healthy and safe will be our key priority in 2021. In addition, the ability to accelerate efforts around cost-effective sustainable packaging will be a key opportunity for the industry in 2021. I also feel like the industry will need to manage through much more inflation in 2021.

GIANCARLO CAIMMI
Commercial Director- Nordmeccanica Group Corporate
Because of the current global situation, it is quite difficult to envision what 2021 will bring. I am sure that a growth in our industry will be a result. There will be a significant re-distribution of the global production resources for flexible packaging, especially the high-end one, as self-sufficiency will be an important target for most countries and regions. New product opportunities will be offered to converters as a result of the need for improved hygiene and consumer protection. We just have to hope that governments on a global scale will act in the interest of people and businesses to carry over to the post-COVID era.

ALISON KEANE, ESQ., IOM, CAE
President and CEO- Flexible Packaging Association
COVID-19 also generally provided a pause in the policy measures that will impact the industry, such as single-use plastic bans and recycling and recycled-content mandates. These drivers will all be back in 2021, however, with the industry projected to see packaging legislation in at least five states. This legislation will focus on extended producer responsibility schemes, where packaging fees will go toward increasing the collection and recycling of all packaging types. As many industry and government coalitions are working on the issue, FPA is particularly interested in those schemes that provide an “on ramp” for flexible packaging, which has very limited collection and recycling opportunities today and a lack of a variety of end-markets. The right schemes could enable needed investment in current and advanced recycling infrastructure for all flexible packaging in the future.

ANTHONY RENZI
VP of Product Management of Packaging Inks- North American Inks, Sun Chemical
As 2020 comes to a close, we will continue to monitor the changing economic and health landscape to assist us in making the right decisions for our customers and our employees. When a vaccine is released, we will plan to re-evaluate our current processes, while keeping safety for all our top priority. By recognizing the importance of sustainability as a global issue, not only is Sun Chemical supporting the packaging industry, but we’re also aligning our goals with those of the United Nations in its Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We have therefore identified a number of the 17 UN goals on which the actions we’re taking to help to develop a more sustainable packaging industry will, we believe, have a positive impact.

Fast Link

TOP