Editor's note: In the face of inspiring market competition, the packaging industry can only improve its products in order to survive. Advances in inks, labels, printing, and packaging technologies have created new opportunities for the industry, and all in the industry believe that packaging companies should respond quickly to these changes.
The imbalance of the global economy, the increase in retailer demand for products, and the continuous emergence of innovative technologies and materials have prompted many packaging companies to begin to change their operating methods to meet newer and more difficult challenges.
In this era of significant social and economic changes, the packaging industry must step forward and transform the immediate difficulties into development opportunities. This is not an easy task, and the industry should encourage companies to unite to meet these challenges and provide them with a stage for discussion. At present, the focus of people's discussion is how to face the pressure of continuous industry upgrading.
British Packaging Association
Heather Kendle of the British Packaging Association said: "As with all markets, the packaging market is facing serious challenges. The needs of retailers and consumers, and the growing environmental problems are putting enormous pressure on packaging companies. The global economy The recession has also cast a shadow over the prospects for the development of this industry. It is difficult for us to strike a balance between these elements."
The packaging chain is always changing, and all people have different opinions about it. Consumers regard packaging as an inevitable trouble, but often do not understand its benefits. For retailers such as Wal-Mart, their goal is to reduce all possible lower costs, including packaging.
Green plan
Like other industries, the packaging industry also needs to constantly improve its sustainability while maintaining profitability. The increase in costs is a serious problem, especially when the entire industry needs to rapidly improve its environmental performance. However, so far, the packaging industry has withstood tremendous pressure and made significant progress in environmental protection.
According to Kendle, we still need to do a lot of work to make people outside the industry understand the results we have achieved in reducing waste and using renewable resources.
In addition, she also believes that we should increase the promotion and publicity of new materials and demonstrate to consumers and retailers a solemn commitment from packaging companies to environmental protection.
She said: "We believe that the packaging industry should learn to protect itself. For example, if we do not take effective measures, food waste will become more and more. If we can not adapt to changes in the market, the packaging industry can not survive."
To adapt to this world with sustainability as its core, the packaging industry must fully develop its own innovation capabilities. The value of innovation can be reflected in many aspects, and the emergence of new technologies will provide a steady stream of momentum for the development of materials, recycling, printing and packaging production.
Wave of innovation
In a variety of packaging like packaging, we have many opportunities to develop our own creative thinking. This is why some people have clearly paid for their efforts, but it has not been approved until now. All changes, more or less, have had an impact on the environmental performance of the packaging industry.
The development of new materials (such as biodegradable plastics) may bring significant changes to the packaging industry, but innovative thinking is equally important, not to mention the need to balance environmental issues and corporate profitability.
Kendle thinks: "The value of innovation for the industry depends on where you focus.
Changes in the industry are constantly evolving and emphasis is placed on the reuse and recycling of certain materials. Those materials that are not environmentally friendly have also been questioned. However, the change in technology means that we can use certain materials in a more cost-effective way. â€
We must follow several major goals when developing new materials. Lightweighting is an important goal. It can effectively reduce the amount of materials used in the packaging chain. In addition, the industry's research on active packaging is also deepening, and has made a series of positive results, such as the addition of inhibitors in the film packaging in order to achieve the protection of food.
The potential of non-oil products has attracted widespread attention, but this work is still at an early stage. According to Kendle, the industry has begun researching new materials for the production of barrier plastics and using inhibitors in many packaging materials.
Printing Technology
In addition to his position at the British Packaging Society, Kendel is an employee of Inca Digital Printers, so she has access to first-hand technical information and is surprised by the speed with which innovative technology recoups investment. She said: "The development speed of printing technology can be almost equal to the speed of development of semiconductor technology. In other words, it has ushered in its golden age."
The main goal of the British Packaging Association is to promote the sharing of information among members and support the development and use of innovative systems. At present, they are implementing a knowledge transfer project to promote the development of new materials and to test emerging technologies.
Kendle said: "We need to improve the image of the industry and find the best way to share technology. To ensure the accuracy of the target, we must work with every participant in the packaging supply chain (from consumers and retailers to manufacturers). Negotiate."
Non-oil plastics
In 2005, the global retail giant Wal-Mart began replacing its petroleum-based plastic packaging with corn-based packaging materials, and opened the prelude to using plastic clamshell containers for fruit and vegetables.
The company believes that this change will not only help them save 800,000 gallons of gasoline, but also significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Although corn-based plastics have no advantage in terms of cost, as international oil prices continue to climb, the use of alternative packaging materials will at least allow us to know how much we need to spend and improve the environmental performance of retailers.