Packaging World August 2022

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AUG2022 packworld.com SALARY 42 IoPP SURVEY

Packaging Pros Seek Greener Pastures 18

LCA Informs Pack Design at P&G 20

California Plastics Regs Turn Heads 30 Check out ProSource, the packaging and processing solutions finder!

SEARCH ONLINE DIRECTORY

SPECIAL REPORT

OEMs Expand Robots’ Reach 56

Fresh Produce Packaging Ripe for Change

New Packaging Products on Page 62 Cover_0822_DigitalEdition.indd 1

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During times of uncertainty, like during at the outset of the pandemic, employees tend to stick with reliable existing employment and avoid the risk that comes with job-hopping and new ventures. But after a few years of IoPP’s Salary Survey reflecting this ‘hunkering down’ behavior, we’re now seeing an uptick in respondents who’ve either found new employment within the last year or are likely to seek new employment in the coming year. In a tight labor market, they know they’re in demand, and are now more willing to seek greener pastures.

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FEATURES 30 SPECIAL REPORT COVID-19, Technology Advancements Drive Robot Adoption Part I of Packaging World’s Annual Robotics Report explores how labor shortages exacerbated by the pandemic along with improvements in technology have accelerated the use of robotics in packaging applications, including their increased use in food and pharma.

42 COVER STORY Survey Respondents Seek Their Share of Surging Salaries 56

Respondents to the 2022 edition of IoPP’s annual Salary Survey are more confident about their prospects than they were at the outset of the pandemic, thus less risk averse and open to changing jobs. Employers have to pay to retain already scarce labor, pushing salaries up.

54 AUTOMATION Delphon Puts Robots-as-a-Service to Work Delphon hires the Rapid Machine Operator from Rapid Robotics to improve production in its TouchMark and Gel-Pak operations.

56 Produce Packaging Ripe for Innovation From European plastic bans to consumers pushing for what they perceive to be more sustainable packaging, produce companies are finding ways to maintain or improve shelf life while contributing to a circular economy.

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DEPARTMENTS 13

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7 20 22 24 60 64

Budweiser Brass on Changing Can/Bottle Mix

Lead Off The Legal Side The Big Picture Sustainable Packaging Shelf Impact!

The Insider

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ARTICLE

NEWS/EVENTS

8 News 16 Quotables/By the Numbers 60

Lego Looks to Reduce Plastic Packaging

INTERVIEW

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18 First Person PRODUCTS

62 Technology

REGULATIONS

California’s New SingleUse Plastics Regulations

ADVERTISING

26 Leaders in Packaging Product Directory 63 Advertiser Index

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EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Aladin Alkhawam Director, Packaging Operations, Par Pharmaceutical

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Jan Brücklmeier Technical Application Group Packaging Technology Expert, Nestlé

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M. Shawn French Director – Innovation & Packaging Engineering (Beverage), Danone North America Patrick Keenan R&D Packaging Engineer, General Mills/Annie’s Organic Snacks Mike Marcinkowski Global R&D Officer, GPA Global & Hub Folding Box Co. Paul Schaum Chief Operations Officer, Pretzels Inc.

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David Smith, PhD Principal, David S. Smith & Associates Brian Stepowany Packaging R&D, Senior Manager, B&G Foods, Inc. Jasmine Sutherland President, Texas Food Solutions; Vice President, Perfect Fit Meals

Connect with a Leaders in Packaging supplier and support packaging education!

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Packaging World® (ISSN # 1073-7367) is a registered trademark of PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. Packaging World® is published monthly by PMMI with its publishing office, PMMI Media Group, located at 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60611; 312.222.1010; Fax: 312.222.1310. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL, and additional mailing offices. Copyright 2022 by PMMI. All rights reserved. Materials in this publication must not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher. Applications for a free subscription may be made online at www.packworld.com/subscribe. Paid subscription rates per year are $254 in the U.S., $363 Canada and Mexico by surface mail; $605 Europe and South America; $907 Far East, Australia, and other countries by air mail. Single copy price in U.S. is $20. To subscribe or manage your subscription to Packaging World, visit Packworld.com/subscribe. Free digital edition available to qualified individuals outside the United States.

POSTMASTER; Send address changes to Packaging World®, 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60611. PRINTED IN USA by Quad. The opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of PMMI. Comments, questions and letters to the editor are welcome and can be sent to: editors@packworld.com. Mailing List: We make a portion of our mailing list available to reputable firms. If you would prefer that we don’t include your name, please write us at the Chicago, IL address.

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LEAD OFF

Salary Power Shift Results of the annual Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) Salary Survey are in, and you’ll find details on this year’s findings beginning on page 42. The responses map quite well to the existing packaging workforce milieu and “Great Resignation.” Labor is scarce and hard to retain—that set of circumstances precipitates a wide range of trends.

The biggest takeaway is that the balance of power has shifted away from the employer and toward the employee. One illustration of this can be found in the write-in answers on page 48. When asked what keeps them up at night regarding job security, 23% of respondents said “Nothing,” an unprompted, specific answer that’s reinforced by 84% of respondents telling us they are somewhat or very secure when asked about job security in a multiple-choice question.

Another 9%—again, without any prompting—said “Job Satisfaction” keeps them up at night. If labor were copious and cheap, job satisfaction would be a mere confection, a nice-to-have luxury.

But 1 in 10 of the respondents to this survey say job satisfaction is a factor in whether they will stay loyal to their employer. This shows that companies aren’t just competing on salary for labor. They’re also competing on intangibles like job satisfaction, meaning, purpose, and doing good for the world.

My PMMI Media Group colleague Sean Riley recorded a recent podcast on this phenomenon, with his workforce expert guest Dr. Jessica Kriegel telling him, “there is a war on talent, and the talent won” (listen to it for free at pwgo.to/7650).

In this environment, employees are aware of their worth. We’ve seen two years of respondents weathering pandemic-wrought uncertainty by exhibiting a “staying put, hunkering down” behavior, leaning on reliable existing employment, and avoiding the risk of the unknown—in other words, preferring the devil they know vs. the devil they don’t. But in this year’s results, we’re seeing a shift toward new job-seeking and greater risk-taking. In fact, 19% of respondents voluntarily changed employers last year, up from 11% the previous year. Also, loyalty remains high, but slightly more respondents are likely to seek new employment in the coming year (32% now vs. 30% last year), and slightly fewer plan to stay put (53% now vs. 55% last year).

This increased mobility among employees is forcing employers to up the stakes to retain them.

The overall average salary reported by the respondents went up to $130,070, up 7% from last year and an all-time high in PW’s reporting on the survey. But the dollar figures aren’t just going up evenly across the spectrum of age and experience. Employers are using a strategy of rewarding promising newer and younger employees with bigger, earlier salary jumps, hoping to lock them in.

It always has been the case (and still is) that the oldest, most experienced, most educated people command the highest salaries. But the fastest pace of salary change by percentage gained is becoming more concentrated in the upwardly mobile youngest age cohorts, and among the least experienced respondents. Over the past few years, IoPP’s Jane Chase and I have often cited “after about the five-year mark” (video here: pwgo.to/7649) as the experience benchmark after which employees can expect to see the biggest salary gains. That’s changed; the biggest jump, one of 23%, is now reported to happen after 2 years of experience, headed into the 3- to 5-year experience cohort.

The youngest and least experienced respondents also are more likely than their older, more tenured peers to be confident about salary gains. This is true both in having received them in the past year, and in expecting to receive them the following year. These younger and less experienced folks are more secure in their jobs, too. The only pay category that appears to correlate more closely with older and more experienced respondents is confidence in bonuses, both in having received one last year, and in expecting one next year.

A disappointing finding in this year’s results was the persistent and growing gender-based wage gap, now up to 22% in favor of men from 17% last year. Much of this stems from the fact that female respondents were largely younger and less experienced than their male counterparts, and we know age and experience correlate with higher salaries. They also aren’t as frequently working as engineers or in corporate management, two higher earning job duties. But what’s unclear is how sticky, or how fixed, packaging’s overrepresentation of younger, less experienced women is. If today’s female respondents represent an up-and-coming age and experience cohort that is soon to make its way into the highest earning positions, then salaries should work themselves out. But if women in packaging stays static, in its current age and experience distribution (even with women being every bit as educated as men), then the gender-based wage gap will persist. PW

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NEWS

Plant-Based Fiber Tray for Razor is Green With its new GilletteLabs with Exfoliating Bar razor product, Procter & Gamble brand Gillette has become the first to introduce at scale a recyclable, plant-based inner tray from packaging supplier Footprint that incorporates color. As Footprint Vice President of Sales Solution Development Collin Euteneuer shares, when Gillette approached the company about designing a tray to hold the razor—a new concept that integrates an exfoliating bar into the razor’s handle—it was looking for a solution that would eliminate petroleum-based plastics entirely, would be recyclable, and would align with Gillette’s branding and style, including its brand colors. In the case of the GilletteLabs with Exfoliating Bar package, that color was a neon green Pantone.

Footprint is a materials science company that designs and develops plant-based fiber solutions for a range of applications, including frozen and shelf stable foods, fresh meats and produce, foodservice packaging, cups and lids, and non-food applications, among others. Among the materials used are bagasse, or sugar cane, bamboo, softwood, and hardwood, along with patented, proprietary barrier coatings that enhance functionality for an application. One somewhat recent example of Footprint’s capabilities is a microwavable, fiber bowl for frozen Healthy Choice meals from ConAgra (see pwgo.to/7627).

Until the Gillette tray, applications using Footprint’s technology have been a kraft-like color or white. “This project was unique for Footprint in that it was the first dyed product produced in high volume, which required developing a wet-end process to support the color and achieve consistent color from part to part,” explains Euteneuer. “It was critical that we develop a product-safe dye so that Gillette’s branding style and color palette could be maintained.

“We also had to develop a technology to prevent fiber transfer to the product and create a coating solution that would prevent fiber transfer while also maintaining recyclability and the specific Pantone color of the tray.”

Euteneuer explains that it’s critical when using dye in a molded fiber application to ensure it doesn’t transfer to the product or the consumer’s hands while at the same making sure it’s environ-

Absolut Testing Paper-Based Bottle Caps While Packaging World tends to feature commercialized, shelf-ready packaging applications, projects still percolating in the prototype stage sometimes catch our eye. We first got wind that Sweden’s Blue Ocean Closures’ (BOC) paper-based bottle cap was soon to get a big brand on board back in March at a Smithers’ Sustainability in Packaging U.S. 2022 conference (pwgo.to/7624).

It turns out that fellow Swedish company Absolut, a Pernod Ricard brand, was the trailblazing spirits producer testing the BOC caps. The Absolut Company says it will develop the cap for use on its current glass bottles as an addition to existing cap solutions, as well as a possibility for future packaging innovations. There are likely to be several iterations of the cap through prototyping and testing stages in 2022, with plans to share it commercially in 2023.

“We are still in the early stages of this project with Blue Ocean Closures, however, based on use of renewable raw materials to create a recyclable and biodegradable cap, we’re excited about the impact the change will make on the products’ sustainability,” says Eric Naf, Director Packaging Development at The Absolut Company.

Absolut’s existing cap is made from an inner plastic liner and an aluminum outer shell. The new closure format, which is intended to complement the existing closure format rather than replace it, is made from bio-based materials. The cap’s design reduces the

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amount of plastic used in packaging by combining a body made of sustainably sourced virgin FSC fiber material with a thin top-seal barrier layer, making it recyclable as paper, and allowing it to be ocean biodegradable, according to BOC. “We currently use our regular barrier liner made from EPE (expanded polyethylene) that easily separates from the paper shell in the recycling process,” Naf says of the prototyping process. “Over time, our ambition is to use our learnings from throughout the development process to develop an integrated, bio-based seal.”

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mentally safe. “This was a learning process for us because we’ve never launched a product-safe dye solution at this scale before,” he says. “The packaging was built from the ground up and went through multiple iterations and experiments before we landed on our final product.” The process, he notes, took approximately six months.

The tray is made from bamboo and bagasse, which Euteneuer says were chosen because the materials are local to the facility in Asia where the package is being manufactured. He adds that production engineering was customized to accommodate the manufacturing of the specialized fiber materials, maximizing line capability.

The new GilletteLabs with Exfoliating Bar product was introduced by P&G in early 2022, with the razor held in the inner tray that is housed in a plastic-free, recyclable paperboard carton. —Anne Marie Mohan

The paper-based closures are formed using press forming method that, according to Lars Sandberg COE BOC, make for high-quality forming and short cycle time.

“This creates our caps quickly and efficiently,” Sandberg says. “And as for many paper packages containing some plastics, such as windows or barrier layer, the polymer is separated in the standard recycled pulping process. In fact, since the cap liner is mechanically held in place it actually separates very easily to help the recycling process.”

This is part of a wider ambition from The Absolut Company and Pernod Ricard to create a fully circular business, working with suppliers and partners to ensure that 100% of its packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

“We know that collaboration across the whole value chain sits at the heart of long-term progress and true environmental, economic, and social impact. As part of our circular way of thinking, we are delighted to be working with BOC to continue designing out single-use materials and using packaging innovation for the benefit of the planet,” Naf says. —Matt Reynolds

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NEWS

New MAP Tray for Pasta Uses 91% Less Plastic than Clamshell New Seasons Market, a neighborhood grocery chain with 18 stores in the Pacific Northwest offering a mix of locally sourced and organic items, classic grocery favorites, and chef-made grab-andgo meal solutions, aims to be the sustainability leader in what it

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says is one of the most climate-friendly communities in the nation, while influencing sustainability practices within its industry at a national scale. Says New Seasons, “We integrate sustainability into all elements of our business with objectives rooted in three impact areas: preventing food waste, reducing single-use packaging, and mitigating climate change.”

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Earlier this year, the grocer unveiled a change to its pasta packaging 12 months in the making that unquestionably affects all three areas. In April 2022, it switched from a plastic clamshell for its Partner Brand Fresh Pasta to a modified atmosphere package (MAP) comprising a recyclable paper tray with a film liner and film lid that eliminates 120,000 plastic packs per year and increases the pasta’s shelf life by 11 days, if not longer. With this introduction, New Seasons became the first company in the U.S. to deploy Graphic Packaging International’s PaperSeal tray, a collaboration between GPI and tray-sealing equipment company G. Mondini.

“Single-use packaging is a considerable concern for our customers, and we get comments daily about our plans to find packaging solutions other than plastic,” shares Chris Tjersland, Director of Brand Development for New Seasons Market. “We connected with a local rep for Graphic Packaging,

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and he talked about a MAP tray they have created that has become a gold standard in Europe for fresh food packaging, and we liked the fact it would be 91% less plastic than we were using currently.”

The PaperSeal tray is constructed of Forest Stewardship Council-certified fibers and is made from a flat, precut paperboard formed on a G. Mondini machine that also applies a thin barrier-film layer in one step.

New Seasons is using a 205- x 160- x 51.76-mm tray made from 605-micron virgin board onto which is applied a 100-mm polyethylene film liner that can be easily removed by the consumer after use to allow for recycling of the tray. GPI offset-prints the paperboard and forms and lines the trays, which are sent in a nested format to New Season’s partners, local pasta producers Classic Foods and Rallenti Pasta, for MAP packing.

total of 20 items in the new trays when the project is complete. “To my knowledge, we’ve received positive comments from customers on social media and no complaints or negative feedback,” concludes Tjersland. “It’s been a win so far.” —Anne Marie Mohan

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With our existing packaging, we got a 10-day shelf life. With the PaperSeal tray, our goal is 21 days and possibly beyond as we learn to refine production.

Shares Tjersland, New Seasons repurposed two MAP machines from its commissary kitchen and donated them to Classic Foods for the project. It also supported them with additional funding to purchase the correct sealing heads for each machine. For its gluten-free line of pasta, it provided funding to Rallenti to acquire a MAP machine, as the program was exclusive to the New Seasons’ pasta brand.

Among the sustainability benefits of the new package for New Seasons’ pasta products are its significant reduction of plastic and the ability of the tray to be recycled through existing curbside collection programs when the liner is removed.

Another is its effect on food waste, given that the MAP format extends the shelf life of the pasta product. “With our existing packaging, we got a 10-day shelf life,” explains Tjersland. “With the PaperSeal tray, our goal is 21 days and possibly beyond as we learn to refine production. This additional shelf life significantly impacts potential waste in our stores.”

“We expect an increase in sales as customers become accustomed to the new packaging and see our commitment to sustainability,” he adds. “The trays merchandise easily, and we have increased holding power on the shelf.”

At press time, New Seasons had just finished rolling out its core group of products in the PaperSeal tray and shared that it would be adding new items at the end of the second quarter, for a

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NEWS

New PACK EXPO Competition Challenges Student Creativity PACK Challenge, a brand-new packaging competition, will bring six high school teams together for a head-to-head machine-building challenge at PACK EXPO International (Oct. 23-26; McCormick Place, Chicago), according to show producer, PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

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“We are excited to introduce this first-of-its-kind competition and watch the students roll up their sleeves in a real-world application while they learn,” says Jim Pittas, President and CEO, PMMI. “One of our main priorities is getting students involved at a young age and showing them the doors that the manufacturing industry can open. This competition will give them first-hand experience of what a career in manufacturing could look like.”

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PMMI will provide a build-to-print snack filler machine kit, designed specifically for this competition, along with an assembly manual to the qualifying teams who will build the machine at their school over the summer.

At the show, each team will re-assemble the snack filler to the specifications and compete for best design, host competitions and marketing and sales presentations. Teams will have the flexibility to be creative with add-ons.

The overall Best in Show team will be awarded $6,000, with second place receiving $3,000 and third $1,000. Other awards include Filler Performance Gold Cup, Most Creative Filler Design and Marketing/Sales presentations. After the event, the teams will take the machines back to their schools, providing future students the opportunity for hands-on experience.

“To address the imminent skills gap, PMMI is working at developing many programs to show students the world of manufacturing,” says Kate Fiorianti, Senior Manager, Workforce Development, PMMI. “This brand-new competition is meant to excite students and pique their interest to want to learn more. As a result, we have a multitude of resources available to both parents and students to get involved and advance the future of this critical industry.”

The PMMI Foundation works to grow awareness of careers in packaging and processing and provides financial support for packaging and processing education throughout the U.S and Canada. Since its inception in 1998, the PMMI Foundation has given more than $2.6 million to strengthen the workforce within the packaging and processing industry. For more information on student opportunities, contact Kate Fiorianti at kfiorianti@pmmi.org.

PACK EXPO International also offers multiple other programs and activities aimed at getting students excited about careers in packaging and processing and connecting them with professional mentors in the industry. In addition to exciting networking events and student programs, the highlight of PACK EXPO International will be the new, never-before-seen solutions from thousands of leading suppliers on the show floor, bringing all vertical industries together to generate a cross-pollination of ideas and crossover solutions that can only be discovered in-person.

To learn more and to register, visit packexpointer national.com. Registration for the show is $30 until Sept. 30, after which it increases to $130. —Sean Riley

LOOKING BACK. PRESSING FORWARD. ALWAYS INNOVATING.

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McCormick launches 100% rPET Food Color Bottle McCormick’s new Assorted and Neon food color bottles, launched in North America in July, are made from 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic. The spice and flavoring brand owner’s sustainability goals aim for 100% of its packaging to be able to be recycled, repurposed, or reused by 2025. By shifting to a bottle made from 100% PCR, McCormick says it’s increasing the circularity of its packaging while reducing associated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Berry Global was tapped as a supplier in this project thanks to its expertise with, and its access to, mechanically recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET).

“By collaborating with key suppliers like Berry, we gain access to valuable recycled content. This 100% PCR bottle furthers our journey towards our emission reduction goal through packaging,” says Michael Okoroafor, Chief Sustainability Officer for McCormick.

A life cycle assessment estimates McCormick will realize a reduction of 86.8 metric tons of CO2 emissions with the new PCR bottle in comparison to the same bottle made from virgin material.

This amounts to a 59% reduction in CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from 18.7 gasolinepowered passenger vehicles driven in a year, the CO2 emissions

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from 201 barrels of oil consumed, or the carbon sequestered by 103 acres of U.S. forest in one year, according to the EPA’s GHG’s equivalence calculator (pwgo.to/7623).

“Deadlines for achieving sustainability goals are fast approaching, and brands want partners who can provide effective, impactful ways to reach those commitments quickly. Berry’s sustainability expertise, coupled with access to recycled content, provides the ability to commercialize sustainable packaging solutions with a lower carbon footprint,” says Robert Flores, Vice President of Sustainability at Berry Global. —Matt Reynolds

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NEWS

8 Key Consumer Considerations for E-commerce Packaging Dotcom Distribution, a provider of B2C and B2B fulfillment and distribution services, has released its eighth annual e-commerce consumer study. Based on the responses of 1,150 U.S. online shoppers, the study explores how consumers are adjusting to today’s “new normal” following the pandemic and amid strained supply chains. Among the key discoveries is that packaging for online orders generates more sales and customer retention, especially among eco-conscious consumers.

Following are eight key takeaways on consumers’ attitudes toward e-commerce packaging from the study: • Sixty-six percent of consumers cite eco-friendly packaging as the sustainability factor most likely to make them shop with a brand, outweighing fuel-efficient transportation methods and ethical sourcing.

• Forty-three percent of consumers value eco-friendly practices (sustainable packaging, fuel-efficiency, ethical sourcing) over purchases supporting charitable initiatives when deciding who to give their business to.

• When presented with premium packaging, 34% of consumers say they’re compelled to shop with a brand again, 41% get more excited about opening the package, and 51% are inclined to think a brand is more upscale.

• Twenty-six percent said receiving a package with eco-friendly

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packaging would make them more likely to share photos or videos of the product on social media, with 30% saying giftlike packaging would also make them more likely to do so.

• When asked what factors would make them more likely to shop with a brand again, consumers credited sustainable packaging above free product samples, swag (stickers, keychains, etc.), personal notes, and premium packaging experiences.

• What’s most likely to make a customer scan a QR code on e-commerce packaging? Twenty-eight percent said when it enters them into contests or giveaways; 26% said when it provides personalized offers based on past purchases; and 22% said when it tells them about the origin, ingredients, and carbon footprint of the items.

• Of the 81% of consumers who prefer to receive items in boxes rather than bags, 32% specifically credit the preference with boxes being more eco-friendly.

• Premium packaging leaves luxury shoppers with a positive impression: 47% say it makes them more excited to open the package, 44% say it makes the brand seem more upscale, and 42% say it makes them more likely to purchase from a brand again.

The full study can be downloaded for free at pwgo.to/7625.

—Anne Marie Mohan

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BY THE NUMBERS

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QuotablesBTN_0822.indd 16

QUOTABLES

“The metaverse era has begun, and so for consumer-facing companies, it’s not about deciding if they’re going to go into the metaverse, it’s deciding how. Retailers and brands will need to reimagine and experiment with what new immersive and consultative experiences could mean to consumers. In addition to new opportunities to sell, the metaverse can also help build loyalty through experiences that go beyond just buying a product.”

–Jill Standish, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Accenture’s Retail Industry Group, in a release from the company, “RE: New Accenture research: Two-thirds of consumers purchased virtual goods, experiences and services in the metaverse, while 83% plan to in the next year”

“Soaring energy prices, ambitious climate protection goals and doing business sustainably are top issues in industry— both in Germany and worldwide. Robotics helps to produce green technology equipment in large quantities and with the required precision. At the same time, it offers the opportunity to optimize the use of resources and save costs in virtually any production.”

–Dr. Susanne Bieller, Secretary General of the International Federation of Robotics, in a press release titled, “German Industry Saves Resources With Robots,” from Messe München GmbH, sponsor of the Automatica trade show

“We have more than 3,000 dealers across the country.

And it is quite a logistics operation to buy those parts and package those parts and get those parts to our dealers as quickly as possible, so that the customer care can happen as fast as possible. We want to improve that speed and improve the cost of that entire ecosystem. And as a result of that study of how do we speed up that process and how do we do it more efficiently, it became clear that we needed a packaging facility, and we chose to put that packaging facility here in Michigan.”

–Kumar Galhotra, President of Ford Blue, Ford Motor Co.’s legacy internal combustion engine business, in an article from The Detroit News, “Ford to invest $3.7B, add 6,200 jobs to boost production in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri”

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FIRST PERSON

LCA informs P&G Package Design Consumers are increasingly demanding greater transparency and sustainability from the companies they buy from, especially when it comes to the household products they use every day and how they’re packaged. Procter & Gamble is one of the largest consumer goods companies in the world, with billions of people using its products daily. In this Q&A, Victoria Jung, Packaging Technology Leader for P&G’s Surface Care Portfolio, shares how the company uses carbon-based life-cycle assessments (LCAs) to improve the sustainability of its home care products and packaging.

Packaging World:

How does P&G use LCA to guide packaging innovation?

Victoria Jung: LCA is an industry standard used to inform sustainable design and innovation. The carbon emissions-based evaluation looks at materials, packaging, manufacturing, logistics, consumer use, and disposal, and of course, packaging has a role in each. When it comes to packaging specifically, there are multiple factors that affect a product’s environmental impacts. We evaluate packaging through a lens of product efficacy and sustainability, so we look at factors such as packaging source materials like virgin plastic, post-consumer recycled content, or other materials; packaging design for logistical efficiencies; what enables the products’ superior performance and accessibility; and the weight of packaging materials for supply chain impacts. So, when we apply LCA to a major brand like Swiffer or Mr. Clean, we use all these factors to inform design.

What does that look like in your product roadmap?

We have science-based packaging targets for 2030, including using 100% recycled or reusable packaging and reducing virgin petroleum plastic in packaging by 50%, with a broader goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across our supply chain and operations by 2040. LCAs allow us to evaluate the carbon footprint of packaging across all our products and see where we can make changes to reach our sustainability goals.

As we progress toward our goals, sustainability is at the heart of our product roadmaps. By looking at the environmental impacts of

FirstPerson_0822.indd 18

each of these product packaging factors, we can have a holistic, endto-end understanding of where we can make adjustments—including to our packaging—to help us achieve our sustainability goals.

Can you share a specific P&G packaging innovation that has been shaped by this LCA approach?

I can share a few examples from some of our flagship home care brands, including Swiffer, Mr. Clean, and Dawn. Swiffer recently overhauled the package design for its line of duster products that completely eliminated plastic from its packaging. By switching the packaging of all three Swiffer duster sizes from plastic to cardboard, Swiffer reduced its plastic usage by 173 tons per year. In total, the plastic saved from this redesign equates to the weight of 122 Honda Accords.

In the case of Mr. Clean, one of its most well-known products is the Magic Eraser, which recently underwent a packaging redesign for its club-store pack (see pwgo. to/7626). Specific changes included using lighter materials and a more sustainable design; however, one of the most noteworthy changes involved plastics. By switching from a PET tub design to using recyclable cartons, Mr. Clean reduced plastic usage by 482 tons per year in Magic Eraser’s packaging, which equates to the weight of 48 million water bottles. As a result, the package design won two Excellence Awards in the 2018 Paperboard Packaging Council carton competition in the Eco and General categories.

In regards to Dawn, interestingly, the majority of the carbon emissions impact across a dish care product’s lifecycle occurs during the consumer use phase from the energy required to heat the water for washing dishes. To help encourage more sustainable behaviors

7/20/22 11:17

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by consumers using the product, we looked at how to reformulate and repackage Dawn to make dishwashing faster and easier, also enabling refills and reuse of key components. Enter Dawn Powerwash, whose packaging features a reusable trigger. It also uses ingredients specifically formulated to eliminate the need for water until the final rinse—no soaking, pre-rinse, or re-rinse needed. In addition to the plastic saved, Dawn Powerwash reduces the water needed to clean dishes by up to 50% when used as directed. These factors led to Powerwash winning a Good Housekeeping 2021 Sustainable Innovation Award.

What else needs to happen to achieve your recycled and reusable packaging ambitions?

It’s about continuous sustainable innovation. People often think innovation is about what’s in the product, but it’s also about what the product is in. That means continuing to reduce our use of virgin plastic, increasing our use of recycled materials, and innovating our package designs to be lighter while maintaining functionality, integrity, and durability.

It’s also about cultivating partnerships that can drive meaningful change. Many people either aren’t in a habit of recycling, don’t know how to do it properly, or don’t have easy access to recycling centers.

That’s why we’ve partnered with organizations like TerraCycle, which helps consumers tackle hard-to-recycle materials to create more sustainable behaviors more easily.

Getting Started with Sustainable Packaging Looking for information on how to get started with sustainable packaging? This Packaging World primer provides an overview on what sustainable packaging is, what’s driving the push for more sustainable packaging, and how to reduce the environmental impact of packaging. Includes links to resources. Download this free PDF today at pwgo.to/7345.

Packaging is one of many key considerations included in life-cycle assessments for consumer products, and changes to the package design and the materials used are often where the greatest impacts can be made. That’s why some of our biggest brands like Mr. Clean, Swiffer, and Dawn have taken multifactored approaches to product design that reduce plastic usage, maximize efficient designs, and help enable consumers to live more sustainably. —Anne Marie Mohan

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7/20/22 11:18

20 PW AUG2022

THE LEGAL SIDE

By Eric F. Greenberg, Attorney-at-law

Single-use Plastics are Public Enemy #1 in California (Canada, too) California bonked plastics and packaging on the head with a new law in late June. The headlines about the law might focus on recycling, and some reports incorrectly say it’s an outright ban on single-use plastics, but at its core the new law is an example of the imposition of extended producer responsibility (EPR). A huge example.

And while the new California law will for sure burden industry and only might reduce plastic pollution in the state, its true significance might ultimately be in terms of its influence on other states.

The law has several powerful provisions, taking aim at single-use plastic articles from many different angles using several different weapons, including an especially burdensome form of “extended producer responsibility,” phasing in huge financial obligations on industry.

The requirements apply to what the state calls “covered material,” which means both of the following: “(A) Single-use packaging that is routinely recycled, disposed of, or discarded after its contents have been used or unpackaged, and typically not refilled or otherwise reused by the producer. “(B) Plastic single-use food service ware, including, but not limited to, plastic-coated paper or plastic-coated paperboard, paper or paperboard with plastic intentionally added during the manufacturing process, and multilayer flexible material. For purposes of this subparagraph, “single-use food service ware” includes both of the following: (i) Trays, plates, bowls, clamshells, lids, cups, utensils, stirrers, hinged or lidded containers, and straws. (ii) Wraps or wrappers and bags sold to food service establishments.”

There are a number of exceptions for many types of packaging, including medical packaging and animal drug packaging, as well as beverage containers that are “subject to the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act.” Also exempted are covered materials for which the producer can demonstrate that while they’re not collected in residential recycling systems and aren’t separated at commingled recycling processing facilities, they nevertheless are recycled such that “The material has demonstrated a recycling rate of 65 percent for three consecutive years prior to January 1, 2027, and on and after that date demonstrates a recycling rate at or over 70 percent annually, as demonstrated to the department every two years.”

The recycling requirement for covered material is being phased-in.

Specifically, the law requires plastic “covered materials” that are sold, distributed, or imported into California to be recycled at a rate of 30% or more by 2028, 40% by 2030, and 65% by 2032.

The law’s financial burdens on industry are significant. Plastics producers will be required to pay $500,000,000 every year starting in 2027 toward an environmental mitigation surcharge “to be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, by specified state agencies on purposes relating to mitigating the environmental impacts of plastic.”

There is a complex requirement for the creation of “producer responsibility organizations” (“PROs”) and industry members would need to keep and produce specified records.

What’s more, the bill would require a PRO to pay a charge named the “California circular economy administrative fee” to California government at a level determined by the state to be adequate to cover the costs of implementing the law.

As for the potential influence of the California law beyond the state’s borders, here are a few thoughts. There are examples of state laws whose influence stretches beyond the state’s borders. Perhaps the most significant is California’s Proposition 65, which for all intents and purposes might as well be an international treaty, as its requirements have become a routine part of supplier information worldwide, all because companies want to lawfully sell their products in California and also don’t want to have to make one California-only product and another for sale everywhere else.

Because of the importance of the California market and its overall cultural and marketing influence, this complex new law’s various requirements could soon have the same practical effects such that they, too, also become like an international treaty.

Ironically, just recently the United Nations took steps toward creating an actual international treaty addressing plastic waste. (Read my April 2022 column at pwgo.to/7636.)

What’s more, also in June, the Canadian government put in place a batch of bans on six types of plastic, to “prohibit the manufacture, import, and sale of single-use plastic checkout bags, cutlery, foodservice ware made from or containing problematic plastics [such as foamed plastics, black plastic made with carbon black, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and oxo-degradable plastics], ring carriers, stir sticks, and straws,” starting in December of this year.

The full results of all the new California provisions won’t be known immediately, but will be an important test of various techniques aimed at reducing plastic waste.

If they turn out to impose significant costs, limitations, and disruptions on industry but don’t reduce pollution, it’ll be time to go back to the drawing board. PW

Eric Greenberg can be reached at greenberg@efg-law.com. Or visit his firm’s website at www.ericfgreenbergpc.com.

INFORMATIONAL ONLY, NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

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7/15/22 13:01

22 PW AUG2022

THE BIG PICTURE

By Sterling Anthony, CPP, Contributing Editor

Examining the Intricacies of Containerized Cargo In the U.S., supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 have eased, leaving in their wake memories of understocked retail shelves and extended delivery schedules. Evidencing the transoceanic component was the broadcasted spectacle of flotillas of container ships, anchored in coastal waters, awaiting days-delayed permission to come into port.

Companies that engage in transoceanic commerce should strategize to reduce their vulnerability to supply chain disruptions, whether caused by pandemics, natural disasters, geo-political upheavals, or other factors. Whereas such strategizing encompasses a multitude of factors, it needs to reflect that a major percentage of containerized cargo consists of packaged, unitized goods.

Containerization does not change the fundamentals of the physical aspects of the packaging-transportation relationship. What containerization does is apply that relationship across multiple modes (hence the name, intermodal container). The motto goes, “Package to survive the toughest mode.” Assuming that the motto makes sense, it leaves unanswered the question, “what is the toughest mode?”

In all cases, there is a water component (ship), bookended by land components (rail and/or truck).

Land-transported cargo is subjected to shock, vibration, and compression, enacted along the truck or railcar’s longitudinal, lateral, and vertical axes. The forces manifest through continuous travel, in addition to accelerations and decelerations. As straightforward as that sounds, it defies easy modeling and easy simulation. That’s because of the many ways that the forces can vary in terms of magnitude, duration, and sequence. It’s true of the land journey to the departure port and of the land journey away from the destination port—not to mention that the two journeys can have significantly different profiles.

Ocean-transported cargo, too, is subjected to physical forces along three axes. The distinguishing difference is that the travel surface can range from calm to turbulent, depending on the nature of waves.

There are nautical terms for the effects: roll, pitch, yaw, sway, heave, and surge. They describe how waves cause a ship to move up-anddown, side-to-side, forward-and-back, and rotate. And should there be any doubt as to how punishing conditions at sea can get, containers have been known to fall overboard.

With that information serving as prelude, we return to the motto, “Package to survive the toughest mode.” Given the variability of each mode, can any given mode confidently be singled out as the toughest? A more serviceable motto might be, “Package to survive the worst that each mode foreseeably will offer.” Worst-case-scenario plans inherently embody a margin-of-safety. In the post-COVID-19 era, it’s prudent to ask whether prior margins should be increased, or otherwise modified. What follows are some considerations.

BigPicture_0822.indd 22

Disruptions were not due to major extensions in in-transit times.

Rather, they were due to time expended in waiting at the shipper’s location and at the ports. Shippers awaited the availability of containers, and afterwards, the availability of sufficient numbers in loading crews. The availability of conveyances (trucks and railcars) decreased due to shortages of operators. At the departure ports, labor availability delayed the unloading of conveyances and the loading of ships (which experienced their own availability delays). All of that preceded the publicized waiting incurred when ships reached destination. Even when ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach went into around-the-clock operations to undo the logjam of ships, there was further waiting, this time for the availability of conveyances to take cargo inland.

Associated with the waiting was an increase in the number of times containers were handled as they were moved about the grounds, in and out of storage, etc. But value isn’t added to goods as a function of how many times the goods are handled. What additional handling does is add cost to operations and increase the cargo’s exposure to handling-inflicted damage.

Container ports have specialized, heavy-duty equipment. Whether consisting of cranes or driver-operated lifts, their purpose is to unload and reload containers and to perform intermediate handlings. Lifting and lowering induces accelerations and decelerations, and operators are trained to minimize those effects. Under the time constraints and the increased workloads, operations didn’t always proceed as smoothly as they normally do. More concerning is the handling of containers that have unevenly distributed cargo. Such containers are known to dip during handling, in the direction of the heavier end.

Unsurprisingly, some consignees, after extended waiting, received containerized cargo that was damaged by one or more of the many variables associated with the recent, unprecedented supply chain disruptions.

Returning again to the motto(s), adherence must go beyond the strength and the compatibility of the packaging materials and components. Both automatically are compromised if the cargo is not loaded into the container properly and not secured within the container properly. The former is a function of evenly distributed weight (as alluded to in the preceding paragraph). The latter is a function of blocking and bracing the cargo to keep it immobile against the influences of reasonably foreseeable forces. What constitutes what is reasonably foreseeable, however, might well have changed, permanently, due to lessons taught by COVID-19. The next supply chain disruptions might not (and it’s hoped, will not) be as upheaving. Nonetheless, they will happen. What remains to be seen is industry’s level of preparation. PW

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24 PW AUG2022

SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING

By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor

Amazon: Transformational E-comm Design Begins Upstream communicating with the complete audience,” said Long. “We needed The world’s largest online retailer, Amazon knows a bit about to figure out how to move our communication strategy further packaging, especially when it comes to consumers’ feelings about excess upstream, all the way up to the product design, the product strategy, e-commerce packaging. After all, its Frustration Free Packaging (FFP) and the packaging strategy long before the product actually gets to program, introduced in 2009, was designed specifically to reduce the shelves.” amount of packaging used for e-commerce products and lower the cost Through consumer feedback, Long said Amazon has begun to of delivering goods to assist in maintaining low prices for customers. realize when it comes to e-commerce packaging, it’s “putting a square That’s why, in 2018, when it introduced its Vendor Incentive peg in a round hole.” He explained, “We are under the preconceived Program (see pwgo.to/6013) around FFP to promote the Ships in Own notion that e-commerce packaging requires putting a box on top of Container (SIOC) and FFP programs in its non-sort business, it was a retail product. And so that’s where we want to take Frustration-Free completely blindsided when the program failed to drive change.

Packaging to change that perception.”

As Jeremy Long, Senior Manager, Product Management, Customer Said Long, Amazon has collected a Packaging Experience for Amazon, shared tremendous amount of data under the with attendees at Smithers’ E-Pack Europe auspices of identifying candidates that 2022 conference in June, the initiative meet the criteria for SIOC. “Criteria that was a very large step for the retailer we could come to our vendor portfolio and one that was rolled out with much with and say, ‘Here are some good optimism. “Since our Frustration Free opportunities that we see using data to Packaging Program started in 2009, introduce and to convert your packaging we had never taken any kind of overt to Frustration-Free Packaging,’” explained industry action before,” he said. “And Long. “This data has really sort of so coming to the public with this idea transformed the way we think about our of starting with a 12-month window packaging as a whole.” to incentivize, followed by a $1.99 This data has also enabled Amazon chargeback, this was a big deal for us. to reduce its outbound shipments in We really, really wanted to get it right. corrugated in North America and Europe And we were really excited to have the from 73% five or six years ago to 36% business buy-in to offer that 12-month year to date. But, said Long, Amazon incentive. is still hearing from its customers that “So we reached out to 25,000 contacts. it’s still not enough; consumers want to We put materials together for industry journals and spent months planning a Jeremy Long, Senior Manager, Product Management, eliminate the outer packaging.

“So, if the e-commerce overbox is communication strategy for how we were Customer Packaging Experience, Amazon wasteful, where do we go from here?” going to launch this, how we were going Long posited. “We’ve got to do something different. Packaging design to really go big and be successful at avoiding the chargeback. We can’t be in addition to our product and packaging strategy, it has to wanted to convert as much of this packaging as possible. be part of the product and packaging strategy.

“So fast forward 12 months later, that incentive had gone mostly “We can no longer afford to address packaging after the product unclaimed. A dollar per unit received in the new packaging format, launches. It’s too expensive. That’s why Amazon has launched these and most of it had gone unclaimed. So we started to reassess, what incentive programs to begin with. It’s because there’s a cost to did we do wrong? How did we so entirely miss the boat?” convert, but if there’s no conversion, then you can avoid the cost.

What Amazon learned was that despite the fact that it was So, that’s where our more recent initiatives have headed, in trying to communicating with the industry, it wasn’t yet touching the reach out further and further upstream.”

P&L owners. “It wasn’t until the chargeback actually launched, Added Long, it’s not easy, but where Amazon has had success is and it started hitting the P&L, that we realized we weren’t really

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said so. They let us know daily. Finding ways to push these decisions when it’s had top-to-top conversations with its vendors—including further and further upstream equips the P&L owners, and it equips C-level executives, the brand owners, and the P&L owners—about the the brand and product owners with the resources they need to make strategies around e-commerce and about sustainability. They get it, better decisions. Whether it be multichannel or omnichannel, having and they are committed.” these decisions being made further upstream is really the only way to But, he added, commitment doesn’t always translate to action, move this forward.” PW as the vendors don’t always know what to do next. “So, we’ve got a gap, and it’s this gap that I think this audience has a particular opportunity to help address,” Long said.

He then challenged the audience with thinking through a few steps to see how they can participate and help address the gap between what the C-level and the P&L owner—the executives—are stating are goals for them and the actual execution. “First, assess where you are and the role that you play today,” he said. “So, do you actually have a seat at the table, where you’re having conversations about packaging strategy, not just e-commerce packaging, but total packaging? Or is your packaging team or your role associated more with taking orders from somewhere else? Are the requirements coming to you, or do you With Sidel Eco-services we provide expert end-to-end have the ability to influence those requirements? support, everything from practical Eco Options & Upgrades, “Secondly, if you’re in that first camp where you to line utility consumption assessment and to our Evo-ON don’t really have a seat at the table and you are an Eco®, the smart app that tracks and analyses real-time your order taker, moving that further upstream is a big production data to set your next best move. hill to climb. So, tackling that hill requires insight.

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He reiterated that the way that’s done at Amazon is with data. “So, what kind of data do you have, and how are you using it?” he asked the audience.

“How is that information going from operations to providing insights into your product development strategy? Do you have products, for example, that are already specially tailored to e-commerce that you can differentiate from products that you’re shipping e-commerce in retail, and start to draw parallels and comparisons, and provide insights to your senior leadership about the advantages and opportunities you’re seeing, from the results you’ve already committed to e-commerce?

“Finally, once you have that seat at the table, you’ve got to take advantage of adding value. It’s not just about adding value to the packaging. It’s about adding value to the product. I would challenge the Meet us at material and operational cost structures, that’s the table stakes. What we’re missing is real insight into how to use e-commerce packaging for new ways of September 12 -16 engaging your customer.

MUNICH “If you are letting Amazon put a generic, brown, Hall A6 - booth 339 corrugated box around your product, you’re missing an awesome opportunity to create a new way of engaging, and that leads to brand differentiation.”

“Doubling up on packaging is just no longer acceptable,” he concluded. “Our customers have

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All-Fill designs, manufactures, services and supports a line of packaging machinery including; auger, piston, vibratory & cup fillers, bagging, checkweighing, labeling & bottle unscrambling and capping equipment.

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Future leaders IN PACKAGING SC

H O L A R S HIP

These market-leading companies participating in Packaging World’s 2022 Leaders in Packaging Program are named sponsors of PW’s Future Leaders in Packaging scholarship. This year’s recipient is Alexandria Technical & Community College, Mechatronics program. We appreciate the support of all participants on behalf of packaging education.

Filling/capping - dry

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

AUTOPROD & HOLMATIC Cup Filling and Sealing Systems Our Autoprod & Holmatic cup systems fill, seal, and overcap straight or tapered-walled cups, tubs, or trays for a variety of viscous and dry products. Email us at info@rajones.com to learn more.

Aquarius - Servo Fill-Plug-Cap-Torque-Label Monobloc A servo-driven monobloc designed for applications in pharma, diagnostics and biotech.

Available options: In-starwheel label application for unstable vials, weight verification, fill level inspection, label vision system, and print quality/position inspection systems.

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Filling, Handling, Blending, Seaming Equipment

Filling, Capping, and Finishing for All Industries

Bevcorp is a full-service packaging equipment provider - offering solutions for your can and bottle filling, blending, handling, and seaming equipment, parts, & service needs.

We pledge to provide the best option for your equipment and budget.

Manufacturing monoblock style filling, capping, and finishing machines for over 60 years, Chase Logeman has the experience to automate most liquid filling operations.

Contact us to learn more.

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Fogg Gravity Fillers

CUTTING EDGE MACHINE SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENTIRE PACKAGING WORLD From bottled water to antifreeze, juice to household products, pharmaceutical to dairy products, Fogg filling machines have proven superior in applications throughout the world. Speed capabilities range anywhere from 30-1200 bottles per minute.

Optima Machinery Corporation 1330 Contract Drive Green Bay, WI 54304 Phone 920-339-2222 info-usa@optima-packaging.com www.optima-packaging.com

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

PSA Quatro Sensi: Precision Filling Technology Meets Superior Hygiene

Experts in Supplying A-Z Turnkey Packaging Lines

* Fill precision for rapid ROI * Non-contact valves prevent bottle-to-filler contamination * Optional tank pressurization uses a controlled supply of clean air, enabling efficient CIP and quick changeover

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Shemesh supplies fully automatic A-Z Turnkey Packaging Solutions for a wide range of products. Liquid & Solid Filling Machines, Powder Filling Machines, Sealing Machines, Capping Machines, Labelling Machines, Case Packers, Custom Design, Service & Support.

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Filling, Capping & Closing continued Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Filling/capping, liquid & viscous

Precise Cup & Tray Filling with Osgood’s New Modular LFS Inline Filler

Net weight filling & Direct Drive servo capping

Precisely package liquid, viscous, and pumpable food products in preformed containers with the new Clean/UltraClean LFS. Futureproof production with machine sections that can be retrofitted, added, or exchanged to meet changing demands.

High precision net weight filling of most liquids, from bleach to peanut butter.

Direct Drive servo closure applicators for caps, pump dispensers and trigger sprayers.

GIVEAWAY? Only when you’re feeling generous.

Tamper-evidenT machinery

Weighing/combination scales

Achieve a Perfect Seal with the Industry’s Best Technology

Multihead Scales with Vertical Form Fill Seal Packager Line

Super Seal™ cap sealers prevent leaks, preserve freshness and deter pilferage for retail & e-commerce packaging. Our unique technology optimizes sealing energy for efficient & consistent cap sealing. Enjoy expert advice and support with Enercon.

This line includes a Z type Conveyor , integrated Multihead Scales with Vertical Form Fill Seal Packager and a Finished Product Conveyor. Ideal to bag grains, granules, hard candies and small to medium loose products, with an average speed of 50 packs per min.

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Yamato Corporation is the leading provider of automatic, commercial, and industrial weighing solutions in North, Central, and South America. Yamato scales offer supreme accuracy and support a variety of markets.

Find your scale at YamatoAmericas.com

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Yamato – Always the best way to weigh.

Future leaders IN PACKAGING SC

H O L A R S HIP

These market-leading companies participating in Packaging World’s 2022 Leaders in Packaging Program are named sponsors of PW’s Future Leaders in Packaging scholarship. This year’s recipient is Alexandria Technical & Community College, Mechatronics program. We appreciate the support of all participants on behalf of packaging education.

YOU HAVE TO SEE IT, EXPLORE IT, EXPERIENCE IT. REGISTER TODAY! Interested in learning about the latest developments in filling, capping & closing, and containers & closures? Don’t miss PACK EXPO International 2022 to see, explore, and experience the newest innovations in these packaging categories as well as an abundance of other packaging and processing equipment, materials, and business drivers.

Visit packexpointernational.com for more information, and to register today.

October 23-26, 2022 ■ Chicago, Illinois, USA

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Containers & Closures The following companies are leading suppliers of closures and containers.

To see all product categories, please visit Packworld.com/leaders.

Closures

Containers

No spill, no mess. The perfect sports cap.

Custom Capabilities for Bins and Pallets

The new NovactiveTM 28 is a sports cap equipped with a patented non-spill valve.

Compared to other closures, the NovactiveTM 28 has an upgraded TE band design that stays attached to the cap and is 100% spill-proof.

Learn more at novembal.com

Whether it’s custom sizing to fit a material handling system, custom colors to match your brand, casters to improve workflow, doors for better access and ergonomics, lids, latches, drains or more, Decade Products can help.

Containers

Containers

Promote Your Brand with Metal Packaging

INNOVATIVE AMPOULES FOR UNIT-DOSE PACKAGING

Independent Can is an American printer and manufacturer of specialty metal packaging since 1929. We build brand recognition with 100% infinitely recyclable steel packaging solutions.

James Alexander specializes in contract filling services and single-use packaging solutions such as plastic ampoules, crushable glass ampoules, snap-top vials, unit dose swabs, DuoDispersion System®, inhalants and dropper tip assemblies.

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SPECIAL REPORT

COVID-19, Technology Advancements Drive Robot Adoption Part I of Packaging World’s Annual Robotics Report explores how labor shortages exacerbated by the pandemic along with improvements in technology have accelerated the use of robotics in packaging applications, including their increased use in food and pharma.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Hygienic robots for food & pharma

Robotic case packing/palletizing

By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor It will probably be years before we fully understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed business practices and operations. One area where its impact can clearly be seen, however, is in the increased use of robotics on the factory floor. Says Maya Xiao, Senior Analyst at Interact Analysis, “The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent labor shortages and rising wage costs have turbo-charged factory automation across a wide swathe of industrial sectors.”

In North America, the robotics market experienced its best quarter ever in Q1-2022. That’s according to The International Federation of Robotics (IFR), which reports that companies from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico ordered 11,595 industrial robots in that time period—a 28% increase over Q1-2021. Revenue rose by 43% and reached a value of $664 million. “Across industries, the post COVID-crisis boom created double-digit growth over the same quarter of last year,” notes IFR President Milton Guerry.

Dialing in on the packaging market, a new report from PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, titled, “2022 Robots and Cobots An Automated Future” (see pwgo.to/7608), shares that 54% of those interviewed spent more on robotics in 2022 versus 2019, at 29%. The report also notes that a majority of consumer packaged goods manufacturers—84%—are using robotics along their production lines today, and 93% of participants predicted they will be using robotics on their production floor in the next five years.

According to the report, among the top-five achievements CPGs expect when adding robots are a reduction in labor and repetitive tasks (90%), an increase in speed and productivity (78%), repeatable quality and consistent product handling (67%), improved operator safety (51%), and the minimization of waste and human error (33%).

Along with labor shortages, advances in robot payload, end-of-arm

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tools (EOAT), Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, vision, hygienic construction, and other innovations are helping drive the robot boom.

In Part I of Packaging World’s Annual Robotics Report, we explore some of the technologies spurring the use of robots in primary food and pharmaceutical packaging applications, case packing, and palletizing.

Robots reduce labor, enhance product safety in primary food packaging Robots’ use in food packaging applications is growing as a greater number of robots adhere to IP69K construction standards for sanitation. That’s according to the PMMI robot report, which shares that the primary packaging applications for which robots are being used are bag and bottle handling, container loading, multipacks, package inserts, pick-and-place, tray unloading and loading, and more.

REGISTER TODAY! Interested in cutting-edge robotic packaging line solutions for your facility? Don’t miss PACK EXPO International 2022 to see the latest robotic packaging line innovations available. Visit packexpointernational.com to learn more.

October 23-26, 2022 ■ Chicago, Illinois, USA

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reach and a four-axis design that allows it to handle 6-kg payloads at high speeds. The new robot operates with Fanuc’s latest R-30iB Plus controller with integrated intelligent functions such as iRVision, Force Sensing, Robot Link, Collision Guard, and Zero Down Time (ZDT).

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a video of the Fanuc DR-3i B/6 at pwgo.to/7629

According to a report from Technavio, the food packaging robotics market size is expected to grow by $1.03 billion, with a year-over-year growth of 4.75% from 2021-2025. “One of the key factors driving the food packaging robotics market growth is the assurance of safety and quality,” explains the report.

One new robotics innovation for primary food packaging is a robotic tray-loading system from BluePrint Automation (BPA) called the Spider 100v (1). Explains the company, the system replaces a traditional collate-and-load system and eliminates racetrack collation and potential jam points. Recommended for bags, pouches, cereal/nutritional bars, and other flow-wrapped products such as frozen novelties and baked goods, the Spider 100v uses a combination of four- and six-axis delta robots and an integrated vision system to pick product and place it into trays, cartons, cases, and other secondary containers.

The vision system is designed to pick random, unoriented product, which eliminates the need to perfectly orient the product prior to it entering onto the pick belt, therefore reducing floor space. The vision system also provides built-in product inspection, detecting double wraps, bad product size, and more.

The Spider 100v can accept product from bulk using BPA feeding technology and is built using BPA’s standard modular frame, which the company says reduces cost by minimizing wiring and reduces the footprint by eliminating bulky external electrical cabinets.

a video of BPA’s Spider 100v at pwgo.to/7628 Also engineered for picking and packing primary food products is a new robot from Fanuc, the DR-3iB/6 STAINLESS (2), which is the company’s first stainless steel, food-grade delta robot. Rated IP69K, the robot meets USDA and FDA food safety standards, with a fully enclosed stainless steel body that is resistant to the chemicals and high pressures/ temperatures required in strict wash-down environments. Notes Fanuc, the robot’s mirrorlike surface finish ensures that any microbial contaminants can be washed away cleanly.

Other hygienic features include NSF H1 food-grade lubricant, secondary oil catch basins (with viewing windows to monitor potential leaks), self-draining surfaces, and other details driven by USDA/FDA standards.

2 The DR-3iB/6 STAINLESS has a 1200-mm

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JLS Automation also recently debuted a food loading system equipped with an IP69K-rated delta robot: the Harrier Bacon Draft Loading System (3). The system automatically loads fresh sliced retail bacon drafts into thermoformers. According to JLS, the Harrier replaces the typical complex series of conveyors and devices often used for this process while helping solve labor gaps. A patent-pending robotic gripper EOAT pre-folds a flat bacon L-board flap using a combination of linear servo actuators. The folded draft is then rotated 180 deg and articulated down into the thermoformer pocket. Drafts can also be loaded onto a pattern-loading board of a thermoformer designed for fresh retail bacon packaging. The system has a surge capacity of 20%.

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Notes JLS, the vision-guided robot’s targeting system accommodates a wide range of draft position variance on the infeed conveyor while also providing a degree of draft quality inspection. The Harrier has an open design, which the company says contributes to its sanitary design and wash-down capability, as well as provides easy access for operator loading of “Make Weight” and “B-Grade” drafts. The stainless steel IP69Krated delta robot sits in an open-channel chassis and features tool-less disassembly of all tooling and conveyors for easy cleaning and sanitation.

Another solution that picks and packs protein into a thermoformer is an integrated system from Quest and Ossid, both part of the ProMach family of brands. Recently demonstrated at a trade show, the integrated packaging line featured a Quest six-axis robotic pick-and-place system feeding an Ossid thermoformer (4). Using Fanuc IR vision and the flexibility of the robot’s six axes, the system oriented and loaded steaks into thermoformed trays. The robot EOAT was equipped with a Soft Robotics gripper, designed for hard-to-handle products such as poultry and meats.

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bots can be flexibly connected and, together with transport modules, seamlessly integrated into an overall system. Together with our customers, we can automate single process steps consecutively and in line with their needs or budgets, following the principle ‘build as you grow.’

Moreover, the platform can be scaled to suit different production capacities, while multiple cells can be connected.”

Among the functions handled by RPP are product handling, including capping, changing orientation, and grouping as single, stacked, shingled, multipacks, variety packs, or assortments; loading of products into trays, u-boards, boxes, or cases; or feeding of products into infeed chains of primary and secondary packaging equipment. Depending on the type of EOAT, RPP is capable of performing multi-pick, reflex-pick,

4 Says Mandy Turner, Regional Sales Manager for Quest Industrial, “The protein industry has been hit hard with labor shortages over the past two years. Quest is developing innovative, small-footprint, costeffective solutions to alleviate labor in the most difficult of bulk handling applications.”

Offering handling and feeding capabilities in addition to loading for both packaged and unpackaged products, including food and pharmaceuticals, is the new Robotic Pick & Place platform, or RPP (5), from Syntegon. The platform uses a modular cell design that enables individual configuration of the robotic cells, with up to three delta robots per cell. Explains Andreas Schildknecht, Product Manager Robotics at Syntegon, “Each customer project is different. Thanks to the modular RPP platform, we can handle a wide variety of products. The delta ro-

5

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grouping, pre-stacking, product orientation, and tilting functions.

RPP uses open control software that ensures the seamless integration of the delta robots into the line. According to Syntegon, the RPP cells provide “excellent visibility, easy access, and efficient cleaning.”

The stainless steel robotic cells also meet the IP65 protection class and are built to fulfill the latest food safety regulations.

Robots’ hygienic features, precision spur pharmaceutical applications Another area requiring robots engineered to hygienic standards and offering extreme accuracy is the pharmaceutical market. According to a recent report from Grand View Research, the global pharmaceutical robots market size was valued at $162.7 million in 2021 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.2% from 2022 to 2030. Says the report, “The growing need for automation in manufacturing units, coupled with the high costs of new drug discovery, is significantly increasing the demand for robotics in clinical trials, drug discovery, and laboratories for automating the procedures. In addition, key companies are introducing technologically advanced robotic machines, which has further led to the tremendous growth of the market. With rising demands for precision, output, and faster turnaround times, automation and robotics have gained traction in the pharmaceutical industry.”

According to a 2022 report from PMMI, “Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Trends Shaping the Future” (see pwgo.to/7605), three out of four pharmaceutical companies interviewed for the report are using robot-

ics along their line, 6 and over half predict they will implement more robots/ cobots in the future.

Currently, traditional robots, as opposed cobots, account for the largest share of the market, at 63.7%, shares Grand View. Applications include pick-and-place material handling, loading and unloading, packaging, palletizing and depalletizing, storing and retrieving, product placement, stacking, cutting, scribing, sorting, process-to-process transferring, and precision spot welding.

Designed for ultra-high precision for tasks such as assembly, pickand-place, and intricate small-parts handling processes is Epson Robots’ new GX Series of SCARA robots for the medical device, electronics, and consumer electronics industries. The two robots that make up the series, the GX4 and GX8 (6), incorporate Epson’s Gyroplus vibration reduction system and rigid arm design for fast settling times. The robots are available with multiple arm configurations, with a 250- to 350-mm reach for the GX4 and a 450- to 650-mm reach for the GX8.

According to Epson, the high-power-density SCARA robots are equipped with larger motors to handle heavy workloads at fast speeds.

The GX4 can handle payloads up to 4 kg, and the GX8 up to 8 kg, both from a small form factor. The robots are also equipped with Epson RC+ industrial automation development software that streamlines automa-

n IBIE Booth 1045 Pack Expo Booth N-5709 BPA packs all types of products into cases and various secondary containers including loading into your hffs machines, wrapper chain in-feeds and indexing thermoform machines.

We Ask. We Listen. We Partner.

Vision Guided Robotics | Secondary Packaging | Turnkey Packaging Solutions

The Blueprint Way End of line packaging solutions including, wrapper, carton and tray loading, case packing, bag in bag multipacks, shelf ready solutions and more!

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blueprintautomation.com

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7 tion so operators can design complex and robust robotic solutions with a simple interface, advanced integrated solutions, and an advanced 3D simulator.

Built for demanding environments, the GX robots are available in Standard, Cleanroom (ISO3), and ESD (electrostatic discharge) models; new standalone ESD models are available. The GX8 also supports IP65.

a video on Epson’s new GX Series SCARA robots at pwgo.to/7630 Another new SCARA robot-equipped solution geared toward the pharmaceutical market is ESS Technologies’ Robotic Capping System (7). The system integrates one, two, or three Fanuc SR-3iA robots with an ESS-designed gripper-style EOAT to pick caps from a feeder track, place them on a test tube, bottle, or vial, and apply a pre-torque before the containers convey to a final torque station—all at speeds to 120/min.

The system can accommodate multiple cap sizes and torque or pressure requirements, push-on caps, and pucked containers, such as test tubes with rounded bottoms or irregularly shaped bottles.

During operation of the system, a timing screw drive and conveyor

place the container in position for precise cap placement. The robots are programmed to act in coordination, each capping one container at a time. After the robot places the cap, the containers convey to a final torque station that fully tightens the cap to the exact requirements.

Push-on-style caps are tamped into place at the final station.

Six-Axis Robots Gently Depalletize, Clean Cosmetics Bottles Cosmint, a part of the Intercos Group and a contract manufacturer of premium skin, hair, and body care products located in Italy, works with some of the largest cosmetic brands in the industry. Recently, the company enlisted robotics automation solutions provider Siscodata to help it increase its production capacity. To this end, the systems integrator collaborated with industrial automation and robotics manufacturer Comau to develop a robotic depalletizing cell designed to clean and manipulate high-end, preprinted cosmetic bottles without leaving a scratch. Siscodata specified two Comau NJ-40 robots within the cell to pick, rotate, and clean custom-printed plastic bottles at rates to 150 pieces/min.

The new cell replaces three standard machines previously used

With the help of special grippers and high-resolution 2D cameras, the two NJ-40 articulated robots pick a series of bottles from the partitioned cases used for shipping.

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at the Cosmint facilities.

Siscodata was challenged to design the complex solution in just four and half months from start to finish, which it successfully accomplished. Says Comau, the fully integrated system protects the aesthetic quality and purity of the final product, achieves the desired production rate of 0.45 sec/ bottle, and ensures mechanical, electronic, and electrical efficiency. It also enables Cosmint to trust that the end customer receives a product that is free from contamination and is 100% compliant to their quality standards.

The automated depalletizing solution features two Comau NJ-40 six-axis articulated robots that Comau says guarantee the speed, precision, and repeatability the application requires.

With the help of special grippers and a high-resolution 2D camera, each robot picks a series of bottles from the partitioned cases used for shipping. Working in tandem at fast speeds, the robots rotate the bottles before moving them to a cleaning station to remove more than 99% of residual particles or contaminants left over from the production, shipping, and depalletizing process. This part of the solution is quite complex and requires synchronized, “on-the-fly” movements by the medium-payload (up to 40 kg) robots to handle a production rate of more than 9,000 bottles/hr.

Says Francesca Grieco, Engineering Manager at Cosmint, “We are particularly satisfied with the Comau robots, which have allowed us to reach our target of creating a system that is 100% reliable from a performance, quality, and electromechanical standpoint, and will guarantee the exceptionally high cleanliness standards specified by our end customer.”

According to Comau, the solution is fully adaptable to different industries and payloads. PW

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According to ESS, Allen-Bradley controls and a color touchscreen HMI allow the operator to eas8 ily select the cap size to be run on the system, and optional automatic system runout programs make size changeover fast and efficient—typically 15 minutes or less.

Fanuc’s compact SR Series SCARA robots can be integrated into existing systems. The robotic capper can also be ordered with ESS’s FC Series in-line filler/capper machines to create a fully automated, high-speed filling and capping line. Cap placement inspection with automatic reject ensures that uncapped containers or containers with skewed caps are removed from the production stream for rework.

a video of ESS Technologies’ Robotic Capping System at pwgo.to/7631 For hygienic pick-and-place applications in pharmaceutical as well as food and electronics environments is a new robot from Kuka Robotics, the KR 3 DELTA (8). The ceiling-mounting, parallel-arm robot offers a reach of 1200 mm, a maximum payload capacity of 3 kg, and cycle times as low as 0.5 sec. According to Kuka, an encapsulated gear unit and self-lubricating ball joints increase reliability and reduce maintenance.

The KR 3 DELTA uses a corrosion-resistant, stainless steel shell that protects against dust and moisture. The design accepts alkaline or acidic high-pressure cleaning and disinfection up to 100 kPa (kilopascal) for simplified upkeep and shorter downtimes. Food sector-certified for material safety according to international guidelines, the robot carries IP67 high-protection certification, with A4 IP69K for axis 4.

Kuka has paired the KR 3 DELTA with its KR C5 micro controller, which the company says uses nearly 35% less energy than preceding designs. Kuka adds that the scalable, easy-to-install controller requires less space, offers increased safety, and integrates seamlessly into existing production environments.

a video of Kuka Robotics’ KR DELTA robot at pwgo.to/7632

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For lab-scale environments, engineering firm 3P innovation has introduced the R500 and R1000 range of robotic capsule and device powder fillers (9), which allow customers to eliminate “formulation for filling” steps and reduce preclinical timescales, fast-tracking to Phase III. In the center of the fully automated machine, with a footprint of just 1 x 1 m, is Stäubli’s smallest six-axis robot, the TX2-40 with a Stericlean design.

Explains David Johnson, Marketing and Sales Director of 3P innovation, “We designed this machine for pre-commercial production, enabling the manufacturer to fill powders in a scale that is needed for preclinical testing.” No minimum batch size is required, and the dose size can easily be changed.

The R500/R1000 is able to fill vials, capsules, syringes, cartridges, and custom containers with a

GET READY: STANDARD-KNAPP AT PACK EXPO INTERNATIONAL CHICAGO, IL OCT. 23-26, 2022 BOOTH 5506

Visit booth 5506 to check out our flagship case packer, the 939S Versatron. Also on display will be a Unipack 2.0. Designed in Germany and built in Portland, CT, the Unipack is a versatile powerhouse designed for pick-and-place applications across

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the brewing, beverage, dairy and food industries. Both packers will be mated to case sealers, in hot-melt glue and tape configurations. Do not miss it!

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UNIPACK 2.0

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variety of challenging powders like pure APIs (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients), spray-dried and engineered particles, delicate biologics, freeze-dried powders, and solid dispersions (“drug-in-polymer”). The R500 fills capsules at speeds to 500/hr, the R1000 at 1,000/hr, with high accuracy and no need to change the hardware when the product is changed, according to Stäubli.

Dosing accuracy is ensured by gravimetric Fill2Weight technology developed by 3P innovation. Containment and full cGMP compliance are achieved with the integrated isolator housing, ensuring a controlled and sterile environment. The Stericlean TX2-40 robot includes a fully enclosed structure with special seals, keeping airborne particles to a minimum. The robot’s completely smooth surface, protected by a highresistance coating, eliminates retention areas, and all connections run through the base of the robot. All of this, says Stäubli, ensures that the TX2 Stericlean range can withstand the cleaning processes common in pharmaceutical and other applications.

a video on 3P innovation’s R500/R1000 capsule filling system at pwgo.to/7633

Case-packing robots boast flexibility, efficiency, speed In the area of secondary packaging operations, robots are playing a key role in driving new levels of efficiency and speed that help manufacturers manage production costs and increase throughput. According to PMMI’s 2022 robot report, 46% of those interviewed currently use

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robots for secondary packaging processes, and that number is expected to grow to 52% over the next five years.

Shared a director of manufacturing for a large food company, “We are adding robots to our case-packing and palletizing applications on three more lines—all 10 will now be fully robotic.”

Also interviewed for the report, a plant manager for an SME (small and mid-sized enterprise) food manufacturer, said, “Three years ago, we didn’t have any robots, and now we operate robotics on two lines for pick-and-place case packing, and we’re considering adding a pick-and-place robot for case forming.”

bagger, sealer, wrapper, or other primary packaging machine. Shipper cases are erected by a Fallas case erector or former, then sent through the Visibot-LV. The case conveyor then tilts upward, allowing the robot to reach and pack the product vertically, in a shelf-ready format. The Visibot-LV can be configured to pack products in a layflat orientation, as well. The loaded cases then exit the case packer, where they are sealed by a Fallas case sealer, ready to be palletized and shipped.

M2000 Side load case packer Low speed Up to 35 cases per minute Changeover confirmation

WE ARE FILLING THE GAP 10 As a result of CPG’s interest in robotic case-packing solutions, OEMs are answering the call with new equipment that allows for flexibility and accuracy. Recently introduced from Fallas is the Visibot-LV (10), which incorporates an ABB IRB-390 Flexpacker delta robot in a Fallas Adabot frame. The robot has a 15-kg payload, which allows it to handle a wide range of products.

Specifically recommended by the company is its use for packing club-store cases. The Adabot’s stainless steel frame also makes it food-safe and easy to clean.

According to Fallas, the robot’s fifth axis allows it to rotate at the point of EOAT, no matter what the product orientation is, and AI-enabled vision systems allow the Visibot-LV to pick and place directly into the case. The vision system, combined with the multi-lane conveyor, eliminates the need for orientation systems upstream.

Fallas provides the machine as part of a full casepacking system, which begins with a Fallas-integrated conveyor system that picks up finished product at the

M3000 Case Packer M4000 Direct load case packer High speed Up to 85 cases per minute Automated changeover

Experience the NEW M3000 case packer Pack Expo International - October 2022 Join us in booth #5546 320.852.7705 | www.BrentonEngineering.com/M3000

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Ensuring the system’s longevity are integrated next-generation IIoT solutions. With remote connectivity enabled, Fallas technicians can perform quick programming updates, as well as alert the operator to predictive maintenance tasks to avoid unplanned downtime.

a video of the Fallas Visibot-LV at pwgo.to/7634 From Muller Technology is a solution that pairs a six-axis delta case-packing robot equipped with vacuum EOAT with molding or ther-

moform machines for lid and container packaging, as well as blowmolded packaging (11). Says Muller, the solution offers higher cavitation for the manufacture of blow-molded bottles and thermoformed packaging, handling up to 64 cavities every 6 sec for lids and 5-sec cycles for containers. The new case packer also offers portability and quick part changeover for different size configurations. It comes with external guarding and is equipped with all the latest safety features.

The case packer can be purchased separately or integrated into an automation line such as Muller’s MLine, a new integrated robotic and automation system for the production of injection-molded packaging. The basic model of the six-axis case packer can operate as a standalone, placed at the end of an injection-molding or thermoforming machine, or tied to an in-mold labeling (IML) automation system.

11

a video of Muller Technology’s case-packing robot at pwgo.to/7635

Ease-of-use, programming are table stakes for palletizing robots At the extreme end of the line, palletizing, is where robotic automation really began for packaging operations and where the bulk of robots still reside. In one PMMI study, “2021 End-of-Line Equipment: Purchasing Trends and Design Insights,” (see pwgo.to/7606), three out of four large to medium manufacturers interviewed said they are currently using robotics at the end of the line, with several predicting 100% robotic palletizers in the near future.

In another report from the association, “Automation Timeline: The Drive Toward 4.0 Connectivity in Packaging and Processing” (see pwgo.to/7607), 87% of leading CPGs interviewed shared that they are using robotics for palletizing.

Says PMMI, “Advances in vision and machine learning have made robots even more valuable at the end

RoboticsSpecRpt_0822.indd 40

7/20/22 10:55

41

12 of the line, enabling more efficient pallet stacking that does not require extensive reprogramming to change product type or configuration.”

One example of this ease of use is a new robotic palletizing cell from Iris Factory Automation that is said to meet the need for user-

friendly robotic cells that don’t require dedicated engineers to operate.

The RPZ-MAX (12), equipped with Kawasaki Robotics R series generalpurpose robots, is a small-footprint, point-of-use palletizer with one or two pallet stations. Built to handle heavier payloads of 30 to 80 kg and rates to 12 cycles/min (RPZ-50) while still maintaining a simple-to-use interface, RPZ-MAX cells are said to provide high output with the flexibility required for high-mix, low-volume production.

Says the company, the system’s easy-to-operate software makes it possible for practically anyone to operate RPZ-MAX cells. The intuitive kiosk replicates the look and feel of a modern smartphone or tablet and eliminates the need for complex programming by the user. An integrated palletizing wizard allows operators to build custom pallet patterns in a drag-and-drop format, which Iris says increases productivity and decreases reliance on external programming assistance.

“As clients move away from manual labor to something that’s more automated in terms of palletizing, we want to break down the barrier between the fear factor of putting robots on the factory floor,” says Robert Fell, Iris Factory Automation President. “We want them to take ownership of the equipment because once that happens, they’re going to fully embrace it and feel comfortable using it.” PW

Editor’s Note: Part II of Packaging World’s Annual Robot Report will run in the September issue and will cover advancements in cobots, AI, machine learning, vision systems, EOAT, and Autonomous Mobile Robots.

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42 PW AUG2022

SPECIAL REPORT

Survey Respondents Seek Their Share of Surging Salaries Respondents to the 2022 edition of IoPP’s annual Salary Survey are more confident about their prospects than they were at the outset of the pandemic, thus less risk averse and open to changing jobs. Employers have to pay to retain already scarce labor, pushing salaries up.

By Matt Reynolds, Chief Editor 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 two years of survey respondents telling us they were reacting to pandemic uncertainty by hunkering down, staying put, and avoiding the risk of seeking greener pastures, the most recent crop of responses shows that an increasing number of respondents have recently found, or are likely to seek, new employers. Given an already tight labor market and the more recent “Great Resignation” trend, this pushes soaring salaries even higher, meaning management will have to invest in order to retain talent. Furthermore, it appears those employers are willing to make that investment in employees in younger and earlier age and experience cohorts than ever. PW

Total 2022 Compensation by Job Function Job Function Consultants

Corporate Management

Engineering

Marketing/Sales

R&D

Structural Design

Packaging Technology/Design

Under $50,000 (calculated)

24.1%

0.0%

0.0%

3.8%

2.2%

9.1%

1.6%

$50,000 - $59,999

6.9%

0.0%

0.0%

8.8%

1.1%

9.1%

3.2%

$60,000 - $69,999

0.0%

0.0%

4.5%

6.3%

2.2%

0.0%

3.2%

$70,000 - $79,999

3.4%

0.0%

10.6%

8.8%

15.6%

9.1%

6.3%

$80,000 - $89,999

3.4%

2.4%

13.6%

5.0%

10.0%

0.0%

4.8%

$90,000 - $99,999

6.9%

0.0%

9.8%

6.3%

11.1%

0.0%

6.3%

$100,000 - $124,999

10.3%

14.6%

27.3%

11.3%

18.9%

63.6%

25.4%

$125,000 - $149,999

17.2%

9.8%

10.6%

13.8%

15.6%

0.0%

12.7%

$150,000 - $174,999

10.3%

12.2%

10.6%

13.8%

7.8%

9.1%

9.5%

$175,000 - $199,999

10.3%

14.6%

3.8%

11.3%

10.0%

0.0%

12.7%

$200,000 - $249,999

0.0%

29.3%

6.1%

7.5%

3.3%

0.0%

7.9%

$250,000 or more

6.9%

17.1%

3.0%

3.8%

2.2%

0.0%

6.3%

$113.79

$196.28

$124.19

$130.00

$121.58

$102.27

$141.19

29

41

132

80

90

11

63

Salary Range

Avg. (x $1,000) Base: 446*

*Note: The 2021 (reported in 2022) average salary $130,070 is based on 540 total responses among 19 job function categories. The graphic above only illustrates seven pertinent packaging job functions with a significant number of responses, explaining why the base numbers here add up to 446 instead of 540. The other 12 job duties, which include Human Resources, Quality Control, Warehouse Logistics, or Education among others, comprised the remaining 94 base responses.

Source: Institute of Packaging Professionals 2022 Salary Survey

2022_SalarySurvey.indd 42

7/22/22 9:51 AM

43

Total Compensation Surges in 2022 Percent Earning

2022

2021

2020

2019

Less than $50,000 (calculated)

4%

4%

5%

3%

$50,000 - $59,999

3%

5%

5%

5%

$60,000 - $69,999 $70,000 - $79,999 $80,000 - $89,999 $90,000 - $99,999 $100,000 - $124,999 $125,000 - $149,999 $150,000 - $174,999 $175,000 - $199,999 $200,000 or more (calculated)

4% 9% 8% 8% 21% 12% 11% 8%

7% 9% 8% 10% 20% 14% 10% 5%

7% 11% 10% 11% 19% 12% 9% 5%

8% 8% 10% 9% 22% 13% 8% 4%

12% $130.07 539

9% $122.00 828

7% $115.78 996

8% $120.72 1004

Avg. (x $1,000) Base

Source: Institute of Packaging Professionals 2022 Salary Survey

Domestically, the weighted average salary was up by 6.6% in 2022 over that reported in 2021. This continues a trend toward higher salaries that began last year, when 2021 salaries were 5.7% higher than 2020, and after a dip in 2020 that may have been related to wage freezes, or overall uncertainty at the beginning of the pandemic. The lower- to middle-income categories shrank a bit, while the highest income categories grew. Those reporting that they are earning $60,000-$69,999 or $90,000-$99,999, dropped by 3 and 2 percentage points respectively, compared to last year. Meanwhile, the two biggest increases in salary ranges were concentrated at the top of the pay scale, as people reporting salaries of $175,000-$199,999 or $200,000 or more, each grew by 3 percentage points.

Methodology and YearOver-Year Comparisons Information illustrated in this report is derived from a survey conducted by the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP), PMMI, and Packaging World. Responses were collected between January 26 and April 15, 2022. Of the 644 total responses, 72 who reported their primary business was outside of the U.S. were removed from compensation reporting to avoid currency exchange variables. Another 32 domestic respondents provided no demographic data, leaving a base of 540 highly qualified domestic packaging professionals.

Year-over-year comparisons are made many times throughout this report. Since the self-reported demographics—particularly on job function and industry—remain nearly identical in 2022 to what we saw in 2021, we can be reasonably confident in making comparisons.

However, only a about 41% of respondents in this 2022 installment of the survey also participated last year, and another 18% weren’t sure if they participated. As such, though the demographics are very similar, the respondent set is not identical. Commentary on year-overyear comparisons is intended to be in view of an evolving workforce, rather than a direct one-toone, apples-to-apples comparison. PW

Biggest Salary Gains Happening Earlier than Ever 23%

23%

17%

17%

23%

2022 16% 14% 11%

10%

2021 1%

≤2 to 3-5 years

3-5 to 6-10 years

6-10 to 11-15 years

11-15 15 year years to 16-20 years

16 to 20 years to >20 years

To compare salaries at differing levels of experience, we use experience ranges or ‘buckets,’ calculate the average reported salaries for each range, and then compare between the ranges. In most years, and again last year, we expect to see the largest jump in salary between the 3- to 5-year range, and the 6- to 10-year range. This translates to expecting the greatest salary gains after about 5 years of experience. That switched in 2021, as reported in 2022, with the biggest gains coming between ≤2-years and 3- to 5-years of experience.

This indicates that companies are willing to make greater investments in retaining good employees even earlier than they had in previous years. This stands to reason with labor being harder to come by, and difficult to retain.

2022_SalarySurvey.indd 43

7/21/22 10:27

44 PW AUG2022

Best Predictors of Salary What were the top predictors of a salary? After the obvious job function variable—corporate management makes more than operators on average—the three factors of experience, education, and age are the most accurate salary predictors.

Education

Experience

• Of the 31 respondents who reported not having an undergraduate degree, nearly half (45%) of them earn more than $100,000. That figure was 36% in 2021 and 25% in 2020. Lack of an undergraduate degree is becoming less of an impediment to success , but more education still correlates with higher salaries, more raises, and better security.

• In prior years, the largest experience-based pay jump was between the 3- to 5-year range and the 6- to 10-year range. This was 23% last year. This year, respondents say that biggest jump happens even earlier on the experience continuum. A jump of 23% is reported between the ≤2-year range ($95,700) and the 3- to 5-year range ($111,560). We see another strong, but less pronounced pay jump (17%) happening between the 3- to 5-year range ($111,560) and the 6to 10-year range ($128,240). This means that employers appear to be willing to promote and pay more and more quickly for talented, but less experienced employees than they have in previous years.

• Those without undergrad degrees earned an unweighted average of $100,970, the first time in PW ’s tenure with this study that they’ve averaged six figures. That’s up 6% from $95,380 in 2021, which was up 12% over 2020’s reported $84,500. Perhaps this is an indicator of the tightening labor market, and the need to look outside of the usual undergraduate degree talent pools. Still, the biggest salary gains are to be made once a degree is earned.

• The biggest salary jump based on education, a 22% salary increase, was reported between a high school/some undergraduate ($100,970), and an undergraduate degree ($122,630). Average salaries increase by 18% from undergraduate to graduate degree, and 21% from graduate to doctorate.

Note: only 11 respondents reported having a doctoral degree, so it’s a small sample size.

• Certified Packaging Professionals earned an average of $134,310 in 2021, as reported in 2022, 15% more than their non-CPP peers who reported an average of $116,590.

• People without undergraduate degrees are less likely to have gotten a raise in the past year (2021). Only 42% of those without undergraduate degrees reported getting a raise, compared to undergraduate degree holders (76% got a raise), graduate degree holders (66%), and doctoral degree holders (80%).

• People with undergraduate degrees feel more secure in their jobs. 56% feel very secure and 35% feel somewhat secure. Respectively, those numbers are 48% and 29% for those without undergraduate degrees.

• Those without undergraduate degrees are the least optimistic about earning more in 2022 than in 2021. Only 52% of them expect to do so, compared to undergraduate degree holders (66%), graduate degree holders (73%), and doctoral degree holders (60%).

Access PMMI’s Free Career Toolkit PMMI’s Career Toolkit provides resources to help companies address the critical shortage of skilled employees and promote awareness of careers in the packaging and processing industry. The toolkit includes: PMMI Internship Guide Careers in Packaging and Processing Employer Guide to Hire Veterans Workplace Retention Best Practices Career Fair Promotion 101, User Guide U.S. Department of Labor Support Education & Workforce Development Best Practices Report • The America Works Initiative

• Just as we saw last year, we see another major pay jump as respondents move from intermediate experience ranges to the >20 year mark. This is to be expected since there are some large salaries among careers that have spanned more than 20 years, and may include careers upwards of 40 years.

• Of the six experience cohorts, the three most experienced (10-15, 16-20, and >20 years) are less likely to expect to earn more this year than they did the previous year, and more likely to expect to earn less this year than the previous year. Perhaps this is evidence of plateauing salaries at later stages of careers, and limited upward mobility. After 20 years or more in an organization, people may have advanced as far as they can, and as such salary gains may not be as dramatic.

• Of the six experience cohorts, the three least experienced (≤2-, 3- to 5-, and 6- to 10-years) are all 99% confident in at least earning the same as last year.

Respectively, 79%, 83%, and 85% expect to earn more.

• Bonuses are a different story. People at the lower experience levels are less confident in bonuses, and less likely to have received one in the last year.

Of respondents with ≤2 years of experience, 47% got a bonus last year and expect to get them this year. Of the 3- to 5-year experience range, 57% got a bonus last year and expect to get one this year. All other experience cohorts were near or above 70%, both in receiving a bonus last year, and expecting one this year. It appears that confidence in bonus correlates with greater experience.

• Experience still pays. The lower experience cohorts do see big salary gains earlier than ever (after ≤2 years), and those jumps, at least as a percentage, are not as dramatic among the 10+ year experience cohorts. Still, those who traverse the plateau and make it to the >20-year cohort see on average a 16% salary jump after 20 years. A chart on page 43, titled “Biggest Salary Gains Coming Earlier than Ever” illustrates this dynamic, and how it’s changed in recent years.

• • • • • • •

Learn more by visiting pwgo.to/5614

2022_SalarySurvey.indd 44

Visit pmmi.org/ppwln to join the Packaging & Processing Women’s Leadership Network to receive information on upcoming events, access professional development resources and learn about ways to get involved.

7/21/22 10:33

45

Age

Gender

• The largest average salary increase, a 44% jump from $91,740 to $132,440, occurs between the 18-34 cohort and the 35-44 cohort. Average increases thereafter slow to 10% from 34-44 to 45-54, and 16% from 45-54 to 55-64, then we see a sharp drop off in salaries in the >65 years of age (-32%). This is perhaps due to emeritus status, reduced hours, semi-retirement, etc. in the >65 age group.

• The average salary reported by women ($113,970) now trails that of men ($127,900) by 22% in 2021 (reported in 2022), meaning the gender pay gap among respondents on this survey, is growing. This gap was 17% in 2020 (reported in 2021), and 16% in 2019 (reported in 2020).

• This survey once again illustrates that while the highest salaries are certainly among the older and more experienced ranges, the largest percentage gains are to be had early on; in fact earlier on than ever. Also, there may be some diminished salary returns toward the end of a career, perhaps due to limited upward mobility/plateauing, compounded due to planned responsibility reductions. Among unprompted, write-in concerns (chart on page 48), Ageism/ Staying Relevant again makes an appearance among 3% of respondents.

• Of the 18-34 cohort, 87% expect to earn more than last year, reflecting the most confidence in a raise of any age cohort. This reflects the greater upward mobility of younger ages. Only 67% of the 55-64 cohort and 38% of the >65 cohort, (about 2/3 and 1/3, respectively) expect to earn more next year.

• Of the 18-34 cohort, 90% are very or somewhat secure in their jobs, exhibiting higher job security confidence than any other age cohort.

• 30% of the youngest cohort, aged 18-34, make more than $100,000 per year. That’s up 4 percentage points from 26% in as reported last year. That cohort also earned 3% more in 2021 ($91,740 reported in 2022), than last year. The previous year, they had earned 8% more in 2020 ($88,980, reported in 2021) than they did in 2019 ($82,560, reported in 2020). Salaries among the youngest cohort continue to grow at or more quickly than the overall averages.

• 33% of the oldest 65+ cohort earn less than $100,000, perhaps indicating reduction in hours or responsibility. They also earn 32% less ($116,250) than the next youngest cohort, 55- to 64-year-olds, who report making the most of any age group at $170,580.

• Men (72%) and women (70%) reported receiving a salary increase last year at nearly the same clip. The reported size of the raise was similar, too, though women were more likely to report the lowest raise range: 79% of women, and 74% of men reported a ≤5% raise. Meanwhile, only 13% of women reported a 6-10% raise, compared to 20% of men. While these are similar, men reported slightly more raises in general at the outset. Then, the percentage increase of those raises was slightly higher among men. These factors compound to help widen the gap.

• Both men and women reported having received a bonus last year at the same rate, and their expectations for future bonus are about the same. Women are slightly more secure in their jobs, also.

• While the at-first-glance parity on all of these metrics is encouraging, women aren’t reporting quite as many or as high of raises as their male counterparts, which only grows the wage gap. Not to mention, even if there were parity on these metrics, that wouldn’t translate to equality considering that women begin with the disadvantage of a lower average salary as a starting point.

• Women skew younger than men, with 43% being in the 18-34 cohort. Only 23% of men are in that cohort.

• Women are less experienced than men, with more than half (56%) having less than 10 years of experience. Less than a third (29%) of men report having less than 10 years of experience. The experience gap among respondents is even wider than it was last year, when 49% of women claimed 10 years or less experience, compared to 33% of men.

• More women (61%) than men (52%) report having an undergraduate degree only. However, among those with undergraduate degrees, 31% of men and 24% of women report a graduate degree, so a big-picture takeaway is that women and men report roughly equal levels of education.

• 19% of women respondents are engineers, compared to 28% of men. Current programs attracting women to STEM education aim to bridge that gap.

• 5% of women respondents are in corporate management positions, compared to 9% of men. Programs aimed at training women for leadership positions hopefully should help toward more equal representation in this job function.

• Women (21%) are more concentrated than men (11%) is sales and marketing roles.

Gender-based wage gap grows.

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2022_SalarySurvey.indd 45

The age and experience distribution of women in packaging is a big factor in the now 22% gender-based salary gap. Women less frequently report their job function as engineering or corporate management, a reality that many programs are working to change via youth programs exposing women and girls to STEM subjects and leadership skills. The good news, as it was last year, is that the survey reflects a younger and less experienced cohort of women—with collectively comparable educations—that should eventually emerge into the upper age and experience echelons they previously didn’t inhabit. But if women remain concentrated at their current experience, age, and job duty distribution, that doesn’t bode well for gender pay equality. It is not clear whether the process of women matriculating into higher pay categories is just aggravatingly slow, or if women’s experience, age, and job duty distribution is stickier, more fixed, than we had hoped and anticipated. Compounding the problem, men report slightly more, and slightly higher salary increase raises.

7/21/22 10:37

46 PW AUG2022

Not All Packaging Jobs Fare Equally The overall average salary reported in this survey is up 7% in 2021 (reported in 2022) compared to last year. Last year’s salary was up 6% over the previous year, reflecting a marginal acceleration of salary increase. But not all job functions or demographic groups fared the same.

Who won in 2021?

• The Packaging Technology/Design job function, which is one of our largest reporting job functions, made a 14% jump from $124,170 in 2020 (reported in 20201) to $141,190 in 2021 (reported in 2022).

• Money isn’t everything; job security is nice to have, too. Of the 18-34 age cohort, 90% are very or somewhat secure in their jobs, exhibiting higher job security confidence than any other age cohort.

• Respondents who are IoPP Members earn more than non-members, by roughly 15%.

• Salaries in the Mountain Region once again grew, this year by 27% to $151,830. They had grown by 19% the previous year, so the region containing states AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, UT, and WY is reporting quickly growing salaries. The West South Central region (AR, LA, OK, TX) grew salaries by 18%, and the Mid Atlantic (NJ, NY, PA) grew salaries by 15%, also higher than other regions.

In-line with the averages • Respondents in the Food industry experienced a 7% average salary increase, exactly in line with the overall average.

• The engineering job function is important since it tends to be the single largest job duty represented in this survey. Engineers reported slightly higher salaries this year over last, at $124,190 this year compared to $117,800 last year, but the 5% gain doesn’t quite keep pace with 7% overall. The previous year, engineer salaries increased from $108,700 last year to $117,800, an 8% bump, so this represents a stable, evenly growing job duty category that’s in line with averages.

• The middle age range of 35-44 experienced a 9% increase, reporting a jump from $121,570 to $132,440.

Most negatively affected

• The Beverage industry reported a 28% increase in salaries to an average of $145,260.

• Salaries in the Northeast, and East South-Central, Pacific, and South Atlantic regions are standing pat by barely changing at all (±2% salary change in all these regions), but they are not keeping pace with the overall 7% growth. The East South-Central region of AL, KY, MS, and TN also reported the lowest salaries of all regions at an average of $109,620.

• Pharmaceutical and Medical industry respondents are most bullish about the receiving a raise coming year, with 84% and 82%, respectively, expecting to earn more next year than this year. They experienced salary increases of 11% and 7%, and the Pharma industry as a whole is the highest-earning industry among respondents ($165,200).

• Among women, average salaries reported only grew 4%, compared to a 9% average salary increase for men. This is noteworthy, more on page 45.

• Respondents who make it past ≤2 year experience cohort, and grow into the 3-5 year range, have the greatest upward mobility, and received the largest percentage salary jump (23%) between consecutive experience cohorts. In previous years, this had happened after 5 years, indicating a shortening time period of “paying one’s dues” before a big reward. This experience group is in line with other experience cohorts when it comes to expecting a raise in the coming year, though fewer did in the previous year, which stands to reason since its made up of respondents with ≤2 of experience.

• The oldest pre-retirement age group, aged 55-64, experienced a 16% jump over the previous year, to $170,580 from last year’s $147,111.

• Mid-sized companies, from 500-4,999 in size, saw a 15% increase in salaries to $138,800, the highest percentage increase of the various company size ranges. The largest companies (50,000 employees or more) still command the highest salary figures ($151,840), but those numbers could be skewed by a few high-earning C-Suite positions at major global CPGs.

2022_SalarySurvey.indd 46

• Corporate management salaries as reflected in this survey went up by 3% compared to the previous year, from $190,970 to $196,280. While any growth beats the alternative, the 3% increase doesn’t keep pace with the 7% overall salary increase.

• The smallest companies, with 1-9 employees, again saw a salary drop, down 4% from $104,210 last year to $99,700 in 2021 (reported in 2022).

The previous year, they experienced a 7% drop in salary, so this is an ongoing trend.

Mixed results • Last year, the oldest cohort, 65+, experienced the largest year-over-year salary bump of 31%, from $107,250 to $140,350. This was trend reversed, or perhaps reverted to the mean, by returning to $116,250, a 20% drop from the previous year. Also, only 48% of those 65+ expect to earn more next year than this year, much lower than other age cohorts, perhaps indicating upcoming retirement or reduced hours. With smaller sample sizes than other age ranges, and the potential for limited work schedules/reduced hours, it’s difficult to get a good read on the 65+ category.

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48 PW AUG2022

Employment and Job Security Findings As a semblance of normalcy returned in 2021, respondents settled into a new routine in a new normal. With a tight labor market and a 5-year high in job security, more respondents are indicating that they will soon look for alternate employment, and even more are saying that they have already switched jobs in the last year. Now that the level of uncertainty around the pandemic is reducing, the impulse to stick to what you know diminishes and greater risk-taking behavior returns. And with this tight of a job market, and employees in high demand, it only makes sense for them to look.

Once Again Seeking Greener Pastures Will You Seek a New Job in 2022?

55% 49%

53%

49% Definitely no or not likely Defi D e

32%

30%

17% Neutral

2019

2020

Category

Nothing Job satisfaction Stability (company)

Possibly yes to looking now w 18%

Survey participants were asked to comment on what kept them up at night related to job security. A total of 454 respondents* answered this question, with 15% worrying about the economy. It was interesting to see Job Satisfaction ranked so highly among unsolicited responses here, up to 9% of the total, from only three total responses last year. That employees have the luxury to even factor in job satisfaction demonstrates how much of the power has shifted to the employee in a tight labor market era.

Economy

34%

33%

Economy the Only Big Threat to Job Security

16%

16%

2021

2022

After a brief dip in likelihood to seek other employment in 2021, we see respondents are again becoming more amenable to seeking out a new employer, though not quite to pre-pandemic levels yet.

Undefined Job loss Personal Performance COVID Uncertainty Management

72%

76%

76%

81%

84%

Somewhat at to ve very secure

Neutral 14% 14% 14 4

2018

122% 12 12% %

2019

11% 113% 1% 1% Somewhat at too vvery ery worried

2020

12% 8% 8%

11% 55% %

2021

2022 20022

Job security ought to be high in a tight labor market. Respondents seem to know it, with 84% feeling somewhat or very secure, and only 5% being at all worried about job security.

2022_SalarySurvey.indd 48

23% 15% 9% 8% 6% 6% 5% 4% 4% 4%

Personal Compensation

3% 3%

Ageism/Staying Relevant

3%

Opportunities for growth

2%

Regulations/Policy

1%

Staffing/Staff shortage

1%

Health/Mental health

1%

Sustainability

1%

Stability (industry)

Job Security at a 5-Year High

Percentage

* Note: Qualitative answers reflected here aren’t restricted to domestic responses, as were the rest of the quantitative responses illustrated in this article.

Source: Institute of Packaging Professionals 2022 Salary Survey

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49

Job-Seeking Behavior Ticks Up

Average Age Increasing

What happened to you this year?

2021

2020

Range

2022

2021

2020

2019

No job change

78%

85%

18-24

6%

4%

5%

4%

Voluntarily changed employers

19%

11%

25-34

25%

23%

23%

26%

Involuntary termination

4%

4%

35-44

24%

21%

22%

21%

Base

816

536

45-54

19%

23%

23%

21%

55-64

22%

23%

23%

25%

65+

5%

5%

5%

3%

Average:

43.4

44.8

44.6

44.2

Source: Institute of Packaging Professionals 2022 Salary Survey

During anytime of uncertainty, regardless of industry, we tend to see a high degree of loyalty as people hunker down and stay put to weather the storm. That’s indeed what we saw in 2020 (as reported in 2021), as we settled into the pandemic era. This year, when asked about what happened to respondents in 2021 (reported in 2022), we still see a high degree of loyalty, but also an uptick in job-seeking behavoir. We’ll see if this continues.

Source: Institute of Packaging Professionals 2022 Salary Survey

The average age of respondents fell to 43.4 from 44.8 last year and 44.6 the year before. Younger ages report significant pay increases earlier in their careers than they reported in previous surveys.

Job Duty Distribution Among Respondents

Industry Distribution Among Respondents

Packaging Job Function

Industry

2022

2021

2022

2021

Consultant

5%

5%

Contract Packaging

2%

3%

Automotive

1%

3%

Corporate Management

8%

9%

Beverage

5%

6%

Distribution

2%

1%

Chemicals/Cleaning Supplies

7%

5%

Education

1%

1%

Consulting Services

1%

2%

Engineering

25%

27%

Contract Packaging

2%

3%

Graphic Design

1%

0%

Cosmetics/Personal Care Products

5%

6%

Human Resources

1%

1%

E-commerce

2%

1%

Marketing/Sales

15%

12%

Electronics

3%

3%

Package Production

1%

3%

Packaging Technology/Design

12%

11%

Hardware

2%

2%

Purchasing

1%

2%

Food

22%

25%

Quality Control

2%

1%

Medical

13%

9%

Regulatory

1%

1%

Nutraceutical

1%

1%

Research & Development

17%

14%

Pharmaceutical

9%

8%

Supply Chain Management

1%

3%

PKG Machinery

3%

4%

Sustainability & Compliance

1%

1%

Structural Design

2%

3%

PKG Materials

7%

9%

Warehouse Logistics

0%

0%

Services

3%

2%

Other

3%

4%

Other

13%

12%

Base

537*

816

Base:

534*

810

Source: Institute of Packaging Professionals 2022 Salary Survey

Source: Institute of Packaging Professionals 2022 Salary Survey

There was very little change in distribution between job functions and industries between last year’s responses and this year’s, reflecting year-over-year stability in respondent mix. Some job duties that are better reflected this year include: Marketing/Sales and R&D. Engineering is a job duty that is slightly less represented in the answer set. Chemicals/Cleaning Supplies and Medical industries were better reflected this year than last, while automotive and materials industries had less representation among responses than last year. * Note: Demographic questions were not required to be answered, so the base number for each is slightly less than the 540 total respondents

2022_SalarySurvey.indd 49

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Findings on Raises and Bonuses

Post-Pandemic Salary Increases Bounce Back Yes, I earned a ed more than I did the previous year 75%

72%

71% 63%

37% 29%

28%

25%

No, my pay st stayed the same or decreased 2018

2019

2020

Lots of companies understandably tapped the breaks on traditional salary increases in 2020, and we saw evidence in survey responses of salary freezes. But respondents indicate that traditional salary increases were back in 2021, just not quite to pre-pandemic levels.

2021

Note: the survey question presented three possible answers: Yes (71%); No, stayed the same (26%); and No, decreased (3%).

For simplicity’s sake, we combine the two ‘No’ answers in this and the next graphic.

How Traditional Salary Increases Stacked Up Did You Get a Traditional Salary Increase in 2021?

If So, How Much of an Increase?

More than 20% Increase

4% 2% 1%

16%-20% Increase

No 29%

6%-10% Increase

Yes 71%

Not indicated

17%

Of the 71% of all respondents who reported getting traditional salary increases in 2021, most raises (93%) were of less than 10%, with the vast majority of those being of less than 5%.

1%-5% Increase

76%

IoPP Members & CPPs Report Higher Salaries than Peers IoPP Member vs. Non-Member Salaries $128,149 28,14

$116,657 16 65

2021

IoPP Member

IoPP Non-Member

$134,310 34,31

$116,590 16 59

2022

CPP vs. Non-CPP Salaries Certified Packaging Professional

$140,200

$128,687

$120,874

2021

Not a Certified Packaging Professional

$126,970

2022

Once again, IoPP members reported higher salaries than non-members, and Certified Packaging Professionals (CPPs) earned higher salaries than their non-certified colleagues. And over the past year, IoPP members and CPPs have widened the gap.

2022_SalarySurvey.indd 50

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Findings on Raises and Bonuses

Expectations for Earning More Next Year Grow 77% 71%

67%

71%

I expect to earn more than last year

I expect to earn same as last year

27%

24%

21%

19%

I expect to earn less than last year 6%

8%

2019

2020

5%

5%

20 2021 021 2

2022 2

Confidence in Future Raises Keeps Growing Do You Expect to Earn More Next Year?

If So, How Much More Do You Expect?

More than 20% 6%-10%

No, less

16%-20%

5% No, the same 19%

Yes, more 77%

11%-15%

3% 4%

6%

17% 0%-5%

67%

Bonus Expectations Stabilize 63%

59%

63%

62%

Yes, I received a bonus last year, and also anticipate one this year

No, I didn’t receive a bonus last year, and don’t anticipate one this year 22% 7% 78% %

2019

2022_SalarySurvey.indd 52

Respondent confidence is returning, and fear of making less next year is subsiding, in what we all hope to be the wake of the pandemic in a tight labor market.

21% 19% Yes, I received a bonus last year, but don’t anticipate one this year 11% 11% 1% % 99% % 7% No, I didn’t receive a bonus last year, but do anticipate one this year

2020

2021

Forward-looking responses on future salary expectations (77% expect more)—not only in whether they expect an increase, but also in how much of a salary increase—display greater confidence when compared to backward-looking responses on existing salary increases that occurred in the previous year (71% got more).

The green blue line (received a bonus last year, expect one this year) dip, combined with the minor blue line (received a bonus last year, but don’t expect one this year) rise in 2020, reflect the uncertainty around the pandemic—responses for that survey were collected just as we entered the pandemic era. This seems to have stabilized, with single percentage-point movement if any between last year’s and this year’s responses (reported in 2021 and 2022, respectively).

18% 11% 1% 1% 8%

2022

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AUTOMATION

Delphon Puts Robotsas-a-Service to Work Delphon hires the Rapid Machine Operator from Rapid Robotics to improve production in its TouchMark and Gel-Pak operations.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Fast ROI

Entry point into robotics

Help with labor shortage

By David Greenfield, Director of Content, Automation World Through its TouchMark business, Delphon (a Hayward, Calif.-based manufacturer) provides high quality, precision pad printing services to the medical device and electronics industries. Pad printing is a printing process that can transfer a 2D image onto a 3D object. The company’s cleanroom manufacturing facility enables it to handle prototypes ranging from small clinical trials and engineering lots to large production volumes.

Like most manufacturers today, Delphon has been finding it difficult to find machine operators for its production operations.

“Recruiting operators has been next to impossible. It only got harder once the pandemic hit,” says James Garner, director of TouchMark’s manufacturing operations.

In response, Delphon has been looking to automate various aspects of its production operations for some time now. The problems Delphon encountered in its mission to automate were multiple: the robotics systems the company investigated all cost too much, took too long to install, or delivered too little value.

“TouchMark had considered robotic automation in the past, but the

Rapid Robotics RMO assists with pad printing operations.

Automation_Delphon.indd 54

Examples of the medical device printing done by TouchMark.

ROI never made sense,” Garner says. “Other cobots (collaborative robots) worked at the same rate as a human operator, needed constant supervision, and came with a big sticker price. Choosing one of these cobots would mean that TouchMark’s labor costs and throughput would have stayed the same, while its capex would have increased.”

Despite its lack of success finding suitable robotic automation technologies for its operations, Delphon continued its search and found the Rapid Machine Operator (RMO) from Rapid Robotics to be different. A key factor for Delphon is that RMOs with built-in computer vision and pre-trained artificial intelligence to operate the kinds of machines TouchMark used could be hired for $2,100 per month.

Garner noted that the RMOs took only a few Read more days at most to set up and needed only light superabout the vision from an operator who could work another robots-as-amachine at the same time. service trend.

TouchMark put the RMO to work on a task it had been running the same way for 30 years—applying pressure-sensitive adhesive to semiconductor packaging. With the RMO successfully automating this procedure, TouchMark brought in another RMO to work a pad printer alongside the first RMO.

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With two RMOs doing the work of five Gel-Pak operators, the company is saving $20,400 per month, and the operators have been redeployed to other activities.

Based on the success of the RMO at TouchMark, Delphon began using the RMO at its Gel-Pak facility, which manufactures containers and films to protect electronic materials and components. Gel-Pak uses the RMO to clean molded parts with an ionized air knife prior to assembly. With two RMOs doing the work of five Gel-Pak operators, the company is saving $20,400 per month, and the operators have been redeployed to other activities.

Speaking to the value that robots-as-a-service has brought to Delphon’s operations across two of its divisions, Philip Haseltine, vice president of Delphon’s manufacturing operations, says, “If you don’t have a massive engineering staff and you want to start saving immediately, this is the business model for you.”

Garner adds, “We don’t have a ton of engineering resources. We don’t have any robotics engineers or software engineers. For us, the RMO was an easy, quick, and incredibly rewarding entry into the world of robotics.” PW

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“Production became less expensive and more consistent,” says Garner. “TouchMark’s RMOs worked at the same rate, hour by hour, day by day. That steady pace proved invaluable during the pandemic when other manufacturers were struggling to staff their machines.”

Prior to the RMO deployments, an operator was assigned to each pad printing machine. Now, one employee can supervise both RMOs while operating a third machine at the same time. The other two operators were redeployed elsewhere in TouchMark’s operations. With the two RMOs in place, TouchMark was saving $15,640 per month.

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Produce Packaging Ripe for Innovation From European plastic bans to consumers pushing for what they perceive to be more sustainable packaging, produce companies are finding ways to maintain or improve shelf life while contributing to a circular economy.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

French plastics ban

Shelf life considerations

Home compost option

By Natalie Craig, Contributor Perceptions around plastic packaging in the produce aisle aren’t monolithic. They vary from person to person, from stakeholder to stakeholder, and frankly, they depend on whom you ask. Meanwhile, at the time of this writing, PW is unaware of any master algorithm that accounts for all the supply chain and manufacturing variables (including weight, carbon footprint, food waste/shelf life/spoilage properties, right on down to the cost of mining ore in the case of aluminum or steel, and anything else you can think of), that m might crown a single winner of the most sustainable material sweepstakes. It’s completely applicationdependent, may look different depending on a CPG’s goals or values, and there are a lot of competing claims out there.

All of that hemming and hawing out of the way, it’s undeniable that there has been a recent push for a reduction of plastic in produce packaging, one that has been driven by laws, bans, and consumer demand.

The trend is propelling fruit and vegetable producers to investigate alternatives to their existing plastic packaging formats. In turn, this is driving a conversation asking whether plastic alternatives are actually more sustainable for fruits and vegetable packaging.

Some countries are implementing laws and bans to eliminate single-use plastic used for certain items, like produce. On Jan. 1, France banned single-use plastic packaging for 30 types of fruits and vegetables as a part of a 2020 French law that aims to promote a circular economy and minimize waste.

This ban comes at a time when most major global consumer products manufacturers have committed to reducing their use of plastic.

Since France is one of the first large global markets requiring producers to switch from plastic to what they claim is more sustainable packaging, global manufacturers will be watching closely to see how consumers respond, the cost of switching, and the impact on the market for paperbased packaging.

While many products—like bell peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, potatoes, and more—are subject to the ban under French law, some other product types have a longer deadline, until 2023 or even 2024, to remove the use of plastic. Similar laws are being observed within certain countries and regions. In Spain, the sale of produce in plastic packag-

ProduceInnovations.indd 56

Divine Flavor opted for StePacs PET stand-up pouch to preserve quality with a minimal footprint. ing, with the total weight being less than 1.5 kg, will be banned by 2023.

A plastic packaging tax (PPT) has also been implemented in Europe and is under review for implementation by several countries including the U.K., Italy, and the Netherlands.

“We expect a domino effect throughout the globe,” says Darren Lynch, Vice President of Consulting at GEP, a supply chain consulting and strategy firm. “There are similar-themed legislations in various stages of review in the U.K., Spain, China, and India. U.S. companies doing business in the French market should have data, research, and scenario planning regarding potential outcomes, and what the implications are for their respective packaging decisions both short- and longterm. The market leaders have already jumped on this and see it as an opportunity. Environmental packaging is a unique opportunity for brands, and companies should take advantage and move quickly now.”

7/20/22 15:11

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At press time, California enacted legislation around single-use plastic that will certainly impact the produce market.

While this development isn’t reflected in this article, you can read more about it on page 20.

Is plastic necessary to minimize food waste?

So how are produce companies adapting to meet the needs of their customers, while reducing food waste and abiding by new and impendWhile there are many alternative materials and strategies to plastic, ing laws in certain regions? Here are a few approaches to produce packincluding the use of sugar cane fibers, wood pulp fibers, and other bioaging in 2022. degradable materials, there are significant shortages on commodities like pulp and paper, which is contributing to price increases and inflation.

“In Europe, finished paper prices in most markets have increased by more than 10% over the last 12 months,” Lynch says. “While this French salad brand Group LSDH had to replace its transparent polybegan due to pent-up demand and a greater shift to e-commerce, it propylene (PP) packaging for its Les Crudettes packaged salad range in is being sustained by the push towards response to the plastic ban. The company more sustainable packaging. Additionally, used packaging and paper supplier Monthere are searches underway to meet this di’s recyclable functional barrier paper for new law with less expensive alternatives, a selection of its pre-washed, ready-to-eat which in and of itself may not be the most salads. The new packaging is 95% paper economically friendly in the long run.” with a functional barrier layer, meanAs new legislation forces produce ing the salad remains fresh for up to 10 growers to think differently about their days—the same amount of time as with packaging and look for alternatives, it’s the previous plastic packaging. It’s verified becoming apparent that these more susas recyclable in the waste paper stream in tainable materials may have environFrance by the Recycling Authority (Cerec). mental impacts of their own. Regardless, The bags are flexographically printed, Parkside, a U.K.-based compostable and with depictions of the salad contents on sustainable packaging supplier, expects the front, along with a QR code, which to see more countries across the EU and informs consumers about the contents, potentially the U.S. start to adopt similar quality, recycling, and refund policy if legislation over the next 5 to 10 years. they purchase a bag where the contents “There is no silver bullet for creating are not as fresh as expected. the perfect packaging,” Staci Bye, Business “This is just the first step in the sustainUnit Manager, Parkside. “All materials have ability journey of our ready-to-eat salad their drawback whether carbon or water In response to the French ban on plastic for produce range,” says Géraldine Collet, Marketing footprint, use of fossil fuels, recyclability, products, Group LSDH replaced its transparent and Innovation Director, Les Crudettes. use of recycled materials, and so on. The polypropylene (PP) packaging for its Les Crudettes “The results are exciting, the packaging key is that all brands optimize what they packaged salad range with recyclable functional is created on our existing machines, it do by following the principles of the waste barrier paper. looks great on-shelf, is resistant to humidhierarchy in their design thinking.” ity, and supports our sustainability goals.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United These salad bags could revolutionize the ready-to-eat salad market, Nations, one-third of food is lost or wasted globally every year, conhugely reducing the amount of plastic needed, all while keeping the tributing to 8% of greenhouse gases emitted. And fresh produce has food fresh.” the highest wastage rates of any food as nearly half of all fruits and vegetables are wasted globally every year, according to the UN Environment Program.

For those who aren’t encountering a plastic ban, another path to“Fresh produce waste contributes to approximately 8% of global carward sustainability for produce companies is minimizing food waste, bon dioxide emissions, yet the plastic packaging used to protect and which reduces CO2 emissions. Divine Flavor, LLC, a San Diego, Calif.reduce this number represents a very small percentage of the total plasbased, grower-owned distributor of fruits and vegetables, is prioritizing tic packaging used,” says Gary Ward, CTO of StePac, a manufacturer packaging that extends the shelf life of its vegetables. of breathable modified atmosphere bags and liners for fresh produce.

“We invest a huge amount of resources in growing high-quality proWhile plastic packaging can keep produce fresh for longer periods duce so preserving this quality all the way to the final consumer and of time, an 18-month study that was conducted by Wrap, a British susreducing food waste is key,” says Michael Dupuis, the Quality Assurance tainability charity, discovered that produce wrapped in plastic packagand Public Relations Manager of Divine Flavor, LLC. “We need to be ing forced consumers to purchase more fruit and vegetables than they smart and use solutions that preserve quality with a minimal footprint, needed, which resulted in more food waste. but I am not sure that banning plastic packaging altogether is a good The study also found that if apples, bananas, broccoli, cucumber, idea owing to the important role it often has in preserving quality. Proand potatoes were sold loose rather than packaged in plastic, it could viding food that has minimum impact on the environment is important save more than 10,300 tons of plastic and 100,000 tons of food from and more and more consumers are seeking eco-friendly products, but being wasted every year. they also want good quality.”

Recyclable functional barrier paper

PET stand-up pouches cut fresh food waste

ProduceInnovations.indd 57

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To accomplish this, Divine Flavor adopted stand-up pouches for direct field-to-home refrigerator packaging of its Persian cucumbers for the U.S. market. The PET-based pouch from StePac’s Xgo line can extend shelf life and preserve freshness and valuable nutrients because of unique properties built into the packaging that lower oxygen (O2) and increase carbon dioxide (CO2), according to the company. This creates optimal conditions for slowing respiration and aging in plant tissues, inhibiting the growth of mold and other microorganisms. The pouch technology also limits dehydration and product weight loss during storage, shipment, and home use and has built-in condensation control, which ensures high visibility of the packed products even under challenging supply chain conditions.

Divine Flavor has been working with StePac since 2010 when it began using the company’s Xtend line of bulk packaging for transporting its squash, cucumbers, and bell peppers from growing regions in Mexico to the U.S. “The Xgo standing pouch is a remarkably high performing product with the ability to retain freshness and meaningfully extend product shelf life,” says DuPuis. “The feedback from our customers has been excellent. They’re really happy with the quality and attractive appearance and the fact that it has that sustainability edge consumers are seeking.”

The pouch Divine Flavor is currently using is not recyclable, but StePac does offer a fully recyclable, single polymer, laminated polyethylene structure version of it.

“Indeed, there is overuse of plastic packaging in the fresh produce industry, but much of it plays a crucial role in protecting fruits and vegetables and reducing waste in the fresh produce supply chain,” says StePac’s Ward. “Before considering banning the use of plastic packaging for fresh fruits and vegetables, it is imperative to ascertain that there are alternative solutions in place to preserve quality and reduce fresh produce waste and that those solutions are more environmentally friendly.

We need to make sure that we are not solving one problem but creating an even bigger one.”

Compostable vegetable and fruit packaging Other companies, like Riverford Organic Farmers, an organic produce supplier that delivers 80,000 organic vegetable boxes across England every week, began reducing the use of plastic to become more sustainable. The company says it currently uses 82% less plastic in its food packaging when compared to mainstream supermarkets.

Once Riverford began to remove and replace all plastic packaging, it realized it could become a more complex task for its perishable products, which required a solution that extended shelf life. The company turned to U.K.-based Parkside to develop a home compostable package that was transparent, lightweight, GMO-free, printable, and suitable to run at high speed through a vertical form fill seal (vf/f/s) machine.

Parkside’s Park2Nature sustainable packaging range proved to achieve the best compromise between efficiency and product quality, according to Riverford’s Senior Buyer Matthew Mountfield.

The range is a specially developed duplex laminate of NatureFlex cellulose and biopolymer. All material components, including inks and adhesives, are designed to break down via microbial action within 26 weeks at ambient temperatures in a home compost environment. The package and its component are also non-toxic to the compost and are rigorously tested for eco-toxicity and a host of other criteria against the

ProduceInnovations.indd 58

All material components of Riverford’s compostable packaging are designed to break down via microbial action within 26 weeks at ambient temperatures in a home compost environment.

EN 13432 standard for bioplastics.

“Riverford is a classic example of where composting was a great fit for their business model,” Parkside’s Bye says. “The company has a great closed-loop organic recycling system and over 80% of its customers have access to a compost heap. The ones that don’t [have access to compost] have the option to send their packaging back to Riverford with the next delivery to be composted by the business. This is a truly responsible business model for many other companies to emulate.”

The compostable package design for Riverford was created in partnership with Futamura, a renewable and compostable cellulose film provider. Futamura films provide oxygen, aroma, and moisture barriers that extend product shelf life while maintaining optimum flavor.

The package was recognized during the 2021 Packaging Gateway Excellence Awards for its greener package with product protection through the food supply chain, enhanced shelf-life capabilities, and adherence to the strict hygiene standards of modern food manufacturing.

Paperboard fruit carriers Many sustainability moves are occurring because innovations in alternative materials are making them more practical.

Packaging World’s Pat Reynolds first reported on Canada’s Niagara Orchard & Vineyard Corp’s first season-long trial of paperboard carriers in place of thermoformed PET containers for fresh fruit in 2021.

The company tapped WestRock’s EverGrow Fiber-Based Produce Packaging Collection, specifically its auto-erect carriers made of 24-pt coated natural kraft. Niagara uses these carriers for plums, pears, nectarines, peaches, and grapes.

EverGrow Fiber-Based Produce Packaging Collection auto-erect carriers are used by Niagara and Titan Farms for plums, pears, nectarines, peaches, and grapes.

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“We tried a similar paper package about 10 years ago, but it just didn’t hold up,” says Niagara Sales Manager Spenser Greenfield. “But now with so many retailers and consumers trying to move away from single-use plastic packaging, we wanted to sit down with WestRock to figure out how to make it work, and WestRock had a lot of good ideas.”

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in the U.S. the rate of recycling for paper packaging is 80% compared to only 14% for plastic packaging since certain types of plastic packaging are either hard to recycle or not recycled at a high rate by consumers.

Since the EverGrow produce packaging range is made using fiber sourced from responsibly managed forests and is completely recyclable, consumers can simply empty and flatten the container before tossing it in their recycling bin, says Mike Mueller, Director, Product Management and Marketing WestRock Converted Packaging.

Other fruit growers have also transitioned from plastic packaging to WestRock’s fiber-based range, including Titan Farms, one of the largest peach producers in the U.S. When nationwide sales of Titan’s fresh peaches dropped, they found that plastic packaging totes holding the peaches were deterring millennial shoppers. The company replaced the totes with WestRock’s uncoated KraftPak paperboard, which was designed to evoke the natural appearance of a wooden crate. The new carrier with a built-in handle is fully recyclable and offers ventilation and product protection.

In addition to the totes chosen by Niagara Orchard and Titan Farms, the EverGrow range includes tills, seal designs, punnets, and trays, making fiber-based, paper packaging a prime option for produce.

Canada’s Niagara Orchard & Vineyard Corp., located in Virgil, Ontario, recently completed a season-long trial of paperboard carriers in place of thermoformed PET containers for fresh fruit.

Post-consumer recycled resin Since plastic packaging is still used and permitted in certain countries and plays an important role in keeping produce fresh, companies are looking for sustainable and responsible ways to continue to use the material. For example, Emerald Packaging, a California-based flexible packaging manufacturer that works with companies like Dole, Fresh Express, Organic Girl, Taylor Farms, and Grimmway Farms, is making a commitment to help drive the adoption of post-consumer recycled resin (PCR) in food packaging.

As a signatory to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, the company says 50% of its volume by weight will contain PCR by 2025. The process will reduce the amount of virgin resin required to make its flexible packaging while maintaining the same food preservation qualities that extend shelf life and helps reduce food waste.

“Emerald Packaging wants to play its part in mobilizing a shift towards a circular economy for plastics. We take tremendous pride to have been welcomed as a signatory, which required making specific commitments to reduce plastic use by 2025,” says Kevin Kelly, CEO, Emerald Packaging.

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Sustainability may not be one size fits all for produce Evidently, offering a more sustainable approach to produce packaging looks different for every company, country, and region. Keeping an eye on how these laws and bans affect demand and the environment may be an indicator for the trajectory of plastic packaging worldwide.

GEP’s Lynch says that in the meantime, companies need to accelerate their research and efforts to determine what will be most appealing to their customers as the likely momentum for change heats up. PW

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By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor

Coffee Brands Perk Up Packaging In the uber-competitive coffee category, one way brands are increasingly differentiating themselves is through unique and unexpected packaging designs that tell their brand story. Whether it’s a redesign for an existing product or branding for a new one, these companies are moving beyond just a focus on the functional aspects of their packaging to creating memorable graphics that tell a story.

Oakland Coffee Works, founded by American rock band Green Day, is one such brand. The company was founded in 2015 “with the goal of creating a badass, premium coffee company that does things the right way,” says the company, adding, “Oakland Coffee not only pushes the boundary on sustainable packaging, but gives you the energy to seize the day.” Among its achievements, the brand was the first in the U.S. to exclusively sell certified, municipally compostable pods and bags of coffee.

In June, the company announced it had embarked upon an evolution of its packaging design. Coming off its “epic” Hella Mega Tour in 2021, Oakland Coffee founders Green Day wanted to kickstart the company’s pod boxes with new art celebrating creativity. New designs depict iconic Oakland landmarks, snapshots of

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the recent tour, and the Guatemalan landscapes from which the coffee beans are sourced.

For the redesign, the team worked with independent artists, including concert photographers, graphic designers, and studio artists, with each packaging design showcasing a different designer or artist collaboration. The first three designs in the new series of 10-ct coffee pod cartons include West Grand Decaf, Soundcheck Blend, and Cerro De Oro, a single-origin coffee from the highlands of Guatemala.

According Oakland Coffee, the launch is only the beginning of its newest roasts and packaging designs.

Shares Oakland Coffee co-founder Mike Dirnt, “Green Day and Oakland Coffee are so excited to continue our collaboration with inspiring artists and expand our line of sustainably packaged, damn good, organic coffee!”

For Charlotte, N.C.-based Dilworth Coffee, rebranding involved a complete overhaul of its coffee bag graphics from a color-blocked generic design to one that is whimsical and unforgettable.

Dilworth was launched in 1989 as a supplier of small-batch, ethically sourced coffee to independent shops and distributors. As business grew, the company added turnkey supplies, equipment, and training for independent coffee shops. “But greater distribution and retail presence didn’t translate to commensurate Dilworth Coffee brand awareness among consumers,” the company shares.

To create new branding that would help it develop a closer relationship with its ever-changing customer base, Dilworth enlisted the help of advertising and branding agency The Republik. Explains agency CEO Robert Shaw West, “With a 30-year anniversary as a reason for a change to take place, our job was to show the ‘newer is better’ coffee culture that Dilworth still had a lot of worthwhile coffee

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wisdom. So we channeled our inner ‘Dude’ to share the vibe.”

The result is a variety of Dilworth Coffee bags featuring vintage, black-and-white photography of a circus scene, skiing, a haystack, a cigarette boat, and zebra racing. Says Dilworth CEO Jeff Vojta, “This is the first time ever our brand voice felt like it had been captured in a way that resonated with our customers while making us proud.”

In contrast, a complete 180 from Dilworth’s vintage vibe is a package design for a bagged coffee product from new San Francisco food-tech startup Compound Foods. Compound offers a sustainable, lab-grown beanless coffee that is said to have “the same taste, look, and smell of the coffee we know and love with a smaller footprint to ensure a bigger, brighter future for both coffee and the planet.”

palette, the collection of these elements creates immediate impact and invites consumers to explore an exciting and sensorial new world of coffee,” shares Pearlfisher.

Says Compound Foods’ founder, Maricel Saenz, “We are incredibly proud of our mission, and Pearlfisher’s colorful and striking visual identity now allows us to stand proud in the world and on shelves as we future-proof coffee without the negative environmental impact.” PW

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For its visual identity, Compound Foods looked to creative design and branding agency Pearlfisher.

Notes the agency, its challenge was to develop a strong and cohesive brand for Compound Foods that would invite coffee lovers around the world into their story, their pioneering product, and their mission.

“We wanted to counter the notion that an innovative product like this has to have a scientific or futuristic feeling,” says Annie Seely, Associate Strategy Director at Pearlfisher New York. “Coffee is a fundamental part of many people’s day. It has strong emotional and personal ties, and so we really leaned into the question of what would we do without it? This led us to the idea that, when it comes to coffee, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole—our love of it is not just about the beverage itself; it’s about the ritual, the culture, the myriad feelings it evokes in us, and the multi-sensorial experience of drinking it, smelling it, holding it.”

The resulting package graphics are bright, fun, and exciting, showcasing the out-of-the-ordinary nature of beanless coffee and telling the story of the process behind Compound. From plant to fermentor to the brand’s water-saving efforts, each element is illustrated and contained within an abstract, illustrated letter C. “Set against a vibrant color

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TECHNOLOGY

Counting & Dispensing Machine Cremer’s HQS 1250 12-lane counting and dispensing machine can apportion gummies in a range of shapes and sizes to a downstream bottler or single-belt setup.

With an average output of 150 bottles/min per on a 60-ct gummy product, the machine is recommended for a variety of gummies in typical sanded or sugared formulations.

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Electric Stretch Wrapper

Palletizer Qimarox offers the Highrunner HR9 flexible palletizer designed to automate the unloading of containers for logistics operations where different products need to be handled in short batches.

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Signode’s Multi FleX1 features an electrically operated stretch frame and film handling system and is capable of wrapping more than 200 loads/hr. The smaller footprint maximizes production floor space and enables it to be placed closer to a facility’s perimeter.

Signode pwgo.to/7563

In-line Coding for Pharmaceutical Blister Packs Hapa’s VDP 827 is a standardized in-line Drop on Demand (DOD) solution for variable data printing on pharmaceutical blister packs.

Metal Detection System NJM, a ProMach product brand, introduces the integrated CMD metal detection system for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical bottles featuring optional reject and reject verification systems.

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Hapa pwgo.to/7453

Labeling Machine Fan and Pump Drive Yaskawa America’s FP605 industrial fan and pump drive is designed to reduce energy usage in applications such as centrifugal compressors, fans, pumps, and process control in industries that include material handling, food and beverage, chemical, rubber and plastics, textile, and printing.

Yaskawa America, Inc., Drives and Motion Division pwgo.to/7612

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Precision Automation offers the Arca S-Series line of labeling machines, featuring modern touchscreens (with built-in video training), allowing for optimum control and tracking of multiple labelers at once. A remote mounted unwind assembly option gives operators more flexibility for space utilization.

Precision Automation Co., Inc. pwgo.to/7613

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AD INDEX Search Packworld.com for additional information on any of the advertisers listed or visit their website directly ADVERTISER WEBSITE

Coffee Bagging System WeighPack launches a coffee bagging system designed for premade box gusset bags. It can also be used for packaging powder or granule products where a box gusset bag is required.

WeighPack Systems, Inc. pwgo.to/7617

PAGE

B&R Industrial Automation www.br-automation.com

23

BELL-MARK www.bell-mark.com

38

Beckhoff Automation www.beckhoff.com

55

BluePrint Automation www.blueprintautomation.com

33

Brenton www.brentonengineering.com

39

Busch Vacuum Solutions www.buschusa.com

19

Delkor Systems, Inc. www.delkorsystems.com

35

EDL Packaging Engineers, Inc. www.edlpackaging.com

40

FANUC America Corporation www.fanucamerica.com

37

Heat and Control, Inc. www.heatandcontrol.com

12

Honeywell Intelligrated www.sps.honeywell.com

47

ID Technology www.idtechnology.com

5

Intralox www.intralox.com

1

Kaufman Engineered Systems, Inc. www.kes-usa.com

32

King Plastic Corporation www.kingplastic.com

14

Klöckner Pentaplast, Food Packaging www.kpfilms.com

IFC

Label-Aire, Inc. www.label-aire.com

10, 11

Mamata Enterprises, Inc. www.mamatausa.com

Continuous Motion Capping Machine

Modular Conveyor Express www.modularconveyor.com

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Morrison Container Handling Solutions www.morrison-chs.com

41

Shemesh’s Attilus continuous motion capping machine is designed to sort and orientate caps from screw tops to trigger and pump caps. It features a robotic sorter based on a delta robot and an advanced vision system.

Nercon Conveyor Systems www.nerconconveyors.com

Shemesh Automation pwgo.to/7614

PMMI ProSource is a free online directory with 900 categories of validated suppliers of packaging machinery, materials and service solutions.

With a powerful search engine and the ability to filter solutions by machine feature and package type, ProSource brings vetted suppliers to you. Visit www.prosource.org today.

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Novembal www.novembal.com

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Nuspark Inc www.nuspark.com

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Ranpak Corp. www.ranpak.com Serpa Packaging Solutions www.serpapackaging.com

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Shurtape Technologies www.shurtape.com

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Sidel Inc. www.sidel.com

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Standard-Knapp, Inc. www.standard-knapp.com

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Triangle Package Machinery Company www.trianglepackage.com Universal Labeling Systems, Inc. www.universal1.com

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Van der Graaf www.vandergraaf.com

OBC

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64 PW AUG2022

THE INSIDER

By Ben Miyares, Packaging Sherpa

Consumer Preference, not EPR, Driving U.S. Packaging According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a circular economy “reduces material use, redesigns materials to be less resource intensive, and recaptures ‘waste’ as a resource to manufacture new materials and products.”

The American packaging market isn’t there yet. The EU and Canada have moved closer than the U.S. to the goal of packaging economy (development-production-distribution-functionality-disposal/ reuse) circularity. They’ve done this largely by complying with Germany’s Grüne Punkt (Green Dot) government directive. The Green Dot dictates are at the heart of the EU’s continually expanding Packaging and Packaging Waste (PPWD) directive now being transformed into a tighter, more restrictive regulation.

The American packaging market has never been a fan of big government’s intrusion into their packaging operations. Packagers are guided more by the vox populi (voice of the people) than the vox imperii (voice of the empire).

Responding to consumers’ pro-sustainability packaging sentiments, a growing number of international CPGs have set packaging reduction/simplification goals and opted to lighten their packaging carbon footprints. Candy marketers are voluntarily switching from plastic to paper wraps. Aluminum is the material of choice for carbonated soft drinks (CSDs). Paper bottles (with and without flexible barrier liners) are now a thing. Returnable/refillable containers are making a market comeback, difficult to isolate and recycle material layers are being stripped out of rigid and flexible packaging structures, and sustainability/circularity is the enlivened central theme of a highly visible corrugated board marketing campaign.

To be sure, packaging managers are aware that these actions are a strong talisman in keeping the wolf of restrictive packaging regulations away from the door.

Still, state legislators are quilting a patchwork of extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations to force broadly defined “producers” to pay to manage post-consumer packaging waste, rather than the municipal authorities who have been handling the waste.

Maine—An Act to Support and Improve Municipal Recycling Programs and Save Taxpayer Money (LD 1541, find it at pwgo. to/7594). This Law charges producers for managing and recycling packaging waste; requires producers of paper and packaging waste to fully finance stewardship organizations to manage and help develop methods to collect and recycle products on the producers’ behalf.

It covers most packaging materials; exempts paint and beverage containers, small businesses and low-volume (between 1 and less than 15 tons annually) packaging producers. Rationale: Incentivize producers to “create packaging that can be easily recycled and

contains more recycled content.”

Oregon—Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act (SB 582, find it at pwgo.to/7495). This establishes a producer responsibility program for packaging, printing, and writing paper, and food service ware. Producers are required to join producer responsibility organizations (PROs), which administer producer responsibility programs on behalf of members. Producers are required to cover about 25% of the costs related to recycling in the state.

Colorado—Producer Responsibility Program for Statewide Recycling (HB 22-1355, find it at pwgo.to/7496). Covered are packaging materials except those intended for long-term storage or protection of durable products for at least five years; paper products that, through their use, could become unsafe or unsanitary to handle; financial statements, medical documents, or other documents required by law; bound books; beverage containers subject to a returnable container deposit; packaging materials used exclusively in industrial or manufacturing processes; packaging materials used to contain drugs, medical devices, or dietary supplements and equipment and materials used to manufacture such products; packaging materials used to contain animal biologics; packaging materials used to contain a products regulated under the “federal insecticide, fungicide, and rodenticide act;” packaging used to contain architectural paint; packaging used to hold products covered by the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970; packaging for repaired and reconditioned portable electronic devices; paper used for printed news publications; packaging for certain infant formulas and nutritional supplements, and any other materials that the Solids and Hazardous Waste Commission determines not be covered.

California—Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (SB54, find it at pwgo.to/7609). The law requires all packaging in California be recyclable or compostable by 2032, plastic production to be reduced by 25%, and 65% of all packaging to be recycled after use.

Interest in EPR legislation of packaging—particularly plastics packaging—has increased in the last year or so, according to the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL).

At least eight other states are considering legislation “to hold producers accountable for the end-of-life management of plastic packaging.” The states on NCEL’s list include Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington.

Manufacturers and legislators have similar interests but different motives in reducing packaging waste. Satisfying customers and avoiding the patchwork of bureaucracies and red tape of fifty or more state EPR platforms will always be the preferred and most effective choice of managers in their drive for packaging circularity. PW

Ben Miyares, Packaging Sherpa, is a packaging market and technology analyst and is president of The Packaging Management Institute, Inc. He can be reached at bmiyares@packmgmt.org.

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H O L A R S HIP

Each of the following market-leading companies participating in Packaging World’s 2022 Leaders in Packaging Program are named sponsors of PW ’s Future Leaders in Packaging scholarship. This year’s recipient is Alexandria Technical & Community College, Mechatronics program. We appreciate the support of all participants on behalf of packaging education.

More Information: packworld.com/leaders ©2022 PMMI Media Group

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Future leaders IN PACKAGING SC

H O L A R S HIP

Each of the following market-leading companies participating in Packaging World’s 2022 Leaders in Packaging Program are named sponsors of PW ’s Future Leaders in Packaging scholarship. This year’s recipient is Alexandria Technical & Community College, Mechatronics program. We appreciate the support of all participants on behalf of packaging education.

More Information: packworld.com/leaders ©2022 PMMI Media Group

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