Dive Brief:
- An explosion of SKUs, shifting consumer demands, growing sales channels and increased regulation are driving businesses to demand greater traceability capabilities from their packaging solutions, according to a recent report by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.
- The association's 2016 State of the Industry US Packaging Machinery Report asserts domestic shipments of packaging machinery will grow to $8.5 billion by 2020, led by the labeling, decorating and coding sector's 3.5% compound annual growth rate.
- Similarly, the food & beverage and pharmaceutical industries' use of machinery will grow the fastest, at 2.4% and 2.8% compound annual growth rates respectively, reflecting their increased traceability needs.
Dive Insight:
The food and beverage and pharmaceutical industries are facing a wave of safety regulations forcing the companies to adopt new labeling and serialization standards over the next few years. The packaging industry, consequently, will benefit from the sectors' sudden need for modernization with regards to labeling, coding and unique product identification solutions.
"We know it's a barcode and we've been putting barcodes in packaging for a long time, it seems like it's not new really. Well, yes, but ... how we are linking that information with the whole supply chain is different," Jorge Izquierdo, PMMI's vice president of market development said at a press briefing during PACK EXPO International 2016.
"That is implying a series of diferent investments in the CPG companies," he added.
Izquierdo also found that despite the uncertainty in this year's elections and market conditions, the packaging industry will continue to demonstrate strong growth. After surveying 420-450 CPG executives, PMMI found nearly all respondents were planning to increase or maintain their budgets next year, with "very little cancellations or holding of investments."
"So don't worry, we're good, our industry is safe and we're ready to push for another few years," he noted.
