Women comprise nearly half of the working population (47.5 percent), yet they are underrepresented in the manufacturing industry — making up only about one-third of the manufacturing workforce in the United States.

Despite being surrounded in controversy, the U.S. cannabis industry is experiencing rapid growth. Experts estimate legal cannabis will grow from $7.3 billion to $24.5 billion between 2016 and 2020. Currently, 65 percent of cannabis sales stem from medical marijuana.

Environmentally conscious consumers are looking for packaging that uses fewer resources and less energy than other forms of packaging. Flexible packaging minimizes transport costs between the converter, packager/filler, retailer and end user.

Packaging innovations are helping to drive growth in the beverage market, according to the “Beverage Packaging and Innovation Trends” report published by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.