This issue of Packaging Strategies highlights how companies can move ahead during these unprecedented times; package printing innovations, and a case study on one printer creating lunchboxes for frontliners; how best to choose FFS equipment; advanced analytics with Big Data; ready-to-heat vegan dishes answering consumers call and more.
The discriminating eye and mechanical knowledge of a seasoned press operator have been indispensable for achieving maximum press performance. However, over the last 20 years or so, the printing industry has seen declining numbers of experienced press operators as they age and retire with too few replacements for them.
I chatted with Ellis to find out about a new project the team has been working on for Canadians Care, providing lunchboxes for lunches to COVID-19 healthcare workers in Canada.
Innovation is the antidote to overcoming seemingly impossible challenges. Smart leaders will study how some companies have adapted during the current COVID-19 crisis to learn how to implement useful marketing tools in order to quickly pivot their business to overcome any future disruptions.
With the rise in plant-based diets and healthy foods, companies are starting to focus on providing foods that make consumers physically feel good. And Upton’s Naturals dishes, alone or added as a meal, are just what consumers have been craving in variety.
Since 1939 the packaging described the product as a cure for “periodic pain.” Although the name was familiar with young women, the brand lacked relevance with Gen Z and was losing market share due to the increase of new female-focused start-ups.
Due diligence goes a long way toward ensuring a proper match between your new form fill seal equipment and your production and sales goals. This was my own firsthand experience for many years while I was on the purchasing side, specifying packaging equipment for a global food manufacturer.
The debate between cloud and edge computing strategies remains a point of contention for many controls engineers in the packaging industry. Using advanced analytics algorithms, companies can sift through this mass of information, or Big Data, to identify areas for improvement.
In order to keep lost sales at a minimum, meat and poultry processors recently have turned to online sales as well as selling directly to consumers. Will this work for the long haul, depending on how long the supply chain will be chinked?