Crowd Cow launches a farm to table meat tasting kit, partnering with NBC's Jeff Rossen.

What exactly does it mean? That’s what I asked myself recently when I was at the Automate Show in Chicago. Let’s explore this buzzword.

Consumers push the trends in this market, which include flavor diversity, health and wellness appeal, convenience/resealability and clean label. There are opportunities for manufacturers, such as sustainable processes and increased productivity levels, to keep up with demand.

For most of the past decade, consumers around the world have increasingly shifted their spending from brick-and-mortar to online stores, appreciating the convenience and immediacy of digital shopping. But that trend could be reversing as members of Generation Z begin flexing their economic muscle.

It is a part of our daily lives — we find what we need online, click the button and the package with whatever our heart desires arrives on the doorstep. But, the euphoria of receiving the package is somewhat diminished by knowing the negative impact that box after box and package after package can have on the environment.

While the growth in online purchasing drives changes from product design, to package changes, picking, fulfilling and shipping, product protection stands alone as the main issue, according to the E-Commerce: Think Inside the Box report by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

While many brands are striving to create lighter, more environmentally friendly and innovative packaging solutions, there are still too many products on the market today that are heavily over-packaged or over-engineered. 

“Skills gap is worsening in U.S. manufacturing industry” paints a rather dire view on the state of manufacturing for the glass half-empty people, whereas the headline: “Addressing the skills gap in manufacturing” indicates that a more proactive problem-solving approach is occurring for the glass half-full crowd.

Social media is crowded. With six billion users combined on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, brands are not only competing with each other, but with their target audience’s family and friends. How do brands develop content that stands out among the tremendous amount of traffic on social media? How can your brand stand out?

The Institute of Packaging Professionals has chosen 27 winners across 17 categories in this year's award program, including a student awards.