Industrial Physics says 56% of U.S. and UK packaging professionals are adapting to consumer demands

Rodger Segelstrom, global product lines director, Industrial Physics asserts in a report that multiple variables are shaping the manufacturing activity of packaging professionals as “material availability, inflation, supply chain delays and changing consumer expectations are shaping how companies develop their strategies.” However, consumer feedback remains a powerful force in shaping packaging strategies today . “In our research, more than half (56%) of packaging professionals in the U.K. and U.S. agreed that their approach has been reshaped to align with consumer responses,” Segelstrom states.

Most respondents also agreed that their companies have conducted consumer research of their own to guide their innovations. However, our expert contributors stressed that it is necessary to consider the broader context when making innovation decisions to avoid mistakes, sharing specific examples of this in the report.

The research revealed a strong focus on forward planning, with more than 1 in 5 respondents strongly agreeing that their company has invested in preparing for the future.

Industrial Physics asks Why is this happening? What exactly does future readiness mean? And is it the same for all packaging companies?

Steve Davis, global director of product management, believes that “The level of global instability we are currently experiencing could be a factor. In the report, he shared that packaging companies are making sure their operations are configured to meet current demand and forecast effectively to minimize wasted resources.”

While there is no standardized approach and each company’s unique objectives will determine more nuanced decisions, we are seeing a large increase in automation. By exploring automated approaches to production and testing, companies benefit from reduced errors, better data collection, continuous improvement and more accurate forecasting.

Throughout a series of research, they have found that only a quarter of respondents feel their company is actively innovating, with 41% planning to do so. However, our experts believe that the exploration of these three key areas throughout our series proves otherwise. In this final report, they mention that this result may stem from differing perceptions of what constitutes “innovation.”

Companies around the world are continually innovating by adopting new approaches to minimize waste, fill skills gaps, improve testing accuracy, and improve profitability. However, they may not perceive the changes as ‘packaging innovation’ because there is no visible change to the end user of the packaging produced, the company says.