Packaging Machinery Purchasers Confirm Companies’ Predictions

July 2008

multipage

“Packagers are bringing in new machinery for two leading reasons: to accommodate new products and to increase capacity for existing products,” said Yuska, noting a variety of reasons packaging machinery buyers are maintaining or increasing their 2008 budgets:

• Upgrades to increase speed, productivity and/or efficiency
• Reduce maintenance needs and increase uptime
• Increase output
• Accommodate new product lines
• Higher-than-expected demand for products
• Heavy emphasis on product safety, security, tracking and labeling.

On the other side of the spectrum, weaker-than-expected demand and economic uncertainty have led to project cutbacks, delays and cancellations. Increasing costs for raw materials and energy spurred budget cuts for 15.9 percent of the companies adjusting their plans downward. For 10.4 percent of the packagers increasing their budgets, however, those same increased costs—which bump up the price of the machinery—are the reason.

Sustaining Sustainability
It’s clear from PMMI’s Purchasing Plans Study that sustainability is playing a specific role in many firms’ decision to order packaging machinery this year (48.3 percent of the sample), most frequently to improve efficiency and address issues such as energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (30.5 percent), as well as general production costs and material waste.

About a quarter of the respondents (24.2 percent) said “sustainability” is a factor because of customer demands and requirements. But that’s just the beginning, Yuska said.

“The most influential customers look at all facets of packaging sustainability when making buying decisions, so sustainability-related decisions in packaging are at least indirectly influenced by major customers,” he noted.

Sustainability-related issues that affect packaging machinery purchase decisions include: accommodating new packaging styles and sizes (19 percent); accommodating new packaging materials (16.8 percent); reducing the amount of packaging materials used (11.6 percent); to increase product shelf-life and quality (6.3 percent) and to meet management expectations (2.1 percent).

“North America is the largest packaging machinery market in the world, and with trends in marketing and sustainability, we’re confident it will remain significant,” Yuska said.

He added, “PMMI’s industry research shows that packaging machinery customers are looking for solutions to challenges, such as accommodating new products and increasing efficiency. Our members are working with their customers to find solutions, and because PMMI now includes the entire packaging supply chain, they’re in a better position to achieve that goal.”