Packaging is a vector of cultural change

As several substantial packaging converters have said both privately and to the trade press, there’s a bad moon rising, and there’s trouble up ahead. Apart from the training and engagement of personnel, team building has become key. From merely rethinking its entire business and production paradigm and the immediate looking after of employees and the startup of production, the industry should gear up to play its part in the revival of the economy.

The packaging industry is in an ideal place to change the culture. Packaging itself is a vector of cultural change. It extends and democratizes product life and the safety of citizens – it makes life better and more enjoyable – right from the scientific listing of ingredients, unboxing a product, or to get new recipes on the internet by shooting the QR code on the package. Added to this is the curiosity of how to reuse the pack or to safely get rid of it – so that it is recycled and doesn’t end up in a landfill. The packaging is the ultimate luxury that is always becoming better, cheaper, and faster.

Fortunately, investments are in place, and although there may be some dislocation, there is nothing better than to start up a new packaging line when there is a disruption in the supply chain. It’s time to ramp up a new line that embodies innovation and high technology when the workforce is at a premium. Starting up a line in the coming two quarters may stress finances, but this is where the creativity of proper management comes in. The innovation and automation that you have invested in will bring overall efficiencies and dividends at a time when employees are no longer mere employees. In essence, they are volunteers with whom you will have to share ownership.

Please forget about the first moment of truth – it may be true, but it’s boring

When you cut the salaries of your management staff to pay for and better look after your operational workforce, that’s only stage one. You are active. In stage two, you will have to proactively build a future paradigm where the families, housing, and education of your workforce are part of your fixed costs – since most state governments have abdicated or limited their role in these basics. You are looking at a future, not unlike the past, when the Tata’s built townships for their steelworkers.

Converters have to move from the active to the pro-active stage in giving back to the society to ensure full production. We are no longer engaged with employees but with volunteers who take ownership and work with us. Converters have been given tax breaks in new industrial zones, but where are the housing zones that should have been built along with these? Of course, organized converters that have good governance deserve tax breaks, but the question is, how many converters are organized and have good governance? These are the converters that are in a position to give real ownership to their volunteer employees by being listed on the stock exchange and vesting shares.

DAII&SP conference 18 and 19 March 2021 – New Delhi

It’s time for the packaging industry to look at its role in the recreation of the society and the supply chain. The industry touches every area of consumption, including the informed and safe sectors of pharma and food and personal hygiene. The Design for Active, Intelligent, Innovation and Sustainable Packaging Conference in New Delhi, next March, is positioned well on the calendar. Organized by the leading knowledge and research organization of the industry, it will take place between Interpack and drupa 2021 in Dusseldorf.

The DAII&SP Conference is near us geographically and in the middle of the booming region of consumption, manufacturing of goods, and packaging. It will attract 500 participants with content concerning both flexible packaging and monocartons and other packaging formats. The themes of active and intelligent packaging and sustainability work well together. Nothing can be changed or innovated without the new lenses of design.

The consumer product companies and their packaging converters have the opportunity of recreating the entire society and the chance to deliver protein, sustenance, health, and well-being in the hands of every citizen and resident – hygienically and safely at a reasonable cost. Does this require technology and automation or communication?

Can these be combined so that every package delivers information and knowledge as well as a quality product? Mark your calendar and watch this space for the great conference event of 2021 right here in the heart of South Asia. Participants, speakers, sponsors, and thinkers have a look at www.ippstar.org for more information.