Strengthening industry's future through education
By George Thibeault, Jr.President, Constantia Hueck Foils LLC
Chairperson, FPA Board of Directors
It is a pleasure to report that the Flexible Packaging Association’s 2008 Fall Executive Conference was a great success! This annual event brings together senior executives of flexible packaging companies, and provides great networking opportunities and content-rich educational sessions. Strong participation and support from FPA members is the foundation on which this, and other FPA meetings and conferences, are successful.
FPA gives special thanks to several FPA members including Flint Group, Flint Hills Resources LLC, Liofol-A Div. of Henkel Corp. and Pliant Corp., for their generous enhancement of the 2008 Fall Executive Conference through their sponsorship of the 2008 FEC Networking Events.
Held this past October at The Drake Hotel in Chicago, the 2008 FPA Fall Executive Conference included a variety of speakers who discussed flexible packaging end-of-life opportunities and challenges; energy conservation and consumption in the manufacturing of flexible packaging; cap and trade legislation and its potential impact on the flexible packaging industry; the future costs and availability of flexible packaging materials; and change forces that are shaping the future packaging industry landscape, customers and their packaging needs.
With a strong focus on sustainability within the packaging industry, Fall Executive Conference attendees heard about the future direction of the FPA Sustainability Programs. FPA also introduced its Sustainability Solutions: Examples of the Environmental Advantages of Using Flexible Packaging brochure. This brochure completes the second phase of FPA’s multi-phased flexible packaging sustainability program initiatives. Included in the brochure are detailed examples of successful and sustainable flexible packaging case studies. As the companion piece to FPA’s Sustainability & Flexible Packaging brochure, the Sustainability Solutions brochure is an informative comparative piece, which contrasts the sustainable advantages of flexible packaging against that of other packaging alternatives.
In 2009, FPA will implement the third phase of its sustainability program, which will include an examination of the value proposition of flexible packaging and development of an education program to explain that value. The Flexible Packaging Association and its Board of Directors has made a strong commitment to the flexible packaging industry to remain intensely involved in the sustainability discussion. FPA will continue to be an active participant of Wal-Mart’s Sustainable Packaging Network, and keep the industry abreast of new sustainability developments through the FPA website, www.flexpack.org, and the weekly FPA Industry News Bulletin.
A recap of the 2008 FPA Fall Executive Conference is available within this issue of the FPA Update and all the 2008 FPA Fall Executive Conference presentations are available on the FPA website,www.flexpack.org.
For more information about FPA activities, meetings, conferences and sustainability initiatives, contact the association at 410-694-0800 or fpa@flexpack.org.
Association Activities Update: Events
2008 FPA Fall Executive ConferenceThe Flexible Packaging Association held its Fall Executive Conference, Tues., Oct. 28, at The Drake Hotel in Chicago. This annual event is designed to gather FPA members, non-members and senior executives within the flexible packaging industry to examine topics and issues important to flexible packaging converters and suppliers to the industry.
The 2008 FPA Fall Executive Conference included presentations from research and development company, Battelle Memorial Institute. The speakers delivered results of flexible packaging research, commissioned by FPA, which examined energy consumption and savings in manufacturing of flexible packaging, as well as end-of-life hurdles and opportunities for flexible packaging focusing on waste-to-energy and recycling.
Additionally, Patrick Traylor of FPA legal counsel Hogan and Hartson LLC discussed the “cap and trade” legislation and the potential impact it could have on the flexible packaging industry; Ben Miyares of the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) shared the drivers and change forces that are shaping the packaging industry landscape, the demands of customers and how companies are responding to their needs and demands; Nick Vafiadis of Chemical Market Associates Inc. (CMAI) returned by popular demand to the 2008 Fall Executive Conference to provide an outlook on the future cost and availability of resin and other key flexible packaging materials; and attendees heard about the future direction of FPA’s sustainability programs.
FPA thanks all FPA members for their support of the 2008 FPA Fall Executive Conference and all its programs. Special thanks are given to FPA members Flint Group, Flint Hills Resources LLC, Liofol-A Div. of Henkel Corp. and Pliant Corp. for their generous sponsorship of the 2008 FEC Networking Events.
All presentations from the 2008 FPA Fall Executive Conference are available in Members Only section of the FPA website,www.flexpack.org, and can be downloaded free of charge. For more information on the 2008 FPA Fall Executive Conference and other FPA events, meetings and conferences, contact the association at 410-694-0800.
2009 FPA Safety Conference and Environmental Summit
FPA members and non-members are encouraged to join environmental, health and safety managers and professionals from the flexible packaging industry at the 2009 FPA Safety Conference and Environmental Summit, Jan. 21-23 at The TradeWinds Island Grand Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The one-day Safety Conference (Jan. 21) and the two-day Environmental Summit (Jan. 22-23) will include presentations from consultants, and industry and government agency representatives, including Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Special thanks are given to the sponsors of the 2009 Safety Conference and Environmental Summit networking events: FlintGroup, Glenroy Inc., MEGTEC Systems and Sun Chemical Corp.
For more information, contact FPA at 410-694-0800 or visit the association at www.flexpack.org.
2009 FPA Annual Meeting
The Flexible Packaging Association will return to The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida, for its 59th FPA Annual Meeting on Feb. 25-27, 2009. FPA members and guests will gather together for great networking opportunities, fun and content-rich presentations.
The meeting will include the announcement of the winning packages of the 2009 Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards and the 2009 Student Flexible Packaging Design Challenge. All the package entries from both competitions will be on display during the 2009 Annual Meeting.
Registration materials will be available in the upcoming months. For more information, contact FPA at 410-694-0800 or visit FPA at www.flexpack.org
Publications
2008-2009 U.S. Flexible Packaging Converters DirectoryThe FPA U.S. Flexible Packaging Converters Directory, 2008-2009, provides an overview of flexible packaging converters, both FPA members and non-members, in the U.S. flexible packaging industry. The Directory includes the names, contact information and brief company descriptions for 422 manufacturers of converted flexible packaging. The Directory also contains information on suppliers of flexible packaging materials and/or equipment to the flexible packaging industry, and a full listing of FPA publications.
For more information on the FPA U.S. Flexible Packaging Converters Directory, please contact FPA at 410-694-0800 or visit the FPA website at www.flexpack.org.
2007 FPA Industry Compensation Report
FPA’s 2007 Industry Compensation Report is a key benchmarking tool used by flexible packaging converters to examine their wage and benefit practices for both hourly and salaried employees within the flexible packaging industry against that of other flexible packaging companies.
The Report includes the survey results of the 2007 Industry Compensation Report Survey, which received responses from 28 small, mid and large FPA converter member companies. These 28 flexible packaging companies employ nearly 16,000 people, representing approximately 20% of the flexible packaging industry’s 79,000 employees.
The 2007 Industry Compensation Report provides data regarding hourly and salaried employees wages and benefits, average salary levels broken down by company/plant size (based on annual sales revenue), region and primary manufacturing operation, and flexible packaging hourly and salaried wage and benefit data to serve as a source for benchmarking and in contract negotiation situations. The report is only available to FPA converter members participating in the 2007 Industry Compensation Report Survey.
For more information, contact FPA at 410-694-0800.
2007 FPA Operating Ratio Report
FPA’s 2007 Operating Ratio Report provides a view of the flexible packaging industry with additional perspective on total employees, factory versus non-factory employees, composite survey data regarding profitability, materials and key operating statistics, and information on key expense components as a percentage of net sales from 2003-2007.
The Report includes the results of the 2007 Operating Ratio Report Survey. Forty-six percent of FPA converter members responded to the survey, representing more than $4.8 billion in flexible packaging sales. The Report is only available to FPA converter members who participated in the corresponding survey.
For more information, contact FPA at 410-694-0800.
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