Nov 2018
Packaging takes stock of the sector and where it’s headed at MarcabyBolognaFiere
Packaging takes stock of the sector and where it’s headed at MarcabyBolognaFiere
Not just an outer dressing, packaging is the essence of a product. Packaging is an increasingly strategic part of the way consumer goods are conceived, developed and marketed. Little wonder it will be a key topic, examined from many viewpoints, at MarcabyBolognaFiere, the International Private Label conference and Exhibition, organized by BolognaFiere in partnership with ADM - the umbrella organization grouping major retailers - to be held on 16 – 17 January next.
Packaging will be the subject of a series of events organized by Carlo Branzaglia, Scientific Coordinator of Milan’s IED Postgraduate School together with MarcabyBolognaFiere. They kick off with the conference “Packaging and Innovation: methods, brands and markets. Says Branzaglia: “This conference directly involves copackers whose innovative thinking is increasingly making them key packaging players, especially when it comes to branding”. Alongside the Packaging Award for the most innovative packaging solutions, IED has also partnered MarcabyBolognaFiere in the development of a specialist course – scheduled to start in the upcoming academic year - for packaging development professionals on how to incorporate and manage continual sector innovation.
Summing up on-going trends in the world of packaging, Branzaglia picks out the things to watch: “Today the copacker is a material link in the packaging chain and the player responsible for managing innovation. A dialogue partner of large-scale retailers, the copacker is now expected to interact directly with the end-user market. That means full control of technological expertise but also top design and branding capabilities”.
MarcabyBolognaFiere is the venue where all supply-chain players come together to dialogue with each other and get a clear overview of the workings of their specific sector.
Another hot packaging topic is sustainability: “At last sustainability is really happening, not a target set for the future. I’m thinking of the reductions we’ve seen in overall bulk and secondary packing as well as the arrival of smart packaging and vacuum packed products”.
In today’s market there are copacker professionals who, as already mentioned, have started combining technical skills and design expertise to keep abreast of the continual innovation demanded by the market and the consumer. “This shift is very visible also in events like MarcabyBolognaFiere, and mark a time of change. Technical companies are looking for design dedicated procedures that complete their industrial strategy”.
Branzaglia will also be looking beyond Italy: “In Italy we are ahead of other European countries in many aspects of packaging: I’m thinking of our technical skills - the envy of everyone - or the biodiversity of our products that drives us to find an infinite number of solutions. We are, however, at the same time less focused on how primary and secondary packaging relate and on the usability of objects by specific consumer targets, like for instance, the elderly, whose needs must be in the forefront when it comes to innovation”.