Converter panel lays out strategic options

The panel members were Micheal Lane, chief executive officer of Lofton Label; Tom Carroll, president of The Labeltape Group; John McDowell, president of McDowell Label; Thomas Tyndall, vice-president of Eagle Flexible Packaging; and Ed Wiegand, executive vice-president at The Matlet Group.

A significant trend is converting multiple materials on the same press line, as brand owners shift products rapidly between packaging formats. John McDowell said the market is too fluid to dedicate certain presses to certain types of work, and job planning is entirely customer-driven.

Materials trends include a shift in demand towards flexible packaging and a significant growth in shrink sleeves. Micheal Lane, CEO Lofton Label, pointed out how changing perceptions of the recyclability of shrink sleeves could still derail this product category, and a lot of work is going into this issue from film suppliers. Narrow web converters looking to enter the flexible packaging market were cautioned about the whole new world of compliance they would face when converting direct food contact containers.

Digital print proved to be a topic of great interest to the audience. Ed Wiegand told delegates how digital has transformed cartons since the installation of an HP10000 – a machine not intended for the carton market but which showed the ‘huge pent up demand’ for short run variable imaging in this traditionally conservative market. Tom Carroll gave the perspective of the smaller converter on the process of adding digital capacity, where the investment decision represents a major risk. The panel agreed that one of the principal benefits of acquiring a ‘digital culture’ was in knocking out waste from other parts of their business.

Michael Lane said: ‘You suddenly find you have these “white” areas which are jobs waiting to be processed, and you start to fill these in through your business. Customer expectations are also dramatically influenced by digital, when they start asking for shorter lead times across the business. "Sustainability" has been a moving target for these converters as they try to meet the shifting requirements of retailer scorecards. But as with digital, the main benefits are proving to be wider business culture benefits.' 

John McDowell said that adopting TLMI’s L.I.F.E. had saved the company a lot of money in terms of waste reduction. The panel shared interesting experiences of operating in overseas markets. McDowell Label does a significant amount of export business with South America, due to its geographical location in Texas. Tom Carroll explained how he had to work hard to keep business when jobs were moved out of the US into Europe. The panel concluded by discussing how best to benchmark performance and KPIs against the competition. John McDowell recommended the TLMI’s annual Ratio study as being a ‘superb tool’ for this purpose.