Two major drivers of change in how food and beverages are packaged today are 1) the need to differentiate products in the supermarket aisle and 2) the need to stay compliant with food safety requirements on the plant floor.
Both of these trends have a very real impact on companies that design and build packaging machinery.
Having conducted our own industry research and consulted organizations such as The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies (PMMI), Parker Hannifin’s Fluid Connectors Group, which serves the food and beverage packaging machinery market, understands these trends, and their impacts, are real.
The research indicates these trends are evidence of a larger movement among food and beverage companies to package foods and drinks more sustainably and safely, with less waste, greater consumer convenience, and increased product differentiation.
Clearly, packaging machinery OEMs play an important role in helping food companies make these changes.
For details on many of these specific machinery solutions, please Click here to download our free whitepaper, “Five Ways Food Packaging OEMs Can Innovate Projects.” 
Widescale changes, such as those occurring in packaging, can be met with resistance if they seem to be too costly or troublesome for manufacturers. However, well-designed product packaging changes can help both businesses and consumers to reduce packaging costs as well as frustrations in the long run.
To fully understand why this is the case, let’s explore the driving factors further. As a baseline, I’ll refer to research conducted by PMMI, based in Reston, Virginia. Earlier this year, PMMI published two key reports: Global Trends Impacting the Market for Packaging Machinery, and 2016 Food Packaging Trends and Advances, which detail the changes in packaging.
One of the main findings, PMMI reports, is the extended growth trend in the number of distinct items for sale in grocery stores and supermarkets. This is often referred to within the industry as “SKU proliferation,” where SKU stands for stock-keeping unit. The number of distinct items for sale, or SKUs, has in fact grown dramatically in recent years, PMMI says.
To put a number behind this claim, we consulted the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), based in Arlington, Virginia. According to FMI, in 2014, the average grocery store stocked around 42,200 different items for sale, a level close to three times the number they carried back in 1980.
While the number has modulated in recent years — for example in 2009 FMI says there were as many as 51,379 SKUs — the current ranges seem to represent the new norm for food and beverage retailers.
Two major factors for this SKU growth are retailer and consumer demand. North American retailers are able to leverage their significant purchasing power to demand packaging that appeals to consumers and decreases both storage space and distribution costs.
In addition, the growth of private-label brands like those sold by Walmart and Target have influenced manufacturers to further differentiate their products with modified ingredients, flavors, sizes, and packaging.
Consumers also demand more variety when it comes to product proportions, flavors, and versions. All of these things result in more products, which end users hope to add with limited amounts of trouble and cost.
The move to flexible packaging
At the same time, there’s been a movement to capture the benefits offered by flexible packaging, a.k.a. pouches and resealable bags. Flexible packaging materials are cheaper to buy and produce than boxes and bottles, and they’re also lighter in weight. What’s more, they can eliminate the need for secondary packaging, which saves on packaging material and on packaging processes. A further benefit is that flexible packaging is much easier to ship, stock, and store, simply because it takes up less space.
The growth in flexible packaging types will have a significant impact on the market for filling and closing machines. PMMI reports that the world market for form, fill, and seal machinery, for instance, will benefit from this trend. The association refers to statistics from research firm IHS Markit, indicating this segment will increase by close to 19% from 2014 to 2019, to a level of around $5.1 billion.
Environmental benefits of the newer packaging types also play a role. Retailers, food companies, and consumers want their foods and beverages packaged in ways that are environmentally sustainable. Packaging is expected to be recyclable (to save our landfills), and to be less wasteful in terms of excess material. Flexible packaging often answers both of these concerns.
A focus on safety
Also driving changes in the way foods and beverages are packaged is a focus on food safety and how packaging processes can be linked to preserving food safety. As evidence of this trend, PMMI notes in its Global Trends report that 40% of food company packaging and processing engineers surveyed said they had to make new investments to ensure compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
The 2011 law, which is still being implemented, directs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to establish preventive food safety standards for those who grow, process, transport, and store food. A key requirement is that food and beverage manufacturers document their work at all steps in the process, including packaging, to protect consumers.
Certainly there are increased front-end costs for food and beverage companies when they make changes either to comply with FSMA, switch to flexible materials, or add more packaging variety, if their existing machinery can’t easily provide these things. But if those investments are made wisely, they’re likely to yield positive ROIs quickly.
How OEMs can play a role
While food company investments are occurring in a variety of areas, OEMs stand to gain many of these investments if they can help food companies offer packaging variety and make measurable advances when it comes to sustainability, differentiation, and food safety.
Toward this end, we’ve identified five major areas where OEMs need to innovate their machinery solutions, with solid examples of specific machinery changes that can deliver these benefits.
For details on many of these specific machinery solutions, please Click here to download our free whitepaper, “Five Ways Food Packaging OEMs Can Innovate Projects.”
Article contributed by Ted Moyer, global platform manager, Fluid Connectors Group, Parker Hannifin Corporation
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