 The Global Packaging Alliance (GPA) held its annual meeting in the United States and Mexico during the week of January 19, 2009. With members convening from all over the world, the yearly event was a much-anticipated chance to discuss strategies and goals for the upcoming year.
GPA members spent the first half of the week at Diamond Packaging’s facility in Rochester, NY. Members shared the latest developments in their packaging operations, including new equipment, technical advancements, materials, and productivity improvements. The meeting also provided an ideal forum for members to discuss trends in their respective markets, with special consideration given to the current state of the global economy.
“Packaging is an essential part of life, and remains relevant despite the vagaries of economic cycles,” said Alex Commins, managing director of Colorpak Limited and secretary of the GPA. “The GPA continues to focus on ways and means of building greater operational efficiencies into our business through techniques such as lean manufacturing. Now more than ever our customers rely on us to be at maximum efficiency. Furthermore, our ability to share our local experiences and benchmark on a global basis is an advantage shared by few peers of our size. The end result being that our customers benefit from dealing with organizations that are focused, flexible, and world class in their outputs.”
The second half of the week was spent visiting GPA locations in Mexico, including Cartmont’s facility in Tlalnepantla, and Gonçalves’ new facility in Mexico City.
The Global Packaging Alliance is an international organization of independent packaging experts proficient at managing all aspects of the supply chain. With state-of-the-art production facilities and logistics centers around the world, the GPA provides responsive, localized service, award-winning creative designs, identical product specifications and consistent brand recognition, resulting in unparalleled global packaging support. Members include:
- Diamond Packaging - Rochester, NY, United States
- rlc | packaging group - Hannover, Germany
- Colorpak Limited - Melbourne, Australia
- Gonçalves SA Indústria Gráfica - Sao Paolo, Brazil
- Polygrafoformlenie-Flexo - St. Petersburg, Russia
- Yau Bon Offset Printing - Shenzhen, China
- Cartmont Packaging - Tlalnepantla, Mexico
- Kumar Printers - Gurgaon, India
- Masterpack - Johannesburg, South Africa
GPA members practice packaging management geared toward the needs of international companies, including Bayer, Beiersdorf, GlaxoSmithKline, Kraft Foods, L’Oreal, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Schering Plough, and Unilever. This includes designing and producing innovative paperboard and plastic packaging, as well as providing logistical services such as fulfillment and POP management. The GPA’s goal is to support clients in launching new brands or products, while significantly reducing time-to-market.
For more information about the Global Packaging Alliance, contact Dennis Bacchetta at (585) 334-8030 x229 or visit the website at www.global-packaging-alliance.com.
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 Diamond Packaging produced inserts for the Foil & Specialty Effects Association's (FSEA) new "Pop-It With Specialty Effects" advertising campaign. The campaign emphasizes the importance of capturing consumer's attention at the first moment of truth – in the retail environment – with only seconds to make a lasting impression.
Statistics show that consumers spend an average of only 20 seconds to select a product from the shelf. Furthermore, a package or label has only five seconds to capture the attention of its audience.
In case studies, packaging decorated with foil rated over 80% higher than packaging without foil in terms of overall appeal, quality, value, and brand awareness. Foil-enhanced product perceptions translated to an increased purchase interest in over 70% of cases studied. The result: over 26% of consumers will choose a foil decorated product over an undecorated one.
Diamond produced the insert using 100% renewable wind energy on paperboard that is 100% recyclable and made from a renewable resource. A textured, foil stamped metallic blue pattern adorns the "Pop-It" headline. Red foil accents and multi-level embossing decorate the popcorn box.
The colorful graphics were achieved by offset printing four-color process inks inline with UV matte coating and enhanced with a Microscent scratch-a-scent coating. Scratching the coating reveals the familiar scent of buttered popcorn.
The new campaign will first appear in the March 2009 issue of Brand Packaging magazine and be featured at the 2009 IADD-FSEA Odyssey, May 6-8, 2009, at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, GA.
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 The Foil & Specialty Effects Association (FSEA) has released a new study confirming the recyclability and repulpability of foil-decorated paperboard.
Pira International, Surrey, UK, a third party research firm, was commissioned by the FSEA to conduct the study and produce the findings, which have been compiled in a nine-page report.
To conduct the study, foil stamped paperboard was utilized from both the more traditional hot foil stamping process and also the cold foil process. The evaluation included foil decorated product that represented 25 percent post consumer waste up to 100 percent post consumer waste, meeting levels that far exceed normal conditions.
“It has become quite apparent that this study is extremely important to the long-term health of our industry and association,” stated FSEA Executive Director Jeff Peterson. “We are very excited with the positive findings of the study and are making every effort to communicate these findings to the graphic arts and packaging industries as quickly as possible.”
Along with the findings, the study describes the pulping and screening methods used in the research, and provides a complete analysis of the reporting results from the testing methods. The main conclusion from the study validates the recyclability of paper products decorated by both the traditional hot stamp and new cold foil processes. In addition, the study finds that neither hot nor cold foil-decorated products would give rise to problems found in other decorating processes that may render the decorated paper products unsuitable for recycling.
The Foil Stamping & Embossing Association is committed to providing its members and the industry at large with the tools to address the expanding number of questions regarding the topic of sustainability. The complete copy of the study is available for distribution. To obtain a copy or to receive further information, contact Jeff Peterson at (785) 271-5816 or visit the website at www.fsea.com/green.
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