The economy has seen uninterrupted improvement over the past few years, hopefully putting the economic strains of the early 2000s in the nation's rear-view.  While not every business universally is responsible for their own packaging processes specifically, packaging without a doubt plays a role in nearly every industrial market. Considering the unwavering advances within the packaging market, it is vital that business operations evaluate and implement the most economical and efficient workflow to ship and receive their products.

New trends helping expand the North American packaging market New trends helping expand the North American packaging market

According to a recent report from Smithers Pira, the global packaging market was valued at around $799 billion in 2012 and grew to $824 billion in 2013By 2018 it is expected to surpass $1 trillion.  Packaging World reported that numbers from Smithers Pira indicate that these increases will likely be seen in North America as well. Currently valued at around $169.1 billion, the packaging market is expected to grow to around $186 billion by 2017.

Packaging market's major players

Packaging World offers some analysis on the trends that will be influencing the market in the coming years.

  • Packaging is expected to expand dramatically throughout Mexico - specifically within the beverage industry.
  • Paperboard sales within North America are anticipated to increase to approximately $51.9 billion in 2017.
  • Polypropylene and polyethylene resin use in packaging is estimated to be worth approximately $433.5 billion by the year 2017.
  • The industrial sector is expected to reach around $62.5 million by 2017.
  • Increased demand for retail ready packaging is growing in popularity - enabling increased productivity while decreasing manual labor.

Using strong solutions

The growing economy across the continent has played a major role in improving the packaging market overall. One could go so far as to say that the packaging market improvements are influencing the economy! With automated packaging solutions on the rise, operations can speed up their processing times, leading to lower labor costs and higher productivity. Increased security in stronger packaging practices leads to fewer damages and ensured product to the end user. With the advantages these packaging solutions provide, packaging can help to maintain this economic growth.