The hottest market is weak, but the prospect is pr

Although the market is weak, the prospect is promising - the current situation and Prospect of the packaging carton industry in the United States

at present, the folding packaging carton industry is not very prosperous, and customer orders are delayed. Although the American industry is in the spasm of this depression, it is still expected to turn around in the middle of 1999. "I think even by the end of the year, the order situation can only be unsatisfactory." Ed mozley, vice president of the Pacific paper container manufacturing association, said so

this month, the orders of the whole west coast increased by less than 6% compared with the same period last year (excluding those not signed). Mozley said that he also talked about this with several companies. But they all believed that the growth rate in 1998 would not exceed 3%

when referring to the business situation of the whole west, he said that the shipment volume increased by 5% compared with 1997, but if compared with the growth rate of% in 1997, it would be worse

the folding carton packaging industry has a de facto periodicity, which is always good and bad. Mozley said, "now, we are entering a low tide, and it is expected that the whole market will still be very weak in the first half of 1999."

"the whole industry is weak," said Chad hoyme, chairman of Corson industries in Lockport, New York. "At present, there is an oversupply in the market, which obviously has a certain impact on carton production. It makes prices fall and competition intensify, but it is very beneficial to our customers."

however, Corson industries' business momentum is very strong, with revenue increasing by 9-10% compared with last year. However, according to hoyme, their profits have decreased significantly

"our customers' response is very flat. As far as I know, neither I nor our peers are as busy as before," said Ted Frain, chairman of unipak, "Although we didn't lose any orders, by the middle of October, our paratrooper supply began to dry up. I think that after March of 1999, we will still be the same. However, after that, our situation may be better, because it used to be like this."

the folding carton packaging industry has developed quite mature, and the growth is slow. If the national growth rate can reach 2-3%, it will be quite good. Mozley, who has worked in this industry for more than 30 years, said, "industry insiders always complain about limited business opportunities and insufficient competition, and this situation has not changed at all." Mozley continued

"In the past, 60% of the sales of the carton packaging industry were concentrated in the mature non durable goods market, such as food and beverage. When this market stagnates or has a slight recession, we expect to enter the computer, electronic and medical markets, Donahue said. But this change can only play a minor role. For example, PPC predicts that the medical market will grow by 20% in the next four years, which will make the appearance of oil cylinders and oil plugs wear out%, but this is not true." A big market

challenges faced by carton packaging manufacturers

recently, this industry has witnessed a whirlwind of mergers and alliances. Although some small and medium-sized enterprises are also involved, the host country is those comprehensive large enterprises. However, when their respective businesses decline, these mergers and alliances become difficult. "But this is beneficial to the whole industry, because in this way we can eliminate the excess production capacity. Donahue thinks so.

but the intervention of large enterprises is certainly detrimental to small enterprises. Their strong strength and strong marketing institutions are enough to directly control the market. Therefore, all these help to improve the safety and effectiveness of electric vehicle batteries, and the strong are getting stronger and stronger. Compared with 10 years ago, it is difficult for weak enterprises to compete with me Hoyme expressed his views on our position in this industry

in the final analysis, technology is the real driving force of this industry, Donahue said. If you can't keep up with the latest technology, you have to quit. "Advanced technology will undoubtedly improve the quality. If you don't have advanced technology, the quality of your products will be inferior to that of your competitors, and you will be eliminated." She went on to explain

investment in personnel, equipment and technology is crucial if you want to preserve yourself in the industry competition. For this point, Frain said with deep experience: "we have been paying attention to the research and development of new products in our company. You really have no choice, otherwise you will fall behind."

"in order to improve staff skills, our budget for staff training has increased fourfold in the past few years." Jerry Van de water, CEO of flow city packaging company, said, "we have our own promotion mechanism, and we are thinking about the future of our employees."

many companies rely on in plant training to strengthen employees' skills. Due to the low unemployment rate, it is difficult for factories to find qualified employees who can operate high-tech equipment. "In many meetings, this has been a hot topic and is getting people's attention." Micker Gorman, President of the American paper container association, said, "in some places, the following situations become almost impossible: a) recruit employees, b) recruit qualified employees."

is it sadness or joy

compared with other industries, folding carton packaging owners must learn to innovate in order to survive. In the past few years, some companies have suffered losses due to the reduction of resources and customers' change of their purchase methods

"I think the best example last year was that Prell shampoo no longer used the outer packaging carton," Gorman said: "Imagine that there is still a production line capable of producing 80million cartons, but what would it feel like if it suddenly stopped production overnight? What should be done with all these equipment and personnel? Therefore, you have to reduce the number of cartons you want to produce. In order to survive, some NPA member companies have to accept small orders that big companies never look at."

advanced technology, competition from the plastic and flexible packaging industry, and the sudden rise of the fine corrugated box market can be seen as both a threat and an opportunity

according to mozley, some companies along the Pacific coast have begun to print with CTP technology, but the progress is slow due to the high cost

soft packaging and plastic packaging products have occupied part of the market share of folding packaging cartons, which has caused a certain impact on the traditional carton packaging market. However, competition is not a bad thing. "I think this will make us more creative and enterprising, so that we can really pay attention to and promote technology. In fact, carton packaging is winning back the market occupied by flexible packaging and plastic packaging."

this is quite exciting. However, the growth of folding cartons is not as fast as that of plastic packaging. Van de water said, "we are in line with the overall economic growth, and plastic packaging has quadrupled in the past 10 years."

in the face of this situation, PPC has launched a campaign to promote folding packaging cartons. Although it is impossible to make an advertising budget of $20million like the plastic packaging industry, PPC's campaign will be directly targeted at the customers who have the most decision-making power. "We aim at potential customers who are so familiar with our products and know the quality of our products, but may ignore our products or turn to other products," Donahue said. "Anyway, we won't forget that our products are excellent."

for packaging carton manufacturers, fine corrugated cartons may be another good opportunity for development. "I have talked to several member companies of NPA that they have transformed their production lines to produce fine corrugated boxes." Gorman said

"folding carton manufacturers do have advantages in producing fine corrugated cartons," Donahue said. "They also do see it as a good opportunity, because folding carton manufacturers have better printing production capacity."

the business prospect of the folding carton industry in 1999 is still uncertain. Even though the business progress is flat now, it is still expected to improve in the middle of 1999