viewpoint
- Lessons for leaders and employees
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 04/01/2008
Speakers at last month's AIMCAL meeting provided management lessons when it comes to giving employees what they need as well as what might happen if sales employees were given a different perspective on their role. As keynoter, US Navy Commander (Ret.) Kirk Lippold first gave a gripping, detailed account of the October 2000 attack by al Qaeda on the USS Cole. More - Not enough time for innovation?
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 03/01/2008
We're all under more and more time pressure these days, needing to get more done in less time with fewer resources (material and human). So, it probably comes as no surprise via a new research study that “lack of time” is the key inhibitor for both packaging and branding innovation by consumer goods companies. More - Giving customers The Star Treatment
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 02/01/2008
When it comes to winning over new business with breakthrough technology, the two converters detailed in our cover stories this month really know how to give their customers The Star Treatment. More - Blogging and Talking Back
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 01/01/2008
One of the coolest things that our newly revamped Website—www.convertingmagazine.com—offers is four blogs. These frequently posted commentaries by our editorial staff let us communicate with you on a daily basis, if necessary, providing added viewpoints into every aspect of the converting industry or just an extra insight or new angle on the hundreds of news stories and dozens of... More - Congratulations! It's a new Website
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 12/01/2007
As I write this month's Viewpoint, our new Website is all of four days old, and already a couple thousand visitors have perused the content. All of us at Converting —from the editors and sales staff to the technical Web gurus behind the scenes—were acting like proud, new parents when the site went live. More - Consumers are a key link in the sustainability chain
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 11/01/2007
A recent survey commissioned by the Flexible Packaging Association, and conducted by Packaging & Technology Integrated Solutions (PTIS), shows that US and European retailers and consumer packaged-goods makers have gotten on board the sustainability train (see page 4). Consumers, on the other hand, are the key-and currently missing-link in a successful sustainable-packaging chain. More - To offshore or not to offshore?
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 10/01/2007
Seems like in the past six months, when it comes to American companies off-shoring their manufacturing or buying their raw materials from foreign suppliers, the news coming out of China is all bad. If it's not tainted pet- and/or human-food ingredients, it's the “lead-based painted toys” story du jour. More - What are your customers buying?
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 09/01/2007
Want to get a glimpse of where the US packaging industry is headed? Take a look at what your customers are buying. In the same way you can get an idea of trends in the converting field through tracking purchases of everything from digital-CTP platemakers and gearless CI-flexo presses to servo-driven in-line presses and zipper-equipped bagmakers, knowing what kinds of capital equipment your en... More - It's the integration after the buy
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 08/01/2007
According to BMO Capital Markets in Chicago, mergers and acquisitions in the global packaging industry last year and the first half of 2007 have rebounded to levels not seen since 2000. There were 181 transactions around the world in the first six months of this year—on par with the same period in 2006. More - Private-equity deals weakening?
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 07/01/2007
In the past few years, the impact of private-equity firms and their growing number of purchases in the package-printing and converting industry has certainly been felt by makers of flexible packaging, paperboard, labels and substrates here at home and across Europe. According to BMO Capital Markets, private-equity (PE) money either by itself or as part of a portfolio company made up a quarter o... More - CMM: The right traffic matters
Mark Spaulding Editor in Chief, 06/01/2007
CMM Intl. 2007 is history. On the plus side, the show's latest owner, PennWell Corp., did a valiant job over the last two years in pre-show promotion. Deals were struck with Rosemont's Stephens Convention Ctr. to make it cheaper and easier for exhibitors to bring in running machinery—and scores of them did. More - How to de-motivate employees
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 05/01/2007
Are you unconsciously turning off your employees and possibly even driving them away? When Dale Dauten, author of the weekly syndicated column, Corporate Curmudgeon, needed a new word for this art of anti-leadership through de-motivation, he came up with “impedership.” Following up on Dauten's concept, the St. More - Flex-pack makers must be “flexible”
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 04/01/2007
Rising to the top in the wealth of information, business trends, management insight and sheer statistics offered during last month's Flexible Packaging Association annual meeting in Aventura, FL, one idea rang clear for the 200 or so attendees: Flexible packaging continues to have significant advantages to offer customers and consumers, but for converters to survive and/or thrive in the years a... More - Coming soon: The disposable press?
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 03/01/2007
I was really looking forward to attending the Packaging & Label Gravure Association Global Operational Conference in Miami recently for a variety of reasons—not the least of which, honestly, was to escape the latest sub-zero cold and 6-in. snowfall in Chicago. The program promised a half dozen sessions on “Operating Profitably in a Global Market” from materials and outsou... More - I need a printable TV screen, please
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 02/01/2007
Here's a description of my commute to work in the year 2017: After boarding the train, I catch up on the latest news headlines by unfolding not that morning's edition of the printed Chicago Tribune but my Apple iTV—a paper-thin, 8-1/2 x 11-in. screen with the capability of pulling in satellite-television programs from across the globe. More - Addressing consumers' real needs
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 01/01/2007
Back in November, we presented four companies with our inaugural Converting Innovator Awards, recognizing their achievements in “doing well by doing good” for, in part, their communities and the world at large. Now comes evidence from a new global survey that shows significant opportunities exists for converters to step up and take on some basic human issues while also satisfying th... More - Looking at today...and tomorrow
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 12/01/2006
As we wrap up another year of reporting on the ins and outs of the converting and package-printing industry, I was struck by the sheer volume of editorial coverage generated by our staff and contributing technical editors in the past year. Nearly 540 total pages of magazine, e-newsletter and directory materials. More - Doing well by doing good
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 11/01/2006
“No man is an island...” wrote the 17th century English poet John Donne, and he certainly was correct, especially in the context of any successful business today. This month we celebrate the achievements of our inaugural list of Converting Innovators—four companies we want to officially recognize as “doing well by doing good” for their customers, their employees, ... More - Is sustainability trend sustainable?
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief, 10/01/2006
When you've covered an industry (packaging and converting) as long as I have (more than 20 years), you start to get a little cynical every time you hear about the latest “hot” trend. It starts with a couple quiet press releases, for example, from the CPGs on some new product or package design. More - Market-share myopia a mistake?
Mark Spaulding, Editor, 09/01/2006
To say that some markets for converted packaging products are “highly contested” is an understatement. Just look at the sheer number of flexible-packaging, carton and label end-use buyers willing to jump ship from one converter to the next to save a penny per unit. At the same time, consider the equally growing number of package printers ready to sacrifice profits in favor of the A... More - Next »
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