That is an increase of two billion over our current population and, according to the World Resources Institute, food production needs to increase 70 percent by 2050 to feed people around the globe.

Given that we are already having problems feeding people, food security is becoming more of a mounting concern. Food security is the term used to describe having access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets one’s dietary needs and preferences for a healthy life. And while many of us take the notion for food security for granted, it is far from a guaranteed state, even for people living in the wealthiest of countries. With the rapid increase in food prices, more people are struggling. Food banks and other programs that serve Canadians who are vulnerable are expected to support 60 percent more people per month in 2023 than in 2022—this from a report by Second Harvest, a national program that rescues food that might end up in landfills and gives it to people in need.

While most people think of Canada as wealthy, stable, and secure, as many as 5.8 million people, including 1.4 million children, lived in food-insecure households in 2021, says data from Statistics Canada’s Canadian Income Survey.

World events have also changed and have reduced food security for many. COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine have disrupted longstanding food supply chains. The war has cut the world’s wheat supply by 10 percent, corn by 15 percent and sunflower oil by as much as 50 percent, according to the United Nations. This, combined with inflation, has also driven up the price of food around the world.

There are also countries that are developing but unable to produce the quantities of food needed to feed their growing populations.

What’s the answer? Well, it’s multi-faceted, but calls for innovation in sectors like food manufacturing and farming.

Syngenta Canada in Calgary, Alberta is a leading agri-tech company that is working to improve food security. Trevor Heck, President of Syngenta, sees his company and the larger industry as a potential solution for food security issues. “Our sector can contribute significantly to food security through innovative technologies that ensure farmers can continue to increase crop yields sustainably and protect our food supply,” he told The Globe and Mail.

Science-based agricultural tools and technology help farmers produce greater yield per acre, combat the effects of climate change like severe weather events, and offset the diminishing land available for farming. And Heck says that research shows that without plant science advances, prices for food staples would be 45 percent higher. “When weeds, diseases and insects are uncontrolled in a field, they can devastate entire crops. Plant science helps us to combat these pests, resulting in reduced food loss from farm to table,” said Heck.

Such advances include new products that improve the water productivity of plants and boost tolerance to drought and heat. Other technologies support fewer inputs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Food production becomes especially complicated when disaster strikes, such as droughts and floods. To be ready for an emergency, organizations like the World Food Programme, a UN group that provides food aid to countries in need, buys food in advance without knowing where it might end up. Food is stored in strategic hubs, ready for transport to supply impacted areas around the world.

Virginia Siebenrok from the World Food Programme talks about balancing food safety and food security concerns in Food Safety News. “We have a very long and fragmented supply chain,” she says. “One example is a specialized nutritious food that has about 18 months of shelf life. It is produced in the U.S. and transported overseas to one of our hubs in Togo. This trip takes a month.” From there, the food is trucked 20 days through three countries to reach its destination. “You can imagine the challenges we have in terms of transportation, maintaining shelf life, nutritional aspects, and the trade barriers we may encounter.”

These challenges will only persist as more and more people live in increasingly unpredictable environments brought about by climate change. On that note, one of the most significant contributors to food security is the food manufacturing and processing industry. Advancements in the sector over the past 20 years have made a difference, such as traceability in the food supply chain as well as improvements in how foods are produced.

In addition, food processing has reduced pathogens and microbes that break down foods and nutrients. Research in the industry is also working to extend the shelf life and safety of food without the excessive use of salt and sugars, which are generally linked to negative health impacts. And now with recent research tools like metabolomics, which measures molecules and their activity, the effect of processing of foods can be assessed and negative impacts reduced, while improving durability and shelf life.

Another seemingly unlikely, but interesting, tool that can have a future impact on food production is 3D printing.

People continue to push what’s possible in 3D printing, and now this technology is entering the kitchen. Engineers from Columbia University ran a study to print a seven-ingredient vegan cheesecake using a 3D printer and laser technology. “Usually with printing you think of an industrial process,” study co-author Jonathan Blutinger told CNN. “But it’s important to realize this is no different than cooking except instead of chopping up ingredients, it is basically assembling them in paste form.” For the record, they printed the cheesecake in a couple of different flavours, including cherry and banana.

The implication of this experiment and others is that 3D printers may be able to assemble food when needed, much like coffee makers can now make drinks based on the pods you insert. This can also help those emergency situations where food is needed but is hard to ship.

Food fortification is another way to get more nutrients out of more foods, which is about adding micronutrients like vitamins and minerals to foods.

A great example of this comes from MIT where scientists have added vitamin A encased in a polymer capsule to commonly used ingredients like flour, and they have found that the vitamin survived in storage and through the cooking process to provide the vitamin in useful amounts to people. “Vitamin A is a very important micronutrient but it’s an unstable molecule,” said Ana Jaklenac, senior author of the MIT study. “We wanted to see if our encapsulated vitamin A could fortify a food vehicle like bouillon cubes or flour, throughout storage and cooking, and whether the vitamin A could remain biologically active and be absorbed.”

These innovations and discoveries may be a huge boon in the future, but there is also a driving need to make changes in how our food is grown, and to start making those changes now because the demand for food is already on the rise.

The problem is, while agriculture feeds us, it is associated with up to 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The ongoing population growth of the planet further complicates this because more emissions will be pumped into the atmosphere from farming—but these emissions fluctuate depending on the food that is grown.

That’s the principle behind regenerative agriculture, which is a term we’ll likely hear more of. It’s a system of farming that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, and improves watersheds, working in harmony with the natural ecosystem. Practices include no-till farming and cover cropping, where plants are planted not for harvest, but to cover the soil from the elements, reduce soil erosion, and return nutrients to the soil. This lets the soil rest and regenerate for planting a food crop in future.

Like regenerative agriculture methods, vertical farming has been around for a while but is slowly scaling up to widespread use. As the name implies, rather than huge fields spread out across the countryside, rows of crops are stacked above one another. And instead of planting crops in the ground, hydroponics are used alongside with aquaponics and aeroponics.

While there are a number of variations of vertical farms, virtually all are self-contained, providing light, air, heat, and water as needed. In fact, astronauts are growing their own veggies like cabbage and kale in soil-less systems on the International Space Station. But to create this kind of environment, there are costs and there are limitations as to what can be grown easily, namely non-flowering crops or those pollinated through wind.

But the biggest change may take place through the more than 500 million small-hold farms worldwide that account for the widest range of diversity in the food supply. Because they are independent, little information is available about their impact on the larger agri-food system. By gathering and harnessing data through mobile devices, field sensors, satellites, and drones, data provided directly by farmers could bring more coordinated efforts for farmers to work with each other and solve the global food supply in a collective capacity. Much like the latest data-driven revolution in manufacturing, this data-based approach can also lead to new revolutions in agriculture, especially for emerging countries in regions like sub-Saharan Africa and India.

There is no one solution to sustaining and improving food security for the world’s growing population. Innovations in food manufacturing and agriculture will be the way forward. And cheesecake by 3D printer may prove just as tasty as the bakery favourite.

The post Feeding the World<p class="company">Ideas for Abundance</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Flexible plastic packaging appears to be a growing go-to, with a continued annual growth rate of a robust four to six percent, and estimates hint that flexible plastic pouches will begin to match the use of metal beverage cans by 2025. Containers can be made of materials as surprising as sugar and other biodegradable substances, but Pittas points out that the challenge is rarely the recyclability of packaging materials; rather it is the issue of incorrect disposal or a lack of access. According to a 2020 report by The Recycling Partnership (TCP), less than two percent of Americans have direct curbside recycling options.

Current recycling infrastructure may also not be able to handle certain types of packaging. One example is plastic shopping bags that typically damage the internal mechanisms of many recycling machines.

“Sustainability in packaging is very broad. I find that sometimes, within our industry, we get so caught up in one track, we’re not thinking of it holistically. In my opinion, it is an economy that needs to be created. It is concerning and is something we have to talk about,” Pittas says.

Part of this economy, he envisions, is to continue the move toward taxing the use of plastic bags and returning deposits on plastic bottles that may otherwise have remained litter on curbsides or in landfills. By directly attaching some means of material worth to recyclable packaging, a potentially valuable resource—that would otherwise be considered worthless enough to discard—can be returned to the recycling loop.

PMMI’s main point to consider when looking at the sustainability of plastic and other packaging materials is not the material itself, but rather how waste is collected and returned to the fabrication and repurposing loop. This brings us back to the consumer of packaging materials. As consumers, our voices matter.

By spending a fraction more on packaging from recycled material, we drive demand for it. In this way, recycled materials stand to outperform virgin materials in the packaging arena. According to Pittas, there is a single caveat, however. The process can only gather momentum with the support of consumers willing to pick up the check for at least some of the cost escalation. “If we can get that [to happen] in a circle, I think things can take off,” he says.

The next prerequisite before the industry can get truly creative with packaging is standardization, ensuring a harmonious blending of fabrication and recycling processes. “We need standardization, in the U.S. especially. Here, we’re good at trying to recycle; we’re just not good at executing it. I think a big part of that is there’s no standardization across the country,” says Pittas, adding that recycling capacity has to be improved to achieve real progress.

Recycling plants take an average of ten years from the commencement of the project to the day they start processing waste, with the added frustration that there are rapid changes in material composition—much faster than the speed to which plant engineers can typically adapt. Pittas cautions municipalities to invest with greater foresight to develop recycling facilities that are still relevant by the time they start operating. On the upside, many people are working toward creating complete recycling loops.

The result of broken recycling loops is difficult—not only for the ecosystems absorbing the waste but also for the retail industry—since investing in more conscious choices is not yet delivering the lighter waste footprint anticipated. The good news is that PMMI has joined with other associations to support research and a reliable framework for standardization across the country.

Another, sometimes forgotten, aspect of innovation that is needed within the sustainable packaging industry concerns energy consumption. To this end, PMMI is proud to report that the past decade has seen its members go to great lengths to reduce their electricity use while improving product output. While there is no single solution to the recycling quandary, the association and its members are working ceaselessly to bring to pass everything needed to institute more reliable fabrication loops for reused materials.

As a trade association, PMMI is somewhat of a big brother to its members. This select group of industry stakeholders includes fabricators and original equipment manufacturers of materials, supplies, components, packaging and processing equipment, and interested parties outside manufacturing. Representing their best interests across areas including research, media representation, and six annual trade events showcasing the latest in packaging innovation, the association also provides members with research relevant to the industry.

The Herndon, Virginia-based organization has two more locations in Chicago, Illinois and Mexico City. From these, it champions end users’ packaging rights and needs, and in a bid to secure a bright, visionary workforce for the future, it generously funds education with several lucky high school, grade school, trade school, and college students benefitting from around $1 million in scholarships and matching funds—an achievement about which the association is particularly pleased.

In addition, thousands of children from around the age of ten and upward pass through what its director calls “the largest learning laboratory in the world,” at its trade shows. Here, they see myriad machines in action—just one way in which the association builds awareness of what this increasingly innovative industry offers the next generation.

There are also around sixteen summer camps throughout America where children aged fourteen to sixteen explore the back-end aspects that drive packaging manufacturing in the association’s members’ facilities—all sponsored by the PMMI Foundation together with the Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs® (NBT) foundation of the Fabricating Metal Association (FMA). That includes learning what goes into creating packaging—from engineering and coding robots to lessons in entrepreneurship and everything in between.

Another project close to PMMI’s heart is the matching fund it is establishing at the PACK EXPO Las Vegas trade show running from September 11-13 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. This project is in collaboration with visitors and exhibitors in aid of the Tunnel to Tower Foundation, an organization providing homes to first responder personnel and veterans disabled in contact situations. The goal is to donate $100,000 to this cause.

PMMI continues to adapt to markets, and it is exceptionally proud of and grateful to its staff for stepping up to the challenges presented during the COVID-19 shelter-in-place period. The pandemic presented the packaging industry with considerable innovation demands—but also with significant growth in the area of medical packaging.

“You saw a huge, rapid shift in how things needed to be packaged. Some of our members saw unprecedented growth. Originally, there wasn’t a machine to package COVID-19 testing kits, and so those machines had to be designed and manufactured quickly,” Pittas shares.

While the association was strained under gathering restrictions, it recovered quickly and was ready to launch another trade show as soon as that was over. The result of this globally strenuous time was that PMMI regularly arranged opportunities to connect members who wanted to share notes on their experiences and how they handled them. Delving for solutions alongside one another drove innovation as packaging fabricators pooled their resources to find answers to some pretty big challenges. This collaboration is something that has been a part of PMMI’s legacy since the beginning.

What started in 1933 with just over a handful of early packaging pioneers getting together with a vision to standardize everything from salaries to safety, by request of the government, quickly grew into a helping hand that has assisted stakeholders in the packaging industry for nearly a century. The association’s first trade show took place in Cleveland, Ohio in 1956, forming the flagship event that would accelerate PMMI’s growth, bringing it to where it is today—a proud organization home to around 1,100 member firms. The PMMI Foundation was established shortly before the dawn of the new millennium, joined by the purchase of a media company that brought further growth.

Today, PMMI has around 140 staff members across its three offices, who enjoy the benefit of internal promotion over external appointments. “Our team consists of really great, dedicated people,” says Pittas. “We’re very fortunate to have found these folks. Someone with twenty years at PMMI is not unusual; we probably have forty or fifty employees [who have been with us for over] twenty years. Our average tenure is close to eight or nine years per employee,” he shares, and this will no doubt continue.

Looking ahead to trends on the horizon, e-commerce continues to define an increasing portion of the retail market, and packaging is set to follow consumer needs. One trend that Pittas forecasts may return is e-commerce packaging which reduces waste by packaging retail goods in a single ready-to-ship container from the outset. “Packaging for shipping, I think, is going to become a topic in the near future again,” he says. Beyond shipping, sustainability remains the main topic in all packaging circles.

Additionally, when developing new materials, technology has to follow suit. As biodegradable packaging innovation grows according to customer demand, artificial intelligence will, no doubt, play its part, and despite being a tiny part of our annual packaging consumption, biodegradable packaging is thought to have a leap in growth brewing around 2027 with continued annual growth of just under twenty percent up to the end of 2030.

While these forecasts remain, as yet, unconfirmed, what is certain is that voting with one’s dollar is the only way to ensure the sustained growth and implementation of more earth-friendly packaging options. PMMI will be there every step of the way, supporting its members and encouraging innovation in an evolving industry.

The post 90 Years of Packaging Vision<p class="company">PMMI: The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

From its base in Annapolis, Maryland, the FPA guides and advises flexible packaging manufacturers and industry suppliers. This refers to any protective pouch, packet, sachet, or soft wrapping typically made of paper, plastic, film, or aluminum foil to maintain the freshness and safety, cleanliness, and functionality of its contents. Plastic bags, labels, and other coverings based on these materials all qualify as flexible packaging.

This includes airtight food and beverage packaging for humans and pets, pharmaceutical and medical products, tools and equipment, cosmetics and personal hygiene items, and personal protective equipment, which all need protection from bacteria and other contaminants. Such products are typically packaged in sterile environments and then shipped to distribution facilities to reach their end users in perfect condition.

Typical waste bin-liners, whether for home use or medical and industrial waste, are also flexible plastics. Another large consumer of such materials is the e-commerce market, with packaging relying heavily on specialized materials like bubble wrap, air pillows, pouches, and foam wrapping. Considering the enormous demand for this entire spectrum of products around the world, it stands to reason that the industry is worth a sizeable amount of money.

Valued at well over $38.5 billion per annum and employing more than 79,000 people, the industry is superseded in the United States only by the corrugated cardboard packaging industry.

Alison Keane, FPA’s Chief Executive Officer and President, attributes the sector’s economic power to its sustainability. “The reason flexible packaging is number one worldwide and second only to corrugated cardboard in the U.S. is that it is the most sustainable solution for product manufacturers,” she says.

Its popularity is further ascribed to its versatility, as soft materials conform to most shapes and sizes. Flexible packaging also does this economically, providing manufacturers with ample savings both financially and in terms of waste. Its lack of unnecessary bulk leads to even more savings as less weight means cheaper transportation and easier handling when it comes to warehousing and distribution—all factors that translate into an overall reduced environmental impact.

But its greenhouse gas emissions savings do not only stem from reduced transportation; flexible packaging also contributes to tremendous food savings, keeping perishables fresher for far longer than was ever possible before. Flexible packaging “creates less waste at its end of life. It reduces food waste, which is the number one contributor of greenhouse gases from landfills,” Keane says, noting that the Association has “members who say that we can help feed the world and [eradicate] hunger,” since food must reach people before it spoils, and flexible packaging helps make that happen. “We think plastic is plastic—but not all plastic is created equal,” she continues.

In light of all this, the FPA advocates for flexible packaging and its stakeholders as its manufacturing processes consume lower volumes of resources like water and power than corrugated cardboard. Of course, these benefits also lead to savings in labor hours, transportation, and management of the infrastructure needed to manage both food and packaging waste. Thanks to flexible packaging, the demand for these resources is significantly reduced.

FPA members also benefit from the Association’s work as an industry champion, protecting the rights of manufacturers by working to mitigate burdensome regulations. The Association supports the evolution of the industry and its technologies to serve its stakeholders and end users alike. In addition, it creates ample opportunity for all involved to strengthen manufacturing and marketing networks by hosting events and researching market trends that give its members an innovative edge within global markets.

As part of this mandate, the Association also runs an annual packaging contest that has seen unprecedented growth over the past three years, despite COVID. Considerations such as sustainability, printing and technical specifications, visual impact, and innovation all set the winners apart from other entrants.

“The competition has spurred a lot of innovation. While flexible packaging is often the most environmentally sustainable solution for product packaging, it has challenges for full circularity as it is the least often collected for recycling and reuse,” Keane says.

Widespread enthusiasm promises to solve another big real-world issue. Despite being considered environmentally sustainable by the Association, gathering flexible packaging for recycling is a real headache. Some of the answers to this challenge came via the competition. These include compostable packaging and bio-based plastics formulated using naturally occurring materials rather than petroleum-based products.

At present, the reality is that the recycling loop is tricky to complete with flexible packaging, as existing recycling systems and curbside collections for cans, glass, and rigid plastics typically predate its existence and therefore fall short. “Currently, the only real solution… is the store drop-off program for clean and dry polyethylene films. While there is great access for consumers in this program, it is vastly underutilized, and there is often consumer confusion over what is recyclable and what is not,” Keane points out. Resterilizing used food packaging for reuse as food containers also comes with a range of its own challenges.

The result is an unpleasant truth: perfectly recyclable flexible packaging will find its way into our natural surroundings, stormwater systems, and landfills. To prevent this, the FPA supports well-crafted extended producer responsibility legislation, amongst other protocols, promising to secure the control and fiscal resources necessary to reimagine and update outdated recycling systems.

Initiatives like Materials Recovery for the Future (MRFF), the Hefty ReNew™ Program, and the Consortium for Waste Circularity are working diligently alongside private project owners to bring to life solutions that will incorporate flexible packaging into the end phase of the recycling loop. MRFF completed a real-life study of just over two years in 2022, concluding that flexible plastic packaging is recyclable with the right technology and handling processes.

There are also brands like Hefty, making recyclable and compostable plastics and packaging in reduced sizes to help curb waste. Its Hefty ReNew™ and Hefty® EnergyBag® Programs run from Greater Atlanta, Georgia across four states as far as Chattanooga, Tennessee, supporting consumers at over 790,000 addresses to redirect difficult-to-process plastics away from landfill and back into the recycling loop for repurposing, with specialized drop-off zones in participating cities.

Another tremendous driving force in the hunt for solutions is the Consortium for Waste Circularity, whose investment in out-of-the-box thinking is fueling its vision for a waste-free future devoid of landfills and trash incineration through the use of regenerative gasification to make syngas. In producing syngas, biological materials are heated to temperatures over 2,000°C to transform them into carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Developers claim that syngas can be used to create a vast range of materials that can be infinitely recycled.

Fast approaching its 75^th birthday celebrations in 2025, the FPA has a long and proud history of doing groundbreaking work. Some members have been with the Association for 60 years, with American Packaging Corporation and Printpack being two. Part of the Association’s work is a three-decade-old annual industry report, alongside which is its packaging awards program, turning 67 this year.

The Association is also proud to number amongst its members the inventor of bubble wrap—Sealed Air Corporation. American engineer Alfred W. Fielding and Swiss inventor Marc Chavannes started the firm, coming up with what they initially thought would sell well as cool wallpaper in the shape of two layers of shower curtain melted together with air pockets trapped inside. The material now known as an addictive popping toy first saw use as greenhouse insulation before hitting the world stage in 1961 as one of the most protective packaging products.

The FPA’s team of seven brings a similar sense of fun to its work in the packaging industry. Each member has a particular area of expertise, namely a Director of Regulatory Affairs, a Counsel for Government Affairs, an Administrative Assistant and Accountant/Office Manager, a Director of Membership and Meetings, and a Vice President of Communications—all of whom will be joined later this year by a Director of Industry Information.

This small but potent group understands that teamwork is what makes this work. “[We] are truly a team; with a small staff, you have to be. Everyone helps everyone else. We always joke, ‘today I am your assistant, and tomorrow you are mine,’” Keane shares. And with the varying levels of experience, “We have a great balance of historical knowledge and fresh thinking.”

Another positive result of running such a smooth operation with frequent travelers was that, when COVID arrived, everyone could already work remotely. They kept the fun alive virtually with regular online get-togethers, lunches, and happy hours to catch up, interact, and keep spirits high.

The effort has been well worth it. Keane, who loves the industry for its future-focused innovation, notes that, since her arrival seven years ago, the Association has nearly quadrupled from a net worth of $1.2 million to $4 million. She attributes this expansion to a new dues structure underpinning its activism and growing membership. As the Association has seen consistent industry growth despite setbacks from a drop in demand for packaging over the pandemic period, it is confident that the future holds continuous evolution as consumers resettle into pre-COVID trends.

Looking at its current and future focuses, the FPA will invest much time into assisting in implementation of extended producer responsibility programs in states with the relevant legislation. There are currently only four such states in the United States. The goal is to implement next-generation recycling facilities that allow for the repurposing of flexible packaging in a safe and user-friendly manner. Once complete, the blueprint will be repeated across America wherever local governments share the Flexible Packaging Association’s vision for a waste-free future.

The post Unwrapping Flexible Packaging: The Association Behind the Brands<p class="company">Flexible Packaging Association</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

While the company is an advocate for the concept of flexible packaging, it crucially identifies itself as a packaging machinery company first and foremost. Calamusa describes packaging, and especially flexible packaging, as a very important strategic tool for any company looking to use it, as it can help revolutionize the business and sell more of the product inside the package.

Although the efforts of ALLIEDFLEX to promote flexible packaging are at times met with reluctance toward change within the industry, especially by larger companies, Calamusa sees change as a good thing for anyone willing to try. Flexible packaging “can reinvent your brand, sell more of what’s inside, and appeal more to the new consumer of today.”

Calamusa had been in packaging and manufacturing spaces for many years before starting ALLIEDFLEX but became especially interested in the 1990s with a then-new packaging format: the stand-up pouch. This is a three-dimensional, film-based package that closes with a zipper or a spout and is made to be functional and free-standing. The pouch had seen success overseas but had yet to catch on in North America. He saw the stand-up pouch as a great opportunity to change the way packaging had been done and wanted to use it for dry products in North America and to “innovate and disrupt traditional products in [the] packaging marketplace.”

Wanting to make the format the next big thing, Calamusa found success by shopping it to the contract packaging industry, in which small to medium-sized companies bring their products to market. ALLIEDFLEX entered a niche in offering its equipment for use by these companies, essentially acting as a go-between for customers looking for package manufacturing and larger companies with products.

Calamusa notes that it can be challenging for smaller companies to compete with larger ones, but many entrepreneurial companies have gotten into the market using stand-up pouch packaging, such as granola companies in the cereal sector or baby food companies like Gerber.

ALLIEDFLEX is happy to be representing very well-respected global packaging machinery companies that specialize in flexible packaging technology. It has also partnered with large strategic partners from Europe which it represents in North America as an exclusive distributor. The company enjoys a strong position in the market today thanks to its years of experience, selling strategy, and robust customer base.

The company has also started a line of machines: FLX. These are slow-to-moderate speed machines intended to be first-level machines for smaller start-ups. Calamusa is still very interested in serving the entrepreneurial customer who is not yet at the size of needing high-speed machines, as these endeavors provide an important spark to the market.

This strategy has helped the business’ growth and added value to it. The addition of spouts to its pouch packaging has also broadened the market. Calamusa adds that automation and turnkey systems are an important part of its growth, as well as product management, line integration, and system management.

Calamusa and ALLIEDFLEX are enthusiastic participants in the Global Pouch Forum, a conference devoted to stand-up pouches. It was established in 1996, held its first event the following year, and is now in its twenty-sixth year in North America. Calamusa regards it as a great success as it provides an annual venue to introduce pouches to hundreds of people and drum up new business, as well as to introduce new products and applications to the format. The 2023 Global Pouch Forum was held in June in Rosemont, Illinois.

ALLIEDFLEX has positioned itself on the cutting edge of packaging technology since its inception, but it is not always so easy to put forth newer solutions to potential clients. A reluctance toward change is what Calamusa sees as one of the biggest ongoing challenges in the packaging industry, as multinational companies have often been dealing with the same packaging methods for centuries and are not convinced by newer techniques.

He believes that younger demographics, especially those familiar with stand-up pouch technology, are more likely to adopt it. Packaging as a whole is growing, and Calamusa feels that its evolution will continue, especially if bigger companies continue to accept the transition toward flexible packaging.

The flexible package is part of both the ALLIEDFLEX product approach and the newer wave of packaging solutions but, in recent years, Calamusa observes that plastic—the primary material that enables flexible packaging like the stand-up pouch and others—has been attacked on many fronts. He feels these attacks are not warranted, as the flexible package is ultimately more environmentally beneficial than other materials like cans, bottles, and jars, which take a tremendous amount of energy and shipping to produce, the infrastructure for which needs to be warehoused and stored as well.

“Even though cans, bottles, and jars are theoretically recyclable, we are only recycling about forty to fifty percent on average,” Calamusa says. He estimates that flexible pouch packaging ships in a single truckload what other containers achieve in twenty-five, meaning flexible pouch packaging reduces energy and pollution as well as packaging costs.

Calamusa advocates for plastic as “a miracle product,” as it is low-cost, efficient, has the greatest longevity and barrier properties, is lightweight, and is the basis of many modern, more efficient products. While he admits that much of plastic ends up in landfills, he stresses that alternatives to it are not nearly as green as purported by some and wishes for the packaging industry to not completely abandon plastic so as not to miss out on the overall benefits that flexible packaging offers the industry.

As far as he is concerned, ALLIEDFLEX will continue to keep itself busy and public-facing in the future. The business typically participates in packaging shows and exhibitions to share its machines, as well as educational forums and conferences, consulting opportunities, and presentations to advocate for and promote flexible packaging technology.

To help broaden its scope within flexible packaging and draw on the expertise of those in its field, the company is a general member of The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, formerly the Packaging Machine Manufacturers Institute, a collective of around 45,000 members, and it will also look to do more work in the future with the Flexible Packaging Association as it aims to deepen its work within its home territory of flexible packaging.

“It’s very important for us to work with the material side of the business and collaborate with our partners and keep the momentum moving forward,” says Calamusa. The demand for packaging is only continuing to grow, so companies like ALLIEDFLEX may soon see a boost, especially as it pertains to new, innovative methods of making sure products get to where they are going safely.

The post Advocating for Change<p class="company">ALLIEDFLEX Technologies</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Running research and development and design services alongside logistics, custom supply chain, complete inventory management, printing, laminating, and pouch making—all while providing an optimum customer experience—is not for the fainthearted. This is what Acorn Packaging provides to its sizeable list of longstanding clients, and that is why they keep returning.

The company delivers what it promises fast, priding itself on speed to market from design all the way through to finished product. It is flexible, and its people listen to clients’ needs. Not only are its teams responsive, but the administrative aspect of the business is also a pleasure to deal with since help is just an email or phone call away.

“We are also minimizing our impact on the environment. We happen to be in the sustainable packaging business but we’re taking that to heart and becoming more sustainable as an entire organization, better managing our environmental footprint in parallel,” says Peter Connelly, President and Chief Operating Officer. The company belongs to the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), and is focused on offering all Polyethylene alternative structures that meet the How2Recycle guidelines.

Acorn Packaging leveraged the organic growth spurred by many of its clients being classed as essential services and product suppliers during the COVID pandemic to set itself on a path of regeneration and rapid evolution over the past four years. “We plan to exceed the industry growth rate which we estimate to be about four to five percent. We’re doing that by engaging employees and offering an unmatched customer experience to our valued clients,” says Connelly, pointing out that producing sustainable products means actively running a more earth-friendly organization. The company is achieving this in various ways, from improving its systems for shipping and freight in ways that optimize space and minimize waste to its use of energy-efficient lighting across its facility.

Overall, using what Connelly refers to as homogenous material combinations of mainly polyethylene-based films processed into stand-up zipper pouches and roll stock is the way to move ahead in this realm. “People don’t fully understand, I think, the role that plastic has to play. A lot of it is recyclable. By extending the shelf-life of materials [inside] the packages it has a positive environmental footprint versus a lot of other packaging options,” Connelly says.

Extended shelf-life is made possible by infusing plastics with a range of engineered barrier properties designed to protect the contents of any package from oxygen. In the trade, this is called “slowing down the oxygen ingression rate,” or minimizing the speed at which oxygen penetrates the package and begins to affect the stability of the contents.

In a bid to meet the demand of product owners, especially those selling in Canadian supermarkets headed toward complying with a 2025 deadline on 100 percent sustainable packaging goals, Acorn Packaging has ramped up its research and development department. Offering more easily recyclable, sustainable packaging materials that perform as well as or better than existing materials is the challenge for this packaging leader, and it is succeeding.

In parallel, the company recently qualified for the prestigious, internationally recognized IFS PACsecure Standard certification. To qualify, converters’ facilities, processes, and products must adhere to strict protocols and rules governing the production of food-safe packaging. Preparation of the facility and processes to achieve this milestone took Acorn two years.

“Being awarded IFS PACsecure Standard certification was a huge accomplishment for our plant and our company,” Connelly says. The certification is kept current by passing strict annual audits.

In addition to this, after around two years of preparation the company will roll out a next-generation version of its existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in September. The system will give the firm access to larger volumes of more reliable, on-the-spot data which promises to support improved decision-making and render a deeper view of the core principles at work across its organization.

The new ERP system “is going to be one of the key drivers for effective growth and customer experience,” says Connelly. “I firmly believe that your decisions are only as good as the data they are based on, and any time you can improve the reliability and timeliness of the data, you can make better decisions, and better decisions lead to better performance.” This domino effect benefits all stakeholders.

After nearly half a century of providing complete solutions, the team is proud to announce these latest contributions to the world of packaging. Acorn is improving the overall performance of its stand-up zipper pouch department to speed up production while expanding its range of pouch designs. The new designs include child-resistant closures aimed at markets that package cannabis products and cleaning agents.

“With a lot of products moving from rigid plastic containers to stand-up zippered pouches, it is understandable that we need to provide the same child-resistant safety features in our offerings.”

Working as a partner rather than simply a supplier, Acorn Packaging is adept at managing smaller packaging lines in cost-effective, low-risk ways that support customer growth and development. In addition, the company keeps track of projected inventory volume demands on behalf of its customers and fabricates accordingly. A few years ago, the company implemented several thorough, well-thought-out new systems to cut down significantly on the minimum six-week lead times of the past. That took significant investments in leading-edge technology, improved processes, customer service training, and updated equipment. Today Acorn Packaging and its customers enjoy the returns on these investments.

The visionary industry leader has never defended the overproduction of plastics; instead, Acorn has actively applied itself to being part of the solution rather than another cause of the plastics problem. To this end, it is known for consciously avoiding what it has referred to as the “over-engineering trend” by guiding customers away from using unnecessary features and materials in their packaging as much as possible. Providing clients with more environmental friendly options remains a top priority for Acorn and its employees.

Thanks to the continuous improvements implemented over the past few years, the company has had the opportunity to turn its production facility into a happy workplace where people thrive in their respective positions. Outlining its robust, strategic position in response to economic downturns, Connelly is adamant about the job security the company provides.

“We advertise ourselves as a job-for-life opportunity. For anybody looking for steady work, this is a good place to be. We proved that during COVID and the high inflation period we are still in now,” he says.

Naturally, none of its successes would be possible without its outstanding team of 100 people and their dedication and commitment to the business and its customers. Their drive to give customers an enjoyable experience is another appealing quality that sets the company apart from competitors.

“They demonstrate this commitment every day—employees raising issues when they find them. Not just doing their job, but caring about the product that they produce. What makes our people great is their willingness to change, their willingness to go through some uncomfortable times.”

Connelly acknowledges that this is not nearly as easy or simple as it may sound. “It truly is transformational in terms of [how] people approach their work and the level of commitment it takes to be good at this.”

To him, this proves, once again, that employee satisfaction is not automatically acquired. It is born of clear communication across the organization, ensuring everyone is genuinely happy and informed instead of just guessing that they are. By cultivating a well-cared-for team, Acorn Packaging is assured of the loyalty needed to expand its output effectively.

The COVID-19 restriction period stands out as an example of how well this works. “Their commitment levels were just exemplary. I was really proud. I think achieving what they achieved, under those circumstances, is outstanding,” Connelly says with a smile. “We still managed to muscle through it all and get customers the products they needed when they needed them. It was exceptional… People adapted so quickly. They had their eye on the prize.”

Another recent proud moment came in the form of the company’s renewed collective bargaining agreement last year. To Connelly, the real success was that all stakeholders contributed equally to reaching a fair deal for all involved during a challenging economic season. Describing the company’s evolution as a journey, he understands that organizational change takes time but that the effort to attain it is entirely worth it.

After a lifetime in packaging, Connelly joined the company two years ago after realizing its expansion potential given ownership’s openness to evolution. A team player to the core, he ascribes the company’s success to each employee’s contributions. Acorn approaches its overall goal of continuing to outperform industry growth with this mindset daily. With improved sustainability at the forefront of everything it does, Acorn Packaging is committed to continued growth of flexible packaging in the North American market with its solid customer-for-life model at the core.

The post Sustainable Packaging Is the Name of the Game<p class="company">Acorn Packaging</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Layfield’s mission is to develop innovative products that prioritize the protection of employees, communities, and the environment. With decades of experience and a single-source model, they deliver customized and sustainable packaging to serve their customers better. Since its acquisition in 1978, Layfield has become a robust, fully integrated organization offering tailored polymer-based solutions. Their success is attributed to 45 years of business experience, a focus on a culture of innovation, cutting-edge technology, and industry-leading equipment and processes. The company’s commitment to quality products has earned them industry-wide recognition.

President Mark Rose expresses pride in Layfield Flexible Films’ recognition as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies. He highlights their commitment to excellence, innovation, and sustainable business practices, emphasizing operational efficiency, strong leadership, and long-term strategic planning. Rose proudly acknowledges the talented team at Layfield, whose consistent delivery of high-quality products and exceptional customer service contributed to this achievement. Layfield has also achieved Platinum status in this category, adding another accolade to their impressive collection.

The company maintains a forward-thinking approach, constantly exploring opportunities for product expansion to meet evolving customer needs. Layfield’s upcoming developments primarily focus on supporting a circular economy with low-carbon solutions aligned with their sustainability goals. They strive to remain at the forefront of industry trends, investing in revolutionary technologies.

Layfield operates in various markets, including medical, industrial, construction, soil stabilization, drainage, water storage, environmental protection, food, and pet food sectors. Their flexible film product offerings cater to various applications and help brand owners differentiate themselves with premium features that enhance their product’s look, feel, convenience, and sustainability. The company intentionally diversifies into these markets, targeting the premium segment and providing a competitive advantage to their strategic partners.

Recognizing the plastic industry’s role in contributing to a low-carbon economy, Layfield places great importance on sustainability. They actively participate in circular economy initiatives, invest in research and development of eco-friendly materials and processes, and promote recycling, waste reduction, and renewable energy sources. Layfield’s products often provide lightweight, durable, and energy-efficient solutions, helping industries reduce energy consumption and overall environmental impact.

Rose challenges the misconception that plastic is inherently bad for the environment. He accentuates the environmentally friendly characteristic of flexible films, underscoring their low carbon footprint and highlighting the necessity to avoid replacing plastic with higher carbon alternatives. While acknowledging end-of-life challenges with plastic, he advocates for increased recycling rates and emphasizes the need to use the lowest carbon solutions available.

Layfield has faced challenges as a North American manufacturer operating with higher standards than many foreign competitors. However, their ability to adapt and overcome challenges has been a core competency. They have successfully navigated supply chain disruptions, implemented innovative solutions to accelerate operational efficiency, and provided uninterrupted service to customers during the pandemic. The company’s achievements include successfully launching PPE items such as highly breathable and safe respirators, showcasing Layfield’s agility, resilience, and commitment to quality, safety, and continuous improvement.

Looking ahead, Layfield aims to enhance their position as a leader in the flexible packaging industry by driving innovation, expanding their global reach, and strengthening strategic partnerships. They strive to develop sustainable solutions that meet evolving customer needs and contribute to a circular economy. Layfield is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace, promoting employee well-being, and giving back to the communities they serve.

Layfield’s unwavering commitment to quality, innovation, and sustainability, along with their reputation for exceptional customer service, sets them apart. They provide customized solutions tailored to unique customer requirements, staying ahead of industry trends through proactive research and development and offering pioneering solutions that give customers a competitive edge.

The company actively engages with governments, industry, and brand owners on pressing issues like plastic waste. Their focus on ethical and sustainable operations is reflected in their motto, “We Protect! Our Communities, Our People, Our Environment,” which encompasses all their products and services. Layfield holds various certifications, including ISO 9001:2015, MDEL (Medical Device Establishment License), IFS PACsecure certification for packaging safety, and the WorkSafeBC Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) COR certification.

Amid changes in the economy, industry conditions, and technology, Layfield remains committed to customization, sustainable solutions, and advocating for clients and the environment. They continue to cultivate and empower a talented workforce to support their long-term vision and that of their customers. Whether supplying packaging and films for diverse industries or delivering flood control products, Layfield prioritizes safety, environmental protection, and the well-being of families and the environment.

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“We do it because we think it’s the right thing,” says Tom Black, Director of International Business for Kuraray’s PLANTIC division. “Our products are made, we believe, to do the right thing. And we think that sustainability aligns itself acutely with our product mix.”

Next-level sustainable packaging
Kuraray’s commitment to sustainable barrier packaging is rooted in the revolutionary PLANTIC™. The world’s most advanced bio-based plastic, PLANTIC™ is a plant-based biopolymer derived from starch and primarily used in the food space. Designed to prevent oxygen and other gases from flowing in or out, such impermeable structures keep flavor and aroma inside a package while keeping contaminants out. Its high gas barrier properties make it ideal for compostable and easy-to-recycle multilayer packaging. The technology extends shelf life, helping to reduce waste. Beyond food uses, PLANTIC-based barrier packaging can also protect other products susceptible to contamination, including lotions, shampoos, detergents and more.

“PLANTIC™ is a plant-based material derived from starch, so it has very, very low LCA/Life Cycle Assessment,” Black explains. “It’s a savings in terms of energy and CO₂ emissions.”

This savings is a key factor in the material’s popularity. Black says PLANTIC, when used in multi-layer packaging, dramatically reduces the environmental impacts of conventional packaging materials while bringing reusability to materials once considered not recyclable.

“People gravitate to it due to it being plant-based and because of the LCA,” he says. “We supply customers with a report quarterly which tells them how many tons of CO₂ they saved by switching from their incumbent material to a PLANTIC™ material.”

Black uses the example of a tray for packaging chocolates as an ideal use for PLANTIC™ materials. “When you’re done with it, you can put it in the sink and wash it down the drain. It’s a very elegant solution. It’s a great product in that context.” In addition, the technology offers good aroma resistance, “so that the coconut chocolate doesn’t taste like the strawberry chocolate next to it.”

But what about meat packaging, which involves high-humidity environments? The solution is to layer different materials. “If we put a lot of polyethylene terephthalate (a form of polyester) on one side, put the PLANTIC™ barrier in the middle, and put a polyethylene sealant layer on top, now I can make a tray that takes care of fresh red meat in an MAP tray design,” Black says. The concept works equally well for poultry, fish or even fresh pasta.

MAP, or modified atmosphere packaging, optimizes the gaseous atmosphere surrounding the food within the package to keep it fresh. “We end up extending the shelf life,” Black says. “A third of the world’s food that gets produced is wasted, so we help to reduce that food waste.”

PLANTIC™ EP is Kuraray’s new grade of PLANTIC™. Recognizing the need for brand owners to certify the sustainability of their packaging, Kuraray submitted the material to Western Michigan University (WMU) to verify its repulpability and recyclability. In October 2022, the pouch was certified as recyclable, laying the groundwork for sustainable barrier pouch and carton formats for brand owners and converters. “With PLANTIC™ EP, the market now has a high-barrier option that can be fully recoverable and recyclable in the U.S. paper stream,” the company shared in a release.

“Recognizing the recyclability certification from WMU is a big first step in securing a How2Recycle claim,” Black explains. “When developing packaging formats for brand owners, converters want to see that products have first been vetted by WMU. Its certification allows converters to apply for a pre-qualification letter from How2Recycle, effectively fast-tracking adoption of PLANTIC EP-based, high-barrier solutions.”

A century of innovation
Kuraray launched in Japan in 1926. The original goal was to commercialize synthetic rayon—a leading-edge technology of that day. Today, the company brings its innovative solutions to a diverse range of industries including paper and packaging, architecture, pharmaceutical, textiles, automotive, agriculture and healthcare.

The Kuraray Group operates multiple subsidiaries, employing more than 11,000 people in over 30 countries, and it boasts advanced research and production facilities around the world as well as a global supply network. Kuraray America, Inc. (KAI), which is headquartered in Houston, operates 14 facilities within the United States, including offices, research and development facilities and production facilities. KAI employs a total of 850 people throughout the nation.

The road ahead
With such a strong, proven track record and global presence, Kuraray is well positioned to continue leading in innovative, sustainable packaging. “Without naming names, I can tell you that we’ve been approached by nearly every major, significant brand owner you can think of who have to deal with barrier solutions looking for sustainable options and sustainability,” Black shares.

And he predicts that demand for next-generation, sustainable packaging will only increase. “It’s not going anywhere. It’s here to stay and [further] innovation is coming.” Kuraray is eager to build on the company’s strong foundation to continue leading the way in innovating for a sustainable future.

The post Innovation in Packaging<p class="company">Kuraray America, Inc.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

An industry leader in the custom fabrication of flexible cellular and plastic materials, Federal Foam serves clients in agriculture, construction, power sports, medical, retail and consumer products, and other sectors. While doing so, Federal Foam has acquired considerable business assets, completed a 100,000-square-foot warehouse expansion, earned an EcoVadis Silver Sustainability Rating, purchased additional industrial property, invested in machinery, and became a certified women-owned business.

“To say that we’re experiencing growth is kind of an understatement,” says Todd R. Kidder, Federal Foam’s Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “We’re expanding in many areas.”

Federal Foam’s roots trace back to the founding of Federal Paper Stock Company in 1914, which expanded into the polyurethane market in the late 1950s. Growing through a series of acquisitions and new business ventures over the decades, parent company Federal International Inc.’s family of companies today includes Federal Foam Technologies, Federal Recycling & Waste Solutions, and Federal Eco Foam.

“For over 75 years, we’ve been supplying our customers with millions of components of the highest quality foam, fiber, and plastic material in markets all over the world including agriculture, construction, power sports, truck/bus, medical, industrial, and retail/consumer products industries,” says President and CEO Wyman Smith. “The company has grown tremendously over the last few years with various acquisitions, investment in new equipment, and new talent brought in.”

To keep up with demand, Federal Foam recently purchased an industrial building and land near its New Richmond, Wisconsin facility. “As our company continues to grow its customer base, expanding our infrastructure allows us to extend our reach, enhance our offerings, and continue to build a robust team,” says Smith.

Kidder adds that, “This expansion is a testament to our continued success and growth as a company. With two locations near one another, we’re looking forward to reinforcing our state-of-the-art plant operations in New Richmond with additional space, capacity, and talent.” The 47,000-square-foot building on 4.3 acres will be converted and up and running this year.

Along with the building and land acquisition, Federal Foam constantly invests in making manufacturing more efficient. The company’s latest investments include a new vacuum former, robotic waterjet, and die press for its New Richmond facility, and a new CNC foam-cutting machine for its Ellsworth facility. The company is also upgrading processes at all its facilities over the next 12 to 24 months to further expand capacity, an investment of over $2 million.

These investments secure the future growth of Federal Foam, says Mark Siegfried, Director of Operations. “Part of it is having the capacity to meet our customers’ needs. Some of the equipment has newer technology than our older, legacy equipment, which will help us further enhance our processing capabilities and energy efficiency.”

Federal International, Inc. has been a private, family-owned business since 1914. In 2022, the ownership transitioned to fourth-generation women family members, which allowed the company to be certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC) Midwest last year. To qualify, businesses must be at least 51 percent owned, operated, and controlled by a woman or women.

Federal Foam’s President Smith says there are many benefits to female ownership. It lets employees, suppliers, and customers know that this is a diverse, inclusive company. “We embrace all kinds of different people from all walks of life,” he says, “and it’s exciting. I’ve been with the company for almost 40 years, managing the Federal Foam business, and it’s been part of my nature to have a diverse team. Having a diverse staff and workforce brings a lot of different viewpoints into running the business. It also makes us more attractive in certain bid situations, and some of our customers are looking to have suppliers that have diverse ownership.”

Although the recent WBENC certification is a considerable milestone, Federal Foam has long been a company of inclusion, with many of the women within the company filling key roles. Two out of five executive staff members at Federal Foam are female, as are many working at management levels and on the production floor.

“We’re pretty diverse in our workforce,” adds Smith. “It’s not dominated by any one gender, race, or anything else. I only see us further increasing our workforce diversity.”

Satisfying the need for foam in markets as diverse as industrial, commercial vehicles, healthcare, fenestration, and crafts creates waste, and Federal Foam takes an active role in sustainability.

Federal Foam’s scrap urethane foam trim is 100 percent recycled, and some is baled and sold back into industries that create re-bond foam. Although Federal Foam doesn’t itself maintain the capabilities to re-process the material, the company uses re-bond foam for some of its products.

Products that cannot be re-processed into usable materials do not go to landfills but become waste-to-energy fuel. And outside of polyurethane foam, Federal Foam sends its plastics back to its plastics supplier.

“We take that scrap and interject it into our raw material because we can have a certain amount of what is called re-grind that goes into the raw materials,” Smith explains. “So how much we send them will depend on how much goes into our product. From that standpoint, it’s full-circle recycling for our plastics.”

Sustainability also runs throughout other branches of the Federal family of companies. Federal Recycling & Waste Solutions provides recycling and waste management services for commercial businesses, helping them develop more profitable, sustainable operations. For over half a century, Federal Eco Foam has led the way in recycling polyurethane foams into innovative, high-performing products for diverse applications and industries.

To keep up with changes in the industry, Federal Foam attends trade shows such as Foam Expo North America 2023, which was held in late June. At the Expo, the company also unveiled some of its recent marketing and new branding, which will accompany Federal Foam’s re-vamped website, launching in the coming months.

Many factors continue setting Federal Foam apart from the competition, from its diverse high-quality product and service offerings to its people. “We’ve got some high-caliber, qualified individuals in key areas, whether it be operations, engineering or sales, to make projects successful, not only for us but for the customer,” says Siegfried of the company’s 350+ strong staff. “Being transparent and innovative in our approach is one of our strongest attributes.”

Considerable growth over the years means Federal Foam is no mom-and-pop shop, but still structured in such a way that the company remains extremely flexible. Unlike some companies, there aren’t multiple layers of management to slow down approval processes.

“We’re pretty nimble in our ability to react, get feedback to customers, and make decisions,” says Smith. “That continues to be an asset to us.”

The post Investing in the Future<p class="company">Federal Foam Technologies</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

“An ANSI-accredited standards developing organization,” NEMA gives its members a voice and supports them by “expanding market opportunities, acquiring exclusive business intelligence, removing market barriers, building supply chain connections, and harnessing innovation,” the association’s website describes.

Founded in 1926, the association’s role has proven critical. “It was important in standardization of technologies and safety,” says NEMA President Debra Phillips. “Safety was a huge part of the birth of widespread electricity. A main portion of its mission at that time was to develop industry standards that would be widely adopted to keep this technology safe so that consumers could use it [and be] safe from health hazards, safe from fires, safe from explosions. That major role of standardization and safety has been core and central since the association was formed and that continues today.”

Now, after decades of growth, “We have a library of over 700 standards for all kinds of electrical technologies that keep those devices safe and standardize our national electrical system,” Phillips says. “Many of our standards have been adopted into the National Electrical Code and are referenced in regulations at the state and federal levels. So that part of the association, that value that we bring to the industry, has been part of our legacy from the beginning.”

NEMA works closely with the government to represent and support the industry, “and that could be at state and local level for those that are looking at electrical code adoption or at the federal level around regulations that are affecting the industry,” says Phillips. “We play that role as the voice of the industry to bring the perspective of electrical manufacturers.”

Providing market intelligence is another critical part of NEMA’s mission. “We collect data from our members, help them understand market dynamics so that they can make informed decisions regarding their businesses and their technology,” Phillips says.

Currently, NEMA is zeroed in on three major areas of activity. These are related to macro trends that affect the full gamut of electrical manufacturers, who can be involved with anything from lighting and HVAC systems to motors and wires. “It’s a pretty diverse mixture,” Phillips says, “but there are some things that are going on across society that have a general impact across all of those technologies and companies, and that’s where we’ve been focused.”

The first area of NEMA activity is infrastructure investment. “In late 2021, Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is spending $1.2 trillion to modernize our nation’s infrastructure,” Phillips explains, “and of that $1.2 trillion, about a third of it is being invested in some type of electrical infrastructure.” This includes the electrification of ports and transportation systems, electric vehicles, and automation technologies.

“So we’ve really been focused on understanding what’s in that package, how those dollars are being rolled out, how they’re going to be spent,” she says. “There are about four major federal agencies that are directing that funding, but a lot of it is flowing through state and local agencies, and so we’ve been spending time trying to educate on what’s the best, highest-value use of those dollars on those technologies so that they can be future-proofed and we’re not spending money on technologies that are going to be obsolete in ten years.”

As part of this activity, NEMA has “ramped up a portal that allows members to track those dollars as they’re being released so that they can have a line of sight into which agencies and individuals are controlling the spend. It gives them the ability to bring their products and technologies forward for investment.”

NEMA’s focus on infrastructure extends to multiple other laws and acts, including the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as private investment. “A lot of federal money is being channeled toward electrification and electrical infrastructure modernization, which is great,” says Phillips, “and accompanying that public spend are private sector dollars. We have an environment where this country is, at a federal level, investing in infrastructure, and we’re also seeing a huge amount of interest from the private sector pouring in as companies start to invest in manufacturing facilities in this country, given this enabling environment that’s been created through legislation.”

Around $6 billion in private sector investments have been announced over the last year or so, in addition to the public sector dollar. “There’s just been a huge amount of funding that’s been coming in to modernize infrastructure and bring some critical manufacturing within this industry back to this country,” Phillips shares. “So that focus on infrastructure has been a big, big part of what we’re focused on and watching and supporting.”

NEMA’s second area of activity centers on the supply chain. “Our industry, like many others across the economy, experienced quite a crunch in raw materials during COVID,” Phillips explains. “Much of that has alleviated; however, there are still a few critical supply chain areas that we’re concerned about.” Electrical steel, critical minerals, and chips are all at risk for shortages.

NEMA recently led a coalition to ask the White House to host a summit on electrical steel and address the limited number of producers in the United States. “We see the demand for electrical steel increasing dramatically,” Phillips shares. “The production is already in short supply here and we think that that’s going to be exacerbated over time.”

Critical minerals are “a really important part of the new electrical economy,” she explains. “They’re critically important for battery storage in particular. It’s important that this country has access to those critical minerals here, where they can be produced safely under a very modern and robust regulatory regime so that we’re not reliant on other countries.”

Ensuring that electrical manufacturers have an adequate supply of chips is also critically important. “Many of our products are becoming smart; they have chips embedded in them [but] they’re not the high-tech chips that are being used today in automobiles. They are legacy chips that are not as advanced, and we want to make sure that we have adequate domestic supply of those types of chips. In fact, there’s a portion of funding in the CHIPS Act specifically for those types of chips that are intensely used by this industry and allow our buildings and our infrastructure to continue to operate. So we’ve been very active in that part of the infrastructure equation.”

NEMA’s third area of activity involves the energy transition. This effort considers the “move away from more carbon-intensive sources of our energy in this country to more electrified sources and what role we, as a trade association, and our companies as technology providers, play to accelerate that transition,” says Phillips. “As we’re going through that transition, we’re making sure that our grid stays resilient, that we’ve got the appropriate energy efficiency technologies to take pressure off the grid, and that we invest in renewables, energy storage, and other technologies that are going to promote this transition.”

“We’ve been doing a good bit of mapping in this area,” she adds. “We launched an interactive map that shows the policy enablers as well as key barriers for us making this journey through the energy transition and also advancing legislation that really hits on the energy efficiency pieces that we think are going to be critical to getting through this transition and taking pressure off the grid.”

After leading the industry for nearly a century, NEMA is more than ready to support the industry as it moves into the future. From promoting infrastructure investment to ensuring the availability of raw materials and shepherding manufacturers through the energy transition, the association remains confidently at the helm, steering the industry forward.

The post The Voice of an Industry<p class="company">National Electrical Manufacturers Association</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

The company is known for having one of the largest, most varied magnet and specialty wire inventories available, and, if MWS does not have exactly what a customer needs, the team will find it or make it.

Established in 1968, the Oxnard, California-based business has been sourcing specially tailored wire solutions for over half a century. Industries served include medical, aerospace, automotive, computers, electronics, music, sensors, and telecommunications.

A new state-of-the-art production facility enables the team to meet customers’ unique needs, from product development through the qualification phases. The facility totals 75,000 square feet including offices, with 25,000 square feet dedicated to manufacturing space and 40,000 square feet to warehouse space. Most of the production equipment was made exclusively for the facility, and the facility was specially designed to accommodate tight deadlines. In fact, the team specializes in short production runs and quick turnarounds, so customers can get what they need when they need it.

Service first
MWS adopted its niche approach as a natural response to customer demand. “When we first began selling wire, we were just known as a magnet wire supplier,” Yelich says. “That’s all that we were doing; we were just a distributor. Now we’re a custom manufacturer and distributor because we tried never to say no to customers who were buying wire products.”

At the time, “You could call all these wire companies in the world, and everybody would have the standard commodity, off-the-shelf products,” he remembers. However, customers needed wire that was not a standard, off-the-shelf product, and they reached out to MWS with their requests.

“‘I called all the other suppliers and they can’t do it,’” Yelich remembers customers saying, “and we thought, well, let’s try not to say ‘no.’ Let’s try to say ‘yes.’ So we started building equipment and manufacturing. We started making products that you couldn’t buy anywhere in the world.”

As the demand for niche products continued to grow, the team intensified its focus on meeting specialty wire needs. “We just started to build upon that in our manufacturing department,” he explains. “We started adding equipment—drawing equipment, enameling equipment—just based on these special needs the customers had… We basically turned from just a normal distributor supplying products that everybody could get, into a very unique, custom, niche-oriented company.”

MWS customers often need smaller amounts of wire than standard manufacturers and suppliers can offer. “When someone can’t buy the minimum, they come to MWS, and we supply them with smaller lengths,” says Manufacturing Manager Mark Rodda. For instance, a customer may only need a thousand feet of wire for a research and development project, too small an order for most larger manufacturers to accommodate. MWS, on the other hand, specializes in these types of orders because the company can custom-make them in-house.

Supplying critical industries
Though given little attention, magnet and specialty wire are critical products that surround us wherever we go. “It’s one of those things that makes life a lot easier and is in everyday life products,” Rodda says. “You just don’t know about it because it’s behind the scenes.” For example, MWS’ unique wire products enhance the performance of a wide range of computer-related components and peripherals.

The company’s specialty wires are also incorporated into a variety of medical equipment including intracardiac mapping catheters, intravascular ultrasound imaging systems, intracardiac ablation catheters and systems, spinal cord stimulators, cardiac rhythm products, treatment devices for cerebral vascular disease, and endoscopic therapeutic devices.

The aerospace and defense industries use MWS’ fine and ultra-fine precision wire for deep space exploration, electronics, flight controls, avionics, GPS, navigation systems, sensors, probes, and weather systems. The electronics industry is another major customer, particularly since the demand for sophisticated wire has increased as lower voltage applications replace outdated high voltage combinations, and with the increased emphasis on miniaturization.

Guitar manufacturers also use MWS’ specialty wire, which is created with the understanding that the insulation type, thickness, and purity of the copper all influence the tone of the musical instrument.

MWS supports research and development in the automotive industry when unique wire solutions are required. The company’s state-of-the-art product facility is ideal for drawing, shaping, serving, twisting, and insulating custom automotive wire. MWS wire is also used in sensors, a technology that picks up input from the physical environment and then transmits this data in the form of electrical signals to gauges or other electronics.

And, even though wireless communication has become standard, the telecommunications industry still uses MWS wire, since new transmission processes and equipment continue to require traditional copper and specialty wire to extend transmission capacity and speed.

With so many industries relying on the company, MWS is a small business that makes a big impact. “We’re a small family-owned company,” Yelich says. “We’re about seventy employees. We’re not this big corporation, but we do a lot of special, unique products to serve the industry.”

This makes MWS a crucial player within its market. “During COVID, there was no way we could close our business because we’re supporting too many important industries out there; aerospace in particular with military and defense,” says Yelich. “We fill such a critical need within the wire industry. These products—that you can’t buy anywhere as you can imagine—are so special that, if we somehow were closed, it would have a bad ripple effect on a lot of businesses within the world. Those customers really rely upon the products that we offer.”

Quality is key
The pressure is high to supply reliable products due to the critical nature of the industries served. “Our challenge is: how do we ensure quality from the very beginning to the very end of the wire?” Rodda says. “So MWS is at the cutting edge of using AI technology and end-line inspection.”

The medical device market in particular requires this top-notch level of quality control due to the high stakes involved. Rodda uses the example of a washing machine, which uses wire to conduct electricity to run the motor.

“If that motor fails because of the wire, well, you’ve got maybe a bad load of laundry, right? If the wire fails in a catheter in a medical device, that’s a serious issue. The risk assessment there is much higher, and so we are under a different sort of environment in the medical wire field than, say, in the industrial.”

A pacemaker is another example of a medical product that requires the highest quality specialty wire. “The pacemaker is sending an impulse to the heart to stimulate it to pump,” Rodda says. “That impulse is generated by a coil of magnet wire. You really want that wire to be good.” The team understands the challenges of manufacturing for the medical industry, and how to meet those challenges. “You have to go into it knowing the risk and you have to mitigate that risk as much as possible.”

MWS has spent decades forging a niche approach that sets the company apart in the marketplace—and the team intends to continue meeting unique customer needs for many more decades to come.

“We’re trying to give them all the things that we have to offer, which are special, unique products, very quick answers, very quick deliveries, the best service, and the highest quality,” Yelich summarizes. “That really encompasses who MWS is.”

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