Doug Peckenpaugh, Publisher of the Packaging Group at BNP Media, spoke to attendees of the recent sold-out Converters Expo in Green Bay, Wisconsin, about current trends influencing converters across multiple industries.

One of those interviewees was Chris Marshall, Midwest Area Sales Manager for BOBST North America’s flexible packaging business.

Of course, one of the big trends in the industry is sustainability, and Marshall explained BOBST’s multi-pronged approach to sustainable packaging.

“There’s the application side of the business where we’ve developed the one-barrier solutions – high-barrier single polymer solutions and high-barrier paper solutions,” Marshall said. “Then there’s also the sustainability angle of the presses, where we’re increasing the efficiency of the presses, thus allowing them to be more sustainable.”

Marshall also explained how the BOBST Connect digital platform improves packaging productivity.

“BOBST Connect allows converters an unparalleled amount of data, such as linear meters, ink usage, downtime, downtime reasons,” Marshall explained. “A whole host of data that used to be quite fragmented now is put together in one package that we call BOBST Connect.”

Marshall also touched on the current regulatory environment that appears to be coaxing some firms away from plastic and toward paper.

“We did a sustainability show a couple of weeks ago, and we spoke about nothing else but paper,” Marshall said. “We are starting to really see a swing in North America towards paper solutions, and until the recycling stream in the U.S. is generated for flexible packaging, we think that’s going to continue.”

Be sure to check out the entire podcast interview below to get the whole story.