Even an advanced Google search is likely to pull up hundreds if not thousands of possibilities. How many times have you wondered if there was an easier way to find solutions to your packaging challenges? At least three service providers did more than just wonder:
Services offer ways to hook up with suppliers
Even an advanced Google search is likely to pull up hundreds if not thousands of possibilities. How many times have you wondered if there was an easier way to find solutions to your packaging challenges? At least three service providers did more than just wonder:1. Elsevier, publisher of scientific, technical and medical information, launched its new website “illumin8” in late February. Designed to help corporate research and development workers with technical questions, the website combines search and semantic indexing technologies to extract information from Elsevier’s textual content, scientific abstracts, patents and web pages.
2. NineSigma, launched in 2000, offers a network of scientists, university researchers and technology incubators spanning industries, geographies and technical disciplines to help answer questions and solve problems.
3. PackagingXchange, an interactive marketplace dedicated to packaging executives andbuyers, simplifies tendering and procurement through a forum equally accessible by buyers and sellers. Packaging end users’ needs are ascertained through interviews, and they are then matched with sellers through a structured series of meetings held at an annual PackagingXchange summit. PackagingXchange is a joint venture between VerticalXchange and BNP Media, publisher ofFood & Beverage Packagingmagazine.
- Randy Hofbauer, assistant editor
Elsevier
800-221-1044
NineSigma
216-295-4800
PackagingXchange
952-224-4390
Corrugated, paperboard box demand rising in U.S.
Demand for corrugated and paperboard boxes is expected to rise 2.5% annually through 2012 to $39.9 billion, according to a new study by theFreedonia Group.The study, Corrugated & Paperboard Boxes, says that corrugated and solid fiber box sales, which accounted for more than 70% of demand for all fiber-based boxes in 2007, will increase 2.7% annually through 2012 to $28.8 billion. Growth will be based on their niche as low-cost shipping containers, as well as sustainability.
Folding paperboard box demand will increase 1.7% annually through 2012 to $10.5 billion. Increasing importance of higher-value boxes offering improved printing will bolster advances in graphics capabilities.
Foods and beverages will remain the largest markets for boxes, accounting for more than 40% of demand in 2012.
