The 2009 Global Pouch Forum was held last week in Sawgrass, FL.  While the trends in the packaging market were becoming apparent at Global Pouch 2008, it is clear that flexible packaging - which includes formats such as stickpacks, beverage pouches, and liquid bag-in-box - is gaining share on PET Bottles and Cartonboard Packs for a wide range of consumer packaged goods categories. 

Dennis Calamusa from AlliedFlex Technologies gave a Keynote address entitled "The Repackaging of America".  In the words of Mr. Calamusa, " The momentum of global change toward Flexible Packaging is dramatic and unstoppable." 

Driving the trend toward flexible packaging are the evolving priorities of consumers and brand owners for sustainability, convenience, and food safety, as well as the need to compete for shelf appeal.  Flexible pacakging technology advancements have been addressing  these priorities, with notable innovations such as reclosability features (spouts, zippers, sliders, fitments), more alternatives to creating shelf stable product (aseptic filling and retortable pouches), and increasingly "cooler" designs (with many originating in Japan).  

Of particular interest, Laurence Last of IPN discussed the dramatically lower carbon footprint of the spouted beverage vs. traditional packaging formats based on raw material and production:

AEB has been active in developing solutions for aseptic pouch filling, as discussed n a prior blog post.  Josh Epstein, Director of Marketing for AEB, continued the discussion at Global Pouch 2009 with a talk entitled "Electron Beams: Enabling new Opportunties for Aseptic Flexible Packaging."  To download the entire presentation, click the icon below.

Download PDF version of presentation.