Packbridge asked the question in a recent workshop – How can we attract the right talent into the packaging industry?

Kristina Ljungkvist, Academic Search International

On September 23rd, Familjen Helsingborg played host to Packbridge after 3, where the theme was “How to attract the right talent to the packaging industry?” Education is very important to Packbridge and we have close collaborations with a number of universities and colleges. In addition, we have played an active role in the creation of the Packaging Technician vocational course at Eslöv.

There is considerable need for a trained workforce, which is clear not least from the fact that many of the students attending the courses available in Sweden get jobs immediately after completing their studies. Four presentations were on offer to participants this time. First was Kristina Ljungkvist, Senior Consultant at Academic Search International. Her presentation focused on strategies to consider when you want to develop your workforce.

Joakim Lundblad, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Southern Sweden

From the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Southern Sweden came Senior Analyst, Joakim Lundblad. He spoke about staff development and asked everyone to forget the word talent; a word that he doesn’t like. Everyone in an organisation has talent and it is really a question of taking advantage of their expertise and making it possible for everyone to “step up”, i.e. to develop further. Both Kristina and Joakim’s presentations emphasised the importance of presence and links to social media, and that was also the case when Hanna Wallteg came up on stage to represent the students.

Hanna Wallteg, Ecolean

Hanna studied for three years at Broby Grafiska in Sunne and is now working as a marketing assistant for the packaging company Ecolean whilst at the same time blogging for the Scanpack trade fair. She emphasised the importance of being present on social media, of having the courage to invest in the newly trained and, at an even earlier stage, of offering placement opportunities, the lack of which is a constant problem for schools. The packaging industry wants to have more skilled labour, but it is generally quite reluctant to provide placement places. This is not a sensible contradiction!

The last presenter was Martina Oxling, who is Career Operations Manager for the Skåne Food Innovation Network. She talked about what they are doing to attract young and well-educated students. The Skåne Food Innovation Network has an interesting trainee programme that is intended to attract students to work in the food industry. As part of this, for example, it has formed a network with HR managers from different companies. It also adopts a cross-functional approach with people from different companies and in different roles. The Skåne Food Innovation Network also helps to place innovation trainees with its partner companies.

Martina Oxling, Skåne Food Innovation Network

As usual, the programme ended with a panel discussion led by Johan Mårtensson, who from 1 October will be the new CEO of Packbridge.

“In your strategy for the future it’s important to think about the fact that the packaging of the future will be created by skills which are currently lacking in our member companies. This may be nanotechnology or sensor technology, for example”, said Johan Mårtensson on the issue of attracting the right talent to the packaging industry.

The full Packbridge after 3 event is available for everyone to view by following the link, or by going directly to Packbridge TV on YouTube.