Packbridge after 3 focused on changes in the business world that we should be exploiting

Robert Östman, Beneli

The only thing that is constant in the world today is change. That’s how Per-Stefan Gersbro introduced Packbridge’s latest Packbridge after 3 workshop, which was hosted by label producer Beneli in Helsingborg. The company calls itself a “global, leading label manufacturer with a twist”, according to MD Robert Östman. Functionality, design and innovation are what make the twist, he said, and presented a new product; a label that can be applied inside the human body and which measures heart function. There is a lot of money to be saved. For example, Beneli also works with Acreo in the production of smart labels with printed electronics which do things such as keeping track of the ambient temperature a drug is exposed to. This is extremely important, especially in the subtropical climate and during emergency relief efforts. A label is still a label, but today it can be so much more too.

The theme for the day was “How will change in the global business context affect packaging?” Around fifty people gathered at Beneli for the workshop and, as usual, many more watched via the livestream.

Lisa Önnerlid, W Communication Agency

The first speaker was Lisa Önnerlid from W Communication Agency. She gave us an insight into the most prominent current trends in the communication world. Every year her company analyses the current trends, and this year the following areas are included:

Content Marketing
Personalisation
Mobile marketing
Wearable tech
Tradition
Authenticity

Of these, Lisa only had time to focus on personalisation and authenticity. Everyone wants to stand out and be special, and there’s a new word for this today: “Youniverse”. We want the whole universe to revolve around us. An example of how self-centred we are becoming can be seen in the Coca Cola campaign where first names are put on bottles. Last year this led to the group increasing its sales by 2.5%; the first time in ten years that growth had improved for them.

Benedicte Kristoffersson, BK Consulting

Reliability, or authenticity, was the second word, and this is very important for all brands. The consumers must know that you can trust them. Those who succeed in this have great opportunities and can withstand attempts at piracy. Transparency is required to achieve this. Lisa gave a number of tips about the two concepts she had discussed.

Benedicte Kristoffersson from BK Consulting gave a number of examples of the sort of changes that are affecting packaging. She has a background at Procordia, now Orkla, as product manager and export director of Felix, and she now runs her own consulting firm. Benedicte gave examples, from Orkla, of innovation in packaging that reflected change. Openability, the environment, “on the go”, and new ways to serve food, were all included in her presentation. Among other things she demonstrated easy opening lids for glass jars and minimal packaging for super concentrated FUN Light drink.

Maud Rahm, Flextrus

Maud Rahm, MD of Flextrus, gave her views on how the packaging industry can benefit from the world we are now living in. The Earth turns as it always has, but today’s information flow is quite different. Being able to manage this flow the right way is the key to success, says Maud. Many people are afraid of the concept of Big Data, but we shouldn’t be. It requires work to deal with it, but done right there are huge benefits. Those who use data in a better way can be compared to the people who long ago first started pumping oil; in other words they will be very successful. It is also important to understand your USP, i.e. unique selling proposition. Success also requires a good workforce and great teamwork inside the organisation.

“Do it with passion or not at all” were Maud Rahm’s final words.

Jenny Bramell, IUC Skåne

IUC Skåne and Jenny Bramell took the stage after Maud. IUCs are Industrial Development Centres, and IUC Skåne is one of 15 such development centres in the country. IUC works a little like Packbridge by connecting people and businesses together, but it works from a broader perspective. Jenny also spoke about the digitisation of society and pointed to increasing transparency in the value chain, that everything will be connected to everything else on a global basis and that it’s all about making the new technology usable. She said that while there will always be a need for human contact, the unfortunate reality today is that many people have more interaction with their smartphone than they do with their partner.

Increasing automation and increased interactivity between people and robots is also an important part of the future. We must not be afraid of automation.

Be prepared for the future, was Jenny’s final message. What will all this mean to you, what will it require of your business and how can you adapt to it?

Rolf Elmér, Svenskt Näringsliv

The last speaker was Rolf Elmér, from the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. No change is possible if we don’t have strict control over the economy, he claimed in his presentation, which looked at the position for Sweden in purely economic terms. Over the past two quarters there has been optimism about the future, at least the near future, with forecasts of growth in Swedish industry, he said.

Rolf also raised the possibility of moving production back from abroad to Sweden; “reshoring”. There is a strong trend towards this in the United States. It is clear that a great deal of business has moved out of Sweden in the past 30 years, and this is also true for relatively small companies. Of 6,000 surveyed companies, 12% had operations abroad and only a fairly small proportion of these had moved production back home again. Those who had moved back had done so primarily for economic reasons. Automation has increased the opportunities of producing at home again. But the fact remains that more companies are moving production out of the country than are bringing it back home.

One conclusion Rolf drew was that low profitability slows down investment in Sweden and that Sweden needs clear reforms to encourage investment in R&D and production.

Packbridge after 3 ended, as always, with a panel discussion, and this was followed by a quick guided tour of Beneli’s production facilities before it was time for a little supper.

If you think that this all seems quite interesting but didn’t have the opportunity to be present, as usual you can log in on our website and watch it again on Packbridge TV if you are a Packbridge member. The whole afternoon is available to view.