The Industry's Leading Pouch & Flexible Plastics
Packaging Conference & Expo

With a strong global focus and nearly 300 attendees from many of the world’s major pouch, bag and flexible packaging companies in attendance, the 2010 Global Pouch Forum was a galvanizing event for the flexible plastic packaging industry. Held May 11-13, 2010 in Clearwater Beach, FL, the conference provided a prime meeting ground to network and form relationships with top brand owners and converters from North America, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

The Forum covered many of the critical issues important to the pouch and bag industry. It opened with an inspiring keynote address from John Baumann, president/ceo of Ampac, on the need for game-changing innovation and more industry consolidation. “Our challenge is not cost and sustainability,” said Baumann, the incoming chairman of the Flexible Packaging Association. “Our challenge is designing pouches with dynamic and emotive appeal to consumers.”

However, there are hurdles to overcome to reach that point and Baumann enumerated a few of them - higher-speed pouch forming equipment (with speeds of up to 100,000 pouches/hour) that can meet volume demands; the rise in private label and its effect on store shelves; and a fragmented flexible packaging industry where the top 10 companies control less than half of total North American sales.

The 2010 Global Pouch Forum featured probing discussions on a variety of topics including recycling and overall sustainability, food safety issues, aseptic and retort processing, the need for high-speed equipment, barrier challenges and premade pouches. The following perspectives were presented:

• “Pouch and bag companies must either be consolidators or innovators to succeed in the new economy,” said John Baumann of Ampac
• “Global competitiveness will continue to be an issue, as about a dozen Chinese flexible packaging companies are considering entering North America,” stated Peter Agnew of Advanced Global Sourcing
• New opportunities in pouched baby food packaging, from Plum Organics’ Neil Grimmer, and in a carton-zipper-film combination package from T.HE.M. could be part of the next wave of pouch innovation
• “Foods safety issues will place increasing demands on the pouch industry for performance and coatings,” predicted Larry Jopko of Dow Chemical Co. and Guido Kollbach of Henkel Corp.
• New pouch innovations from Japan include a linerless sleeve-in-pouch for food and beverages and the SoftBottle, presented by Toru Ichikawa and Kenji Nagata of Hosokawa Yoko.
• “More than half of food and beverage shipments use flexible packaging, making this the largest segment for industry growth,” stated Tom Egan of the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute
• “New advancements in electron beams for aseptic processing of premade pouches could drive acceptance,” remarked Stefano Tamarindo of Gualapack, “while a reduction in barrier layers could be an advantage in retort processing,” added Gary Wooddell of EVAL Americas
• Recycling issues continue to concern the industry but new developments and communications tools are emerging, commented Phil Rozenski of Hilex Poly

The 2010 Global Pouch Forum attracted nearly 300 packaging professionals from brand owner companies, retailers, and machinery and materials suppliers. Forty-one leading industry suppliers showcased the latest technologies and innovations in pouches and flexible packaging at the Global Pouch Forum Technology Expo & Networking Reception on Wednesday evening, May 12.


Thank you for making this year's event a success! Hope to see you at the 2011 Global Pouch Forum.

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