carton, boxes, board & paper
Onwards and upwards Why the cartonboard industry needs to keep calm and carry on By Per Haglund
Per Haglund is sales & marketing director of the paperboard division at Korsnäs. For more information visit
www.korsnas.com.
The board industry has gone through turbulent times over the past couple of years but this has not impacted on the popularity of this versatile material.
A
nyone involved in the cartonboard industry will admit that the past couple
of years have involved a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Supply issues have caused many problems for customers – caused by a reduction in capacity by board suppliers seeking to address issues with profitability and also the knock-on effect from the global financial crisis. In addition the industry had not
built up inventories to cope with the rise in demand which started to filter back during the recovery period and this situation has led to demand outweighing supply. Customers are now finding themselves in the situation of having to deal with a shortage.
ADDING VALUE Supply and demand issues have been at the forefront of this industry sector but digging deeper there is
24 Packaging Gazette
evidence of an industry that is particularly customer-centric. Given this situation the challenge for producers and converters of cartonboard has been how to make the product more cost effective and attractive for the end consumer. In reality, close cooperation, dialogue and the development of initiatives that can add value to customers’ brands and products have been fundamental to maintaining excellent working relationship with customers. Finding additional ways of adding
value to customers’ products has been one way of emphasising continuous commitment. Resource utilisation, lightweighting and achieving a better pack construction is the way forward to ensuring cartonboard customers get the full advantage from this adaptable material. I feel that creating additional value for the customer is a growing trend as well as delivering the desired products with the right quality at the right time.
CRITICAL COOPERATION The key to success for the cartonboard industry is closer
cooperation along the entire value chain. There has to be focus on value creation every step of the way but to make this happen you have to know the drivers of value creation at the next stage. I see this as an opportunity to get to know each other better and learn more about everybody’s contribution to the value chain – making fibre-based packaging more competitive and boosting profitability.
WHY CARTONBOARD? Cartonboard’s ability to create shelf impact along with its capacity to create excellent brand awareness has enabled this material to remain one of the most prominent choices of packaging available. The unique properties of cartonboard ensure that it is an ideal choice for enhancing a brand’s qualities. The real battle in packaging is to attract the consumer and board is a very good choice. The flat surface available offers so much more branding potential than say, a plastic pouch. Cartonboard enables a brand
image to be displayed more effectively than many other types of
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