Tom Andel

Companies confronted by the challenges that the box business has faced might be tempted to bury their heads in the ground. Bennett Packaging buried its entire operation in the ground - not to escape reality but to rise to its challenges.

Considering it serves a market made up of only about 24 million consumers, the Australian box making industry is being shaped by powerful forces. Two of those forces have laid claim to the corrugated side of this market for many years: Visy Industries and Amcor Ltd., which together have captured...more >>

The more complex your supply chain, the more important supply chain management is.

If you haven't seen the Global Supply Chain Benchmark Report from Aberdeen Group, I recommend you get hold of a copy. It's addressed to companies interested in improving their global supply chains, and it makes recommendations for doing so. The reason packaging suppliers should care about this...more >>

The food and beverage sector is to a folding carton converter what red meat is to a hungry lion: both a significant challenge and an irresistible opportunity. The red meat is attached to a moving target that represents survival. Food and drink are half of a converter's diet. Pharmaceuticals,...more >>

By automating, simplifying and standardizing supply chain communications, converters can play on a bigger team - and win.

Losers say the right things so they can go unnoticed and survive another day. Winners seek the gift of vision, and in so doing become visible ? to a growing population of customers.

Just as converters are starting to use the web to do business with customers and raw material suppliers, they're also entering purchasing agreements with equipment vendors online.

These days, making a profit selling corrugated depends on a number of factors. First, are you selling to a purchaser or a marketer? Second, are you selling material or a message? And third, how agile are you?

Strength is only the price of admission to the new arena in which corrugated and folding carton converters must play. Innovation will keep you in the game.