Unwrapping Innovation in Managing Food & Beverage Packaging DepartmentsUnwrapping Innovation in Managing Food & Beverage Packaging Departments
New research unpacks key insights from food and beverage packaging professionals on their internal challenges — and areas that can drive improvement.

At a Glance
- International survey research reveals packaging technology teams' pitfalls and opportunities in managing innovation.
- About half of all respondents agreed too many teams are involved in their projects and it slows them down.
- Gaps in skills, knowledge, and experience are greatest in the US market.
Packaging professionals in sectors including the food and beverage industry face many challenges in managing innovation while meeting requirements for quality, cost-effectiveness, waste reduction, sustainability, regulations, and other areas. To do so, packaging teams are increasingly turning to various new technologies and equipment advancements, from R&D through production.
While there are clear benefits to be had from introducing technology and equipment, what role do humans play in packaging innovation today?
Industrial Physics’ latest research revealed several key areas where human intervention is influencing the packaging approach. These insights are based on a survey of 380 food and packaging professionals in the UK, USA, Germany, India, and Malaysia, and led to the report: “Innovation in Food and Beverage Packaging: Unwrapping the Internal Environment.” Key highlights follow.
Contrasting priorities, too many teams.
In this report on the internal environment, half of all respondents (49%) agreed that too many teams are involved in the innovation process, which slows them down. Additionally, more than one in five (22%) disagreed that their company usually follows up on the innovative ideas that it comes up with. Below are key takeaways from this report:

Industrial Physics
In any packaging department, there will be a variety of company objectives, each targeted to a specific department’s activities. However, the research data and industry conversations have demonstrated that when representatives from multiple departments are involved, innovation projects can quickly become blocked because of contrasting priorities. Investment remains one of the most common hurdles to overcome for innovation projects. However, introducing more team members to the conversation, each with their department’s objectives in mind, can quickly increase the number of blockers. For example, concerns about how consumers will react to a packaging change, or what the impact will be on packaging disposal.
Collaboration has its place.
The commonality in these common challenges is the unknown, which poses a threat to the business. There are cases where innovative approaches are truly new to the industry and therefore lack any associated data. In many cases, however, there are examples and experts to consult who can help reduce the level of perceived risk in these projects.
Greater collaboration and participation in industry groups can facilitate knowledge sharing and more confidence in innovative approaches. This can significantly benefit company objectives in the long run. By consulting those with more knowledge, packaging professionals can also seek support in developing proactive innovation groups within their businesses and setting shared overarching objectives that guide the project.
For example, a company may want to introduce a new instance of data acquisition, data analytics, 3D printing, or other technology. In doing so, the company must decide whether it has the required expertise to implement it. If not, packaging professionals may risk compromising the project and, in turn, the performance and safety process and the packaged product. A lack of experience and expertise combined with the other internal can stall innovation.
“As much as 25% of the projects that fail could have been avoided if someone with experience had been involved at the start.” — Head of packaging for a global food brand.
Dealing with knowledge gaps.
The research shows that in-house capabilities and staffing vary by factors including region, in-house skill levels, and experience with new packaging materials. For example, survey research found that 35% of those using organic materials (as opposed to plastics, paler, aluminum, and cardboard) said that they didn’t feel they had the appropriate expertise to facilitate growth and innovation in their business.
“I would estimate as much as 25% of the projects that fail could have been avoided if someone with experience had been involved at the start,” said one respondent, the head of packaging for a global food brand. He cited a “growing experience gap” in which junior engineers are “less interested” in finding solutions themselves by “walking the line, speaking to suppliers, testing, and evaluating.” This, he said, is unsustainable in a packaging division with more than 400 employee reports.
US Packagers seek more external support.
Geography plays a role in addressing gaps in skills and experience. In the United States, packaging departments generally run leaner operations, which could mean they are more likely to bring in a partner. Packaging managers know where these knowledge gaps are and want to seek support from a short-term external partner rather than hiring people in the long term.
Organizations can become more agile by identifying, acknowledging, and forming a contingency plan for known gaps; and by seeking an external expert early on in new projects where in-house expertise may be lacking. Collaborating with industry specialists also ensures that where companies test their agility by taking advantage of innovation opportunities, they do so without compromising the safety or quality of their products.
About the Author
You May Also Like