Automation isn’t just machinery or technology. It’s people too. Skilled and trained to maximize a company’s investment in production equipment.

So it’s not surprising that several articles in our list of the top 12 of 2022 address the elephant in the room: many companies are struggling to find, hire, and retain quality packaging engineers. It’s also not surprising that engineers seek information about any technologies that can help boost packaging line output. Could that be 3D printing? Artificial intelligence? Robotics? Digital printing? Yes. All of the above.

Here are the best-read packaging-machinery- and automation-related articles from 2022, based on page views, and presented in reverse order. They give good insight into key issues and trends.