Insights into the Packaging Industry

1. Industry consolidation accelerates
The packaging industry covers multiple fields such as cardboard, plastic, metal, glass, and fiber, and has now developed into a trillion dollar industry. Its market size continues to expand. According to data, the operating revenue of enterprises above designated size will reach about 1.2 trillion yuan in 2022, involving 9860 enterprises. By 2023, this number has even surpassed 10000 enterprises above designated size, indicating that the attractiveness of the industry continues to increase and has attracted numerous new companies to join. However, the competition in this industry is becoming increasingly fierce, not only due to fierce competition from companies within segmented tracks, but also facing pressure from external environmental changes. At the same time, the market concentration of enterprises in China's packaging industry is still relatively low compared to developed countries, indicating that industry integration will become an inevitable trend in the future

2. Development of the entire industry chain
The packaging industry is moving towards deep integration with fields such as new materials, creative design, intelligent production, logistics, and supply chain. By utilizing IoT technology and big data analysis, the industry is striving to achieve intelligent transformation and optimization of its supply chain. This change not only improves efficiency, but also promotes innovative development in the industry.
The leader in the packaging industry, as a leading enterprise in comprehensive packaging solutions in China, is actively entering the emerging paper and plastic market. The company has strengthened the integration layout of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and the raw material strategy of the upstream pulp board factory has achieved initial results, effectively ensuring the reliability and stability of raw material supply, laying a solid foundation for the company's sustainable development.
This global leading enterprise in the field of consumer goods packaging focuses on the entire industry chain and continuously accumulates technological strength, committed to achieving packaging integration. They provide unique packaging solutions based on customers' personalized needs. With the continuous evolution of market demand, this enterprise adopts plastic based and paper-based (AMFBER) technology ™） And aluminum based (AMFOIL) ™） As the cornerstone of the three major product lines, through precise product classification and integration, nine solution series have been formed, fully covering market demand.

3. Diversified business portfolio
The global packaging industry is moving towards providing comprehensive solutions. Leading packaging companies are expanding their business scope to provide comprehensive services including packaging product design, material supply, procurement assistance, logistics transportation, and inventory management. This comprehensive solution not only shifts the focus of packaging suppliers from simply producing products to meeting customers' actual needs, but also integrates packaging materials and supply chain services into a value-added sales point, creating more value for customers. Through this model, packaging suppliers gain more control over the supply chain, reducing downstream customers' operating costs in traditional printing and packaging businesses, while improving overall operational efficiency and customer convenience.
A leading enterprise in the packaging industry initially focused on the packaging business of consumer electronics, but later actively adjusted its strategy and took steps towards diversified development. The company not only focuses on consumer electronics packaging, but also quickly enters the catering environmental packaging market and further expands into the fields of flexible packaging and soft material product manufacturing. While focusing on creating high-quality packaging, the company continuously enriches its product line to ensure that it actively seeks and invests in high-quality business targets while maintaining a healthy cash flow. Faced with the challenge of weak demand in the consumer electronics market in 2022, the company has still completed multiple acquisitions and integrated customer resources to provide customers with more comprehensive integrated services.

4. Networking of service areas
In the packaging industry, transportation costs are a key factor in business operations. Usually, these companies tend to seek downstream customers within a range of 100 to 150 kilometers to optimize logistics costs. In order to further improve service efficiency and reduce logistics costs, many leading enterprises have adopted various strategies, such as building new production lines and mergers and acquisitions, to build a nationwide production and service network. In addition, as the manufacturing industry gradually shifts inland, many industry giants have begun to establish production bases in the central and western regions, which not only helps them better serve the local market, but also improves the efficiency of the entire supply chain and reduces costs.
5. As consumers' pursuit of product quality and experience continues to increase, consumer goods manufacturers are also paying more attention to the packaging of their products. In this context, low weight, high-strength, and lightweight corrugated cardboard has gradually gained the favor of high-quality customers, and micro corrugated cardboard boxes have therefore ushered in a rapid development momentum, showing a clear trend of upgrading and iteration. At the same time, high-end customers' expectations for packaging printing are constantly increasing. They not only require packaging to have basic functions such as storage and transportation, protection, moisture resistance, and pressure resistance, but also hope to achieve value-added effects such as product display, brand strengthening, and consumer guidance through packaging. This has led to a shift in the packaging direction of cardboard products from the past 'simple packaging' to a more 'consumer quality experience'.
6. Environmental protection and greening of product materials
With the increasing global awareness of environmental protection, the goals of "carbon neutrality" and "carbon peak" proposed in 2020 have become the focus of global attention. In 2023, multiple countries jointly issued plastic restriction orders, which pushed the environmental protection industry to a new height. In this context, biodegradable packaging and films have been widely used in industries such as catering and healthcare due to their environmental characteristics. Plant fibers, PLA, PHB, PHA and other biopolymers have become new choices to replace traditional plastic packaging. Major packaging companies are also actively responding and constantly exploring green packaging solutions to meet the growing market demand for sustainable packaging.

7. Customization of Requirement Design
Faced with the continuous upgrading of consumers' demands for product appearance and functionality, packaging design is gradually pursuing innovation and attractiveness. Designers have adopted a series of innovative design techniques and strategies aimed at highlighting the uniqueness of the product and the cultural story behind the brand, thereby stimulating consumers' desire to purchase. At the same time, they also realize that due to regional and cultural differences, consumer preferences vary. Therefore, packaging design needs to fully consider this diversity and achieve personalized customized design by incorporating local characteristics, cultural symbols, and brand logos. With the increasing demand for personalized packaging among consumers, the packaging industry is constantly exploring and launching packaging solutions that are interactive, customized, entertaining, and intelligent, bringing consumers a more diverse and personalized experience.
8. Multi functional composite packaging products
In the modern industrial chain, downstream industries have increasingly diversified demands for packaging. Packaging products are developing towards multifunctional composites, which not only maintain traditional protection and storage functions, but also meet specific properties such as ensuring food freshness, preventing moisture penetration, and resisting UV damage. These unique requirements are all aimed at better meeting the special needs of different products in different environments. In addition, with the increasing awareness of environmental protection and safety among consumers, modern packaging has also added anti-counterfeiting labels and enhanced sealing performance to ensure the integrity and authenticity of products, thereby bringing stronger trust and security to consumers

9. Digitalization of Packaging Production
The primary task is to promote the innovation and development of intelligent packaging equipment, including the improvement of mechanical automation technology, the upgrading of production line intelligence, and the continuous optimization of data collection and analysis technology in the comprehensive production process.
In today's production management, digital transformation has become the core driving force. By integrating advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics, and cloud computing, we have achieved data centric production process management. This management approach not only improves transparency, but also ensures real-time information. With real-time production monitoring and precise resource allocation, we can effectively optimize energy consumption, significantly improve overall operational efficiency, and significantly reduce resource waste in the production process.
The intelligent customization technology is profoundly changing the packaging production industry, especially through technological means to achieve customization. The advanced technologies of variable data printing and digital printing have significantly improved the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of packaging production. Enterprises can easily respond to small batch and high change customization needs, and quickly respond to the market's pursuit of diversified and personalized products.

10. Technology expands into more business scenarios. With the continuous integration and innovation of digital technology, the application of intelligent packaging and digital solutions is gradually expanding its influence. The application of RFID tag technology not only enhances the traceability of products, but also increases the transparency of product information. At the same time, the introduction of augmented reality (AR) technology has brought unprecedented interactive experiences to consumers, making the display of product information more vivid and intuitive. The real-time data monitoring, traceability, and management functions provided by these technologies not only enhance product stability, but also optimize the overall efficiency of supply chain logistics. In specific application scenarios, intelligent packaging combined with AR technology can display internal details, exclusive discounts, and interactive videos of products to consumers, further narrowing the distance between brands and consumers. In addition, the integrated application of Internet of Things (IoT) devices endows packaging with the ability of self diagnosis and status indication, ensuring that consumers can grasp the real-time status information of products, thus playing a crucial role in ensuring product quality and safety.
In the highly dynamic and uncertain market environment of VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous), the role of packaging has surpassed simple physical protection. It is now a multidimensional tool that integrates multiple values such as brand building, user experience, environmental responsibility, and sustainable development. With the progress of social civilization, technological innovation, awakening of environmental awareness, and improvement of consumer quality of life, the packaging industry is entering a new era, with ecological new materials, personalized and precise design, digital intelligent traceability, and user interaction experience as the core. Therefore, packaging companies urgently need to establish close partnerships with new material developers, digital technology experts, design teams, market analysts, and experts in the recycling and reuse field to jointly promote innovation and development in the industry