FTA Releases Flexible Packaging Market Research Study to Public

The Flexographic Technical Association (FTA), the leading technical society devoted exclusively to the flexographic printing process, has announced the availability of a comprehensive market research study called Converter Benchmarking & End-User Perspectives in North America. The study offers an overview of the flexible packaging converting market today, as well as projections for the next three to five years. Nearly 100 charts and graphs with detailed explanations are included, accompanied with feedback from converting companies and end-users. It is available in binder format, CD-ROM, or both (www.flexography.org).

The study is divided into three sections: a North American overview of the market; a focus on the flexible packaging converter (for companies to compare their processes against the industry average); and an end-user perspective on priorities and projections. The major points covered in the study are packaging sector growth forecasts for 2005-2008, annual revenue related to flexible packaging, end-user sector growth projections, average press speeds and waste paper job, market challenges and opportunities, and end-users' flexo procurement predictions.

"With an estimated 75% of the total North American flexible packaging market printed flexographically, FTA saw flexible packaging as an ideal focus for this first endeavor into the market research arena," says Mark Cisternino, FTA president. More than 100 converters and 120 end-users participated in the study. Sharon Cox, FTA marketing manager, adds: "It offers critical benchmarking tolls for converters; ways in which industry suppliers can sell to and service their flexible packaging customers more effectively; and aids packaging buyers in the total procurement process."