» Embracing Sustainability: A Framework for Green Packaging   Sustainability has gone mainstream. Consumers, retailers, and manufacturers are embracing sustainability as a social and business cause. Yet sustainability is a complex topic, and it’s sometimes hard to know the best path to forge. This paper reviews a simple way to put sustainability into the right strategic context at your company, and it outlines a comprehensive menu of sustainability tactics that can be put into effect for packaging. Ultimately, delivering sustainable solutions and delivering excellent business results can go hand in hand with a well-designed roadmap and supportive partners.   » Download a PDF
	» Measuring the True Cost of Quality: Practices to Make Quality an Asset   Quality is a make-or-break issue for most businesses. Companies with higher and more consistent quality do better over time. But this performance comes at a cost. While we often hear about the “cost of poor quality,” this only reflects a portion of the total quality costs. This paper lays out four major categories of quality costs and introduces methods to ensure good quality.   » Download a PDF
	» Unlocking the Power of Package Design: Building a Business Case   Design, and more specifically package design, can be a powerful contributor to a brand’s success. There are many examples of how design has transformed brands and companies, yet framing design innovation as a “need to have” rather than a “nice to have” is sometimes an uphill battle. This paper presents ideas for how to build a compelling business case for custom package design and offers tools for how to improve the odds of getting the best designs off the drawing board and into the marketplace.   » Download a PDF
	» Designing a Strategy for Growth: Blueprinting in Six Steps   Thoughtful strategy is a key ingredient for a company’s success. Brands, products, supply chains, human capital – all are important. But strategy is the overarching blueprint that shows how resources should ultimately be invested. This paper answers three questions that can help clarify what strategy is and demonstrates how to put a smart strategy into action through six steps. Strategy is not a hard science, but it is a business art that can help you stand above your competition and achieve your goals in an efficient manner.   » Download a PDF
	» Reducing Total Inventory Cost: A Roadmap to Higher ROI   Inventory represents a significant investment at many companies. While effective inventory strategies can elevate a company’s performance, inventory is often misunderstood and under-measured. This paper identifies three simple questions that can be used to help reduce inventory investment without risking profit dollars. Thinking through these three questions – on inventories of raw materials, packaging, and finished goods – can yield improvements in inventory return-on-investment.   » Download a PDF
	» Consumer Megatrends and Packaging Implications: How companies can ride consumers' coattails   Consumer motivations change over time. Values, attitudes, and behaviors all come together into trends that impact the marketplace. This paper identifies nine megatrends that have been in place for a number of years and will likely continue to be relevant for years to come. Packaging can play an important role in how companies take advantage of these trends.   » Download a PDF
	» Partnering for Supply Chain Excellence: Three simple tests to improve performance   Supply chain performance is correlated with a company’s overall financial performance. Finding the right supplier partners is a critical element in pursuing supply-chain excellence. There are three tests that help evaluate your current suppliers and consider new ones. These tests will help you achieve supply chain excellence and better company performance overall.   » Download a PDF
	» Effective Risk Management in Global Sourcing: The China price does not have to be where the dream ends and the nightmare begins.   There are numerous benefits to making global sourcing part of a company’s packaging supply chain strategy. However, making sure that these benefits become a reality can be far more challenging than the typical internet sourcing search and blind contact of “direct sources.” This paper identifies the risks in detail and introduces three phases of the process where they can best be mitigated.   » Download a PDF