Converters Embrace Complexity at the 2025 TLMI Converter Meeting

Nestled in the rolling hills at the edge of San Antonio, Texas, the La Cantera Resort hosted the 2025 TLMI Converter Meeting from March 9-11. Label printers and converters gathered to prepare themselves for challenges from economic and political shifts and evolving demands and to recognize opportunities from technological innovations maturing to previously unknown levels of commercial viability.

Among the event’s most anticipated sessions was the farewell address from Alan Beaulieu, consulting principal and chief economist at ITR Economics, who has been a trusted voice for economic forecasting for the TLMI community for nearly two decades.

Aligning Resources for Growth

Beaulieu provided a clear-eyed analysis of macroeconomic trends, business cycle forecasts, and actionable strategies to help label printers navigate an evolving printed label market challenged by inflation, interest rates, and trade policies that will impact material sourcing and pricing.

Alan Beaulieu, consulting principal and chief economist at ITR Economics, presents his last economic forest for the TLMI community. | Credit: Linda Casey, PRINTING United Alliance

Despite concerns about inflation, rising material costs, and labor shortages, Beaulieu doesn’t expect printed label volume to suffer. “You will be busier,” he forecast. “Your revenue will be going up. Your challenge will be maintaining EBITDA — not worrying about revenue.”

Looking at manufacturing as a whole, Beaulieu projects industrial production in the U.S. to enjoy sustained growth through 2026. He noted that the business cycle momentum is positive for consumer goods sectors. He also expects retail sales, a major driver of demand for labels, to accelerate in 2025, supporting higher order volumes for converters. But he also warned the audience to be prepared for a competitive environment where speed, efficiency, and innovation will dictate success, especially as e-commerce and omnichannel retail continue to rely on printed packaging suppliers to provide faster, more flexible production solutions to keep pace with shopping trends.

Beaulieu also addressed the elephant in the room — tariff risks and subsequent trade disruptions. He urged the audience to reassess supply chains and consider reducing reliance on overseas suppliers. Beaulieu tempered those recommendations by noting the growing importance of Mexico as a trade partner, with its proximity to U.S. markets and Mexico’s growing manufacturing base.

Inflation remains a top concern for business owners, and Beaulieu’s forecast reflected a complicated but manageable landscape. He reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is expected to slow slightly into 2025. However, the Producer Price Index (PPI), which has a more direct impact on material and equipment costs for converters, is expected to rise.

These concerns in addition to higher energy prices and labor costs are expected to pressure margins. “Electricity costs will rise due to increased demand from data centers and AI-driven industries,” Beaulieu explained.

While interest rates, another major concern for businesses planning capital investments in new printing technology, automation, and facilities, are unlikely to decrease significantly in the short term. Despite this, Beaulieu recommended that companies lock in fixed-rate financing for major purchases versus waiting for potential rate cuts that might not materialize.

Beaulieu reminded the audience that despite the current economic uncertainty, they were still empowered to ensure the long-term stability of their printing and converting companies. His recommendations?

• Invest in efficiency and automation to combat rising labor and material costs.
• Explore alternative suppliers and nearshoring opportunities to reduce exposure to tariff and trade risks.
• Focus on profitability over revenue growth, ensuring EBITDA remains strong even in inflationary periods.
• Prepare for industry consolidation and continue M&A activity as more businesses look to scale or sell before the expected economic downturn in the 2030s.

Before receiving a standing ovation for his years of service for the label printing and converting industry, Beaulieu offered this parting advice, “Don’t let fear dictate your business decisions. Adapt, invest wisely, and prepare for the opportunities ahead.”

Why Digital Printing is Gaining Ground

Following Beaulieu was NAPCO Research analyst Cory Francer, who shared findings from the research firm’s report “Digital Packaging: The Pursuit of Prosperity,” which was co-sponsored by TLMI as well as Fiery, Screen Americas, and BOBST. Among the data-backed insights shared by Francer was an eye-opening 61% of packaging converters indicated plans to invest in digital printing technology within 24 months of being surveyed.

NAPCO Research analyst and label and package printing expert Cory Francer shares findings from the “Digital Packaging: The Pursuit of Prosperity” report. | Credit: Linda Casey, PRINTING United Alliance

This demand for digital printing technology is driven by converters’ need to deliver agility, versioning, and speed-to-market advantages for their CPG customers navigating changing consumer preferences and e-commerce demands.

This was clear as converters ranked operational efficiency and supply chain responsiveness higher than personalization and customization when ranking the valuable features of digital printing. This suggests that brands view digital printing less as a tool for one-to-one customization and more as a solution for producing limited-edition packages or enabling SKU proliferation of current lines of products.

Buyers of printed packaging are looking at digital printing as a tool to enable supplier-partners to react more quickly, accommodate more iterative package and product development, and reduce risks in supply chains.

Francer also reminded the audience that sustainability, which is often cited as a driver of the use of digital printing for shorter-run printing of all types, is an operational necessity for label and package printing companies, with 47% of converters surveyed reporting that more than half of their customer now have defined sustainability objectives, while 78% of U.S. consumers actively check packaging for recycling information before making a purchase.

Building a Scalable Reverse Supply Chain

With rising consumer expectations and regulatory pressures mounting, converters must proactively adapt their materials, processes, and production strategies to align with circular economy principles and environmental best practices.

One of the most challenging areas in the label manufacturing industry’s pursuit of circularity is recycling the label matrix on which pressure-sensitive labels sit. In her new role as Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) vice president and principal, Anne Johnson began the final day of the TLMI Converter Meeting’s educational program with an update on one of the industry’s most impactful sustainability efforts — the TLMI Liner Recycling Initiative.

The pilot, launched through a partnership with TLMI and RRS, focuses on collecting silicon-coated release liner from end users and channeling it into Sustana Fiber’s de-inking mills. Sustana Fiber has two pulp mills that recycle white grades of paper using a float de-inking process that can remove silicone, ink, and other contaminants from used office paper, cartons, and silicone-coated paper release liner. Because the mills are located in De Pere, Wisconsin, and Levis, Quebec, the TLMI Liner Recycling Initiative is currently focused on the Northeast and Great Lakes region, where all parties can take advantage of transportation efficiencies.

To make the system work, Johnson reported that TLMI’s Liner Recycling Committee and RRS built a three-tiered model that begins with the end markets. Specifically, and with the aim of increasing the initiative’s chances of success, the team made sure that the recycler had both the technical capability and the economic incentive to process siliconized release liner. The second tier involves aggregation partners, including brokers, who can collect, grind, bale, and transport spent liner material to the mills in the appropriate form and volume. The third tier, Johnson said, and the most critical layer for immediate growth efforts is the generators tier.

Johnson described typical generators as brand owners or fulfillment centers that produce the waste when labels are separated from the siliconized paper liner as part of the label application process. The initiative is actively seeking a mix of generators, including small- and mid-sized operations, to develop best practices for liner matrix collecting and storage. These best practices then can be replicated across the country.

One example of a generator developing scalable processes Johnson shared was from the regional grocery chain Wegmans. The grocer had implemented a closed-loop model that collects release liner from 16 stores and backhauls the material to its distribution center for pickup and baling. The model has proven simple, effective, and scalable; it’s already expanding to more than 100 stores in 2025.
Johnson said converters who invite their customers to become part of the initiative can benefit from supporting the program. By inviting their customers to be part of the liner recycling initiatives, these converters differentiate themselves as sustainability partners — a selling point with brands increasingly focused on packaging circularity.

The initiative’s next pilot testing goal is less than 12 months away. Johnson urged converters in the room to get involved with the program to help the team reach the goal of documenting best practices and launching a publicly accessible roadmap. She said the converters’ involvement is critical to meeting this next goal and building momentum to overcome barriers that have slowed similar efforts.

Regulatory Shifts and Compliance Challenges

Keeping with the sustainability theme, Johnson’s presentation was followed by a panel discussion about regulatory affairs with TLMI regulatory consultant Bryan Vickers, partner at Pace, in addition to TLMI members Tyler Matusevich, sustainability director at Brooke + Whittle, and Patrick Potter, president of Flexo Wash, which is also a member of the PRINTING United Alliance.

One of the biggest areas of regulatory focus for this workgroup is, unsurprisingly, recyclability labeling and extended producer responsibility programs. Vickers noted that stricter phases of some of these programs, such as California’s Proposition 65, will impact label converters in multiple ways. “This is not just about what’s in the substrate or the ink,” Vickers explained. “It’s about your labeling real estate.”

As part of their role as strategic partners of CPGs, converters will need to coordinate early with clients — making sure brands are redesigning labels before they become crisis projects and that everyone is staying ahead of formulation changes and maintaining traceability for these materials. A further reason for converters to care about the content on the label, Vickers said, is that lawsuits have begun targeting both brands and suppliers.

Converters must also be aware of their own and their customers’ EPR compliance reporting. Vickers explained, “Your customers are filing reports and making payments right now. If you’re not in the loop with how they’re doing it, you may be missing opportunities or risks in your supply chain.”

The panel noted one bright spot: The nonprofit producer responsibility organization Circular Action Alliance (CAA) is beginning to standardize reporting tools for its programs in multiple states.
While regulations continued to be varied across states, the good news Vickers emphasized is that EPR rules are no longer abstract. They are measurable and traceable. Those measurements are also increasingly tied to customer contracts.

“Your regulatory strategy has to be as operational as your pressroom strategy,” Vickers concluded. “This isn’t compliance theater. It’s cost control, risk management, and customer retention all rolled into one.”

APR Design Recognition

During the Regulatory Affairs Council Update, Matusevich briefly mentioned The Association of Plastic Recyclers’ (APR) Design Guide for Plastics Recyclability. He noted that accurate data on materials, the APR Design Guide, and the APR Design for Recyclability Recognition are operationally valuable to converters. Specifically, Matusevich said converters that encourage their customers to use materials with APR Design for Recyclability Recognition aren’t just helping the environment. These converters are actively working to reduce fees and improve customer retention. Matusevich refrained from expanding on APR Design for Recyclability in deference to the next speaker in the educational program, APR Program Director Ruben Nance.

Nance walked attendees through APR’s three recognition pathways: Preferred Design, Critical Guidance, and Responsible Innovation. Nance not only helped simplify the complexity of these processes, but he also warned of common mistakes made by applicants. Citing one example, Nance said, “Converters often ask, ‘Can I combine a recognized label with a recognized ink, and call it good? The answer is not without testing the full construct. Recognition applies to the assembled whole, not just the parts.”

This distinction is crucial as more organizations and companies link recyclability claims to third-party validations. The APR-preferred design even has the potential to become a regulatory expectation instead of just a competitive advantage.

Nance didn’t downplay the competitive advantage, though. He noted large brand owners and retailers are already giving preference to suppliers whose label constructions are APR-recognized, especially when preparing for EPR reporting or responding to consumer scrutiny of recycling claims.

RFID in Retail

The fourth educational session was presented by Matthew Russell, director of retail at Auburn University’s RFID Lab, who noted, like sustainability initiatives, RFID mandates are “no longer in the pilot phase.” Much of this is in response to growing pressure from retailers for tools to help deliver flawless inventory accuracy and supply chain transparency. “Retailers are scaling RFID across the board — not just in apparel, but in general merchandise, sporting goods, automotive, and even food,” Russell explained.

To help retailers, including Walmart, Target, and Dick’s Sporting Goods, successfully deploy RFID, the Lab operates the ALEC submission program, which gives converters and other suppliers a chance to submit encoded RFID samples for performance review before full production.

The Lab offers guidelines to help converters scale the learning curve with RFID. As an example of the learning curve, Russell explained UHF RFID tags must be precisely tuned to work on different substrates and product formats. Furthermore, the tags must meet both performance specs and quality tolerances at scale.

In the early days of the submission program, Russell said, failure rates of 30% were not uncommon. Today, with broader industry coordination facilitated by the Lab, that figure has fallen under 1%, but only when converters follow standardized encoding and testing protocols.

For converters (and brands) that get it right, the upside is significant. Retailers are consolidating their supplier bases to focus on partners that can deliver consistent RFID compliance. Many are using the Lab’s scorecards as part of their standards for supplier performance.

Recruitment Under Increased Scrutiny

The next speaker is a perennial favorite at TLMI meetings: Claudia St. John, president and CEO of The Workplace Advisors, a TLMI Partner and a PRINTING United Alliance Affinity Partner. St. John noted converters’ recruitment concerns are shifting from primarily how to attract candidates to the risk of minor mistakes on hiring documents that can make converters the target of increased scrutiny around the immigration status of employees.

This worry is not unfounded, St. John acknowledged. The current administration has indeed directed federal agencies to increase worksite audits with a special focus on I-9 compliance. Minor errors, including unchecked boxes or inconsistent supporting documentation, can result in converters being fined anywhere from $281 to $2,800 per violation. Missteps that lead to undocumented hiring can trigger penalties of up to $27,000 per incident.

For printing companies relying on shift-based workforces or high-turnover production roles, the exposure is significant — especially if I-9s are stored improperly or managed by untrained staff. St. John urged attendees to conduct internal audits and separate I-9 records from general employee files to reduce legal vulnerability. “If an auditor can see one error [in a set of records], they can inspect them all,” she warned.

As the employment market changes, many companies are also shifting their focus from recruitment to upskilling, especially as a deterrent from employee disengagement settling in and its subsequent underperformance.

St. John recommended formalizing training tracks for frontline roles, identifying rising talent for supervisory development, and investing in what she called the “essential skills,” specifically communication, conflict resolution, and situational leadership.

Another strategic benefit to focusing on upskilling is it helps prepare printing companies for generational workforce transitions. Baby boomers will continue to retire in increasing numbers, and with them, much of their industry and institutional knowledge. Leveraging these employees as leaders in upskilling programs will ensure that industry knowledge stays with the company long after the retirement cake is cut.

Design Trends Driving CPG Packaging

The final presentation of the educational program was by Matt Tanaka, founder and CEO of Stout Collective. Tanaka noted that converters must collaborate earlier and pitch ideas proactively as brands experiment with new formats, aesthetics, and category extensions. Tanaka summed it up this way: “Help customers stand out in a sea of sameness. That’s the ask.”

Drawing on his brand design experience — especially in the beverage market, Tanaka shared five design trends.

1. Branded House versus House of Brands

In crowded markets, consistency and clarity are currency. Some CPGs are leaning into a branded house model — using design systems to connect all products under a unified visual identity. Others are embracing the house of brands approach and giving each product or sub-brand its own distinctive personality.

Packaging Impressions’ take on this trend is that converters will continue to be asked to manage more SKUs, dielines, and press configurations while ensuring printed packaging buyers of color accuracy and embellishment consistency across product families.

2. Maximalism and Chaos Packaging

Minimalism is giving way to high-energy, hyper-saturated visual storytelling. “Brands are tired of whispering,” Tanaka said. “Consumers are bored.”

This maximalist design trend includes overlapping typography, bright color clashes, and illustrations that deliberately challenge visual order. A more extreme version that Tanaka calls chaos packaging borrows visual and structural packaging cues from other product categories. Examples cited include enchilada sauce in a beer can and sunscreen packaged like whipped cream.

Packaging Impressions’ take: These looks often require sophisticated printing, precise registration, and unusual container-label combinations. Printing companies that can encourage creatives to think differently while managing production reliability will become highly valued by the brand teams experimenting at the edge.

3. Nostalgia and Mascots

Emotional connection is currency for brands; few tools deliver it faster than nostalgia. CPGs are tapping into vintage aesthetics, throwback color palettes, and mascot-driven branding to create instant familiarity, especially for Gen Z and Millennial consumers.

Packaging Impressions’ take: For converters, this may involve using materials or finishes that evoke older styles or aged materials, including distressed effects or retro diecuts. These packages will still need to meet modern retailer and shopper requirements, such as the aforementioned sustainability and RFID demands. Mascots are often highly valued brand assets, but they also require a very high level of consistent reproduction across packaging for different flavors, formats, and limited editions.

4. Flavor-Forward Packaging

From sparkling waters to functional teas, brands are using design to signal flavor before the first taste. “Consumers should be able to see a can and immediately understand what it’s going to taste like,” Tanaka said. This means package designs can be expected to have bigger fruit illustrations, punchier color codes, and design cues that translate flavor into texture and other sensorial characteristics.

Packaging Impressions’ take: Printing companies should expect highly saturated hues but subtle gradients, sometimes paired with unusual substrates and coatings.

5. Category Expansion

Nothing in product categorization is sacred anymore. One example cited by Tanaka is that brands that once lived squarely in beer or soda markets are now exploring THC and even wellness categories and, often, simultaneously.

Packaging Impressions’ take: To retain customers exploring these product line expansions, converters must develop systems that enable their teams to be more agile. These printing companies must do more than offer prototype sampling. Converters must implement organizational design within their businesses to enable employees to gain regulatory knowledge about a new CPG segment quickly so they can help brands move faster and smarter.

It’s Complicated

The theme echoing throughout the 2025 TLMI Converter Meeting was complexity is the new normal. The domestic and international landscape is peppered with challenges: packaging mandates from customers, retailers, and governments; disparate regulatory requirements from multiple states; technology mandates from retailers — the print buyers’ customers; and the continuing exit of institutional and industry knowledge as baby boomers and even some Gen Xers eye retirement.

These very challenges are driving opportunities for label printing companies to differentiate themselves as premiere supplier-partners for brands. Actions converters can take now to position themselves for the brightest futures include:

Become the guide, not just the vendor

Whether it’s helping a brand choose a compliant label format, test a new container size, or document EPR data, label printing companies can transform their value proposition to include what they know versus just what they make.

Treat workforce continuity as seriously as supply chain issues

It’s tempting to rest on your laurels because hiring is stalled across industries, but don’t forget that retirement is accelerating. Treat training, upskilling, and succession planning as operational priorities so your business doesn’t lose capabilities as employees leave the workforce.

Invest in systems that reduce rework for your customers and their customers

From EPR documentation and RFID implementation, earn your place as a strategic partner for brands by reducing rework and preventable errors from that administrative rework by embracing technology.

Inspired to take the next step in growing your label printing business? Consider these bonus learning opportunities.
Webinar: Getting Started with the New Alliance ECG Profile: Practical Tips and How to Use
https://www.ilearningplus.org/courses/getting-started-with-the-new-alliance-ecg-profile-practical-tips-and-how-to-use
Online Course: Color Management Professional: Flexo Certification
https://www.ilearningplus.org/courses/color-management-professional-flexo-certification
Event: The Digital Packaging Summit
https://www.digitalpackagingsummit.com
Research: Digital Packaging: The Pursuit of Prosperity
https://packageprinting.tradepub.com/free/w_defa7527