Jerry Van de Water

The folding carton market is facing a stiff challenge from alternative packaging and foreign competition, but the industry is gearing up for the challenge. by Tom Polischuk, Editor-in-Chief IF THE VIEW of Ben Markens, president of the consulting firm Converter's Resource, is correct, the folding carton industry has a big target on its back. It seems as though a couple "great whites" are trying to gobble up chunks of the folding carton volume pie, and for the short-term are doing a pretty good job of it. The hungry sharks in question come in the form of stand-up pouches and overseas manufacturing. "Competition

Carton converters should use their economic head start to get a handle on sometimes-elusive niche opportunities. by Susan Friedman, Editor Folding carton converters, as well as other primary packaging producers, typically have the unique, though sometimes stomach-wrenching, opportunity to see and experience what will happen to the general economy before it takes hold at large. According to Jerry Van de Water, president of the Paperboard Packaging Council, the U.S. folding carton industry is generally regarded as a harbinger of economic cycles because cartons are produced and entered into the supply stream months in advance of consumer goods production. What carton converters see now, he