by Laddawn | May 2, 2022 | From the Director
Perhaps nothing has constrained America’s industrial packaging industry as much as labor. Over 20 million employees exited the U.S. labor force at the onset of COVID. Still, there are reasons to be optimistic. Employee participation rates are back to 2019 levels, just...
by Laddawn | Mar 1, 2022 | From the Director
Online sales grew 14% in 2021 and analysts project another 16% growth in 2022. E-Commerce makes up nearly 20% of total retail sales today and Amazon now accounts for about 40% of all digital revenue. No question, the pandemic has pushed online adoption rates. Once...
by Laddawn | Jan 1, 2022 | From the Director
Many economists expect 2022 to be a year of rebalancing. We agree. Last year’s headwinds were the consequences of an unexpected rebound in economic growth as the pandemic eased. It was a year defined by supply constraints, high consumer spending and rising price...
by Laddawn | Nov 1, 2021 | From the Director
It’s been a year of unprecedented challenges for America’s packaging distributors and manufacturers. Invariably, at the heart of every delay and bottleneck lies a business constrained by labor. The U.S. entered the fall months with 10.4 million job openings. Nearly 1...
by Laddawn | Aug 25, 2021 | From the Director
In supply chains throughout the United States and around the world, labor shortages and pandemic-related delays continue to drive costs and lower service performance. Here at home, where resin availability has always defined the market for industrial packaging, we now...
by Laddawn | Jul 1, 2021 | From the Director
Market disruptions, like those caused by the winter storms that hit Texas and the Gulf Coast, usually follow fairly predictable patterns of recovery. Costs rise with constrained supply for a few weeks and then follow a steady decline largely in sync with volume...
