Benchmarking Reports

2026 Technical Service Hours Tracking, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines how manufacturers record and manage field service labor based on a March 2026 quick survey and benchmarked revenue cohorts. The analysis indicates distinct focus areas: digital adoption and integration—tracking systems, field-service platforms and ERP/payroll links; time-entry and documentation practices—entry increments, real-time versus end-of-day logging and in-system notes or photos; and performance measurement—utilization, response time and first-time fix rates. Emerging patterns show larger firms tend to adopt more integrated tools, while charts highlight adoption and change-planning trends across company sizes. The report reveals where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.

2026 Fully Burdened Labor Costs Quickie Survey, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines how member companies benchmark and calculate fully burdened internal labor costs across roles and revenue ranges. Drawing on a March 2026 quick survey of PMMI members and comparative internal accounting practices, the analysis indicates variations in calculation methods and role-based charges and outlines focus areas such as benchmarking methodology and governance, role-level cost comparisons including assembly technicians, controls engineers, and electrical engineers, and implications for workforce planning, project costing, and digital cost-tracking adoption. Charts highlight revenue-range patterns and methodological mix, and the report reveals where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.

2026 Field Service Technician Toolbox Quickie Survey Results, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines field-service tooling practices based on a January 2026 quick survey of practitioners across diverse revenue bands. The analysis indicates several focus areas—tool provisioning and ownership (company-supplied versus technician-supplied), financial support and replacement policies, and the distinction between standard hand tools and specialty equipment—that affect technician readiness and cost allocation. Emerging patterns show companies tend to supply high-value or equipment-specific tools while expecting technicians to maintain personal kits, and charts highlight variation in reimbursements, stipend use, and loaner-case strategies such as wheeled travel cases or dedicated loaner kits. The report reveals where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.

2025 Q4 Tariffs Quickie Survey, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines how members are managing recent tariff developments based on a Quickie Survey of 112 PMMI members deployed beginning in Q2 2025 with quarter-over-quarter comparisons through January 2026. The analysis indicates major focus areas around rising procurement costs and pricing strategy, including sharing costs with customers, tariff disclaimers and separate line-item quoting; information and monitoring practices such as general business news, industry resources and consultants; and supply-chain responses such as dual sourcing and selective manufacturing relocation, while charts highlight impacts on sales, lead times and project holds. The report reveals where companies are prioritizing supply-chain and pricing strategies to protect margins.

2026 Employee Turnover Quickie Survey, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines how member companies benchmark and manage employee separations across revenue bands and tenure cohorts. Fielded May 2025–January 2026 among PMMI members, the survey draws on categorical and self‑reported measures to compare voluntary and involuntary turnover and departmental patterns. Focus areas include turnover drivers and retention, including better opportunity, compensation, and retirement; tenure‑related attrition and early‑service risk; and measurement practices such as turnover cost and high‑performer retention. The analysis indicates smaller firms and early‑tenure employees tend to show higher turnover, and charts highlight cross‑company benchmarks and emerging patterns. The report reveals where companies are prioritizing retention investments to strengthen workforce continuity.

2025 Shipping Costs, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines how member companies benchmark and apply markups to domestic and international freight for machinery and parts. Drawing on a December quick survey of members across revenue bands and shipment volumes, the analysis indicates focus areas in pricing and markup practices (overhead recovery and expedited charges) and shipping operations and partner selection (carrier shopping and customer‑coordinated freight). Charts highlight that firms tend to break out charges and set handling fees, while patterns indicate markups are more often used to cover costs and variability than to generate margin. The report reveals where teams prioritize investments to improve shipping cost recovery and resilience.

The 2025 GS1 Sunrise 2027 Quickie Survey, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines industry preparedness for the GS1 Sunrise 2027 transition based on a November 2025 quick survey of a small cross-section of packaging and processing companies. Focus areas include awareness and readiness, product/service modification for coding and traceability, and operational and compliance alignment with regulatory expectations. Analysis indicates limited engagement and varying readiness by company size, with emerging patterns showing firms tend to defer changes or express uncertainty about required updates, including updating datamatrix codes and revising coding practices. Charts highlight gaps in comparative readiness. The report reveals where leaders are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience ahead of Sunrise 2027.

2025 Engineering Best Practices, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies in November 2025, examines emerging operational and organizational trends across packaging and processing equipment manufacturers and draws on recent surveys and in‑depth interviews with PMMI members as an update to the 2022 edition. The analysis indicates three focus areas—workforce development and retention, tribal knowledge capture and structured documentation, and digital-tool adoption with version control—and generally shows that companies are piloting mentoring, modular CAD/BOM templates, and digital handbooks to bridge skill gaps. Charts highlight differences by company size and technology maturity, and emerging patterns show phased tech roadmaps tend to improve scalability. The report reveals where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.

2025 Q3 Tariffs Quickie Survey Results, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies in October 2025, analyzes how ongoing tariff changes are affecting packaging and processing suppliers and OEMs. Using PMMI member survey data from Q2–Q3 2025 and comparing quarter-over-quarter shifts, the report examines component cost inflation, procurement pressures on imported and domestic parts, pricing strategies for CPG customers, and backlog dynamics as quoted projects move on or off hold. Charts highlight rising cost bands and sales vs. budget performance, while revenue-banded tables and write-in comments surface tactics like dual sourcing, supply chain diversification, surcharge line items, and selective manufacturing relocation. The analysis shows where customer relationships strain and where transparency holds steady. Download to see how tariff exposure is reshaping packaging supply chains and quoting practices.

Tariffs Quickie Survey, published by PMMI - The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies in July 2025, examines how member companies are tracking, pricing for, and adapting to recent tariff developments through a mid-2025 survey and comparative benchmarking across company sizes and channels. The analysis indicates key focus areas: information and governance, such as tracking sources and advisory tools; cost management and customer quoting, including pass-through approaches and disclaimers; and supply-chain resilience, from dual sourcing to manufacturing relocation and redesign efforts, and generally shows patterns in sales impact, lead-time pressure, and quoting behavior. Charts highlight cross-company trends and variance by revenue band. The report reveals where leaders are prioritizing investments and strategy shifts to preserve margins and supply-chain resilience.

ERP Systems Quickie Survey 2025, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines how manufacturers are implementing, updating, and integrating ERP platforms across diverse operational environments . The analysis indicates long system lifecycles, steady upgrade activity, and continued reliance on on-premise deployments alongside growing cloud adoption. Emerging patterns show broad functional use—from finance and inventory to engineering and production—supported by varying degrees of customization and mixed satisfaction with usability and support. Charts highlight widespread use of supplemental software for engineering, CRM, planning, and procurement, with many tools connected through custom integrations. The report reveals how ERP modernization priorities are shaping near-term investment decisions.

Parental Leave Quickie Survey, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies in April 2025, examines parental leave benefits and supplemental supports among member companies across revenue bands. Using a recent member survey and firmographic benchmarking, the analysis indicates meaningful differences by company size and benefit structure, with focus areas on policy coverage and premium responsibility, leave duration and equity across revenue ranges, and flexible return-to-work and family-support programs—including gradual return-to-work, lactation facilities, and remote-work options. Charts highlight comparative patterns and emerging tendencies in benefit design, and the report reveals where companies are prioritizing investments to enhance talent retention and workforce well-being.

Service in High-Risk Countries Quickie Survey, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines how manufacturers deploy field service technicians and mitigate safety risks in higher-risk regions. Based on a February 2025 member survey and benchmarking, the analysis indicates several focus areas: safety protocols and travel policy (including insurance and security training, embassy contacts, emergency plans); service-delivery models and resourcing (from in-house deployments to local partners and remote support, and volunteer versus assigned staffing); and risk-management practices for continuity (decision frameworks, customer coordination, contingency planning). Charts highlight prevalent measures and emerging patterns that tend to prioritize personnel safety and flexible support models. The report reveals where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.

2024 Technical Services Best Practices Report, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines industry practices from a 2024 member survey and interviews conducted through early 2025 and benchmarks responses across company sizes and revenue tiers. Focus areas include workforce development and retention, training and knowledge capture, compensation and work/life balance, and service delivery optimization such as proactive triage and remote monitoring adoption. The analysis indicates leaders tend to blend in-house and e-learning, cross-train technicians on assembly and field work, and combine individual and team incentives; charts highlight adoption patterns and organizational models. The report reveals where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.

Service Rates Quickie Survey, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines year-end 2024 service pricing and compensation practices across a 101-respondent sample of PMMI members and benchmarks them against prior-year data. The analysis identifies focus areas including pricing strategy and special-rate policies (weekend and holiday surcharges such as Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays), travel and chargeback practices, warranty and contract approaches, and technician pay and per-diem structures; emerging patterns indicate inflation-driven rate adjustments and revenue-range variation. Charts highlight comparative rate tiers and policy adoption trends, and the analysis generally shows pragmatic trade-offs between margin protection and customer relationships. The report reveals where service leaders are prioritizing investments to protect margins and improve uptime.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems Quickie Survey, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines CRM adoption and practices among PMMI members using an August 2024 quick survey across multiple revenue bands. The analysis indicates focus areas around CRM selection and migration, ERP integration and data flow, and cross‑functional access and adoption, with insights on commonly tracked data points such as lead and opportunity management and pipeline tracking. Emerging patterns indicate trade‑offs between customization, maintenance burden, and user adoption, and charts highlight integration degrees and access patterns across departments. Download the full report to discover where organizations are prioritizing CRM investments to improve cross‑functional visibility and operational resilience.

CE Requirements for European Authorized Representative, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines how member manufacturers approach CE compliance and the role of Authorized Representatives in regulatory liaison and technical-file management. Drawing on an August 2024 PMMI quick survey of member firms and comparative context across company sizes and market-entry strategies, the analysis indicates recurring focus areas—compliance approaches and partnerships, custody and administration of technical documentation, and coordination with European authorities—where patterns tend to vary by market presence and regional shifts such as Brexit. Charts highlight adoption patterns and service models; download the full report to explore practical compliance decision points for manufacturers navigating CE requirements in Europe.

Stipend Pay for Engineers Quickie Survey, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies in May 2024, examines how member companies approach stipend and premium policies for salaried engineers based on a member survey across revenue bands and company types. The analysis indicates common focus areas—compensation design and travel policy, including standard company rates, hourly travel rates, or flat daily amounts; role classification and expectations versus time-off tradeoffs; and weekend/holiday differentials tied to performance incentives. Emerging patterns show practices tend to vary by company size and operational model, and charts highlight comparative benchmarks and policy variation. The report reveals where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.

Sales Teams and Tools Quickie Survey, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines current sales enablement practices across member companies based on a February 2024 quick survey of 55 respondents. The analysis indicates three focus areas: sales enablement and tool adoption, including SharePoint, Salesforce, and Dropbox; sales-team composition and resourcing; and CRM/ERP integration with marketing and data workflows. Emerging patterns show organizations tend to prioritize familiar, internally hosted platforms while adoption of specialized enablement systems generally varies by company size and digital readiness, and charts highlight benchmarks for inside versus external sales mix and training needs. The report reveals where sales and enablement leaders are prioritizing investments to strengthen commercial effectiveness.

2020 Trends in Adoption of Remote Access, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies in February 2024, examines how manufacturers are deploying remote connectivity and support tools across operations. Based on a quick early 2024 survey and firmographic benchmarking across revenue bands, the analysis indicates adoption trajectories and staffing trade-offs. Key focus areas include digital-tool adoption and cybersecurity posture, departmental resourcing and knowledge capture from HR and IT to engineering, and operational continuity and version control, including helpdesk, project management, and aftermarket support. Charts highlight comparative staffing and adoption trends, and emerging patterns show larger firms tend to centralize specialized roles. The report reveals where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.