2020 Contract Packaging and Manufacturing: Packaging Operations, Trends and Challenges, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines North American CPCM dynamics from 2018–2025 using primary interviews, investment data and comparative benchmarks. The analysis indicates three focus areas: workforce development and retention, where labor constraints tend to accelerate automation adoption; knowledge capture and documentation, addressing serialization, traceability and anti-counterfeiting; and digital-tool adoption and version control, encompassing IoT-enabled tracking, labeling upgrades and equipment lifecycle management. Emerging patterns show sustainability and e-commerce are reshaping formats — from flexible pouches to aseptic cartons and PET bottles — and charts highlight regional investment and equipment-sourcing pressures. The report reveals where contract packaging leaders are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.
Published by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies (authors Jorge Izquierdo and Paula Feldman) in April 2020. Based on 84 primary interviews with contract packagers, manufacturers, CPGs and packaging‑equipment firms, supplemented by surveys and secondary market analysis of 2018–2019 industry data collected in 2019–2020.
