What are Your Top Three Business Challenges in the New Year?

February 2, 2017

This is the time of the year when we’re traditionally asked to give an outlook for the industry. This year, rather than rely on our own forecast, I went directly to AICC’s members and asked, “What are your top three business challenges in the new year?”

Here are three topics that come up frequently in recent polls:

Profitability. It comes up in every survey we do: Profitability—or rather, the erosion of profitability—is a key concern of members everywhere. And it should be. Our competitive economy drives members to find new ways to find new niches, increase sales, and reduce costs. This concern plays out in concrete action: training to increase sales; seeking a better understanding of material and manufacturing costs; and investment in equipment and machinery to improve efficiency. This leads us to the next challenge.

Planning for capital investment. For some members, a big challenge is keeping pace with technological change in our industry. Said one, “The thing that I find most challenging is just keeping up with the machinery and technology.” Another member, referring to the pace of change in their customers’ operations, said, “Increased automation demands a whole other business model to understand and maintain.” We saw this play out at AICC/TAPPI SuperCorrExpo® 2016, with the type and quantity of machines offering quicker setup times, faster run speeds, digital print processes, and new innovations in ancillary equipment, such as robotic feeders and smarter stackers. All these contain the secrets to increasing throughput, driving down cost, and increasing profitability. This goes to our next concern, the challenge of finding good employees.

Finding and keeping workers. Recently, in a survey AICC conducted among its members asking their principal concerns about the business, 26 percent of the responses had something to do with finding, retaining, recruiting, or training. This concern has driven a unique project involving AICC, Fibre Box Association (FBA), and the International Corrugated Packaging Foundation (ICPF). Working with SkillsUSA, the three organizations are promoting a pilot project among corrugated and folding carton plants in the Chicago area to develop yearlong internship programs to expose high schoolers to the opportunities available in the corrugated industry. Thanks to StandFast Group, WestRock, and Packaging Corporation of America for stepping up to do this pilot.

I could go on, but my space is limited, so let me finish by saying that AICC provides the resources for members to deal with these challenges and more. Our training and education programs, technical resources, networking events, and cooperative ventures such as SuperCorrExpo® give the independent sector the tools to succeed and grow in our dynamic industry. Here’s to a prosperous 2017!