Top 10 Flexible Packaging Headlines of 2016

As 2016 comes to an end, we are taking a moment to look back over this past year to see what has most captured the attention of you, our reader. These most-clicked articles are a great indicator of hot button topics in the packaging industry, market trends, and what we can expect in early 2017. So without further ado, here are the Top 10 Flexible Packaging Headlines of 2016...

10. Flexible Packaging Machine Spotlight: Stick Pack

One of our most enduring and popular packaging equipment types, the multi-lane stick pack machine serves many industries, including dietary supplements, drink mixes, pharmaceuticals, coffee, and more. Loved for its high through-put and consumer-pleasing convenient package sizes, the stick pack machine was a popular choice for CPG companies and contract packagers alike in 2016.

9. Brand Loyalty: Appealing Coffee Packaging Bucks the Trend

Coffee has become an art, a lifestyle, a community all its own. Coffee consumers are fiercely loyal to their particular brew and/or brand, and packaging is the very first interaction they have with your product, thus making it all the more important. In 2016, we saw innovations in both coffee package design and branding.

8. Flexible Packaging Machine Spotlight: Rotary Premade Pouch Machine

Gaining serious ground this year across the board was our rotary premade pouch machine. As consumers are more attracted to modern, convenient, stand-up Doypacks, consumer packaged goods companies are responding by offering their products in this packaging format. Pet food and natural and organic food products have experienced a sharp rise in demand for this type of packaging into premade pouches, and their manufacturers love premade pouch machinery for its ease of use and simplicity.

7. Viking Masek Client Death Wish Coffee Brings Automation to Their Packaging Process

Remember football's biggest game in 2016? I mainly watch it for the halftime show and commercials, and this year was well worth it as one of our clients, Death Wish Coffee, won a commercial spot during the game. Even before their national debut, they had been experiencing an increase in demand for 'The World's Strongest Coffee' and came to us for coffee packaging automation expertise.

6. Say Cheese! Growing Trends and Innovation of the Cheese Industry

With 77% of consumers now considering cheese an important part of a healthy diet, the market is growing and changing to adapt to modern desires for portability, increased snacking, transparency, and sustainability in packaging. As long-time members of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, we keep our finger on the pulse of the latest innovations and trends in the dairy industry.

5. How Is Packaging Improving for Internet of Things?

You've certainly seen the phrase 'internet of things', or IoT, floating around the web. As applied to packaging machinery and processes, IoT can and will revolutionize the way products are packaged, the way consumers interact with packaging, the safety of products, and entire supply chain logistics and shipping. 

4. Viking Masek Announces Second Phase of Expansion of Wisconsin Facility

In late 2015, we began a two-phase expansion of our current sales, service, and manufacturing facility in Oostburg, WI. In 2016, the first phase of the project was completed, adding over 18,000 square feet of warehousing, production, and office space to the building. In late summer of 2016, we embarked on the second phase of the expansion project: an additional wing to house our expanding sales and marketing teams.

3. Buying Power: How Millennials Are Changing the Packaging Industry

Those Millennials again. There's no escaping their influence, even in an often-overlooked industry like packaging. To capture this demographic, a company must offer product convenience, portability, and an engaging company story and values system. In 2016, the influence of Millennials became even more apparent as the packaging industry adapted to fulfill the demands of this demographic.

2. Millennials are Changing the World of Coffee: Trends We Saw at SCAA Expo

As a long-time member of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, we look forward to their annual expo each year. In 2016, we were especially struck by how influential the Millennial consumer demographic was on the coffee industry, both in product offerings and coffee packaging. 

1. Watch Viking Masek Packaging Machinery on Innovations on Discovery Channel

In April 2016, we made our international debut on the Discovery Channel on the Innovations with Ed Begley Jr. program, chosen as a featured packaging equipment manufacturer for our breakthroughs in packaging equipment technologies. We heard from clients all over the world after the premiere, and as such it holds the number one spot as our Top Flexible Packaging Story of 2016: