Sean Riley: So with all the fancy introductions out of the way, welcome to the podcast Jorge Izquierdo. How are you, Jorge?
Jorge Izquierdo: Sean, I'm doing great, thank you. Thank you very much for the invitation. I appreciate it.
Sean Riley: The pleasure is all ours. It's always a treat to have you on here with us. We are talking about the State of the Industry report, which is a big one for PMMI. So, I guess for the listeners out there, for those who don’t know right off the top of their head, what are we talking about when we're talking about The State of the Industry report?
Jorge Izquierdo: So, Sean, you’re right. The State of the Industry is one of the flagship reports that we produce at PMMI. It’s an annual report, and the core of the report is basically the shipments of packaging equipment. But what’s very different from information that maybe you find around in the industry is that it has a detailed breakdown by machinery category. We have over 32 different machinery categories that we detail. And, to be honest, beyond being just numbers, it provides a good picture of the industry within the general industry trends of specific vertical markets. What we’re working on now focuses even more on trends and investments for specific packaging equipment by machinery category. So, it provides projections for the coming years in terms of how the individual vertical markets are performing and the demand for machinery categories. It’s a very wide and deep analysis, that’s why we call it the State of the Industry—it’s not just shipments, it’s more than that.
Sean Riley: Okay. And I guess basing off last year’s report, what were some of the trends that we were seeing regarding machinery shipments?
Jorge Izquierdo: By far, one of the most influential trends this year and in the past few years has been labor and workforce challenges. That goes from shortages and the availability of labor, but also a lot about skill gaps. Sometimes you have the person, but they don’t necessarily have the right training. So, that’s creating a significant amount of problems for packaging and processing operations on how to keep up with high levels of productivity with a not fully staffed set of operators and technicians. And again, with some significant skill gaps, that would be the number one. Then I would say automation, digitalization, and big data—that’s an ongoing journey, and it’s significant. Everybody is trying to catch up. They’ve seen the opportunities in this space. Now, it’s not something strange or wild that they don’t understand. They are familiar with it, and it’s more about embracing it these days. Sustainability, of course, is significant. It’s been very relevant for a number of years and it’s not changing—it’s actually becoming more relevant as new legislation is being implemented with the extended producer responsibility in several states. And businesses are trying to understand the implications for brand owners and the implications for operations directly. The fourth significant trend, especially in the food, beverage, and pharma space, is sanitation. Recalls in the past couple of years have increased significantly. Demands are higher, certification standards are harder. And of course, at the end of the day, nobody wants to deal with a recall. Those four trends are very significant, and I think they are driving a lot of the innovation in the industry.
Sean Riley: Interesting. And do you foresee that with the ‘24 report coming out, these are trends we’re going to continue seeing and addressing with machinery?
Jorge Izquierdo: Absolutely. These four trends are for sure not short-term—they are all, if not medium, long-term drivers for the industry, and that’s the expectation. These trends will shape a lot of the technology, a lot of the investments, and that’s where many of the industry’s resources will be concentrated.
Sean Riley: Okay. So, if I’m a company out there, how do I use this report? How is the information in this report going to benefit me?
Jorge Izquierdo: So, Sean, The State of the Industry is a great resource for strategic planning, sales and marketing, and even product development. OEMs can use it to benchmark their performance against the industry in general, but they can also be very specific. They can go down to vertical markets, specific machinery categories, and the machines they sell, and benchmark how they are doing against the industry, identify the fastest-growing markets, and specific opportunities for machinery categories. It’s a great help when you are planning your promotional efforts and developing messaging, identifying what are the drivers and what’s relevant for the industry. It’s also great for opportunities and identifying new product development opportunities.
