Sean Riley: You are listening to UnPACKed with PMMI, where we share the latest packaging and processing industry insights, research, and innovations to help you advance your business. Hi, and welcome to UnPACKed with PMMI. I'm your host, Sean Riley. In today's episode, we chat with Lindsay Bridenbaker, senior director of packaging R&D at PepsiCo, about the future of the packaging workforce and STEM education. PepsiCo was the title sponsor and one of the judges of the PACK Challenge competition for high school students at PACK EXPO International. Bridenbaker shares how PepsiCo fosters the next generation of engineers through initiatives like the PACK Challenge, university partnerships, and mentorship programs. We also explore how innovation and technology are shaping sustainable packaging and expanding STEM career opportunities. Let's have a listen. So with all the fancy introductions out of the way, welcome to the podcast, Lindsay.
Lindsay Bridenbaker: Thank you.
Sean Riley: The pleasure is all ours. Before we dive into all the initiatives that PepsiCo is involved with and how amazingly supportive you guys were of the PACK Challenge at PACK EXPO International, it probably makes a little bit of sense to let everybody know who you are and a little bit about your background, because this world of packaging, a lot of us didn't grow up saying, "I want to be in packaging." It's something that we ended up in or took detours along the way. I've been covering packaging for a couple of decades, so I'm curious how you ended up in this world.
Lindsay Bridenbaker: I am also one of those people that didn't know that I was going to be a packaging person, but as a young person, my passion was definitely science and math, and I really enjoyed solving puzzles and math riddles and things of that type. I spent more hours than I can count playing Tetris in my parents' basement.
Sean Riley: As did I.
Lindsay Bridenbaker: I went on to major in chemical engineering in college, and in my college essay, I wrote that I hoped that one day I would save the world by designing new plants and new processes that would minimize pollution. So I didn't take that job exactly, but coming out of college, I joined the food industry and had various roles in manufacturing plants to start, and it was there that I was first exposed to packaging equipment and packaging as an industry. In fact, the first time I met somebody who had actually majored in packaging science, it was then that I attended my first PACK EXPO. Later, I made my way into packaging R&D and focused more on the upfront packaging design aspect, and that's where I am today with PepsiCo. At PepsiCo, one of our ambitions is to build a world where packaging never becomes waste. So in a way, that's not too far off from my teenage dream.
Sean Riley: When you said that, it perked my ears up. I was like, "Okay. Well, you're in that realm." Let's dive into PepsiCo and its sponsorship of the PACK Challenge that PMMI had at PACK EXPO International. And a little bit of background for people who don't know, it's this amazing program that basically takes teams of high school students and they design and build an actual machine that then mocks up and packages a product. To me, it's just crazy because that was not something I was doing in high school. It was not something I was even thinking of doing in high school. It's really impressive when the kids do this. So I guess from PepsiCo's point of view, why was it so important for a company like PepsiCo to develop these kinds of initiatives and these types of programs and to be involved with looking towards and finding the future of the workforce?
Lindsay Bridenbaker: At PepsiCo, we are solving big problems and are trying to solve big problems. Our driving North Star is what we call a PepsiCo Positive. And it's not just a business strategy for us, it's our transformative journey across operations, from production to marketing to distribution—full end to end. It's our vision to deliver a more sustainable, people-centered future, driving growth and value for everyone. And you can't do that, you can't solve big, bold problems without creative solutions, so we need the best STEM talent to help us solve those challenges. Many of these problems we're trying to solve don't have solutions today, so we might need to invent new solutions, and that's where the talent pool comes in. It's important for us then to engage with that next generation of talent, helping to inspire the young people of the world to help us solve these problems and to realize that their minds can really help have an impact on the world.
In addition to the PACK Challenge that you mentioned, we also partner with IoPP, the Institute of Packaging Professionals, to sponsor a university student scholarship, again, to help people come into the industry. And also this year, we're one of the sponsors of IoPP's student conference called Pack Jam. So we have a number of ways we have outreach to really inspire people to come into this industry and, again, help us solve these big problems.
Sean Riley: Very cool. You mentioned IoPP's, are there other initiatives that are similar to that or similar to PACK Challenge that PepsiCo is working on to push STEM out there as a career?
Lindsay Bridenbaker: Yeah, we definitely see that there's this huge opportunity for people coming out of high school that don't necessarily know what a career in packaging is or even what a STEM career in the consumer goods industry might be. Maybe they've heard of STEM, but they think of it in terms of automotive or aerospace or pharma, and they don't necessarily think that the various consumer goods that are in their homes have a lot of engineering and science behind them. So we look at different ways that we can engage and bring visibility to STEM. Some examples are partnerships with our local high schools, where we bring students into our headquarters and R&D labs and show them what a scientist or engineer at PepsiCo can look like. We also partner with Million Women Mentors. But the primary vehicle where we introduce students to our R&D teams is through our co-op program.
We partner with a number of universities, primarily those with a packaging science program, but we have expanded to broader engineering disciplines as well. It's a great way for university students to experience real-world engineering roles.
Sean Riley: Very interesting. And I feel like a broken record on here because I bring it up all the time about the workforce and what an issue it is, especially in manufacturing, packaging, processing, things like that, finding workers for these good-paying, career-oriented jobs. So how else is PepsiCo expanding recruiting efforts?
Lindsay Bridenbaker: The world is changing, and the future workforce needs more than just engineering fundamentals to be successful. For example, in our world—the consumer goods industry—you need to understand the consumer you're designing for. You also need to be a good communicator and a strong business partner. Additionally, digital skills are becoming increasingly important. Many of our design processes are digital now. We are also looking for engineers with experience in modeling, simulation, machine learning, and data analytics.
Sean Riley: That's a lot. Are there any aspects we haven’t touched on regarding PepsiCo’s inclusion efforts?
Lindsay Bridenbaker: PepsiCo has over 300,000 employees globally. We prioritize leveraging different perspectives to fuel our innovation. We are active in organizations such as SWE (Society of Women Engineers), NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers), and SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers). We engage with talent at their conferences, give talks, and promote inclusion in the industry.
Sean Riley: That's awesome. This has been great. Thanks for taking the time, Lindsay.
Lindsay Bridenbaker: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
