420 with CNW — CPG Trends That Marijuana Busines
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Since the pandemic begun, there have been shifts in consumer purchasing habits with emerging technologies and packaging innovations such as digitization, remote analytics and AI leading to the development of a new level of company efficiencies. While not every packaging innovation can be applied to marijuana firms, some trends transforming the consumer packaged goods sector should be considered, including the following:
AI and Digitization
Digitization is helping improve product traceability and develop packaging automation efficiencies in the consumer packaged goods sector. The marijuana sector doesn’t have industry software solutions that allow them to collect, organize and analyze their packaging and production performance automatically. This addition would do all this while helping streamline operations significantly.
Contract packaging
Contract packaging allows companies that aren’t ready to financially invest in equipment to decrease packaging labor by contracting out some of their services to other entities. Contracting another business to assemble their goods into finished products allows companies to concentrate on other aspects of what they do. Contract packaging can also help save on costs.
More efficient packaging technologies
The objective of packaging automation in the consumer packaged goods sector is efficiency and speed. While marijuana product manufacturers don’t necessarily need to perform at the same speed as other sectors, efficiency is still important to automation practices.
As more automation companies continue to customize for marijuana needs, we may see the use of more efficient technology. Senior VP of ActionPac Scales & Automation Amelia Dishion stated that learning how to adapt automation equipment that is already in use to fit the needs of marijuana could help. Dishion gave the example of vertical bagging, which is a user-friendly, efficient and fast packaging process that uses flexible, thin packaging for various products.
Given that marijuana packaging regulations require a thick film of material for packaging, the machines could be adapted for marijuana regulations to enable them to package marijuana items such as pre-rolls and single-use grams.
Sustainability
A 2020 report by McKinsey shows that consumer packaged goods brands are focused on using biodegradable and recycled packaging options in response to consumer outcry on the impact of plastic packaging on the environment. While sustainable packaging hasn’t yet been adopted on a large scale in the marijuana industry, manufacturers may soon adopt it as the trend is expected to continue as coverage on environmental damage and climate change caused by consumerism grows and more steps are taken by countries around the globe to shift to a green economy.
There are signs that the marijuana industry is waking up to these CPG packaging principles given that companies such as Flora Growth Corp. (NASDAQ: FLGC) are already utilizing some of the techniques above to gain a competitive edge.
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