"The packaging industry is dear, with OPN its future is clear, the packaging industry will shine so bright because OPN shall be the light."
OVERVIEW
According to a comprehensive report by ALL4PACK (A Paris based packaging industry report company), the global packaging market amounted to USD812 billion in 2014 registering a CAGR of 4.2% since 2010. Estimated at USD839 billion in 2015, it is set to reach USD998 billion in 2020 with AAGR of 5% and to reach USD1,100 billion in 2024.
With a global population of 7.35 billion human beings in 2015 according to the UN, each individual consumes USD114 of packaging per year in the world. This is a mathematical average which masks many disparities! The most developed economies are the highest users and producers of packaging. These mature markets are undergoing major changes in the packaging chain of value, driven by demographic and environmental changes and the "new economy". Emerging economies are creating new opportunities, thus satisfying the expectations of their populations. Amongst the most dynamic, the packaging market of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is forecast to grow from USD35.4 billion in 2014 to USD45.2 billion in 2019, with a CAGR of 5%, which is higher than the global packaging market. Read the full report HERE
CURRENT PACKAGING INDUSTRY PLATFORMS
It is very easy to ignore the role of packaging in inducing sales of the final product, but it is a critical component of how consumers choose what to buy. When choosing between similar brands, consumers are often attracted by the packaging while making the purchase decision. However, consumer packaging is not the only area served by the packaging companies. Industrial packaging is also important to preserve final consumer goods from the external environment and contains hazardous chemicals. So, it is evident that by protecting the product against external environment and theft, eliminating counterfeit products and ensuring damage free delivery proper packaging can work towards improving supply chain efficiency. However, it’s not so easy for packaging companies to be competitive in this marketplace.
KEY OBSTACLES FACING GLOBAL PACKAGING COMPANIES
In a well thought article, Infinite Research corroborated our previous work on Global packaging challenges to elucidate the major obstacles facing global packaging companies. They include:
•Keeping up with technological changes
Blockchain has influenced the way modern packaging ecosystem will be shaped out in the coming years, from manufacturers of packaging products, packaging platforms, delivery agents to end users. Consumer packaged goods, or CPG, companies are constantly trying to innovate to keep up with the changing customer demands and bring about product differentiation. Innovative packaging provides them with such platforms by using the size, shape, color, and functionality of the packaging. For instance, TUBORG beer came up with a pull-off cap for its beet bottle, which eliminated the need for an opener to open the bottles. The problem packaging companies are facing is to keep pace with such changes in technology. The vendors will have to invest in new machinery and infrastructure to create innovative packaging designs such as those.
•Protecting pack contents from external environment
Packaging companies have to ensure that their packaging survives harsh external environment including sunlight, UV rays, high and low temperature, humidity, moisture, and rain. Choosing a packaging that can survive all mentioned condition is a herculean task. Even if they come up with such packaging, the environment will differ as per the region, and packaging which is effective in a specific region may fail somewhere else. Packaging companies should also consider protection against warehouse conditions, transit, and retailers condition. So, it is challenging for the vendors to create packaging that can withstand any given environmental condition.
•Rising cost of raw materials
Plastic, resins, paper, paperboard, films, and adhesives are some of the common raw materials used by the packaging companies. In recent times, the packaging industry has been hit by increasing prices of such raw materials. For instance, the increasing prices for polypropylene, used in resins, bottles, and packaging films have been on the rise due to reduced supply for the material. Also, numerous reports point out that the paper prices have been experiencing a 7.5% year-on-year growth. Such increase in raw material prices has affected the packaging company’s ability to remain competitive.
•Sustainability challenges
Consumers, government organizations, and environmental groups have continuously been voicing their concerns towards the wastages created by the packaging industry. After the contents of the package have been consumed, the outer packaging ends up in huge landfills and ocean. Most of these materials are non-recyclable or difficult to recycle such as plastic wrappers, aluminum cans, PET bottles, and polyethylene. To improve packaging sustainability, packaging companies have to account for designs which will consider environmental issues, end-of-life disposal, and reduction of greenhouse gas and water footprints. Packaging disposal and recycling methods are very costly as it consumes a significant amount of energy and water and also creates emissions.
OTHER CHALLENGES:
•Partial fulfillment of services due to high transaction fees
•Centralized Marketplace and closed ledger system (No Blockchain)
•Automated Payment Gridlocks
•Lack of Automated reward system
•Micro-payment Discrepancies
Middleman Barrier
To cap it all up, DUPOINT highlighted the explored myriads of other issues clogging the wheel of global packaging in this enlightening VIDEO
A WAY OUT
In eliminating all of these challenges and much more, the noble idea for a strong global platform was born- To create the world’s first decentralized packaging ecosystem which is built on blockchain with a fair marketplace where services are provided as per agreements between buyers and sellers, thereby enabling seamless trading, distributed ledgers, high security and super-fast transactions. That platform is OPEN PACKAGING NETWORK.
THE VISION
The vision of this platform is to create a world-class decentralized space that will transparently incorporate all stakeholders in the packaging frontier by solving problems (such as those mentioned above) which is largely confronting the future trillion dollar global packaging industry.
OPN: THE PAYMENT NETWORK
It takes much more than a lion heart and giant stride for traditional structures/industries to make that quantum leap to the digital landscape and more so to- blockchain. OPN recognize this pain, and to make the transition as less painful as possible or rather more pleasant as possible, OPN plans to let the users make use of fiat currency for their transactions. Not just that, they plan to allow crypto-enthusiasts to make use of their token along with BTC and ETH to complete their transaction in a short time. Care should be taken by players who reside in countries where transaction like this are either restricted or regulated.
It is worthy of note that Payment methods such as Fiat provide partial rewards for prices of goods with about 2/3 card transaction fees, (BTC/ETH) provides relative transaction fees for partial rewards of services and OPK Token is much better with negligible transaction fees with full rewards for goods and services.
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THE PLATFORM ADVANTAGES
The packaging industry needs a golden touch to diffuse the balloon of challenges encircling it. The platform to bring about the needed change must be holistic in nature so that no stone is left unturned in this transformational process. The open packaging network has it all, critical advantages this platform must have has seen in OPN includes:
Streamlined Payments:
Smart Contracts and payment gateways can be used to build a mechanism to enable automated payments to the transacting parties. This will reduce the time the sellers normally wait to receive the payment.
Financing:
Actors will be able to use their OPK Token as a collateral to secure loans for their business requirements.
Fair-Price Market:
One of the advantages of decentralization is that it brings a lot more people and lot more knowledge onto the platform. We can harness this knowledge and get what is called as ‘Wisdom of the crowd’. We plan to do this by introducing a mining mechanism (reporting layer) to facilitate the matching the matching of orders between Sellers and Buyers. These actions will be awarded with tokens, hence allowing a market which is fair and free from any malicious actors wanting to manipulate the market.
Feedback Mechanisms:
Feedback mechanism can be of different kinds – Single User Feedback or Multi-User Feedback. The platform solution offers various feedback mechanisms like recommended systems, analytics, rating mechanisms which form a part of the multi user feedback system. Similarly, we have single-user feedback systems in like and comments on - discussion forums, posts and articles etc. All these data help the actors to make informed decisions regarding their transaction. Also, not just this, it is also decentralized since the mining mechanism can help identify good and malicious actors and consequently will be rated based on their actions.
Trust and Transparency:
Blockchain can improve the visibility to the supply chain. Each side can know where exactly the product is. When this information is shared, it can make the planning process easier. Buyer / Planners can predict lead times better and make accurate order counts.
Quality of Products:
Set up an agreed upon and bonding quality standard through a Smart Contract. Both Buyer and Supplier can hold each other accountable on this. It cuts down confusion. It improves communication due knowing each sides expectation. Best of all, you know what your plan of attack is if the issue occurs. (3rd party integration)
Demand Forecasting:
The platform allows the sellers to forecast the demand for products in a much better way. This is made possible by 2 major features: Bets and Wish Lists. The ‘Bets’ placed by the buyers/clients indicate to the sellers regarding the products that are in demand from the clients. Similarly, the Wish Lists feature of the clients allows them to mark the products that they need in the future which also can be a real mine of data for the sellers.
Wide range of products and better services for Clients:
Now clients need not worry about finding a product since the availability of sellers on the platform reduces the pain. Thus, clients can expect the product to be received with lesser lead times now.
Wide array of functionality with 3rd party apps:
Not just the sellers, buyers and other actors can also benefit once the APIs are in place that will allow 3rd party applications to plug and play into the existing platform. For Example: Prediction Markets, Futures Markets, Graphic design apps are some of the use cases that can be developed with the APIs.
Sustainability:
The actors can now benefit from the in-house experts and advisors who will help them make the right business decisions in terms of sustainability which is one of the most concerning factors for the packaging industry today.
More Business for Sellers:
The availability of Buyers/Clients on the platform means that the sellers will be benefited with more business at their disposal.
"The packaging industry is dear, with OPN its future is clear, the packaging industry will shine so bright because OPN shall be the light."
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