Board Converting News, January 3, 2022

FBA Celebrates Another Successful Year In 2021 BY DENNIS COLLEY

FBA Board and Executive Committee were very engaged in identifying strategic issues facing the industry and FBA’s role in addressing them. In the end, 2021 was one of FBA’s most productive years for delivering results and value to its members. Here are a few highlights: • Monthly production reports were successfully transi- tioned to Quarterly Statistical Reports and more than 120 data services reports were generated on produc- tion/consumption/inventory and benchmarking opera- tions. • FBA introduced members to the new Box Segment De- mand Indicators Reportwhich provides member com- panies with macroeconomic and market segment data in graphs with accompanying bullet point information. • A new Cybersecurity Committee was established with 19 members. The committee led two cybersecurity training sessions, conducted a cybersecurity spend survey, and hosted a variety of cyberse- curity speakers.

As 2021 comes to a close, I want to thank Fibre Box As- sociation (FBA) members for their continued support and

encouragement. Each year has its own set of challenges and 2021 was no different. This past year, the cor- rugated industry’s top five issues included Covid-19, plastics substitu- tions, cybersecurity, extended pro- ducer responsibility (EPR) and supply chain concerns. As an association,

FBA looked to its member-driven standing committees to act on these issues and others in the areas of technical, safety, health, the environment, and data services. The Dennis Colley

• The technical committee completed its second research project analyzing cur- rent data to assess the Environmental Factors used by package designers. The pallet unitization research project exam- ined the impact of stacking patterns on top to bottom box compression (BCT). • A new edition of the Hazardous Mate- rials Packaging Training Program was developed for release in January 2022. The program trains corrugated industry Hazmat Employees with new training vid- eos, tests, and reference documents. • Customer (virtual) meetings were held with Amazon (2), Kroger (2), Walmart (2), Bolthouse Farms, Costco, IKEA, and Gen- eral Mills. • Data was collected for a new corrugated box Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This fourth industry LCA is expected to be completed by December 2022. • Nine of 10 supplier partners renewed pledges for 2022-2024.Pledges support the Corrugated Industry Promotions Pro- gram extolling the benefits of corrugated packaging through advertising and social media. • In all, approximately 27 committee meet- ings were held. • 2021 financials were positive to budget. If additional information is needed on any of these topics, please reach out to me or the FBA team for assistance. On behalf of FBA’s staff, I wish everyone peace, joy and happiness during this holiday season. From my family to yours, Happy Holidays and Hap- py New Year!

24

www.boardconvertingnews.com

January 3, 2022

Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs