ProAmpac, a leader in flexible packaging and material science, announced that it has acquired Specialty Packaging, Inc., a family-owned manufacturer of specialty paper, film and foil packaging products for the fast food and food services industries. The addition of Specialty Packaging’s complementary product portfolio and manufacturing capabilities extends ProAmpac’s reach with food service customers and expands its footprint to the southwestern United States.Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Specialty Packaging is a leading provider of paper, film, foil bags, sandwich wraps, basket liners and other custom products for longtime blue-chip fast food and food service brands. The company produces custom and stock paper, film and foil products from its state-of-the-art 100,000 square-foot facility. With this acquisition, ProAmpac broadens its portfolio of highly customized, recyclable food packaging solutions and increases its paper bag converting capacity.

Huhtamaki, a key global provider of sustainable packaging solutions, announces a first-to-market sustainable innovation for the global pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. Huhtamaki's Push Tab® blister lid is mono-material PET and free from aluminum. It is designed to meet the stringent safety requirements of highly regulated pharmaceutical and healthcare packaging and provides the industry with a more sustainable alternative to traditional push-through blister packaging. This game changing innovation will help deliver sustainable packaging solutions for the growing global healthcare industry, whilst importantly maintaining functionality and efficiency, as Push Tab® blister lid runs on existing blister packaging lines without compromising on speed. The Huhtamaki Push Tab® blister lid is made of mono-material PET (polyethylene terephthalate) which significantly improves recyclability of the packaging, whilst remaining compatible with existing high performance blister packaging lines, without needing modifications or extra investment. Huhtamaki and its partner – Klöckner Pentaplast – bring this first-to-market innovation to help the global healthcare and pharmaceutical sector meet their sustainability targets and achieve market growth at the same time. In 2021, European packaging sales in the healthcare category had an estimated value of EUR 1.4 billion, of which approximately 50% were in blister packaging.

IPG® (Intertape Polymer Group®), a leading manufacturer of packaging products, was named the “Large Enterprise Manufacturer of the Year” by the National Association of Manufacturers’ Manufacturing Leadership Council (MLC). Each year, this council recognizes world-class manufacturing companies for their outstanding efforts as they pursue their journeys to Manufacturing 4.0. The 20th annual award ceremony took place at the conclusion of the MLC’s signature event that focuses on insights and strategies for how manufacturers can further their operational digital transformation held in Florida June 2-5, 2024. Manufacturing Leadership Award finalists and winners were determined by a distinguished panel of judges with significant industry expertise and experience. Manufacturers continually find new and inventive ways to not just bring new technology into their factories, but also how to leverage it for highly effective problem solving and even developing new processes and products that can allow for entry into new markets and new revenue streams,” said Penelope Brown, Senior Content Director and head of the MLC Awards program.