By John Webb-Jenkins, Chief Executive, The Packaging Society
SubscribePackaging has the potential to transform sales and revitalise a business. Apart from its primary functions of protection and promotion, well specified packaging can seriously make a difference to turnover, offer perceived added value, create customer loyalty and - that holy grail for manufacturers - reduce costs.
So how can producers of consumer goods make sure they have the best qualified packaging professionals on board? And how can they make sure their packaging suppliers apply the most up-to-date skills and expertise on their behalf? In short, how can packaging come up with the competitive advantage they need.
With the pressures on the packaging market greater than ever. And with margins and profitability crucial across the entire industry, there has never been a greater need for the highest quality education and training at every level of the retail packaging sector. To satisfy this need, the Institute of Packaging is expanding and broadening its range of educational activities to give the widest possible support to all sectors of the industry.
The Diploma in Packaging Technology has long been the flagship product of the Institute of Packaging. Today it is offered worldwide by distance learning or within the UK either by part-time college study or full time intensive study at the Packaging School in Melton Mowbray. The Diploma is recognised worldwide as being the premier qualification for packaging technologists.
Now, after extensive research, we are launching a new initiative. The Certificate in Packaging Technology is a qualification aimed specifically at those who are not, or do not intend to be, packaging technologists but who have a need for professionally acquired packaging knowledge as part of their everyday role. Typically sales people, purchasing professionals, designers, engineers and production personnel are those who will benefit from this comprehensive module-based qualification.
The second major initiative is called Corporate Partnering. It is a concept pioneered by the Institute to deliver value both to the individual and the company that employs them. After a company signs up as a Corporate Partner, the process begins when an expert team assigned by the Institute carries out a detailed training needs analysis on site.
This includes discussion and surveys of the varied requirements of the personnel whose role has an impact on the packaging function. This process can apply from design right through to production. The results enables us to provide tailored and targeted education and training directly where they are needed by the individual and where they will provide real benefit to the business. This tailored approach might involve any mix of support from the full Diploma, the Certificate or selected modules relevant to job function. The programme is delivered at the place of work in a timescale suited to the company and the individuals concerned.
Launched just a few weeks ago, Corporate Partnering is already successful and promises, for most companies, to be the most cost effective method of securing high quality packaging education and training.
But gaining a qualification should never be the end of the story. Highly qualified personnel need to continually demonstrate the quality of their achievements as well as keeping up with the latest developments in their industry. For this reason, the Institute will be introducing CPD (Continuous Professional Development) towards the end of 2002 to allow all those within the industry to continuously update their packaging knowledge and demonstrate the value of their professionalism to those who employ them.
Another first for the Institute has come with its role in carrying out what is perhaps the most significant packaging industry study ever undertaken. This industry mapping project is being managed jointly by The Institute of Packaging and the Department of Trade and Industry. It will map the training needs of the packaging industry in order to highlighted many areas where further training, especially vocational training, is needed. By working closely with all relevant government bodies over the coming months we intend to expand the range of training available and ensure its effective delivery into the heart of UK business.
Alongside all these major developments, the Institute has helped launch EPIC, the European Packaging Institutes’ Consortium. Announced during Interpack 2002, this organisation brings together the packaging Institutes of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom in one body to provide information on education and training across the whole of Europe and to strive for uniformity of qualification and delivery in all countries. This will benefit all of those companies operating in this arena at an international level. Of particular importance, given the increasing need for mobility of workforce, is the intention to support individuals in companies with a uniform base of qualifications which can be achieved and recognised across the whole market place.
In all of these ways, The Institute of Packaging is not just the centre of excellence for education and training in the UK packaging industry, from shop floor to degree level, it is delivering profesional critical mass into the productivity and profitability of the UK packaging industry.
Anyone interested in any of the above schemes or qualifications should contact The Institute of Packaging, Sysonby Lodge, Nottingham Road, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, LE13 0NU. Tel: +44 1664 500 055. Fax: +44 1664 564164. email: info@iop.co.uk