2023 Year in Review

Happy New Year from the Fibre Box Association (FBA) team. We hope you had a wonderful holiday season. Before we race off into another year, we’d like to share some highlights from a very productive 2023.

A Year of Transition: We successfully managed more staff transition in 2023 than any other year in the association’s history. Dennis Colley stepped down as President and CEO, Mary Alice Drain retired as Director of Technical Services, Caitlin Salaverria became the President of ICPF, Joey Heffernan replaced Caitlin, and I joined in May. That is a lot of change for a small team!
A New Website: The newly designed FBA website was researched and designed to enhance data accessibility for members. A public-facing website was developed to consolidate information from three different websites, modernize the interface and make the site device responsive. Aesthetic (look, feel and navigation) updates consistent with the new site were made to the member side of the website ensuring that all work done would not limit future updates or system changes.
Benefits of Corrugated Promotion: The Corrugated Industry Promotions Program funded by FBA’s supplier partners advances the benefits of corrugated packaging to targeted audiences, primarily box users, through outreach in vertical trade publications. Annual insertion orders were placed in January and content including advertising, content marketing, advertorials, social media, and digital placements happened throughout the year. Results are tracked quarterly through the Advertising and Social Media Impact Report found on our website.
The FBA Annual Meeting/ICCA Global Summit: The Annual Meeting was held in conjunction with the ICCA Global Summit and brought together industry leaders from around the world. All arrangements were completed in tandem recognizing the needs of both organizations and the participation of other organizations including AF&PA and ICPF. Presentations from customers, suppliers and members provide a unique opportunity to learn about global trends in the corrugated industry.
The Industry Average Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): The report, completed in conjunction with our Corrugated Packaging Alliance partners, analyzed the environmental impact of manufacturing corrugated products in 2020. The information demonstrates progress since the first baseline LCA in 2006. Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of manufacturing a box have been reduced by 50 percent per unit.
FBA Committees –Active participation made our industry stronger: The Safety & Health committee established a Safety Innovation Award. The Technical committee completed research on pallet overhang and began revisions to the Fibre Box Handbook. The Environmental committee began developing stormwater discharge management guidelines. Suggestions from the Data Services committee led to the development of a searchable data dashboard for historical shipments, inventory and consumption launching in early 2024 and the Cybersecurity committee continued to share best practices for safeguarding individual company information.

Looking ahead, we are very excited about our objectives for 2024. Here are a few:

Launch the data dashboard. Accessible on the website and mobile device friendly, the dashboard will provide members with quick access to current and historical data on shipments, consumption, inventory, and weeks of supply. The data in the system will only include the type of information that is currently distributed via email and posted to the www.fibrebox.org website. The system will not store or display information that is company/plant specific – only aggregated data for the industry. Further metrics will be available over time subject to input from our committees and membership.
Promote corrugated as the package of choice. We have a great story to tell. The FBA team will work with members to share LCA results with major retailers and CPGs and explain why corrugated is the package of choice when compared to alternatives such as returnable plastic containers.
Publish a new edition of the Fibre Box Handbook. The FBA team and member committees are working hard to have the new edition of the Fibre Box Handbook completed by year end. We will be sending out pre-order notices this spring.
Highlight safety innovation at member companies. The Safety Committee will start a “Safety Innovation Award” program to recognize and share innovations to enhance safety across the industry. The process and selection criteria will be shared soon.
Advance residential OCC recovery. We’ll continue our efforts to work with allied associations such as American Forest and Paper Association, Paper and Packaging Board and others to increase the residential recovery of OCC. That objective is even more important given the pending EPR legislation in many states.

We will work hard to achieve these objectives and many others this year. We feel privileged to serve you and the corrugated industry.

Thank you for your support. We wish you and the members of your company a very happy, heathy, and prosperous New Year!

With warmest regards,

Bob McIlvaine