The Tech Box

The Tech Box – October 2022


Rewarding Work During a Busy Fall Season

Fall can be a busy time of year for those who work in technical areas of the corrugated packaging industry. For Fibre Box Association (FBA) members, technical areas include environmental responsibilities, worker safety, health protection and other regulations, production, productivity, quality, and sustainability. Not only are you trying to wrap things up for year-end but hopefully, you are also participating in meetings, events and conferences.

Participating on industry-related committees and attending industry-related events are great ways to expand your knowledge, network with peers and help shape solutions to industry issues. It’s also an opportunity to give back to the industry that supports you.

This late-Summer and Fall, the TAPPI Corrugated Packaging Division committees, Corrugated Testing Committee (Fiscotec) and Corrugated Technical Committee (Corbotec), held meetings. And so did American Society for Testing and Materials/ASTM International, and International Safe Transit Assn (ISTA), among others.

As representatives of the corrugated industry, Technical Manager, Chase Kammerer and I work on these committees and engage with other organizations, promoting industry efforts. And that working knowledge helps us keep our members informed on standards, progress and regulations that relate to packaging.

Recent work that some committees are tackling include:

  • The ASTM D10.19 Packaging – Sustainability subcommittee we are on facilitates appropriate certification for paper-based packaging customers who insist their boxes are certified compostable.
  • Collaborated with American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), Paper and Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council (PPEC), Recycled Paperboard Technical Assn, USEPA and many others, to update the Product Category Rules for North American Market Pulp, Paper and Paperboard Products, Tissue, and Containerboard.
  • And we meet monthly with other International Organization of Standardization (ISO) TC/323 TAG members to support development of the global circular economy with guidance, like consensus standards and positions.

This Fall is also noted for two big events: Corrugated Week 2022, held in September in San Antonio and the upcoming


Pack Expo



,

to be held October 23-26 in Chicago. TAPPI’s Corrugated Week and SuperCorrExpo focus on corrugated machinery while Pack Expo showcases packaging technology and supply chain solutions. It’s an opportunity to stay on top of the latest advances, examine technology in action, in person and build relationships with others in the industry.

Signing up for committees will bring additional work, but it can also be very rewarding. It’s a chance to help shape the future technical aspects of our industry. And you won’t be disappointed if you give it a try.

Thanks,

Mary Alice