w w w.in s i g h t o n m f g . c o m September 2014
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/INSIGHT ON MANUFACTURING
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Forest, paper and packaging industry
sees change ahead
» About half of forest, paper & packaging CEOs expect to see growth, compared to 68% of CEOs overall.
» 85% are concerned about continued slow or negative growth in developed economies compared with 70%
of CEOs overall.
» 77% of CEOs in this sector are planning to cut expenses within the next year.
» 81% believe that technological advances such as the digital economy, social media, mobile devices and
big data will transform their business over the next five years.
92% say they'll need to update technology
investment strategies. Only
23% have actually made changes.
» 33% have started revamping R&D and innovation capacity in diverse areas like nanotechnology, genetic
manipulation, dissolving pulp uses and new packaging solutions. But only
17% of sector executives believe
their R&D departments are well-prepared for the future.
» 54% of sector CEOs say the level of trust their supply chain partners have in their industry has improved.
» Nearly two-thirds of sector CEOs pointed to resource scarcity and climate change as driving
transformation – more than across the sample as a whole.
» 77% of forest, paper & packaging CEOs are concerned about the availability of workers with key skills.
Source: ThomasNet.com®, U.S. Economics and Statistics Administration
