Industries · Industrial and mobility
Paper and packaging
How wood and recycled paper become boxes and cartons, how plastic, metal and glass packaging are made, why huge mills sit far away while box and can plants sit next to their customers, how input costs are passed on to customers, and how mergers and new packaging rules reshaped the industry from 2024 to 2026.
Key takeaways
- Packaging is two businesses joined together. Making the material (paper, board, plastic resin, aluminium) happens in a few huge, capital heavy mills and plants.
- Most of what a packaging company pays for is its raw material.
- Packaging cases usually ask why margins fell, whether to close or build a mill or plant, how to win a big customer, or how to respond to new recycling rules.
- Explain the paper and board value chain from fibre to box, and the four other main packaging materials
- Explain why mills are few and large while converting plants are many and close to customers
- Calculate the margin of an integrated and a non-integrated box maker, and the effect of a delay in passing on input costs
- Name the main players by region and the forces that moved the industry from 2024 to 2026
- Crack typical packaging cases, starting with the right driver
Lessons
How paper and packaging work: mills, converters and five materials
From forest and recycling bin to the box on your doorstep, the five main packaging materials, who buys packaging, and the measures that matter.
Packaging economics: integration, the cycle and passing on costs
Why owning the mill and the box plants together pays, why price rises and cost rises do not arrive at the same time, and what one thousand drink cans earn.
Packaging players, trends 2024 to 2026, and how to crack the cases
Who the big paper and packaging companies are by region, the mergers, closures and new rules of 2024 to 2026, typical prompts, traps and drills.
Worked cases in this module
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Key terms