As shoppers’ preferences and environmental regulations evolve, consumer brands are reshaping their offerings faster than ever. Graphic Packaging has bolstered its innovation efforts to meet the demand for agile delivery. With investments in technology and specialized talent, Graphic Packaging has grown its innovation capability to encompass eight Innovation Hubs and 120 employees, driving around 3,000 patents.

“Over the past seven years, we’ve made significant investments in many key areas across this process in terms of people and capability, and we are delivering more value for our customers than we have in the past,” said Maggie Bidlingmaier, EVP and President, Americas at Graphic Packaging, during the company’s 2024 Investor Day.

“The investments we are making, along with the structure and process that we drive, accelerate the development of our new, unique solutions that help support the goals of the customers and the markets we’re in across the world,” said Ricardo DeGenova, SVP of Global Innovation and New Business.

Graphic Packaging’s leadership team unveiled its new Vision 2030 strategic plan at the event, attended by investors and analysts at the New York Stock Exchange. Bidlingmaier’s presentation outlined key topics such as the growing consumer demand for sustainable packaging and the company’s competitively advantaged innovation capability, as well as the categories of paperboard packaging poised to drive future growth.

From ideation to commercialization

Graphic Packaging continuously optimizes the innovation process to bring consumer packaging solutions to life faster and more efficiently—following a global framework. It starts with the consumer and market insights.

“We’ve invested in marketing and consumer insights capabilities—hiring top talent from CPG companies like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo,” Bidlingmaier said. “And as a result, we’re seeing better consumer insights while developing stronger relationships with our direct customers and retailers to unlock their needs and goals.

“The depth of talent and capability of our R&D and creative design group is critical to the innovation process. More recently we have invested to drive speed in early innovation stages—like rapid prototyping. Our knowledge of paper science, paper packaging, material science, and machinery is unmatched and allows us to innovate across the entire value chain,” Bidlingmaier added.

Graphic Packaging’s designers begin with the end in mind. They consider not just the consumer experience but Design for the Environment principles, the supply chain, and operational demands of high-volume production.

Another component within the innovation journey is around machinery design and deployment, a specialization the company has built considerable expertise in by all industry standards. “We are leaders in the design and implementation of packaging machinery, which in some cases, is a critical component of our overall solution,” Bidlingmaier said.

She added that the No. 1 goal when designing packaging is to ensure it can be executed within customers’ existing machinery and equipment—for cost-effectiveness and speed.

Last but not least is commercialization. “We have an unmatched scale with over 100 manufacturing facilities with discrete printing and finishing capabilities that allow us to meet our customers’ needs wherever they are,” Bidlingmaier said. “Taking packaging innovations to market involves working closely with brands to develop and execute pilots. Our capabilities, team, and collaborative process are helping us drive to new and exciting winning solutions.”

Take an inside look into Graphic Packaging’s innovation process.