Innovation and sustainability in Asia-Pacific and beyond

As someone passionate about Amcor, our people and our responsible packaging commitment, my role as the Vice President of R&D for the Asia Pacific region has given me the ability to gain insights into the challenges, the opportunities and the value that Amcor brings to the region. Developing and evolving packaging solutions across various materials to protect necessary goods, such as food and medicine, for the well-being of people is one of the important goals we pursue.

We encounter unique challenges here in the Asia Pacific market every day, thanks to the diverse array of products, customers and competitors. And I’m proud say that our team thrives in this environment, developing the perfect fusion of innovation and sustainability. We're not just creating packaging; we're crafting solutions that meet the ever-evolving needs of our customers.

The importance of this region is exemplified by Amcor’s investment in China’s largest flexible packaging plant (Huizhou Homeland), which opened in December 2022. This state-of-the-art facility strengthens our ability to meet growing customer demand and is equipped with the first automated packaging production line in China. The plant goes above and beyond already high safety and environmental requirements by including features such as emission reduction, energy reduction, heat recovery, low power consumption and rainwater harvesting systems. One of the most exciting parts for me is that the Amcor Asia Pacific Innovation Center in Jiangyin will become a key enabler in Amcor’s growth in Asia Pacific by delivering differentiating responsible packaging solutions to our customers in the region.

Problem solving at Amcor’s Asia Pacific Innovation Center

In August 2022, we opened the Amcor Asia Pacific Innovation Center to provide our customers access to Amcor’s expertise and accelerate the development of more sustainable packaging solutions. We are thrilled to have hosted more than 100 customer and supplier events to address Asia Pacific’s broad customer base and needs since opening. In conjunction with these events, I’ve seen first-hand the success of Amcor’s Catalyst™ program which takes advantage of the global and regional Catalyst™ resources to amplify our people’s incredible knowledge, spark innovation and put solutions to the test. It is also a truly collaborative process between Amcor experts and our customers that proves our ability to problem solve and deliver exceptional products. Through this program, we have an extensive range of capabilities spanning industrial design, prototyping, consumer research, technical trials and graphic design.

As an example of the Innovation Center and the Catalyst™ program in action, we had one visiting Chinese customer inquire about attractive packaging for snack foods. Our fantastic team had both the knowledge and skill to bring fresh ideas to the table, utilizing the center to rapidly develop novel designs within just one week. Although the value of the program had already proved itself, we were able to concretely see the fruits of our labor when the customer placed a business order with us weeks later. This is just one of many success stories and moments of immense satisfaction and pride, a testament to our commitment to innovation and excellence.

Global collaboration to drive innovation

Asia Pacific countries account for two thirds of the world’s population. The strong correlation between population and packaging material use means that there will be significant growth in responsible packaging solutions over the next decade in the region. The vision of Amcor’s Innovation Centers is to build a globally connected network to leverage technologies and products without duplicating efforts, while providing superior experiences to our customers.

From a regional perspective, the flexible packaging market in Asia Pacific is cost competitive with high expectations for product performance. As a global team, we can take packaging solutions that are already available in other regions and apply them locally. For example, we have a mature protein packaging portfolio available in markets outside of the Asia Pacific region. By applying the learnings from that portfolio to functional protein packaging in Asia Pacific, we can both be efficient with our resources and provide high quality products for our customers.

My personal passion stems from working with our talented team to create innovative products and from developing packaging solutions that can be recycled or reused. As our efforts to collaborate globally continue, I have no doubt that Amcor will be able to evolve and create more sustainable solutions. Whether it be a mono PE recyclable packaging structure or a super high barrier film, I know we can meet the moment and deliver for our customers.

The world is changing, and we’re right there, leading the charge. It’s not just about business; it’s about shaping the future.