Industry & Technology Policy Board
The Packaging Society
Annual Report for 2009

1.    Board Membership

Keith Barnes          Chairman
Kevin Vyse             Vice Chairman
Sarah Harrison        Secretary
Neil Farmer
Tom Serpell
Haulwen Nicholas
Terry Robins
Roy Dixon
Steve Pye
David Wiggins
Emma Wise
Mark Caul
David Jackson
Barry Jones           Chairman Education Working Group
Alec Alden             Chairman Competitions Working Group
David Smalley        Chairman Membership Working Group
Henry Emblem       Environmental CIG
David Pethick         Pharmaceutical CIG

2. Board meetings

28th January 2009        -  10 members attended
22nd April 2009            -  11 members attended
28th July 2009              -   12 members attended
6th October 2009          -   12 members attended

3.    Opportunities for growth

Our priorities remain :-
a.    Communications
b.    Packaging sustainability  Climate Change
c.    A higher profile within packaging   Increased in 2009
Communications are improving
Monthly updates are supplied to Board members
Regular meetings are held with Bernie Rickinson and Gordon      
Stewart.
There will be several activities  involving sustainability in 2009
( Copenhagen Conference outcome) Plus a General Election.


4.Technical Programme

The packaging Diploma course provided more packaging technologists by examination. Numbers for the Certificate course increased. Other specialist courses were run, one in conjunction with WRAP. This will continue in 2010.

Advanced activity is present with the need to produce a course for designers in partnership with the Design Business Association (DBA). This will become a reality in 2010 via the Education
Working Group.

The Packaging Summit was held in London and will be repeated in our programme for 2010

We will be attending easyFair in London and Dublin. It is the aim to produce a conference in Dublin and plans are in a forward stage for a joint conference in London with The Worshipful Company of            Stationers and Newspaper Makers. Total Exhibition will be with us in 2010 and we aim to have a large presence there.


5.Foresight Implications

Nothing to report


6.Professional Membership development

CPD is now on line and being used by members to keep their details up to date. It should be used more regularly.
Networking and collaboration between local societies of other communities continues apace.
There is Packaging representation on other Divisional Boards.

7. Institute Federalism

The Packaging Society is already in existence so no changes have been undertaken.
There is still a need for identification via our post nominals e.g. MIMMM (PKG)


8. National/International Links

Ongoing contact with :-
Faraday Packaging Partnership, SmartMat and other KTN’s
The Packaging Federation
WRAP, PIRA
INCPEN
PPMA, BPIF, SPE
IOPP and MSU in the USA
EPIC   Europe
WPO  World Packaging Organisation
The Museum of Branding, Packaging and Advertising

9.Government Interface

WRAP, KTN’s and Cogent have already been mentioned.
Contact with EMDA and Yorkshire Forward, other RDA’s to follow
There is scope to work with DEFRA, Envirowise, RDA’s and the Carbon Trust

10.Publications

The Society’s annual review and directory – Packsource – will be issued in the New Year, the next issue will be web-based Packaging Professional magazine has been produced every 2 months with articles provided by members and invited authors packaging articles were also seen in Materials World and
MADE. Other contributions have been made to trade journals.

The Website has been considerably overhauled, more additions will be in place in due course. It received the highest level of IOM3 hits in 2009. Packaging enquiries are forwarded through membership and are proving successful.

11. Awards and Prizes

It was another good year for Starpack,  Student Starpack and Schools Starpack competitions. 2010 will see us aiming even higher with an additional partner in the Drinks industry.

We have also taken on board the administration for Worldstars in conjunction with the WPO.

12.Terms of Reference

The document has been finalised, agreed and is available on our website.


13. Other Matters

The 2009 Fellows lunch took place in London and again produced a low attendance. As many Fellow initiatives are being discussed it is hoped that next year we will be inundated with support.

The London Local Society held a very successful River Thames boat trip in the Summer. The East Midlands Dinner/Dance in the Autumn continued it’s success of previous years.
It also notched up it’s first overseas visit-Holland- in the Spring.

The Boilerhouse  at Grantham is up and running with a number of successful events in it’s books already. A booklet describing it’s features is available.

The BRC/IOP packaging standard, issue 3 has been distributed and retraining of auditors is a regular activity. There are moves to introduce the standard in the USA.

Over the year a web based local society has been created to provide East Anglia with the opportunity to expand their activities and network through “Packaging People” as a first the project is being monitored closely and has 150 members already.

EasyFair and the Irish Packaging Society collaborated to provide a 2 day exhibition in Dublin which was very successful and is already booked to run in 2010 with a conference prior to the exhibition. Attempts to regenerate other local societies will continue.

Moves are in place to recreate an East Anglia Local Society and to aid the Irish Society in Dublin.

Discussions are ongoing to explore the case for a SE Asia Local Society in Singapore. At the same time to create a centre for training and education to Diploma standard in Singapore.

A collaboration with the Indian Institute of Packaging could see the launch of a UK initiative for them in 2010.

Other countries are exploring education possibilities.

A new Packaging Society masthead has been designed and agreed.

The next meeting is due on 20th January 2010


Keith Barnes
Chairman The Packaging Society
07/12/09