Leading on technical packaging delivery programmes and projects for a multitude of products.
Occupational Profile
Packaging professionals lead on technical packaging delivery programmes and projects for a multitude of products including food and drink, consumer electronics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and automotive components. The fundamental role of packaging is to protect, preserve and promote the contents.
Packaging professionals may be employed in many industry sectors: filling and packing, design, product manufacture and processing, environmental management, transport and storage, retail, print and chemical manufacture to name but a few; with employers ranging from small design companies through to global conglomerates employing many thousands of people.
Typical duties include:
- generating new packaging products in response to briefs
- ensuring that packaging developed meets set requirements, legislation and specifications
- producing samples to optimise the end product; different materials, formats and designs
- running trials to check packaging for suitability and performance under various conditions
- controlling specifications, production and quality standards
- undertaking technical evaluations, selections, and negotiating with suppliers
- identifying opportunities for technological improvement, selecting products from suppliers
- working with market research professionals to translate consumer insight into packaging design features
- identifying packaging opportunities and championing them to stakeholders
- identifying and optimising solutions that improve sustainability and minimise environmental impact
- managing complex projects to time and budget
Typically, packaging professionals will operate with multiple stakeholders, reporting into research and development (R&D), technical, operations or supply chain.
Projects worked on might be as simple as a small efficiency saving and optimisation of a pack system with no real capital value, through to a global brand redesign requiring new manufacturing lines, pack tooling and a plethora of staff with interactions globally, spanning different departments, involving spends in the millions.
Working environment is typically office based, with frequent excursion into the production environment, warehouse, or to the extremes of the supply chain where the consumers might be located.
Typical job titles: Packaging Operations Manager, Packaging Development Manager, Packaging Project Manager, Packaging Innovation Technologist, Senior Packaging Technologist, Packaging Specialist.
Summary of Standard
https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/packaging-professional-degree/
Full Standard
