Does anyone have experience in the packaging industry?
March 12, 2025
by a searcher from University of Toronto in Toronto, ON, Canada
Hello! I'm currently working on a deal in the packaging space, and wondering if anyone with experience in the industry would be open to a chat? I'm new to this industry, so getting up to speed as quickly as possible. I'd appreciate any insights from someone who has 'been there, done that'! Thank you ;-)
from Bowling Green State University in Surrey, BC, Canada
In general, I would say evaluation of inventory is important, be on the lookout for obsolete SKUs. They'll probably be carrying more SKUs than they would like, and that's just an unfortunate feature of the industry. The burn is the build-up of 'good idea at the time' items that might not be purged from the rolls in a timely way. Sometimes it's nominal, not a big deal. If manufacturing, capex is the heart and lungs, want to either a) make sure it's heart healthy, or b) budget open heart surgery for post-close, haha.
Either manufacturing or wholesaling, customer concentration, industry concentration (ie. packaging of household goods could be negatively impacted by tariffs), really the value-chain both upstream and downstream, working capital cycle.
Beer Game vibes.
Good luck!
from Georgetown University in São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil