The cutting-edge facility is designed to accelerate the development of flexible packaging solutions.

Many U.S. consumers rely on the food product label as a health and wellness information source.

Distinctively shaped rigid packaging commands attention at retail. But distinctive shapes also can add functionality or project a certain desired image.

Rigid packaging is a staple in the dairy case, but what’s stocked today differs from what consumers put in their shopping carts a few years ago. Containers have been lightweighted, sometimes with the help of in-mold labels.

It’s not surprising many dairy products launch in flexible packaging. It’s one of the fastest growing packaging formats in the United States, according to the Flexible Packaging Association, Annapolis, Md.

With a projected compound annual growth rate of 2.9% through 2022, demand for food packaging reflects growth in the U.S. food industry overall, according to Food Packaging Trends & Advances, a report published in September 2015 by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, Reston, Va. Globally, growth is even stronger.