LEADERSHIP

Scrolling Your Way to Packaging Success

BY JULIE RICE-SUGGS, PH.D., AND ALLI KEIGLEY

How many of you, after a long day at work, fi nd yourself reaching for the phone to catch up on all your social media feeds? You fi x a snack, put your feet up, and start the endless scrolling—or at least as much as you can get to before someone asks when supper is going to be ready.

We sure do! Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Reddit, or LinkedIn, there’s a lot to choose from for updates on Aunt Carol’s garden, the new job your second cousin once removed just got, or your sports team’s daily stats. So, believe us when we say we understand any resistance to adding yet another app to the mix when there are already too many to keep up with.

However, we do think you need to get one more: TikTok. While TikTok has been around since 2016, it forged a strong presence in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to slow down, with more than 1 billion users and 200 million downloads in the United States alone. We know that doesn’t mean you need it, but keep reading.

For those new to the TikTok world— we’re just now getting caught up—it’s a social media platform that fi rst made its mark with video content of catchy dance choreography and lip-sync routines. However, the platform has evolved to include other forms of content such as comedy, baking, food, sports, motion graphics, DIY, animals, facial treatments, and many more.

Wanting to move beyond strictly entertainment purposes, TikTok partnered with creators across their platforms to form the #LearnOnTikTok campaign, which highlights the app’s most exciting and unexpected features. Alongside its own creators and organizations, TikTok collaborates with notable experts in their fi elds, such as Bill Nye, to bring informative and inspirational content to its billions of users.

Now, we’ve got you up to speed on the ins and outs of the TikTok world, but you’re probably still wondering what this has to do with the packaging world. Interestingly enough, TikTok has taken the marketing and advertising world by storm—completely changing the way brands and organizations share content with their target audiences. Because TikTok is an easily adopted tool, businesses and organizations have begun using it in a variety of ways to interact with their customers in a laid-back, less commercial approach, such as participating in TikTok challenges, posting about their locations with captions and hashtags, and using branded eff ects (e.g., games, stickers, fi lters, special eff ects) to off er a more engaging experience.

Never one to miss out on an exciting marketing opportunity, Th e Packaging School (TPS) recently jumped on board. We started a TikTok account a few months ago to raise awareness of our online packaging courses and certifi cate programs. As of now, we have 174 videos on the platform proclaiming the awesomeness of packaging through 15-second video clips. And we’re already seeing some great traction.

To take things a step further, we partnered with Cory Connors, sustainable packaging consultant at Landsberg Orora in Portland, Oregon, to create a superb course introducing packaging professionals to TikTok. Connors has been in the packaging industry for 25 years, and his focus is on helping companies become more sustainable with their packaging. Working in a Weyerhaeuser corrugated production facility helped Connors pay his way through college while helping him understand the nuances of corrugated in the sustainability sector. He is the host of a sustainable packaging podcast in which he chats with industry leaders about sustainable packaging options, new products, and ways we can each make a diff erence in packaging sustainability. His TikTok account, @corygated, has more than 75,700 followers, 1.7 million likes, and more than 1,500 videos.

Working as a subject matter expert and instructor with TPS, Connors helped us build an engaging course on the importance of social media in the packaging space— specifi cally, how TikTok can be used to level up your packaging organization and how to create impactful videos for your audience. Th e course is about an hour long and is broken up into bite-size lessons that can be engaged with on any device, anywhere, anytime—catering to adult learning styles and their busy schedules. An added bonus—the course sells for only $49, making it light on your wallet, too!

What’s holding you back from joining the TikTok revolution? Take the leap, and if you don’t know where to start, check out this amazing course today at bit. ly/3CLvKCU. 

Julie Rice Suggs, Ph.D.,

is academic director at Th e Packaging School. She can be reached at 330-774-8542 or julie@ packagingschool.com.

Alli Keigley is production coordinator at Th e Packaging School. She can be reached at alli@ packagingschool.com.

Bench Strength

BY SCOTT ELLIS, ED.D.

Do you feel like Moses? We are told the pharaoh demanded that his workforce increase production while disrupting their supply of materials, telling them to make more bricks and to gather their own straw supply. If you feel similarly maltreated by staffing challenges, supply chain issues, and the rising cost of goods over the past few years, I have two suggestions.

First, with all due respect, get a grip because all those challenges came during a time of profitability for the packaging industry. Also, most boxmakers are better employers and manufacturers for having overcome those obstacles. The second suggestion is that you make a priority to deepen your company’s bench strength.

Employment numbers indicate that manufacturing will need to continue getting the work done with fewer workers. Our solutions, therefore, need to contain value for the workers we desire to attract and retain, while increasing our ability to meet customer demand with safe, fast, quality service. The solution is crosstraining, but that is the answer you find in the back of the book. The more important part is how to get there, so as my algebra teacher required, I will show my work.

The first step is to take an inventory of the skill sets of the current staff. I will focus on machine centers and give an example below of the application to administrative areas. To get a baseline, gather production management to set your criteria for the levels of capability. Those levels could be labeled “No Training,” “Trainee,” “Assistant Operator,” “Operator,” and “Trainer.” A resource available for this purpose, Cross-Training, can be found on Packaging University. Establish objective criteria for the knowledge base and demonstration of ability to move from trainee to assistant and so on. Next, set a goal for the number of qualified people on each key machine center. Finally, your team should discuss possible motivations for an individual to be trained on multiple machines.

Production managers have found that many team members are motivated by an unspoken competition. When a training matrix is posted, operators of single machines will see that some co-workers are qualified on multiple processes, and some will find that motivation enough to cross-train. There is not a one-size-fits-all template for how this works in your company culture. Some companies pay for performance, meaning that when team members operate different machine centers, they clock in for pay at that machine’s rate. Other companies pay for knowledge, giving a pay differential as an operator qualifies on multiple processes.

In any case, qualifying as a trainer should receive the highest recognition. It would not be unusual for a multi-machine operator to question their placement as operator but not trainer. One such interaction was a catalyst for change in a “magician,” which is my term for a skilled operator who does not show their work. The operator scanned the chart and asked why they did not receive the highest rating, saying, “I can train.” The response they received was, “Yes, I am sure you can, but you don’t.” It was a turning point for this skilled operator who had previously thought there was job security in holding onto knowledge.

Once the criteria for the objective ranking of capability is set and the current bench strength is known, you will decide if the best fit for your culture would be publicly posting the information or for private use by supervisors for staffing (and human resources if pay is impacted).

For those who would like to take it further, the Training Tracking Tool, also on Packaging University, can be utilized to monitor the training of individuals,