More than 90 people have participated in the X ASPACK Congress

November 2th 2022

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Under the title “Let the light in”, the X ASPACK Congress has brought together more than 90 attendees between manufacturers of cardboard packaging and representatives of supplier companies on October 20 and 21 in Lisbon.

The organizing committee chose Portugal to celebrate the event “because we understood that there were many more things that brought us closer between the industries of both countries than those that separated us. There are already Portuguese companies that operate in Spain and vice versa”, in the words of the president of ASPACK, Jose Ramon Benito.

The motto of the Congress aims to help light enter the companies of the association and the people who work in them to help the packaging illuminate the meaning of the customer's product, open up to the new ideas of the new generations, help to the planet by applying concepts of sustainability, that gender equality is normal and integrate the feminine vision in companies and be a better person and companies more humane and aware.

In this sense, such important issues as the negotiation of the new collective agreement, the situation and actions on the energy and raw materials market were addressed, space was given to the vision of the new generations to understand them and know what they think of the sector and of companies, what young people need and what companies need from them and analyze how to improve the relationship with training schools so that they help improve employment in the sector. There was also time to establish an X-ray of the legislative tsunami that is approaching the sector.

It is a moment of opportunity for the cardboard packaging sector to be a leader and avant-garde, not only on the business side but also on a social and human level. And that is why during the Congress we reflected on how to flow in this new context. It was done through new concepts, such as the "liberated company" or that of collaborative, respectful and human organizations.

"The association, as a representative of a sector that is also part of this reality, considers that it is everyone's responsibility to be able to offer fragments of this new dimension in order to be curious and reconnect with ourselves, the basis of any in-depth change," the president insisted. Jose Ramon Benito.

This year the congress began on the afternoon of Thursday, October 20, with the intervention of José Ramón Benito, President of Aspack and Theresa Borba, CEO of APIGRAF. In which the president, José Ramón Benito, thanked "our Portuguese colleagues for a warm welcome and for many years of collaboration between the two countries." The President offered to create a collaboration framework between the APIGRAF and ASPACK sector associations, where they can share information, organize joint activities and generate a forum where the manufacturers and suppliers of the Iberian sector can meet and collaborate.

On the afternoon of Friday, October 21, the General Assembly was held. Pablo Serrano, general secretary, presented the activities of the year and there was an opportunity to carry out a group exercise, called "the power of associations" so that the associates could mark their lines of preference and action of the association that will be used as a basis in the realization of the next ASPACK Strategic Plan.  

Conferences

The professional program of this tenth congress took place between Thursday 20 and Friday 21 October. After the welcome from the president of ASPACK, Josep Maria Berga CEO of Alzamora Carton Packaging and Anselmo Vilardebo, Managing Director Seda Ibérica – Embalagens presented the collaborative experiences in the Iberian cardboard packaging market; and then Mike Turner, general director of ECMA, offered a vision of the European situation and perspectives for 2023 of the sector. He commented that Covid has brought important changes in the supply chain, impacting "real demand" and influencing the supply of products on the shelves. In turn, this has led to major production changes and new folding carton formats, as well as significant supply chain disruption, with converters still squeezed between demands from international brand owners and pressure from the main cardboard manufacturing groups, the demand for cardboard packaging will be affected in the short term by a possible recession, despite being at a moment of opportunity due to the "green wave". But also, the current capacity of paper mills and future availability (in the short term) may mean that European carton converters will find it difficult to meet the needs of brand owners, meet substitution rates or meet the market demand.

This year during the coffee breaks he intervened Raúl Heredia, Master of Chi Kung, Kung Fu, Meditation and Body and Transpersonal Psychotherapy for more than 30 years. He conducted small Chi Kung sessions giving advice on how to relax in a few minutes and in any space.

They had the participation of Ignacio Pérez-Andújar Mosque, deputy director general of Foreign Investments, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, who put on the table a global vision of the economy. According to Pérez-Andújar, the impact of the pandemic has been decisively and creatively overcome and employment has performed better than in previous crises, due to the new European stimulus approach, but at a cost in terms of public finances. We are currently witnessing a slowdown in growth in the short term and an acceleration in inflation, and forecasts are highly conditioned by significant downside risks.

The Congress opened a space for three round tables composed, the first, by Sabrina Alfonso de karbest y Maria Carmen Cerda de Beyco graphics, who explained how a greater female vision in this sector, mostly made up of men, could help open up new growth prospects and make it more of a leader at the moment. The second round table composed of Patricia Berga and Ferran Berga de Alzamora Cardboard Packaging, and Rita Nepomuceno of Iberian Silk, left us the point of view of the new generations entering the sector. Their relationship with the sustainability of the planet, but also how they face their future, what priorities they give to their lives and in what position within their lives they place their professional success or simply their participation in the company were seen at this table.

The third round table focused on training and students, future workers in the sector. ASPACK has been collaborating for some time with schools, such as The Graphic Kitchen, what Nuria Housel presented in Congress. Student Izar Magallanes Martínez of the Salesian Foundation Home School of Vigo was able to present to the associates the education and ambition of the young people in the sector as well as the conclusions of the focus group study on the perception of the cardboard packaging among the consumers of the future, through a video made in collaboration with the association.

The morning session continued with the video-documentary entitled "The new path of management towards a liberated company" made by Valerie Guillotte, managing partner of Kolokio International, and in which the foundations of this new form of management that is already being implemented in the US and France are presented and that allows the business world to approach the new paradigm of behavior of the Company and that lays the foundations of a more humane and collaborative economy. The morning closed with a conference by Dominique Duarte and Mar Durán, Leading a company in times of risk: how to create a more collaborative, respectful and humane organizationa. For an hour and a half they carried out the group dynamics "The squares" including the participation of all the attendees. Later, all together they drew the conclusions, ideas and suggestions to allow changes and new immediate and lasting results in their organizations.

The last presentation of this ninth ASPACK Congress was given by Guillermo Vallés. President of RECIPAP Spain and General Director of SAICA Natur, who offered a talk on the New challenges of the sector in the face of the new European and Spanish environmental legislation derived from the 2030 Agenda. He explained the new legislation that is being installed in Spain and the new challenges to those faced by the paper and cardboard sector.

In addition to the conferences, the professional program of the ASPACK congress included technical presentations, by Joaqui Martin Metsa Board; of the Medici Kingdom, made by Juan Torres, followed by one from Koenig & Bauer in charge of Michael Torres and from Heidelberg with gunnar vogt.

The Congress closed with a familiarization dinner at Páteo Alfacinha and, to finish, on Saturday, October 22, a recreational activity was carried out sponsored by Metsa Board, a visit of Lisbon from a TukTuk having lunch in one of the oldest breweries in Lisbon, Cervejaria Trintade.

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