It's the end of the road for the Packaging Council of Australia as we know it, as the association prepares to dissolve and become part of the Printing Industry Association of Australia.
In a notice to members about an EGM to be held on 16 August, David Carter, current CEO of PCA, said: “We have worked diligently on finding a strong and sustainable future association for the PCA to merge into and believe that the interests of the packaging industry will have greater representation and support as part of the Printing Industries Association of Australia.”
PKN spoke to David Martin, CEO of Spicers and former president of the PCA.
We asked his opinion on how the PCA has arrived at this turning point, and whether this merger, or more accurately, absorption into the PIAA, is the right thing for the PCA and for the packaging industry as a whole.
He shared these insights:
“Associations are a tough business. The PCA was moving strongly as we were able to attract some strong industry influencers onto the board (eg. Nigel Garrard [Orora], Ruffy Geminder [Pact Group]) and involved them in strategy development.
We focused strongly on member value and policy influence (deposit schemes and Covenant requirements), but always had the industry leaders visible and leading from the front for all to benefit.
“We also had a strategy to involve the entire supply chain, which is why Coles were on the board at one stage and Woolworths the other. It wasn’t a converters' association, it was the entire supply chain. This attracted revenue to the association more broadly, but truly had all the minds around the table on how the industry remains relevant and growing.
“Things change, and as well as we were doing, it was always going to be tough if two of the big guys decided to drop out, and I guess they did.
"Merging was always an option and we actually attempted to do that with LATMA (packaging vs printing) but that didn’t eventuate.
“I’m supportive of the PIAA / PCA merge, but if it becomes a focus on print vs packaging, the opportunities are lost. The risk is that the PCA membership is rolled in with no focus on the needs of the packaging sector and you lose that membership base and their revenue.
“I’d suggest the returns will look OK for year one, perhaps appearing as though the losses have been alleviated (if there are losses). I would say a key metric for the new organisation should be PCA member retention in year two.”
At PacPrint 2017 in May, we also spoke to Andrew Macauley, CEO of the Printing Industries Association, who feels positive about this move:
At the EGM, the following motion will be put forward: “To wind up the industry association known as the 'Packaging Council of Australia' in an orderly and legal manner, and to transfer the activities, intellectual properties and interests of the industry association known as 'Packaging Council of Australia' to the 'Printing Industries Association of Australia'.”
Any industry representative who would like to discuss this with David Carter can contact him directly on E: david@pca.org.au
