Economy
October 21, 2018
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
I will be in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday and Thursday of this week as I am speaking to two groups, the Industrial Packaging Alliance of North America (IPANA) and the Reusable Industrial Packaging Association (RIPA). Member companies are producers and re-conditioners of a wide range of industrial packaging including steel, plastic and fiber drums, as well as intermediate bulk containers. I have been told that 90 percent of the non-bulk and intermediate bulk industrial packaging used in North America to transport hazardous materials is produced by members of these two groups. This event will be the largest gathering of industrial packaging producers and re-conditioners in the United States. I am looking forward to sharing my observations about the steel industry, including a few minutes on how I got to where I am today.
After this week’s speaking engagement, I will be in my office until Dec. 1 when I go to Austin, Texas, to speak to the steel council at the Heating, Air-Conditioning, Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) annual meeting. Then I will be at our sold-out Steel 101 workshop in Toledo, Ohio, on Dec. 11-12.
