Arlington, VA, April 24, 2003 -- Consumer and industrial goods companies will increase their packaging machinery expenditures 1.5-2.5% over the previous year to $5.084 billion in 2003, according to a survey of packagers conducted by the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI).

PMMI's sixth annual Purchasing Plans Study suggests that five of eight market segments (foods, pharmaceuticals, beverages, personal care, and household chemicals) will grow between 3.2 and 4.9% during the year. These segments account for approximately 80% of the U.S. and Canadian packaging machinery market.

More companies (33% of those responding) plan to increase spending for packaging machinery in 2003 rather than reduce spending (27%), and 34% are budgeting about the same as last year.

"Packaging machinery manufacturers serving the food, pharmaceutical, beverage, personal care and household chemical markets should be confident that they will have sales growth, based on this study," says Charles D. Yuska, president of PMMI. "Growth in these specific markets, combined with the fact that more than two-thirds of the overall respondents plan to keep up or increase their packaging machinery expenditures this year, is good news for packaging machinery manufacturers who have been seriously affected by the manufacturing recession over the past two years."

PMMI's 2003 Purchasing Plans Study is based on in-depth interviews with 417 decision makers reporting on the purchasing plans of 1,628 plants throughout all sectors of the United States market. The study offers a snapshot of the purchasing intentions of consumer and industrial goods companies and the primary market factors affecting spending levels for the given year.

The top three reasons consumer and industrial goods companies cite for ordering new equipment in 2003 are:

• "replacing machinery to gain efficiency, speed, flexibility and productivity" (27%),


• "expanding production capacity for existing products" (23%) and


• "automating to reduce labor costs" (12%).

"Consumer and industrial goods companies are under extreme pressure to introduce new products to gain market share," reports Yuska. "This means they are looking at new products, and innovative packaging shapes, sizes, and configurations for their packaging. The study finds that more than 60% of all machines being ordered are the result of customers' needs to gain better flexibility to handle these new products and packages."

The Executive Summary of the 2003 Purchasing Plans Study includes further details on capital equipment purchasing intentions including macro and micro economic assumptions, reasons for NOT purchasing this year, most popular ways of finding machinery suppliers and other market focused information. To read the summary, click here. The complete, 168-page 2003 Purchasing Plans study, available only in electronic format, can be purchased at the PMMI Bookstore at www.pmmi.org.