The Yellow Sheet

www.packaging-online.com

scri
p
tion
Q
uest
io
n
s?

The Source for News and Pricing Volume 88, Number 4 January 28, 2012

Su b

Seepage16fordetails.

DEUTSCHE BANK SURVEY REVEALS

PCA & RockTenn Are Best Managed
Apple Designers
Obsess Over Packaging

In a recent survey of 125 paper and packaging executives focusing on their outlook for this year, Deutsche Bank, New York, reports that Packaging Corp. of America (PCA) and Rock Tenn tied for the best managed company. In the previous three years, PCA earned the top spot. This year, Domtar, Green Bay Packaging and International Paper followed. See chart on p. 4 for more details.

Other survey responses of in-
terest to OBM readers include:
• Box volumes will be flat to
up 2 percent year over year. Sixty-three
percent of respondents expect positive box

What are the key drivers of U.S. c’board & box prices?

(1 = Most Important, 6 = Least Important) (Responses = 86)

Source: Deutsche Bank

volumes. This is a bit more cautious than last year, when 85 percent of respondents

Continued on page 4

Transacted Containerboard Prices

Average transacted price levels are tabulated by obtaining paid prices from independent converters purchasing linerboard and medium. All prices are intended as a reference standard only. Transactions may be concluded at any time at any price agreed upon by seller and purchaser. These are delivered prices for week ended previous Tuesday. Price ranges listed are per short ton.

42# Fourd. Kraft Linerboard $550–560

$550–560 $550–560 Southeast/ South Central Northeast East Central

$550–560 North Central West

$575–585

Kraft Linerboard Upcharges (Nationwide):

26#: $50/ton 33#: $30/ton 31#: HP* $30/ton 35# HP: $25/ton Recycled:

35#: HP Recycled: $30/ton

57# HP: $20/ton

26# .009 Semichemical $475–485 $480–490 $490-500 $490-500 $520-530 Medium Semichemical Medium Upcharges (Nationwide):

23# SM:** $20/ton 33# HP: $25/ton 40# SM: $10/ton

*HP: High Performance **SM: Semichemical Medium

Apple has a secretive packaging room where designers test hundreds of iterations to find the right combination, according to an advance copy of an upcoming book, Inside Apple, reports MacRumors.com.

“One after another, the designer created and tested an endless series of arrows, colors, and tapes for a tiny tab designed to show the consumer where to pull back the invisible, full-bleed sticker adhered to the top of the clear iPod box,” the book is quoted as saying. “Getting it just right was this particular designer’s obsession … What’s more, it wasn’t just about one box. The tabs were placed so that when Apple’s factory packed multiple boxes for shipping to retail stores, there was a natural negative space between the boxes that protected and preserved the tab.”

Steve Jobs is reported to have spent time on the packaging of Apple products, as is Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of industrial design.

“Steve and I spend a lot of time on the packaging,” Ive says in Walter Issacson’s Steve Jobs. “I love the process of unpacking something. You design a ritual of unpacking to make the product feel special. Packaging can be theater, it can create a story.”