1. Can you briefly describe your role and the activities of PACK AVENIR?
I have been managing PACK AVENIR for two years, after having been its manager for six years. The current manager, Marina Defour, is continuing to develop our activities and areas of expertise in packaging services for businesses, namely:
• Continuing education, the activity that led to the creation of PACK AVENIR.
• Technical studies, development, redesign, and packaging optimization.
• Consulting and packaging diagnostics.
• Quality control for packaging and products.
• Laboratory testing.
2. What are PACK AVENIR’s main activities today in a rapidly evolving sector?
With regulatory requirements and the need to control packaging purchasing budgets, PACK AVENIR is at the heart of optimizing companies’ packaging portfolios. The ongoing training of our clients’ teams in technical and methodological aspects and the services offered by our packaging laboratory complement our activities.
It should be noted that PACK AVENIR has been the only Packaging Technology Resource Center (CRT) in France since January 2025.
3. You are also the director of the ESEPAC school. What are the challenges for your school in the field of packaging training versus the needs of businesses?
Serving businesses is our main objective. Along with training our students, they are the two reasons for ESEPAC’s existence.
In the current context, the major challenges are mastering packaging materials, regulations, and project methodology.
We need to produce solutions that make sense and are logical in terms of expected functions, costs, material availability, end of life, environmental impact, and investments.
“Good” packaging is a set of compromises that must be optimized as much as possible. This is the focus of our teaching at ESEPAC and also of our actions with PACK AVENIR.
There is a great deal of complementarity and exchange between our two entities, which allows them to enrich each other and helps us to progress.
This complementarity also offers a “one-stop shop” for companies, whether they are looking for work-study students or future employees, or whether they are looking for continuing education or services to optimize their packaging.
4. PACK AVENIR joined the CNE this year as a member of its sixth sector (Other companies and associations): could you explain what motivates PACK AVENIR to support the CNE and its actions?
Today, our proximity to and experience with our customers have given us a high level of operational maturity. We have also acquired solid expertise in multiple materials and multiple sectors. We have turned packaging regulations into opportunities for optimization for our customers, and this is what we want to share and strengthen with the CNE and its members.
Our missions have evolved; they are now more global and cross-functional. With our own proven eco-design and redesign methodology, coupled with an efficient technical specifications management tool, we conduct analyses and improvements on a number of points:
-Formatting, compiling, and extracting technical packaging data
=> Identifying economic and CSR levers
=> Deploying optimized solutions on site
-Easy assessment of recyclability criteria
-Quick calculation of eco-contributions
-Preparation of supplier calls for tenders
-Common technical bases for purchasing/supply, packaging quality, and production departments
Furthermore, as CRT Emballage, our mission is to support companies in their development. For example, we have launched R&D work on the impact of integrating recycled materials on the permeability criteria of flexible films throughout the life cycle of a finished product.
We have many topics in progress, some of which could be interesting themes for the CNE.
• Are there any working group topics or initiatives (CNE PACK ESSENTIEL mornings, etc.) that you would particularly like to follow or join?
We are interested in the CNE PACK ESSENTIEL mornings and working groups to which we can make a positive contribution.
