By Mike Richmond, PTIS Founder & Principal
As seasoned packaging professionals, management consultants and certified futurists, we emphasize that while predicting the future with certainty is impossible, we can analyze trends, explore possible scenarios, and create preferred futures through strategic planning and action.
Using AI to Support Your Goals
Generative AI is a game-changer for packaging, helping companies gather data, spot trends, and draft reports quickly. As a brand, you can use AI to pull together market insights or analyze competition, saving time and effort. CPG’s can develop accurate specifications to improve efficiency, but turning those insights into a winning packaging strategy requires human expertise. Seasoned consultants bring decades of industry knowledge to refine AI’s outputs, ensuring your packaging strategy aligns with your business goals and consumer expectations. AI is a valuable tool, but it’s human insight and knowledge that shapes winning packaging solutions. At PTIS we leverage AI’s speed with our decades of experience as well as our expansive network of experts.
Catching AI’s Mistakes for Better Results
AI can handle huge amounts of data, but it sometimes gets things wrong. For example, in one project, we asked multiple generative AI models (Gemini, Copilot and xAI GROK) to answer questions about a plastic film’s water vapor transmission rate (WVTR – measurement of how much moisture passes through a material), and found clear differences.
We then asked the same question about a commonly used layered plastic film (0.48 mil PET and 3.0 mil LLDPE) in two different ways. One AI gave two different WVTR values with little explanation of its calculations. The other AI consistently provided the same WVTR value, around 0.356 g/100in²/24hr, and clearly explained how it arrived at the answer. The second AI’s result was close to one of the first AI’s answers but not identical, showing how question phrasing can impact AI accuracy and reliability for technical packaging details. The results did not provide confidence to move forward. It takes human insight to know when AI doesn’t get it right.
In other cases, AI could misread a regulation suggesting a design that may cause delays, or miss key regional factors causing costly missteps. Expert knowledge reviews help prevent these
mishaps.
Turning Ideas into Standout Packaging
Your brand needs packaging that grabs attention and works in the real world. AI can suggest ideas based on trends, but it often misses the spark of innovation that sets you apart. Consultants with years of experience take your goals and craft creative, practical solutions. For instance, when a beverage brand wanted to focus on sustainability, AI provided material options, but human insight shaped a design that appealed to eco-conscious customers. Expertise turned raw data into packaging that can strengthen the brand.
Manufacturers can leverage AI to deliver data on recyclable packaging materials, preferences, and regulations, but without human expertise to tailor it to the client’s budget and distribution needs it would be useless.
Combining AI’s Speed with Human Know-How
AI and human expertise work best together, helping you achieve more. AI quickly pulls together reports on trends or materials, letting you focus on big-picture decisions. Consultants then refine those insights and use their knowledge and experience to meet your specific goals.
AI isn’t going away so viewing it as an efficiency tool means you get fast, reliable insights that are practical and aligned with your business, giving you additional confidence in your human- developed strategy. Some may claim AI can independently craft strategies but relying on AI as a thought leader is dangerous with potential for detrimental results.
Keeping AI on Track with Expert Oversight
AI isn’t perfect, and its mistakes can lead to problems if not caught. Not to mention the need to protect against data breaches or exposure of company knowledge through using these tools. Consultants with deep industry knowledge will spot errors, saving time and costs. Experience also helps you stay ahead, like anticipating the shift to digital packaging features such as scannable codes. With human oversight, you can trust that AI’s suggestions are thoroughly vetted, keeping your strategy accurate and forward-thinking. Planning for Tomorrow with Human Insight As packaging evolves, staying ahead means anticipating changes, from new consumer preferences to stricter sustainability rules. AI is and will continue to be an important tool for packaging. Remember AI can provide data and offer insights but it can’t predict the future of packaging or anything else.
As seasoned packaging professionals, management consultants and certified futurists, we emphasize that while predicting the future with certainty is impossible, we can analyze trends, explore possible scenarios, and create preferred futures through strategic planning and action. Instead of seeking to predict the future, futurists focus on understanding current trends, anticipating potential changes, and developing strategies for navigating various possible outcomes.
Conclusion: Your Strategy, Powered by Expertise and AI
Generative AI streamlines your packaging strategy, but human expertise ensures its success. Experienced consultants like PTIS refine AI’s data, correct errors, and craft creative solutions tailored to your goals. This combination delivers practical, innovative packaging that meets today’s market demands and prepares you for future opportunities. AI can recall past data and use models to predict future scenarios but without knowledgeable foresight AI misses the mark on strategy. Look for AI and its variants to continue to be used more in and across the packaging value chain and remember that AI plus the human factor provides the best results.
Let’s combine AI with proven expertise. Schedule a call with PTIS to develop a packaging strategy that excels in today’s competitive market.