| This study identified the importance of occupational tasks performed by entry level packaging industry professionals in the United States as a basis for revision and development of packaging education curriculum. Differences in importance of the occupational tasks between the Supplier and Service group, and the Packaging End User group were identified. Differences in importance of the occupational tasks between four packaging end user (product manufacturers) subgroups were also identified. The packaging end user subgroups were (a) Food/Beverage, (b) Cosmetics/Consumer Goods, (c) Medical/Pharmaceutical/Medical Device, and (d) Automotive & Motorcycle/Industrial/Electronics/Military/Aerospace.;An online survey was the data collection instrument. The content of the online survey was collected from multiple sources and underwent a validation process. The participants in this study were (a) supervisors of entry level packaging professionals, and (b) packaging professionals with at least five years of industry experience. The study participants were contacted through: (1) the placement offices and alumni organizations of postsecondary educational institutions offering packaging education in the United States, and (2) the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) bimonthly online newsletter. Three hundred and twenty viable survey responses were collected from volunteer and anonymous participants. The response rate was indeterminable.;One hundred and thirty five tasks were identified and organized within seventeen occupational functions. The overall participant group rated 25 tasks as very important, 77 as important, 33 as moderately important, and none were rated as not important. Eighteen of the 25 tasks rated as very important were general or non-technical in nature. There was a strong, positive rank order correlation between the Service and Supplier group, and the Packaging End User group and also between all End User subgroup pairs. Forty-eight tasks ratings were significantly different between the Service and Supplier group, and the Packaging End User group. Thirty-one tasks ratings were significantly different between the four packaging end user subgroups. The strong positive correlations indicate agreement on the relative importance of the tasks between groups, and the significant differences indicate tasks on which groups differ. |
