When packaging designer turned Principal Lecturer Peter Macqueen ushers up to 60 BSc students from the UK's only packaging degree course through the doors of Packaging Innovations in February, his story will have come full circle.
After brief spells at Dyson and Hasbro towards the end of his BA Hons course in Design and Packaging at Cranfield University, Macqueen enjoyed the best part of a decade at Smurfit Kappa. Then came the opportunity to move up to Sheffield Hallam University. Not to work in education but in the university's award-winning research-led consultancy, Design Futures.
Now at the helm of the Higher Degree Apprenticeship Packaging Profession BSc (Hons) at Sheffield Hallam University, Macqueen is charged with honing the next generation's skills, creating a clear pathway into packaging in the process. Thankfully, the programme, which also had the backing of big-name brands, retailers and packaging manufacturers, has earned remarkable kudos in a four year period.
Macqueen, who regularly lectures the university's conventional undergraduate product design students, admitted they were quite often surprised to find out that there is a packaging course. And they're certainly surprised to find out there's a Packaging Lecturer inside the university.
But why is that the case? And are perceptions changing?
"When guest lecturing to regular design students at Hallam, I ask, 'Would you be interested in a career in packaging?' and out of a room of 40-50 people, I'll be lucky if I get one hand up in the whole room," he adds. "By the time I've finished selling the sector's benefits despite its challenges, you could normally bet that around a quarter of that room would seriously consider taking it as the direction of travel, even if, previous to that, they were looking at something completely different. It's not hard to change people's minds, so long as you're honest with them."
"We're also guilty of sometimes not addressing elephants in the room. There have been issues with the packaging sector, certainly in FMCG goods and retail, where we make claims that ultimately don't always fully stack up or we make claims against each other. That leaves people confused about what's right and what's wrong. I think being well-armed with a better understanding and a more solid message to the public of the benefits of packaging is powerful. And it's one of the things we're doing on the course."
"We don't teach that plastics are bad and must be eliminated. We don't teach that paper is good and must be promoted at all costs. We take an evidence-based and impact-oriented approach that individual students should be able to use the evidence from their workplace to support their decisions. One of the ambitions of the course is to empower professionals to stand up and fight their corner using facts, not fiction."
It's an ambitious course at that. Macqueen suggests it's arguably three degrees wrapped up in one.
He continued: "There's an R&D design degree in there; there's very much a material science component, part of which is taught by the Department of Engineering to ensure that people have that granular factual knowledge about the science of the materials. And there's a huge MBA component with business development tucked away inside. It's a huge degree in terms of the kind of activities, and that reflects the breadth and variety of the average packaging professional's role."
Just as is the case with all apprenticeships, the packaging industry designed the curriculum that Macqueen teaches. Trailblazer groups of companies, including everybody from 3M to Smurfit Kappa, Alexia Packaging, Glaxo Smith Kline and Nestle, influenced the programme Macqueen and his team deliver.
But as the course prepares to start its fifth intake in January, some companies have put people in every cohort. The first ten graduates who completed the programme in July are already being promoted into senior roles inside their organisations, much earlier than anticipated, because of the impact they were able to achieve through the programme.
"One of the key lectures I give is around context, the viability of a pack, the viability of the material, and the viability of the solution change every time you change the context it is used in. A pack being consumed in a hermetically-sealed environment like a football stadium is very different from being consumed 30 metres away in the street outside that stadium because the recovery systems are different. The ability to control the flow of those materials is different. So, you must understand the context not just of your product, but the environment you're releasing it into and the systems and controls it's involved in."
Macqueen gets another chance to impart his knowledge to interested observers when taking to the stage to address the thousands of visitors at Packaging Innovations in February. Look out for his students, too! Say hello and explain what brings you to the event. They are the future before our eyes and mustn't pass us by.
https://www.packagingbirmingham.com/
Find out more about the packaging degree course offered by Sheffield Hallam University here.