Last week, The Packaging School team gathered in downtown Greenville, South Carolina to host our annual Automotive Packaging Summit (APS)—an event that brings together automotive OEMs, Tier 1 parts suppliers, and packaging solution providers under one roof for a week of networking, site tours, and presentations.

Automotive Packaging Summit 2025, which ran from October 15 to October 17, marks the eighth annual in-person event. We are proud to state APS has sold out each and every year, bringing together hundreds of automotive packaging and supply chain professionals from around the country and globe.

You might be wondering . . . is there really a need to host a summit specific to automotive packaging? We think so and we like to use this example as the reason:

A car is manufactured with an average 30,000 individual parts. Each individual part can have anywhere from 4 to 7 different packaging systems throughout its life cycle (from raw material extraction to end-of-life). Doing the math, if every part has just 4 different packages during its journey, every car has roughly 120,000 packaging systems tied to its construction . . . that's A LOT of packaging. Ultimately, vehicle companies manage more packaging than part specifications—meaning packaging is of utmost importance to this industry.

And a good enough reason for us to bring together the people who need the packaging and those who make the packaging to collaborate and solve the problems that arise from this complex and wide-ranging sector of the packaging industry.

In the remainder of this piece, we explore some key presentation themes, highlights, and takeaways from our experience hosting the world's largest automotive packaging event.

Presentation Themes

At this year’s summit, we had speakers from the following organizations: 

Since automotive packaging is a broad and multidisciplinary field, we had presentations ranging from GPS container tracking technologies to electric vehicle and lithium battery packaging, as well as integrating sustainable materials into automotive packaging designs. 

Other themes included: 

• Packaging systems for energy modules and EV batteries 

• Regulatory environment of lithium ion batteries 

• Real-time data tracking of Volatile Corrosion Inhibiting (VCI) packaging

• Using expanded polypropylene (EPP) trays in metal rack solutions 

• Minimizing expendable packaging waste through logistics and warehouse efficiency 

• Integrating VCI chemistry into packaging films 

• Using additives to turn LDPE packaging into landfill-based gas energy 

• Advancing hydro-boost packaging systems through AutoPack 2024 collaboration 

• Thermoformed material handling technology and innovation 

• Integrating packaging engineering and requirements into new vehicle programs

A standout presentation for our team was by Blake Watkins of Bosch USA and John Onaga of G2 Supply. The two reflected on how Bosch partnered with Onaga and G2 Supply to redesign a hydro-boost packaging system, a connection that was catalyzed at a Speed Networking event at AutoPack Summit 2024.

During the presentation, Watkins of Bosch stated:

"With G2, we were able to come up with 2 inserts that allowed us to fit up to 30+ different parts in a typical box and created an ergonomic packaging solution for a part we refer to as a “bowling ball with spikes.” All through a collaboration formed at a Speed Networking event at AutoPack 2024—to me it shows the value of this conference and that it is geared towards automotive packaging specifically.” 

With over 15 different presentations, we simply don’t have time to dive into all of them in this article. But you can see highlights and quotes on the Automotive Packaging Summit LinkedIn page here.

Site Tours

Aside from a cocktail hour, networking, and a day full of insightful presentations, we also offered our 400+ attendees an opportunity to tour manufacturing sites and plants of South Carolina-based companies working to advance automotive packaging solutions.

This year we had three site tours: 

• Morrisette Packaging—Packaging Solution Center

• Aristo Industries 

• Magna International—Mirror Facility

Here are some highlights . . . 

Morrisette Packaging

The Morrisette Packaging team gave our attendees a tour of their Packaging Solutions Center in Duncan, SC. 

This facility highlights Morrisette’s cutting-edge technology designed to enhance efficiency, reduce waste, and optimize operations through prototyping and real-time packaging problem solving. 

This center has been a core part of Morrisette’s efforts to bring innovative packaging solutions to their customers for the last 60+ years, including North Carolina-based Piedmont Pennies. 

Following the tour, the team provided our attendees a Southern BBQ style cookout—serving up great food and an opportunity for our attendees to network and relax. 

Aristo Industries 

The Aristo Industries team provided our attendees with a behind-the-scenes look of their 60,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Greenville—a facility focused on enhancing Aristo’s steel rack production capacity. 

Attendees toured Aristo’s finished racks, powder coating process and final assembly of steel racks, dunnage protection processes (including plastic corrugate, HDPE, XLPE foam, etc.), and sewing production of dunnage bags, cells, and curtains. 

Magna Mirrors Facility

The last tour of the conference was at Magna International’s new mirror facility in Duncan, South Carolina. Having opened in 2022, the 170,000 square foot facility produces exterior mirror systems for leading automakers like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo Group. According to the Magna team, the facility is carbon neutral and is tracked through internal life cycle assessments. 

Our attendees got an inside look at Magna’s mirror manufacturing process, sustainable technology, and process to deliver external mirror systems to automotive manufacturing facilities throughout the southeast US. 

Exhibitor Room

Along with presentations, networking, and site tours, we also provide a traditional exhibitor hall for sponsors to engage with attendees and showcase solutions for expendable and returnable automotive packaging solutions.

More than a Conference

Our team and AutoPack attendees alike view the Automotive Packaging Summit as much more than a conference. 

To our attendees, the summit is a platform for packaging-related challenges and questions to be brought to the table where collaboration with like-minded professionals can help make automotive packaging systems and operations more efficient, cost effective, and circular.

Our attendees always mention how much they appreciate the niche-ness of the summit—with everyone focused on automotive packaging operations, unlike broader packaging industry events. 

To The Packaging School team, it’s an opportunity to gather in person (which is rare as a 100% remote team) and grow closer as colleagues and friends. 

Aside from the joy we get bringing hundreds of automotive packaging professionals under one roof to solve the industry’s most pressing challenges, having our team together to collaborate and grow closer is priceless to us. 

Automotive Packaging Summit 2026 will take place in downtown Greenville, South Carolina—September 30 through October 2, 2026! 

Interested in sponsoring or attending in 2026? 

Reach out to Bianca Hurley, Executive Director at The Packaging School, to learn more. 

Learn more about our Automotive Packaging Summit here.