Eco-friendly packaging in the spotlight
As global consumers grow increasingly eco-conscious and regulators push for stricter sustainability standards, packaging companies face mounting pressure to do more with less. That’s exactly what Amcor Rigid Packaging is doing—reimagining how containers are designed, built, and optimized to be lighter, stronger, and more recyclable.
Amcor, a global leader in rigid plastic packaging for food, beverage, healthcare, and personal care products, is leaning into innovation to meet new sustainability benchmarks. Their mission goes beyond aesthetics and function. It’s about engineering packaging that uses less virgin material, incorporates more recycled content, and still performs under the real-world pressures of shipping, storage, and consumer use.
Achieving this balance requires more than just experience—it demands a technological edge. That’s why Amcor has partnered with Dassault Systèmes, leveraging its 3DEXPERIENCE® platform to accelerate and elevate its design process. This cloud-based solution allows Amcor’s engineers to simulate every detail of a package’s life—from the moment it’s sealed to when it lands in a customer’s hands—before producing a single prototype.
New ways of working
Traditionally, engineers had to design packaging in one tool, then export files to a separate system to test strength, durability, and thermal performance. This disconnected process made it hard to experiment quickly or explore many design options. With the integrated platform, Amcor now operates in a unified environment where design, simulation, and analysis happen simultaneously. This streamlined approach not only saves time and resources—it also empowers engineers to optimize packaging in ways previously unimaginable.
Our team now designs virtually, simulating how containers will respond to different environments without relying on costly, time-consuming prototypes,” explained Brad Philip, principal design engineer at Amcor. “We can explore countless configurations digitally and identify the most efficient, high-performing design.”
In fact, Amcor’s latest projects have analyzed tens of millions of design variations. Thanks to automated iteration tools built into Dassault Systèmes’ software, the company can explore a vast number of potential solutions at high speed. What used to involve evaluating a handful of design options now spans thousands—or even millions—of algorithmically generated possibilities.
A paradigm shift
But designing smarter isn’t only about simulation. It also relies on real-world data. Amcor has built up more than a decade of physical testing results, giving their engineers the baseline they need to ensure virtual designs translate into real-world performance. Whether a container faces hot truck beds, cold warehouses, or the pressures of air freight, it must survive the journey intact. Amcor’s digital-first approach ensures it does.
This is what Philip describes as a “paradigm shift.” Rather than selecting from a limited set of hand-crafted models, engineers now let data-driven design exploration guide them toward the optimal outcome. These generative processes ensure that the final product is not just lighter or cheaper to produce, but also more sustainable and robust.
Accurate simulations are closing the gap
Ray Wodar, Director of business consulting at Dassault Systèmes, notes that using cloud-based platforms enables more precise, predictive modeling than ever before. “By integrating all design and analysis tools into a single system, and feeding in actual test data, companies like Amcor can close the gap between digital models and physical reality.”
Ultimately, this new way of working is about more than packaging. It’s about progress. Amcor’s ability to create lightweight, high-performance containers that meet modern sustainability demands positions the company as a leader in next-generation packaging design.
As industries worldwide look for smarter, more responsible solutions, Amcor and Dassault Systèmes are offering a powerful example of what’s possible when digital innovation meets sustainable ambition.
Check out the Dassault Systèmes Perfect Package solution.
**This blog post was written based on an article written by Stephanie Neil, Editor, in Packaging OEM Magazine, pages 56-58: https://www.designworldonline.com/june-2025-issue-ai-and-industry-5-0-manufacturers-go-all-in/
Brian Carboni is the Global Marketing Director for the CPG-Retail Industry at Dassault Systèmes.