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Article
Smart Packaging
March 1, 2009 By: Frank PerkowskiSmart packaging is not exactly a new concept. The topic has been the subject of quite a few articles, conference presentations, and discussions across the industry. It is also a fairly large and growing packaging segment based on a study by the Business Communications Co., which estimated the U.S. market for active, controlled, and intelligent packaging for foods and beverages to be more than $38 billion in 2003. The study also forecasted an annual growth rate of nearly 10 percent through 2008 with growth rates even higher in other parts of the world.
There is a growing list of important factors driving this emerging new market segment and I believe that these factors will become much more significant in the years ahead. This will translate to new opportunities for paperboard producers and converters that offer the possibility of higher value packaging and materials, increased differentiation opportunities in the market, and new positioning opportunities.
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RFID labels can add a broad range of new functionality to paperboard packaging. |
The following is a list of the major factors driving the growth of smart packaging concepts in today’s market:
•Strong consumer interest in convenience, safety, health, and product security;
•Share growth of private label products and low priced brands across most categories;
•Brand proliferation and desire/need by marketers to differentiate their offerings;
•Brand marketer focus on packaging as a key source for innovation;
•Retail channel fragmentation and growth in specialty stores and channels;
•Rise in product counterfeiting and theft, particularly of high value products;
•Aging population and need for additional product/package functionality;
•Growth in supply chain management systems that are based on RFID;
•Globalization of supply base, which requires more packaging security;
Today, smart packaging technologies and application ideas have developed to the point where many of these concepts are ready to move into the mainstream. Besides adding significant value to the product, smart packaging concepts also have the potential of changing the basis of competition among packaging suppliers. Those suppliers who can deliver these enhancements will have a tremendous strategic advantage in the future and will be able to successfully position themselves in a high growth, high value-added market segment.
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Chemical coatings can inhibit the growth of bacteria and gases that reduce freshness of a packaged product. |
But up until recently, there have not been many noteworthy examples or commercial product successes. This is in part due to the slow development of some of the associated technologies as well as to the inability of packaging suppliers and brand owners to identify and execute winning concepts that address real consumer needs.
What is Smart Packaging?
Before discussing some of the most successful applications, let us first define what smart packaging is. Smart packaging actually falls into four distinct categories as described below:
1. Mechanical. This type adds functionality to the package by using a mechanical mechanism such as a spout, release button, insert, spring mechanism, or fold to add additional functionality. A pour spout in a gable top carton and an attached straw to an aseptic carton are simple examples of this type and they are generally considered the least sophisticated forms of smart packaging.
2. Chemical. This is most common in food products where specific chemicals are incorporated into the package via coatings, labels, or reservoirs that react to the presence of certain chemicals, gases, or temperature changes by changing color, form, or some other aesthetic attribute. Other concepts may involve two or more chemicals that, when combined in the package, create a hot or cold local environment.
Security features such as micro wires, printable holograms, security inks, optically variable inks, thermo chromic inks, infrared and tagged inks, and machine-readable inks can incorporate covert or overt security protection into the packaging, thereby reducing theft or counterfeiting. Nanotechnology is a key enabler for many of these ideas and significant progress has been made in this area.
3. Electrical. This type of package feature involves the use of miniature paper batteries or piezoelectric materials to generate a small charge. An embedded message using electro- activated ink or smart display might be powered by the action of opening the pack or simply applying pressure to an identified spot.
Other executions involve reversible glue systems, which use electricity (provided by embedded batteries) to reverse the polarity of surfaces and effectively switch the glue on or off making it possible to open and close a package. The result is added convenience and / or extended product life.
4. Electronic. Arguably the most advanced and highest form of smart packaging are electronic executions that involve miniature electronic circuits and paper batteries to provide information, power electronic displays, send sound, light, or electronic signals, or provide product/supply chain information.
A popular application of this technology is of course, RFID labels that are increasingly being expanded across products and markets. The ultimate impact on paperboard packaging will of course be dramatic given its role in both primary and secondary applications.
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Security features added to paperboard can indicate tampering or monitor usage. |
Many Potential Paperboard Applications
New smart packaging applications are popping up at an increasing frequency and many of these concepts are addressing significant consumer needs and frustrations. It is also apparent that many of these concepts effectively differentiate the brand in crowded consumer markets where providing meaningful added value to the consumer has been difficult in the past.
The list below includes smart packaging concepts either in use or in development. Many of these actual or similar concepts are likely to become much more common in the years ahead depending on the ability of paperboard packaging suppliers to effectively execute them.
•Package seals that only open under certain ambient conditions for example, when a microwaveable meal reaches the correct cooking temperature or a drinks container is suitably chilled
•Reversible glue systems, which use electricity provided by a paper battery to reverse the polarity of surfaces and effectively switch the glue on or off, makes for easy opening and re-closing of a pack, increasing the life of a perishable item.
•Time-temperature food quality labels or tags that register the ambient conditions the product has been exposed to since filling or determine if the product has been properly stored in transit.
•Self-heating or self-cooling containers for foods and beverages using chemicals that react with each other within the package when upon demand.
•Milk cartons with electronic displays that indicate use-by dates or provide information about the nutritional qualities and origin of the product — perhaps in different languages.
•Oxygen scavengers, moisture controllers, and / or ethylene absorbers embedded in packages that reduce the pathogens and gasses that contribute to food spoilage.
•Printed electronic components in the form of RFID antennas, displays, sensors, thin film batteries, and photovoltaics that provide exciting package graphics, make products more secure, easier to use, and / or easier to track within the supply chain
•Packages with built-in indicators that indicate if the package was tampered with or is a counterfeit
•Printed electronics that could remind consumers to take medications, discard rotten food, or use by a certain date.
A few recently commercialized examples of note include the following concepts:
•Self-cooling beer in kegs. An innovative application of a technology using zeolite makes it possible to cool off warm beer. Within 30 to 45 minutes, the beer reaches a perfect drinking temperature. The same technology is being applied to skin cream and other products.
•Self-heating coffee/soup. Self-heating coffee container that creates heat in the cup when water in a separate reservoir is exposed to quicklime, a nontoxic, nonhazardous natural ingredient.
•Active humidity control. A package that maintains humidity within the package through a combination of chemistry and breathable polymer films.
•E. coli bacteria killer. Packaging containing a polymer film coat that becomes active in a targeted manner if bacteria are growing inside. Currently being used in packages for perishables like meat, fish, pastry and convenience foods.
•Cinnamon-laced packaging. Cinnamon has been shown toprevent mold in bread and other baked goods. A paper package coated with cinnamon oil attacks bread mold with antimicrobials resulting in prolonged freshness of bread and other baked goods by up to 10 days.
•Mechanical devices incorporated into the packaging to provide added functionality. Examples include the Guinness Rocket Widget, which maintains the correct level of carbonation within the bottle through an automatic release mechanism or Begonia’s Life Top™ smart drinking straw that is attached to an aseptic carton and contains probiotic bacteria that allows it to control the dosage that is sipped.
The ultimate success of these and other ideas will ensure that additional commercial applications will be developed and introduced at an increasing rate in the future. The speed at which they are commercialized will depend on the imagination of marketers to incorporate them into their brand development programs and the capabilities of packaging suppliers to effectively execute them. Today, there are few paperboard packaging converters who excel in this area so the positioning opportunity is there for the taking.
In conclusion, there is no better time than the present for paperboard packaging suppliers to explore this high-growth segment and develop the strategies and capabilities to establish their company as the supplier of choice. While the challenges are great, the opportunity is even greater.
