Printed electronics offer vast opportunities for packaging and package printers
For years, the term “printed electronics” has been on everyone’s lips, but it has had little commercial impact on packaging. For some, the opportunities will lie in adding value to packaging for your current customers, but for others printed electronics and functional printing will be the path to finding new markets and applications.
There are many reasons for using electronics in packaging, but one of the most compelling reasons is the need to ensure the safety of the temperature sensitive perishable food and biopharma products that are critical to life and to the quality of life. Read the full article about printed electronics in our eDossier “Raising the IQ of packaging”.
If you have ever suffered from the agony of food poisoning, or know someone who has, then you can appreciate the value for both a company and the consumer of increasing the availability of more effective and affordable packaging technologies that could prevent it.
Or if you or a loved one’s life or quality of life depends upon insulin, a biologic drug or other temperature sensitive biopharmaceutical products then you can appreciate the importance of electronics technology that can ensure the integrity of that product’s cold chain. (Cold chain integrity refers to an uninterrupted flow of controlled temperature for a package from manufacturing through its delivery to end-user.)
If you have been lucky enough to avoid these situations then you should ask:
Are your customers likely to continue buying the packaging you provide if a more intelligent and low-cost packaging alternative is available?
What is smart packaging and why should you care?
Among the most important disruptive innovations being developed to address the expanding category of controlled temperature supply chain needs is smart packaging, which is based on the integration of printed electronic components that can provide a package, tag or label with more functionality than is typically available from typical sensor and data logger technology at a price comparable to current temperature indicator labels used in the industry. In order to get more information about this method, which includes information on organic semiconductors used in the industry, visit our shop to download the whole article for EUR 3,99.
The functionality of intelligent packaging can involve the ability to sense or measure an attribute of the product with a printable sensor such as the temperature, the inner atmosphere of the package contents or the package’s ambient environment, in order to trigger an active packaging function or communicate with a network via RFID, NFC, WiFi, BlueTooth Smart or some other digital communication technology.
After many years of research and development, major printing, packaging and converting companies like RR Donnelley are investing in production capabilities and early movers like ThinFilm Technologies are attracting investment and partners. These investments and partnerships are important indicators that printed electronics technology for smart packaging are beginning to move out of research laboratories and into commercial use.
These new technologies have brand managers exploring new possibilities of electronics in packaging for breakthrough improvements in shopper marketing and consumer engagement through interactive/responsive packaging and displays as well as new ways to gain key customer insights through big data analytics. What is attracting them is the value proposition of an attractive label form factor with increased functionality and connectivity as well as disruptively low-cost units. Learn more about materials, inks, organic conductive matter and more about printed electronics in “Raising the IQ of packaging” – you can easily download it for EUR 3,99 in our shop.