[08. forward-looking
It is the packaging that stands in a fair relationship with its own future.
Packaging is capable of intervening today in terms of possible future effects. The choices that define the today’s packaging cannot develop starting from an immediate advantage but must consider the consequences that derive from the initial choices.
Smart Connected Packaging: from technological evolution to an opportunity for ethical innovation
Digitization is transforming many industries, including the packaging industry.
The packaging industry is experiencing a real revolution, due to digital technologies and their application both to processes (printing, packaging, logistics, etc.), and to the packaging itself (for tracking, monitoring of internal conditions, the improvement of the purchase and consumption experience, etc.), with a very strong acceleration especially in recent years.
Many aspects of our life have been conditioned by the evolution of electronics, just think of the way we communicate today even compared to the early 2000s.
The way we do many things has changed, for example shopping. In recent years, in particular, there has been a constant increase in online shopping: even if it may seem obvious by now, it is thanks to technology that today it is possible to buy groceries via the internet (web or app), collect it from the store already bagged or have it delivered to your home within the hour.
According to Gartner, digitization “is the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new opportunities for revenue and value generation”. In other words, digitization enables or improves processes by leveraging digital technologies and digitized data.
Digitization therefore does not necessarily consist in the replacement of physical objects with digital formats, even if the introduction of totally virtual spaces such as the Metaverse could perhaps make us think the opposite.
In reality, on the one hand, it is a simplification and facilitation of the exchange of information thanks to shared platforms; on the other, an increase in flexibility in process management (just think, for example, of the possibility of producing on-demand thanks to the versatility of digital printing); on the other hand, an increase in the intelligence of everyday objects to improve their performance (protection, conservation, monitoring, etc.); finally, an enhancement of the experience of people, who can interact with more accessible and “engaging” products.
In fact, thanks to digital technologies, packaging has seen the consolidation of its role as a means of communication, i.e. as a “broadcaster” channel which conveys ever greater quantities of information and which allows a rapid and continuous exchange both between the players in the supply chain and with end users. Today also thanks to RFID tags or Smart labels that allow you to collect data on products, codes to “read” with your smartphone and which refer to in-depth websites, or augmented reality (AR) applications that enrich the experience from an interactive and multimedia point of view.
In addition to providing more complete and detailed information on products, among other possible applications, digital technologies associated with packaging can help to: trace the origin of products and monitor their supply chain; help prove the authenticity of the products, prevent tampering (“Anti-Tamper”) or ensure access to them safely (“Child-Resistant”); make information more easily accessible to people with disabilities; promote virtuous behaviour, as in the case of environmental prevention (correct disposal at the end of its life) or with respect to the fight against food waste.
There are many examples of Track-and-Trace systems. Among these, Farmison Co has launched a new traceability system that allows customers to use their smartphone to verify the origin of the cuts of meat they are buying. Using a QR code on the packaging, customers can trace the origins of the product, including the breed of animal, the farm where it was raised and the miles traveled to the point of sale.
In the cosmetics sector, on the other hand, Guerlain, one of the oldest French perfume and cosmetics houses, is using Sidel‘s combined packaging and palletizing solutions to combat counterfeiting and tampering with the bottles of its new line of advanced skincare products , a company that already has a solid reputation especially among luxury brands. In fact, the champagne and cognac sectors are also opting for Sidel’s anti-counterfeiting solutions, as is the pharmaceutical industry, which requires even higher levels of security and traceability.
In the same line, on the occasion of the Interpack 2023 fair, Fraunhofer presented SmartID, a labeling system based on a counterfeit-proof barcode, to verify the authenticity of products via smartphone, even off-line, without the need connect to a database.
As far as environmental prevention and the fight against food waste are concerned, there are numerous virtuous examples in this case as well. Among these, Co-op‘s water bottles will count on Polytag solutions for the introduction of unique QR codes and special labels, with the aim of facilitating the recycling process and the development of a digital system for returning the deposit (Digital Deposit Return Scheme, DDRS) paid on the bottles. Unique QR codes lead consumers to a Co-op page that provides detailed information on the company’s sustainability and social responsibility commitments; furthermore, the code contains a serial number which can be used according to a “rewarding” logic to obtain loyalty points or other forms of reward.
With regard to closure systems, the solution proposed by Berry Global is also interesting, which has developed Digi-Cap for the pharmaceutical sector, a cap that not only guarantees ‘child-resistant’ type safety ), but it is also able to monitor the behavior of a patient, especially in the context of clinical trials, recording data on drug intake to check compliance with the indications provided and obtain information on efficacy with respect to the indicated dosage.
A significant application of new technologies concerns the improvement of the accessibility of products for people with disabilities, in particular for those who are blind or visually impaired who, thanks to smartphones, can “read” the labels and the information they contain.
Haleon has partnered with Microsoft to provide more detailed information on over 1500 products in the UK and US to people who are blind, have low vision, or have difficulty reading labels due to poor literacy. Launched as part of the “Always Read the Label” campaign for World Sight Day 2022, the project is based on the use of Microsoft Seeing AI, a free mobile application that allows you to scan the barcode of a package and listen to important information such as the name, ingredients and instructions for use.
Similarly, Kellogg uses NaviLens technology to help blind and visually impaired people recognize products, hear product names, nutritional information, and allergens. The Navilens system has also been applied to other consumer products, including a pack of laundry detergent pods from Ariel (Procter & Gamble) and a 2022 Coca-Cola Christmas Pack.
Unilever, for its part, is also adding special QR codes called Accessible QR codes (AQR), developed in collaboration with Zappar and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), to the packaging of Persil-branded products. Once scanned via the smartphone application, the code provides product, use, safety and recycling information, organized with blind and visually impaired users in mind. The AQR also interacts with accessibility features configured in the device to display information in larger text or audio-described and voice-guided formats.
Technologies such as Radio-Frequency IDentification – RFID and Quick Response – QR have actually been around for a long time, but are only recently starting to be used to turn packaging into true digital devices. In the near future, the challenge will be to incorporate, in addition to physical sensors, elements such as Big Data, AI e Cloud Computing, which are becoming increasingly relevant in complex data analysis processes.
Digitized packaging, endowed with intelligence (“Smart”) and connected to the network (“Connected”), therefore constitutes the evolution of an object which, until not long ago, was considered only a container, however complex, for protect, preserve, transport and communicate products, and which is now constituted as a real interface for advanced interaction, which can not only make a consumer experience more engaging, but also constitute an opportunity for ethical innovation with a significant positive impact on people, society and the environment, but also on company processes. In fact, packaging is transformed into a powerful platform for the exchange of information, a crucial tool for organizations which can thus have a vast wealth of knowledge, useful for understanding how their products are handled, purchased and used, in order to in order to improve the way they are developed, designed and marketed, increasing their value and competitiveness.
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