When it comes to what’s new and what’s profitable in the packaging industry, it can be described in one word: sustainability. In its raw form, sustainability refers to “the capacity to endure” and at the current rate of societal change, having the ability to adapt and endure through transformation is more relevant now then ever before.
From a printing and packaging perspective, there are various ways companies within the packaging industry are learning to endure. Although environmental sustainability receives most of the publicity, it is imperative to look at sustainability in a more over-arching way. Environmental, technological, and process sustainability are three key ingredients in the recipe of packaging success.
Environmental sustainability encompasses new and more eco-friendly materials, as well as thinking of packaging in terms of reducing, reusing and rethinking a physical package.
With regards to technological sustainability, there are impressive innovations that are being applied in the packaging industry that printers should be knowledgeable about to educate their customers. Technology like Near Field Communication (NFC) and Augmented Reality (AR) are turning our smartphones into interactive gateways between consumers and packaged products.
Lastly, process sustainability refers to remaining relevant in process improvement changes and equipment upgrades that can increase efficiency and profitability. As strict requirements for packaging and labeling are pushed upstream to manufacturers, printers must have solutions for more efficient and sustainable packaging processes.
Environmental Sustainability
Driven by consumer-demand, eco-friendly practices are important in today’s packaging market. The exciting news is that corporations can frequently justify “becoming greener” because it enables greater marketability and often costs can be reduced in the process. Below are some commercial examples and insights about reducing, reusing and rethinking packaging in a more environmentally conscious world.
Reduce
In speaking with accomplished Ryerson University student Andrew Wong, President of RyePack and Chair of 2012’s Colloquium SPARK: The Future of Packaging, he shared some insight in the area of environmental sustainability. He affirmed that part of the sustainability movement involves reducing the environmentally inefficient or harmful materials currently used, and substituting them with more sustainable materials. There is a growing focus on PET products made with organic materials, such as corn instead of petroleum. In 2011 PepsiCo released the world’s first 100% plant based PET bottle, helping to reduce the giant’s carbon footprint. The bottle is made from raw materials such as grass, pine bark and corn husks. A pilot launch is planned for 2012, with full-scale commercialization intended after the pilot’s successful completion.
Wong also noted a “less buzzy, but arguably more effective” initiative from PepsiCo to improve the sustainability within its production facilities. This includes improving water-use efficiency by 20 percent by 2015. To help achieve this goal, PepsiCo’s plants conduct self-audits through their Resource Conservation (ReCon) tool. From 2009 to 2010, ReCon has helped sites all over the world to identify over 2.2 billion litres of water savings. This successful tool is being expanded to help PepsiCo’s direct suppliers, franchise bottler network and co-packer partners also implement this tool and track their conservation efforts. Read more about PesiCo’s sustainability efforts here: http://bit.ly/uv1bHq.
Reuse
“Functional” packaging, or designing a product’s packaging for use after the product has been purchased and transported, is a trend across a variety of consumer goods markets. This packaging concept is clever because it enables both the company and consumers to “do more with less”. When a package serves several functions it also has a longer lifecycle, and therefore greater usability before being thrown away. By incorporating a recyclable component to this concept, the package becomes more sustainable because it can be used again and again!
A great example of functional packaging is from the creative mind of Industrial Designer, Tom Ballhatchet, who wanted to find a way to combat the overwhelming amount of packaging waste in our society. Ballhatchet’s solution was to rethink the role that packaging plays in the lifecycle of the product and design protective packaging in a way that it can be used for much longer than conventional packaging. His solution is a packaging product that consists of a foam case to protect a TV and then the foam easily slides off into two pieces and converts into a stackable entertainment unit. This concept is an innovative one that can be applied to other viable packaged goods.
Another example of the functional packaging concept is the ‘Hangerpak’. Designer Steve Haslip has created a cardboard shipping pouch pack for t-shirts that can be folded and assembled into a clothes hanger to increase the functionality of a basic shipping box.
Innovative multi-function packaging also exists in the food packaging market. Orville Redenbacher has made a slight adjustment to their classic microwave popcorn bag by turning the bag on its side so that it opens on the long edge. This helped to transform it into an entirely new concept called the “Pop-up Bowl”.
Rethink
At a recent industry packaging event, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, President of Shikatani Lacroix, explained that as the number of packaged goods purchased online continues to increase, the packaging requirements will or should change to accommodate. In a 2011 consumer research project initiated by Shikatani Lacroix, it was discovered as long as the consumer knows the brand they are buying online, the importance of the package they receive the product in decreases. One of the study’s participants stated, “if I know the brand, I am not concerned about packaging, as long as it is not breakable.”
In this same study, online consumers were found to care about three main functions of their product’s package: it needs to be easy to open, recyclable and can be reused for storage. As many consumers who shop online have experienced, there tends to be a lot of excess packaging that is shipped with a product. If the product purchased online is also sold in stores, the product is typically still in this primary package, in addition to a secondary package that holds the primary package together, as well as tertiary shipping packaging and stuffing that ensures it arrives safely to your location. This is a lot of unnecessary packaging that is expensive to print, ship and dispose of. Therefore, in light of this study, is it time to rethink how we package products purchased from online e-tailers versus bricks and mortar retailers? Because packaging serves a different purpose in the customer experience for each channel, perhaps it’s time to rethink how we package products that will be sold in different channels. This may be a fantastic opportunity to help your customers increase their own efficiencies and decrease costs, by offering solutions to their online packaging needs.
Technological Sustainability
It is readily apparent that the rate of technological change is ever increasing. As such, product packaging and marketing should move at a concurrent rate of change in order to remain relevant to users. Near Field Communication (NFC) and Augmented Reality (AR) are two technological innovations that are gaining momentum in the packaging industry.
Near Field Communication
NFC is a very short-range communication medium that is a subset of RFID technology. It makes use of inductive coupling and it requires two devices to work effectively: a reader with a power source and a surface with an embedded NFC tag. When the NFC tag comes within 2-3 cm of the reader it brings the electronic NFC tag to life by sending an electromagnetic field to the chip. It is a secure technology that uses radio waves and is easy to use. The technology, as it stands today, can hold 8KB of data, which is enough to embed a URL into the tag to link to a website on the “cloud”.
The most common example of NFC technology is a credit card with “PayPass” capabilities being tapped on a PayPass reader to deliver secure payment. Many new smartphones are NFC enabled whereby the NFC chip is embedded directly into the phone. According to Owen Duckman, President of Labelad Ltd. and Marnlen RFID, there will be 40 new models of NFC phones released this year, which equates to approximately 30,000,000 devices. “Your phone will be your wallet.” Users can determine whether or not they have an NFC-enabled phone by looking for the official NFC emblem on their phone’s packaging. The first commercial use of NFC technology was showcased in Wired Magazine’s April 2012 issue. It features a Lexus ad that users can interact with if they have an NFC-enabled smartphone.
There are other, less explored uses of this technology including linking printed packaged goods with the virtual world. It requires only a tap versus having to scan QR code with a proprietary app, so the user doesn’t have to launch software. Instead, the smartphone with NFC-enabled technology will automatically detect the chip and launch the appropriate information embedded in the chip. NFC technology doesn’t necessarily replace QR codes because there are still a relatively limited number of devices that are NFC-enabled (Apple has not yet adopted this technology, for example). However, Yankee Group, a consumer technology research and analysis company, believes that QR codes will peak in 2013 and then decline thereafter.
The potential for NFC technology to access content, as well as share and collect info in a packaging context, is limitless. Therefore, a small NFC sticker on a book can unveil a link to the virtual world to prompt interactive content or share the link via social media. Instant coupons on packaging, which capture consumers in the store, provide a real opportunity for marketers to pique interest at the point of sale and maintain brand loyalty at the point of purchase.
In the future, NFC-enabled packaging can add great value to consumers. Duckman sees it being most relevant and viable in the medicinal, food and consumer product markets. For example, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is exploring the use of NFC for the visually impaired. When a visually impaired individual has to take their prescription, they could simply tap their phone to the top of the medicine bottle to “bring it to life” and it will verbally relay necessary dosage information.
Although there are some very promising uses for NFC in consumer products (like NFC in food packaging, whereby the package “talks” to your appliances to cook it perfectly) Duckman states that they are still expensive to include in individual lower-value consumer products, but may be feasible to be used in high-value products like perfume. Although the individual chips are too expensive right now (approximately $0.30-$0.50 per chip) Duckman sees NFC packaging applications just two years away: “It’s just a matter of creativity and cost.”
Augmented Reality
There are already some excellent commercial examples of how the Augmented Reality (AR) technology is helping strengthen brand loyalty. A great example is LEGO, who has done a fantastic job adopting AR technology and adapting it to various channels of their business to engage their young, high-tech customers. In select LEGO stores in North America, kiosks with a camera and screen enable customers to see what the final LEGO product will look like when it’s built. They simply hold the box up to the camera to experience the 3D animated model (watch the video here: http://bit.ly/a4FnmJ). Because AR only requires a recognizable marker and not a specific barcode or QR code, any LEGO product packaging (including packaging that was printed prior to the AR campaign) can be programmed to enable the marker to be recognized by the software. Another benefit is that the AR-compatible package doesn’t cost any more to print, but it has a lot of increased functionality. Traditional techniques to make packaging stand out include unique coatings, foil or metallic ink or embossing, which are all relatively expensive processes and are priced per unit, whereas AR functionality has an upfront cost and no “per unit” cost.
LEGO hasn’t stopped there. They have integrated the power of AR into a variety of other channels, such as an AR app for smartphones called “Life of George”. “Life of George” is a virtual game that is paired with a physical LEGO product. The users build LEGO shapes as prompted on-screen and then use AR to verify that they have built the shape correctly. The game is timed and users can challenge friends to a build-off. Watch the video here: http://bit.ly/mZ5em8.
Additionally, LEGO has integrated AR to their online website and storefront, where users can print off an AR marker that corresponds to their favourite LEGO Atlantis vehicle and then hold the marker up to their webcam to see the model in 3D. You can view the AR portion of LEGO’s website here: http://bit.ly/83VjYj.
LEGO has leveraged AR for use in almost every stage of the purchasing process (in-store and online), as well as throughout the useful life of the product to effectively engage their customers. Similar AR applications can be adapted for countless other products, including enhanced nutritional guides or characters that come to life on food packaging.
Process Sustainability
As packaging needs evolve through increased environmental demands and technological advancements, process innovation is a necessity to remain competitive. This innovation may be in the form of equipment integration (such as digital packaging press technology) or as a category of packaged products (like Retail Ready Packaging).
Digital Packaging Press Technology
As digital packaging and label presses increase to widths and speeds that can compete with conventional processes, a whole range of profitable opportunities becomes possible. For example, Fujifilm’s B2 inkjet digital press for printing folding cartons is set to be unveiled at drupa 2012. It incorporates technology developed for Fujifilm’s Jet Press 720 inkjet device and provides an opportunity for faster turnaround times and increased customization with minimal setup and changeover.
Additionally, the HP Indigo 20,000, one of HP’s new digital packaging presses, capitalizes on the success of their Indigo print engine with adaptations for the flexible packaging market. The device is equipped with an inline priming unit that allows printers to use off-the-shelf paper, plastic and aluminum substrates, providing a wide range of possibilities to the consumer food packaging market.
If you would like to learn more about this topic, stay tuned for the July/August issue of Graphic Arts Magazine when Natalia Lumby will be exploring inkjet for packaging.
Retail Ready Packaging
Retail Ready Packaging (RRP) is a form of packaging that combines secondary and tertiary packaging so that products can be replenished faster on store shelves with less material waste. RRP increases process efficiency because it is designed to insert directly onto a shelf, versus having to stock individual products. Walmart is leading the way in RRP enforcement and is going so far as to remove products from its shelves from suppliers who do not comply. If packaging printers or packaging converters are able to lead the way and find solutions for customers who have to comply with the demands of large retailers like Walmart, they have a great opportunity to gain competitive advantage in the market and strengthen customer relationships.
RRP may also help consumer product organizations better forge relationships with consumers through packaging, as the online retail market continues to grow. The relationship built between a brand and a consumer may start to shift as online purchases increse. As a result, consumer product goods packagers will have to start building relationships right in the consumer’s home. Solutions like RRP that can be efficiently inserted onto a shelf in the home may help differentiate a product.
Through environmental, technological and process-specific means, sustainability truly is “what’s new and what’s profitable”. Sustainability is possible by helping to reduce a company’s environmental packaging footprint to remain relevant with eco-savvy consumers, as well as connecting with consumers through high-tech means and ensuring internal processes remain efficient. This is helping to drive packaging success, now and for the future.
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