VOLUME 13.1 – 2018
BRANDS TALK SUSTAINABILITY:
EXCLUSIVE M&S AND COCA-COLA INTERVIEWS WHAT ARE THE DEFINING TRENDS OF 2018? SERIALISATION PERSPECTIVES MINIMALIST DESIGN: THE POWER OF SILENCE INTRODUCING THE DIGITAL NOMAD
Cover image © Mehmet Gözetlik
Head of Content Tim Sykes
Senior Account Managers
Editors
Kevin Gambrill Jesse Roberts
Elisabeth Skoda Libby White
Account Manager
Head of Studio Gareth Harrey
Art Editor Paul Holden-Abbott
Advertising Coordinator Kayleigh Harvey
VOLUME 13.1 – 2018
Dominic Kurkowski
Executive Assistant Amber Dawson
IT Support Syed Hassan
Data Manager Andrew Wood
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Editorial Tim Sykes M&S Interview Are we looking at a one-polymer future? 2018 Predictions This year’s defining trends in CPG and retail packaging Smart Manufacturing Automation perspectives Innovation Spotlight Pont brings twist to cap design Coca-Cola Interview Inside the new sustainability plan Pharmapack The future is now Bostik What if hotmelt adhesives could bring comfort and safety in your plant? Smurfit Kappa On-shelf differentiation in advance Bioplastics EUBP Conference review ADF/PCD Paris Counting down to the next edition Prosweets Sweet solution Ipack-Ima Ipack-Ima returns with new vision
Telephone: +44 (0)1603 885000 Editorial: editor@packagingeurope.com Studio: production@packagingeurope.com Advertising: jr@packagingeurope.com, kg@packagingeurope.com Website: www.packagingeurope.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/PackagingEurope Twitter: www.twitter.com/PackagingEurope
© Packaging Europe Ltd 2018 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form for any purpose, other than short sections for the purpose of review, without prior consent of the publisher. ISSN 2516-0133 (Print) ISSN 02516-0141 (Online)
Serialisation 36 The countdown to FMD 37 Leveraging serialisation 38 The CMO point of view 40 Serialisation as driver of digital transformation 42 A driver of digital transformation 44 47 49 54 56 60 62 63 69 72
Pouches Standing-up to market pressures Form-Fill-Seal Forming the future Packaging Innovations Looking ahead to the UK’s largest show Zecher Zecher’s close cooperation with machine manufacturers Inspection Keeping an eye on the line Minimalism The power of silence Innovations Warsaw Every pack is important Squid Ink All around printing expertise Cosmopack Held in conjunction with Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna Digital Nomad Happy new opportunity!
Tim Sykes
EDITOR
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the calendar turns over to January it’s habitual to gaze inquisitively at the year ahead. In the following pages an array of packaging people make their predictions about driving trends across consumer packaging in 2018. To add my own forecast, it may shock none of you to suggest that sustainability will again dominate the agenda. Packaging waste, and specifically plastic waste, is in the socio-political crosshairs as never before, and it seems as though a consensus may be crystallising (driven both by populism and reasonable concern about a grave problem) that SOMETHING SERIOUS OUGHT TO BE DONE. As an industry, it’s important to state the case for packaging and point out the dangers of kneejerk reaction – but also to ensure we are engaged in joined-up and innovative solutions to the waste problem. Long-term, holistic solutions to the packaging waste and ocean litter will in fact be a special focus in Packaging Europe throughout the year. We’ll be giving a platform to the voices that matter on this subject, facilitating a dialogue between industry and its critics, and shining a light on the innovations in technology and systems that can make a difference. Our 2018 Sustainability Awards, scaled up and with an eminent, independent judging panel, will complement this. Sustainability features heavily in this month’s edition of the magazine. We review the recent European Bioplastics conference, where biodegradability was much in discussion as an answer to the packaging problem and global brand owners presented their strategies. We also have exclusive interviews interrogating the household names Coca-Cola and Marks & Spencer on their latest sustainable packaging plans.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking as the EU’s Falsified Medicines Directive comes into force in 2019, with the pharmaceutical supply chain still in varying states of readiness. We present a series of perspectives on serialisation: from practical advice on how to achieve compliance to exploring the opportunities for pharma companies and CMOs to harness their investments in connectivity to add business value. In addition, we share the latest trends in pouches, form-fill-seal technology, innovations in inspection, speak to the planet earth’s most passionate advocate of minimalist design Mehmet Gözetlik, and review the dizzying pace of progress in smart manufacturing as exhibited at Rockwell’s latest Automation Fair. Last but not least, I’m delighted to introduce our new, star columnist Richard Askam – one of the brains behind the groundbreaking Share a Coke campaign and the world’s leading commentator on the disruptive influence of digital print on labelling and packaging. From now on you’ll find Richard on the back page of Packaging Europe, doing his own future-gazing and challenging industry to seize the massive opportunities presented by technology. We’ll be back with the next edition of Packaging Europe magazine in March. In the meantime, keep in touch with the latest developments and innovations by subscribing to our newsletter and connecting on Twitter. Tim Sykes ts@packagingeurope.com @PackEuropeTim
© Mehmet Gözetlik
Mehmet Gözetlik discusses his minimalised brands on page 60
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SUSTAINABLE RETAIL
ARE WE LOOKING AT A ONE-POLYMER FUTURE?
The international retailer Marks & Spencer has earned a reputation for proactivity in its sustainability policies. In 2007 the business launched a 100-point sustainability plan, dubbed ‘Plan A’, which over the ensuing decade has seen simplification of the types of plastic used in its private label packaging, removed microbeads from its products, introduced a charge on plastic carrier bags, and optimised packaging – resulting in a reduction in packaging materials in 140 snacking products. Its latest iteration, Plan A 2025 steps up the ambitions, including the One Polymer Road Map and a target that 100 per cent of its packaging is widely recycled. Tim Sykes spoke to M&S’s Kevin Vyse (senior technologist, Food Packaging, and Circular Economy Lead) about the company’s approach to sustainability in packaging and the implications of the latest goals.
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IM SYKES: How does M&S assess and manage the trade-offs in environmental performance, such as between overall product footprints (including food waste) and the hot question of packaging waste? EVIN VYSE: We look holistically at everything we do – across our operation, our supply chains and of course when our customers come to remove packaging and use our products. This includes designing our products and packaging that underpin the creation of a circular economy in the markets we serve.
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Given the current heat on plastics in general, how does M&S perceive and respond to public pressure that might not be informed by a rounded understanding of the role of packaging and unintended consequences?
KV
We use packaging smartly to ensure products stay fresh for longer. For example, 1gm piece of film can double the life of a cucumber, apples and bananas and 5gms of plastic can ensure that a piece of meat greatly improves the quality of the product. By keeping food fresher for longer, customers throw out less food. However, we recognise the enormous challenges, that the current approach to plastic use globally is causing and see that we have an important part to play in preventing the leakage of plastic into the environment. We’ve already taken action in a number of areas – from introducing the 5p carrier bag charge, and removing microbeads from our products significantly ahead of legislation, to reducing the amount of packaging we use. For example, we have saved 75 tonnes of packaging annually by redesigning the packaging for our 140 snacking products and will continue to innovate to optimise our packaging design. We know there is more to do – that’s why we’ve set a bold target to make all our packaging ‘widely recyclable’ by 2022, as part of our zero-waste ambition. Packaging Europe | 5 |
SUSTAINABLE RETAIL
We’re working with policy makers, fellow retailers, manufacturers, local authorities, the recycling and plastics industry, WRAP and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to develop scalable solutions to prevent the leakage of plastics into the environment.
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Is there merit in considering the proposition of replacing plastics wherever this is viable from a holistic point of view?
We are always looking into new ways to package products but our focus is on making the plastic as light as possible whilst improving overall collection and recycling. Plan A 2025 sets a bold new goal to be a zero waste business across all that we do – our operations, our supply chains and of course when our customers come to remove packaging and use our products. This includes designing our products and packaging to underpin the creation of a circular economy in the markets we serve. By 2022 all M&S product packaging in the UK that could end up with our customers will be not only ‘recyclable’, but ‘widely recycled’. To achieve this, we will actively collaborate with others to bring about changes in local government recycling policy. By 2022, we will also assess the feasibility of making all M&S plastic packaging from one polymer group, which will help maximise the use of recycled content.
TS KV
We were both present at the European Bioplastics conference this year, where advantages of bioplastics as a sustainable packaging substrate were discussed in much depth. What do you consider the roadblocks? Bioplastics are traceable and allow retailers to provide greater visibility of the supply chain. With cheap fossil fuels in the marketplace, scalability has been a challenge. However, we’re seeing
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more organisations taking an interest in the future of biopolymers and this will continue to increase.
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The objective of simplifying down to the use of a single polymer is perhaps the most eye-catching aspect of the M&S packaging material strategy. Given your diverse range of products and associated packaging applications, it must be a challenge to find a single polymer that efficiently delivers all of the necessary properties across rigid and flexible formats. You have previously remarked that the selected plastic is likely to be a new structure. What are the prerequisites of this polymer?
KV
We’ve already worked hard to reduce the number of plastics we use in our food business – and now just use three. Our ambition is to look at the feasibility of making all M&S own-brand plastic packaging from one polymer group, which will help maximise the use of recycled content. The polymer needs to be able to be blow moulded, extruded or formed. PET already plays a part in our packaging inventory and so it’s a close contender for the role as a single. However, there are some exciting developments in the pipeline that may perform better than PET, PEF (polyethylene-furanoate) being one of them. We know that by 2022 there’ll be two pilot plants running PEF. We’re looking at all these options too.
TS KV
Is there a role for other stakeholders to play in the specification of the ‘super-polymer’? Do you see an opportunity to multiply the impact of simplification with cross-industry implementation?
Absolutely. In fact, we are already collaborating around R&D with a number of groups. This project is a great example of how collaboration is vital for the circular economy.
2018 TRENDS
DEFINING 2018 Packaging Europe canvassed opinion on the trends and technologies that will characterise CPG and retail packaging over the coming year. A diverse group of industry authorities passed around our crystal ball. Here is what they foresaw.
Steve Adams, managing director at James Cropper
Sustainability continues to drive innovation
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ess is More! There is a clear trend due to the need for sustainable packaging as well as cost efficiency to optimise packaging materials without compromising food and beverage products. Also the developments of more efficient conversion rates and packaging equipment offers many options now to reduce energy use during the packaging process. Using fewer materials and less energy during packaging production, for higher performance packaging materials without compromising packaging integrity is key. Meanwhile, moves to make it easier to recycle flexible packaging will be a key driver. Advancing a circular economy in flexible packaging is a clear trend as well as a challenge: keeping food and beverages arriving fresh to our tables implies increasing use of more sophisticated multilayer packaging solutions. Work in areas such as barrier adhesives and compatibilisers (offering producers the option to recycle their scraps) will be important elements in this drive. Carolina Gregorio, lead marketing manager for Food Packaging at DOW Europe
Upcycling With the luxury market forecast to grow and the sustainability agenda quite rightly high in society’s priorities, we expect ‘upcycling’ to take the spotlight as something that combines the environmentally friendly with the premium. For example, we’re collecting used cups from Selfridges’ food hall and offices, pro-
Simon Edwards, VP sales and marketing at Tonejet
cessing them at our plant and using the resulting high quality material to create their iconic yellow shopping bags – a unique, closed-loop solution. Arrangements like this help businesses to enhance their brand value by demonstrating their commitment to sustainability, while upholding their premium appeal. Steve Adams, managing director at James Cropper
Direct to shape Direct-to-shape digital printing for packaging has generated some of the most interesting and thought-provoking discussions over the last 12 months, and it’s certainly one-to-watch as we look ahead to growth markets in 2018. It serves two key market sectors in my opinion. The first being the mass market where packaging is produced for the average consumer for average reasons, but the need for small job runs is still an issue due to segmentation or proliferation of the variety of images or languages required on the product packaging. Digital printing is used in this case to free up valuable packaging real estate and produce variations of the same package for different markets or regions. The second market sector for direct-to-shape is speciality applications. This is when brands utilise the capabilities of digital printing to produce packaging for promotional or event-based activities. The objective of these activities is to bolster the brand rather than generate huge amounts of revenue. It’s an opportunity to grow or maintain market share through brand awareness, often strongly supported by Packaging Europe | 7 |
Bert Schoonderbeek, managing director, Contiweb
Erich Hoch, EVP and CEO, Jabil Digital Solutions
resulting social media conversations and, in 2017, we’ve seen more and more brands realise the value in this activity and create their own campaigns. What’s exciting about the year ahead for direct-to-shape is that the technology being developed for this area is really coming into its own. Until now, we’ve seen companies talk about direct-to-shape machines for aerosol cans, plastic tubes, glass cylinders and beverage cans with some claiming to be able to do it all. While that may be technically possible, in reality the cost base may not make it financially viable. Therefore, we’re now seeing machine manufacturers focus in on one dedicated application for their technology as the market starts to settle. The challenge now will be for these companies to put their hypotheses for these machines’ capabilities into the hands of actual brands and start producing real products. This requires some creativity on the part of the manufacturer to get their first machines to market! But overall, 2018 will be a time for clarity around these solutions. There will be a real focus on market viability for both the user and the consumer and it will be a time for these platforms to prove themselves. Once this has happened, it will lead to a really exciting time for the sector because the manufacturers can then branch out again, applying their new technology to other applications where it can innovate the supply chain and consumer experience once again.
modular inline platform that can be easily adapted should be the key investment for printers who need to meet future changes as market demands become increasingly tough.
Simon Edwards, VP sales and marketing at Tonejet
Hybrid print technology In 2017 we saw that the world of flexible packaging is further diversifying: while digital printing is becoming more important, however, for wider web applications, it is still a costly way of printing. Printers and converters face growing pressure to slash costs, cut turn-around times and deliver premium print quality, while brand owners want to make regular changes without incurring the expensive set-up costs associated with flexo and gravure. To be able to meet their customer’s demands and high expectations for print quality, flexibility and sustainability, printers and converters are discovering the many benefits of using web offset for packaging work. We predict that over the next few years, hybrid technology will become the industry standard. Printers will want to combine all the benefits of web offset with the inherent advantages that flexo, gravure and digital can offer, so a | 8 | Packaging Europe
Bert Schoonderbeek, managing director, Contiweb
Brand brilliance at the intersections By now the industry is familiar with major trends such as digitisation, multichannel retail and sustainability. For example, there are ample opportunities to innovate more secure closures and improve package strength to avoid leakage and breakage during shipping that would most definitely have a negative effect on the end user experience. Many players are quickly adapting their packaging strategies to address these familiar trends. Less obvious, however, are the unique opportunities for what Jabil calls “brand brilliance” at the intersections where these trends converge. For example, most brands recognise that online retail outlets are among the growing number of alternative channels to conventional brick-and-mortar stores. But digitisation offers more than an online storefront or mobile app to shop for the same products we can find on a store shelf. It also allows innovative new packaging to leverage ubiquitous connectivity to spark interactions with other consumers, retailers, products and brands. Similarly, the versatility of plastic packaging may seem to run counter to the rising interest in sustainability. But in many cases, brands are finding unique solutions precisely where these two trends converge. Many are answering the call for more sustainable packaging by making more use of advanced biodegradable and recyclable polymers to allow consumers to feel good about their product and packaging choices while enabling brands to tap all the creative and practical benefits that plastic materials have to offer. Erich Hoch, EVP and CEO, Jabil Digital Solutions
Pack-vertising I predict an increase in ‘pack-vertising’, where product labels are used as a core part of the marketing message. This is increasingly important when there is continued pressure on marketing spend – as has been the case in recent years.
2018 TRENDS
Packaging Europe | 9 |
2018 TRENDS
Ken Chrisman, president of Sealed Air’s Product Care division
Meanwhile, lead times will continue to shorten. At present, most digital printing companies can offer very quick turnaround of work. However, these have tended to be small jobs and have not really impacted the general industry wide accepted norms. I predict this changing, as more companies install high productivity inkjet digital devices, used for longer runs. The digital e-commerce model, allowing simple on-line ordering and quick delivery, will spread to the wider market.
ping costs low without letting temperatures rise? As food manufacturers and retailers test the waters of food e-commerce operations, commercial validity is paramount. To help assure this, a combined primary and secondary packaging operation is fundamental. As a result, more stringent industry standards and regulations will be required to help ensure food freshness and protect consumers. It will be vitally important that businesses track these updates and proactively look for solutions that can help with the transport of fresh goods.
Bui Burke, senior VP Sales, Screen
Brand experience in every box With more products being sent directly to homes, the visual and tactile impacts inside a delivery can be a powerful selling point for brands. Logos, photos, and illustrations can be printed on the protective packaging materials or directly on the shipping box or mailer, which can help deliver a brand experience that connects with consumers and further communicates how that brand value is enhancing their lives. In this way, custom packaging design can reinforce the mission and lifestyle of a company, as well as the lifetime customer value. As companies discover more about their customers, both their shopping and unboxing experiences will become more personalised. Meanwhile, as the needle moves ever higher on the consumer instant gratification meter, the expectations among online shoppers for speedy, precise, damage-free deliveries have never been greater. In response, retailers are applying pressure throughout the supply chain to deliver products faster and more efficiently. Manufacturers are feeling the added pressure of having to make direct deliveries to customers to help reduce retailers’ inventories. This will only accelerate in 2018. Retailers want to avoid pallets and ensure that products are ready to be shipped at a moment’s notice – and by manufacturers ideally. This will require a wholesale re-working of manufacturers’ business models. The sweet spot for fresh goods delivery packaging is difficult to hit. How much packaging does it take to maintain proper temperatures, and how much wiggle room (i.e. hours spent in the back of a delivery truck from processor to retailer, or unprotected from the elements at a front door) can any box, bag, or cooler handle? How can processors and retailers keep material and ship-
Ken Chrisman, president of Sealed Air’s Product Care division
Style & substance With online sales continuing to rise year-on-year and less ‘bricks-and-mortar’ shops, the onus is on businesses to take a two-pronged approach - incorporating both substance and style into packaging to create a superior customer experience at home. Putting in place pioneering void fill and cushioning solutions should be the top priority as it can make a remarkable difference – not only in terms of ensuring products arrive in perfect condition, but also by speeding up the packaging process, optimising overall efficiencies and improving sustainability by minimising the amount of packaging used overall. At the same time, creating a memorable first impression when a package arrives is now more important than ever before as nearly 40 per cent of the British public admit that colour is the most appealing feature of packaging, while a quarter say that imagery caught their eye the most. This will no doubt fuel the growing popularity of personalisation in packaging as firms battle it out to achieve that all-important ‘wow’ factor. Jason Poxon, packaging technologist at Antalis
Active & intelligent Whether at home, work or during our leisure activities, we are seeing an increasing amount of technology penetrate our lives. A few years ago, it looked like NFC technology was on the verge of revolutionising the packaging industry and making that ‘smart’ as well, but then the initial hype began to fade away. Packaging Europe | 11 |
2018 TRENDS Now the buzz is back and 2018 seems set to be the year when smart packaging finally starts to reach beyond simply being a ‘cool idea’, and moves closer to becoming an everyday reality. There have been some interesting NFC campaigns such as the US-based snack company, Frito-Lay, which launched limited edition crisp packets during the Super Bowl. The ‘Party Safe’ bag came with a built-in alcohol sensor which acted as a simple breath analyser, encouraging people to then act responsibly and tap their smartphone to the NFC technology in the bag and summon an Uber ride to take them home. These market trials, have generally been applied to niche, low volume marketing campaigns or premium products due to the additional cost of embedding the NFC technology. In some cases, this was because a power source was required for standalone operation and printed batteries are still relatively expensive. Yet even in its simplest form, where the energy to operate is harvested from the smartphone signal, the cost is still considered too high for integration into high volume FMCG. Even as volumes increase, with corresponding decreases in price, a change in approach is required. The SCOPE project aims to help develop new processes to manufacture devices with “costs of less than one cent per NFC tag.” Can this be achieved? New technologies and processes are now emerging that will bring significantly lower costs, not just innovation in integrated circuits which form the brain of the tag, but also how the antenna and tag are assembled. These are exciting times. Low cost NFC technology will become a reality in 2018 – finally making smart packaging economically viable for FMCGs. Gillian Ewers, VP marketing, PragmatIC
Minimalism & transparency Aiming for packaging designs that enlighten consumers’ purchase decisions, brands will reject approaches that offer too much or too little as they can leave shoppers more confused than informed. Today’s consumers are more informed than ever; however, brands are in real danger of being rejected if consumers feel overloaded with information, leading to the questioning of provenance, authenticity, and transparency. The ‘essentialist’ design principle bridges the divide between not enough and just enough of what’s essential for consumers to make an enlightened and confident purchasing decision. Brands must bring the next generation of clean label to packaging design to provide a moment of calm and clarity for shoppers in an increasingly hectic retail environment. Meanwhile, bbrands will look to contemporary packaging formats to help reinvigorate the centre-of-store aisles less visited by younger consumers. Young shoppers are increasingly ‘shopping the periphery’, visiting the fresh and chilled aisles around the store perimeter and turning their backs on processed, ambient, and frozen offerings in the centre of the store. The use of transparent materials, contemporary design, recyclability, or unique shapes can help draw in younger consumers to the store centre, making it as appealing as the burgeoning perimeter to younger consumers. Benjamin Punchard, global packaging insights director at Mintel
The on-trend colours from 2018 into 2019 As far back as 2014, while working on ColorForward 2016, we began to see consumers becoming more introspective and even a little fearful about what was happening in their world. That gloominess, reflected in colours that were muted, softer, darker and even ambiguous, has persisted. Although the palette heading towards 2019 is still toned down and more than a little grey, we see in it a growing sense of resolve and determination to find ways to live happily in our increasingly technical world. Trends to look out for include: • ‘Do not disturb’ – this pastel palette is serene, soft, and minimal, though all but one have a dusty cast that quiets them even further. • ‘CTRL+F’ – this story is more fearful, focusing mainly on the apparent loss of control and is represented by ambiguous, enigmatic, and contrasting colours – both light and dark, solid and transparent, with two of the five including a glitter effect. • ‘Made in Human’ – in our increasingly technical world, we can still take some comfort and pride in the things that make us uniquely human. One of the colour chips is made by 3D printing – a canvas-beige with a brush stroke of purple symbolising the human creativity in this machine-made artefact. Others include, ‘One face, one human race’ that is a totally random combination of several colours, making every chip is unique, and yet all are part of the same family. • Umswenko – celebrating the energy and optimism of the 1.1 billion ‘Afrillenials’. The colours chosen to represent this trend are not stereotypically African; the brightest of the ColorForward 2019 palettes, yet somewhat toned down, such as the apricot orange ‘Tribeat’ and the jade green ‘La Sape’.
Gillian Ewers, VP marketing, PragmatIC
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Judith van Vliet, ColorWorks® designer and a leader of the ColorForward team
AUTOMATION PERSPECTIVES “Good things happen when we combine the potential of automation with the imagination of people,” remarked Blake Moret, president and CEO of Rockwell Automation, speaking at the opening of the 2017 edition of the annual Automation Fair in Houston. There’s a consensus around the industry that this was a year in which the smart manufacturing delivered on many of its promises of ‘good things’. Tim Sykes reports.
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the triennial preeminent event in the packaging calendar, interpack always serves as a snapshot of shifts and developments in the industry. Returning to Düsseldorf in May, I was struck by the seachange in smart machinery capabilities across packaging and CPG since 2014. It was as if Industry 4.0 had moved from future tense to present tense. A similar sensation of time travel characterised my return to Rockwell’s Automation Fair two years’ after my last visit. Where in 2015 in Chicago there had been extensive discussion of the need for manufacturers to rapidly acquire IT specialists with the skills to collate and interpret data from connected devices, recent innovations seem to have alleviated these industry anxieties.
Powerful analytics Speaking at the Automation Perspectives conference, Frank Kulaszewicz, senior VP, Architecture & Software Division, Rockwell Automation, set out his vision of the digitally transformed enterprise, whose digital information thread provides context and critical insights enabling action to improve performance. A key tool in this endeavour is the FactoryTalk platform: a powerful but easy to use analytics tool that enables businesses to take decisions closest to the source of data. The FactoryTalk platform provides scalable analytics, open to partner | 14 | Packaging Europe
devices. The key advance here is in a move from descriptive and diagnostic analytics – the ‘what?’ data that requires user interpretation – towards an advanced analytics using tools that look for trends, leveraging models, machine learning and artificial intelligence. FactoryTalk analytics encompasses data ingress, data visualisation and data orchestration, in other words, blending data to offer insights. Perhaps the single most impressive solution on display at Automation Fair was the customisable, user-friendly interface of the platform. This is the fruit of Rockwell’s ‘Project Scio’ – an initiative to devise ways for businesses to create their own tailored analytics apps. “It’s possible to create an ad hoc ‘storyboard’ containing actionable information for each user,” explained Mr Kulaszewicz. “The dashboard is active, meaning the user can drill down and query information. However, it’s not necessary to build a new dashboard to access a piece of information: intelligent search functions enable the user to quickly access ‘orchestrated’ data, e.g. ‘sum of energy by machine’.” The ability to mash up and simply present multiple internal and external data sources looks like a game-changer. So does FactoryTalk, as a tool that presents the crucial real-time and aggregated information needed by managers from machine operator and plant manager to the senior management at enterprise level.
SMART MANUFACTURING
Furthermore, to better connect industrial producers with expertise outside their production environment, Rockwell offers OEMs cloud-based machine analytics combining real-time with historical insights into how their equipment is operating, meaning they can collaborate with customers to help reduce downtime. At the enterprise level, companies can use the IDC as an IaaS offering or as a private, on-premises cloud platform. FactoryTalk Cloud, a public, remotely administered cloud platform powered by Windows Azure, helps monitor remote assets, meaning that OEMs can efficiently monitor and support machines after they are deployed with customers.
Digital design and mixed reality A key tenet of the digital transformation vision is the principle of design and operation as a circular process. In machine production digital design uses a digital twin to test, validating designs and concepts before production. Machine builder libraries now enable a drag and drop approach rather than writing code. This drastically accelerates the process. Meanwhile, the use of digital pilots enhances value streams with asset management, enterprise risk and operational productivity. On the Automation Fair show floor two solutions stood out among the 140 exhibits as examples of the opportunities for packaging. The first was a Cama packaging machine using digital twin visualisation, offering enhanced predictive maintenance, covering metrics such as torque, heat and revolutions. Through a HoloLens interface one can step inside the machine, interrogate and control each element. As managing director Billy Goodman remarked, in the past when efficiency has gradually declined it hasn’t always been noticed. With today’s toolkit it’s possible the operator is more intimately connected with the nuances of performance – delivering increased efficiency, flexibility and speed. Secondly, Bradman Lake’s president Ian McDermott introduced the innovative machine builder’s latest independent motion side load cartoner, featuring full ethnet/IP architecture for ControlLogix controllers, Kinetix 5500 servo drives, PowerFlex variable frequency drives and PanelView HMIs. Guided pockets are individually controlled using iTRACK, and with internal collating additional robotics are not required by this footprint-shrinking solution. Meanwhile, it offers mixed reality machine intelligence, using FactoryTalk, Shelby and HoloLens
to deliver a swathe of real-time interaction – immersive and hands free. Mr McDermott suggested that future R&D is likely to build further added value onto this platform, with extensions including linking to spare parts inventory.
Packaged goods Another change since 2015 has been in Rockwell’s own attitude to the marketplace. “Previously segments would produce products and then work out where to apply them,” explained Mike Wagner (global OEM business manager). “Last year we made a so-called ‘pivot to industry’, a shift to verticals. Under our new approach business plans for key markets, including CPG, are built around trends and demands. Macro trends are tracked and translated into a tech roadmap, informing our R&D focus.” The pivot also means becoming more engaged in the production challenges of the key markets, as exemplified by Rockwell’s experience with new customer Kraft Heinz’s ORE-IDA (a leading North American French fry brand). “We helped ORE-IDA produce a rigorous business plan that proved the returns that justified investment in modernisation of one line,” Mr Wagner continued. “The optimisation resulted in significant reduction of flow disruption, increased product yield, and reduced variation and scrap. This value has allowed for subsequent investment in further line optimisation.” Becoming more market- and less solution-orientated inevitably involves speaking more fluently in the language of selling value. “This is what automation solutions are about,” remarked Mr Wagner. Smart sensors are about managing efficiency, for example measuring the degradation of a process. If a machine can send a message about a blockage, or better still automatically blow a puff of air to clean it out, this can prevent a stoppage or eliminate the need for costly, permanent air flow.” Today’s demographic changes are driving lots of trends – including healthier foods, convenience, freshness, single-serve and ethnic offerings – that together spell out a proliferation of SKUs, requiring adaptive lines and faster changeovers. This can only continue to drive demand for scalable solutions bringing about digital optimisation of manufacturing in the food and beverage market. Given the pace at which smart technologies are advancing, it’s scary to imagine where we’ll be in another two years. Packaging Europe | 15 |
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INNOVATION SPOTLIGHT
PONT PACKAGING BRINGS TWIST TO CAP DESIGN Leading glass and plastic container packaging specialist, Pont Packaging has launched an innovative new infusion cap system which adds a subtle design twist to the packaging and presentation of bottled sports nutrition products such as energy drinks and supplements.
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tephen Compson, CEO Pont Europe group, explains to Packaging Europe the TWINCAP development resulted from a combination of discussions with its key customers and an understanding of the need to innovate in the dynamic VMS market. He comments, “We saw a strong demand for the dosing of vitamins into liquids and have developed a quality dosing system with an attractive design to address consumer needs.” Premixed liquid vitamins rapidly lose their potency. “TWINCAP overcomes this problem with a fresh infusion of full strength vitamins just prior to consumption,” Mr Compson shares. “We believe it will be attractive to athletes as well as recreational drinkers since TWINCAP can also be used for fruit concentrates, syrups and diet drinks.” The brand new TWINCAP system primises greater and improved shelf appeal compared with existing solutions. A simple twist of the top cap activates an internal cutting technique which breaks the liner seal enabling the chamber contents to fall into the bottle. One simple shake of the combined contents ensures the mixed drink is immediately ready to consume. Its 7ml chamber can accommodate granules, powders or liquids and the induction heated seal keeps the product fresh. The current TWINCAP product fits
the PCO1810 neck finish and can easily be adapted to fit any other neck size. The cap is made in PP, which makes it easily recyclable for an environmentally responsible approach. TWINCAP also guarantees a perfect product integrity thanks to its double Tamper Evident security band and can be offered in any colour to match corporate or brand identities. Mr Compson concludes, “Our knowledge of the vitamins market and the close relationship with our customers within this sector allowed us to clearly identify a need for a consumer oriented and functional solution for a vitamins and mineral infusion system.” This has resulted in a cost effective, easy-to-use and multi-functional solution which brings a refreshing dimension and attractive design to the market.
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PATHWAYS FORWARD INSIDE COCA-COLA’S SUSTAINABILITY PLAN
The Coca-Cola Company in Western Europe and Coca-Cola European Partners have launched a first ever joint Sustainability Action Plan for western Europe, entitled ‘This is Forward’, setting out new commitments on drinks, packaging and society. Developed through a consultation process encompassing 100 stakeholders, governments, NGOs and customers, as well as 12,000 consumers and a thousand of its own employees across Europe, the plan sets respective targets of 100 per cent packaging collection and 50 per cent recycled content for PET bottles by 2025. Joe Franses (vice president, Sustainability, Coca-Cola European Partners) and Ulrike Sapiro (director of sustainability, Coca-Cola Western Europe) reveal the iconic brand owner’s packaging strategy to Packaging Europe.
‘This is Forward’ sets out an aim to collect 100 per cent of Coca-Cola’s packaging in western Europe. What concrete steps and collaborations do you have in place to realise this?
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ur packaging is a valuable resource, so we are determined to do everything we can to ensure that it does not end up as litter or in our rivers and oceans. All of our cans and bottles are already 100 per cent recyclable and we have made considerable progress in the collection and recycling of our packaging, but in many of our geographies in western Europe we still have a lot to do, working with municipalities, industry partners and consumers, to ensure our packaging is collected and recycled. In all of our markets in western Europe, we are partners in local household collection or deposit return schemes and we aim to lead the way in driving a step-change in packaging collection, especially in markets where recycling rates have stalled. This includes work with organisations such as Valpak in Great Britain, Citeo in France, and Ecoembes in Spain. We will also work with partners such as Every Can Counts on recycling campaigns in Great Britain and with Chaque Canette Compte in France.
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You also want to encourage consumers to play their part. What kinds of initiatives do you have in mind? We’re continuously trying to engage consumers to ensure that we keep them actively involved in the big issues facing society – and that includes packaging. We know that consumers have an important role to play in ensuring that our packaging is collected, sorted and recycled and does not end up as litter or in the oceans. With this in mind, we are using our business and our brands to inspire everyone to help us recycle and avoid litter. The ‘A Bottle Love Story’ campaign in Great Britain is the first in a series of activities that aim to influence consumer behaviour around recycling and is a great example of what we would like to do more of in the future. We have also recently partnered with The University of Reading to trial a new initiative aimed at reducing the amount of packaging we use. The programme combines a new generation of smart Coca-Cola fountain dispensers, called Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, with refillable containers that are micro-chipped to interact with the dispenser technology, allowing students and staff to reuse their bottles. The goal of this initiative is to help students and staff across the university to reduce their personal packaging footprint.
COCA-COLA
Joe Franses, vice president, Sustainability, Coca-Cola European Partners
You have had high-profile usage of both recycled plastic and bioplastics. Are you coming to a view on the relative merits and high-volume potential of these as alternative feedstocks? Using recycled material in new bottles and cans keeps valuable resources in a circular economy, encourages recycling and significantly reduces the carbon footprint of our packaging. We believe that using both recycled PET and PET made from bio-based, renewable material, alongside a lighter, fully recyclable bottle design creates the most sustainable pack. We led the way in introducing recycled PET into our packaging and brought PlantBottle, the first fully recyclable PET plastic beverage bottle made partially from plants, to market with over 40 billion bottles worldwide. We are now leading the way in Europe using more recycled PET than any of our competitors. We will continue to work with our suppliers and invest in the recycled PET value chain. By 2025 we aim to more than double the amount of recycled PET we use, so that 50 per cent of all the PET we purchase will be recycled PET.
Ulrike Sapiro, director of sustainability, Coca-Cola Western Europe
We’ve also made significant investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy which have reduced greenhouse gas emissions related to our core business operations in western Europe in absolute terms by 42 per cent since 2010. Our business will continue to grow and with continued investment in low-carbon technologies and renewable energy we are aiming to achieve an absolute 50 per cent reduction versus 2010 by 2025, irrespective of business growth.
What about deposit/return systems? There are different collection, sorting and recycling schemes in place across all the countries in which we operate. Some of these focus on household kerbside collection and recycling whilst others have well-established deposit return schemes for beverage packaging. In some European countries, we’ve seen how deposit schemes can play a positive role and be an effective way to encourage the recovery of more beverage packaging. For a deposit system to be successful, however, it must work for all stakeholders across the value chain, and be underpinned by a circular economy strategy. We are very keen to support the trial of well-designed deposit return schemes to understand the role they could play in increasing the recycling of our packaging and reducing litter.
Currently there is a strong media and political focus on the problem of packaging waste, in particular plastic waste. Would you agree that it’s important to step back and take a more holistic view of the product lifecycle, Is Coca-Cola actively working on boosting sustainability taking into account overall carbon footprint, and not through packaging innovations and processes? We want to go further, supporting innovation into new packaging materials and fixating solely on the issue of waste and recyclability? Yes, we believe it’s absolutely essential to take a holistic view and that’s why ‘This is Forward’ also includes new carbon reduction targets - for both our own business and our value chain - which are fully aligned with climate science and have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Suppliers play a vital role in helping us deliver these goals, so we work very closely with them and have a number of initiatives in place. Our ‘Carbon Challenge’, for example, is a three-stage program designed to encourage suppliers to make progress towards achieving their carbon management goals.
new ways to reduce the need for packaging and minimise waste. We believe that collaboration is critical to help us meet the targets in our Sustainability Plan, so we work closely with our stakeholders to develop innovative new solutions to shared problems. An example of this is the launch of a newly redesigned plastic bottle for our Abbey Well Spring Water brand. The ‘twistable’ design uses up to 32 per cent less plastic, and carries a prominent ‘Recycle Me’ message to remind consumers that the bottle is recyclable. Its design also makes it easy for consumers to crumple it down before disposing of it. Packaging Europe | 19 |
THE FUTURE IS NOW!
PHARMAPACK SHOWCASES EVOLUTION & REVOLUTION IN PACKAGING AND DRUG DELIVERY The comprehensive event programme for Pharmapack Europe 2018 – the continent’s dedicated pharmaceutical packaging and drug delivery conference and exhibition – includes keynote speeches from leading industry figures, a symposium, educational workshops and learning lab. Together these will explore regulatory changes and impacts, challenges in packaging & devices development: biologics, materials, sustainability and quality consistency, and how new patient-centric innovations in drug delivery will revolutionise lives and improve treatment adherence. An innovation at this year’s event, which takes place on 7–8 February at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, Paris, is the Start-up Pitch: a unique opportunity for companies at an early stage or pre-commercialisation phase to present their idea in front of industry experts.
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harmapack Europe is an essential event for industry insights and the latest industry innovations that are reimagining the capabilities of pharmaceutical packaging and drug delivery. One area that provides opportunities and challenges is biologics, a growth area for the pharmaceutical industry both now and in the future with biologics representing 70 per cent of drugs currently in development. Pharmapack Europe 2018 will include keynote presentations on the key factors for successful collaboration on pharmaceutical packaging development for biologics, speeches on integrated
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PHARMAPACK
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PHARMAPACK
approaches towards the design of drug delivery platforms for biologics, and case studies assessing delivery options for injectable biologics. In addition, patient-centric considerations provide new avenues of innovation in drug delivery solutions. Sessions will be dedicated to innovations in packaging that improve patients’ lives, identifying new areas of opportunity in designing the future of drug delivery packaging, and practical solutions to help stakeholders innovate in this area. “The pharmaceutical packaging and drug delivery industry is at the crest of a new wave of innovation and opportunity. We have developed an extensive programme for Pharmapack Europe 2018 to provide the industry with insights from leading industry experts, practical guidance and workshops on challenges and opportunities, and networking and collaboration opportunities through our International Meetings Programme to enable visitors to share knowledge and experience to drive business forward,” said Anne Schumacher, brand director, Pharmapack Europe. “Following on from the success in 2017 we are also continuing to provide focussed support for new companies through our Start-up Hub and Start-up Pitch programme. This unique programme provides the leading opportunity in Europe to directly meet and discuss business opportunities with international pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies. A limited number of spaces are still available.” The 2018 Start-up Hub will showcase young companies as being amongst the most innovative in the industry. Companies in the Start-up Hub will benefit from increased access to potential customers, partners and investors at Pharmapack Europe 2018 from which to forge new and lasting relationships. | 22 | Packaging Europe
New for 2018 is the Start-up Pitch, offering non-commercialised companies the opportunity to present in front of a start-up panel of experts and an audience of industry professionals. The Start-up Hub and Start-up Pitch are organised in collaboration with Early Metrics, the pan-European rating agency for start-ups and innovative SMEs, assessing the potential growth of early stage ventures by analysing a company’s non-financial metrics.
SPONSORED
WHAT IF HOTMELT ADHESIVES COULD BRING COMFORT AND SAFETY IN YOUR PLANT? Health and safety at work is a major concern for industrial companies with production lines, striving to maintain the best working conditions for their employees.
About Bostik, an Arkema company Bostik joined Arkema in February 2015. Its adhesives can be found almost everywhere. From cradle to grave, from home to office, from food to transport, our bonding systems are used in countless applications. Our products might be subtle but their impact is profound: contributing to a safer, more flexible, efficient and responsive world. Bostik is one of the largest adhesive and sealant companies. Worldwide, we employ some 5,000 people in 50 countries across five continents. Our customers come from diverse markets, most notably the industrial manufacturing, construction and consumer sectors.
Kizen is Bostik’s next generation hotmelt adhesive range for cardboard box & case sealing. Kizen is based on a water-white technology and offers ease of use and strong bonds on case and carton sealing applications. Thanks to its enhanced performances, Kizen offers comfort to all industrial customers: • Fast set speed to easily meet high output demands • Broad processing window to withstand end-use temperature fluctuations • Thermal stability to prevent nozzle clogging
Learn more about Kizen: www.bostik.com/kizen Eurofound – European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working, Conditions European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) 5., 2010.
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umerous risks for operators working on case sealing lines: falls, breathing problems, back pain… In partnership with its mother company Arkema, Bostik has launched Kizen, a brand new range of hotmelt adhesives dedicated to case sealing and cardboard packaging. This range has been designed to bring comfort, security and efficiency in production plants. In the EU, around one third of workers report they suffer from musculoskeletal diseases and the main cause of this is the lifting of heavy loads. With a weight of 12kg and the presence of a handle, our light weight Kizen bag is fully compliant with European standards. It reduces substantially risks of back pain and lessens efforts on shoulders and elbows when manipulated. 12kg is 20 per cent under the weight limit stated by EU regulation that can be lifted in ideal conditions by nine out of 10 operators. The flat shape of our Kizen pellets also reduces the risk of slips of operators who might step on it if spilled on the floor. With Kizen, our customers guarantee their operators a cleaner atmosphere thanks to the absence of carbonisation, lower odour and less fuming.
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DIFFERENTIATION
ACHIEVING ON-SHELF DIFFERENTIATION IN ADVANCE Arco Berkenbosch, vice president of innovation and development, Smurfit Kappa, explores the science behind shelf impact with Tim Sykes and shares insights from the whitepaper ‘Marketing on the shelf - exactly how in control are you?’ commissioned by Smurfit Kappa. He also discusses the forwardthinking ShelfSmart service, designed to reveal how packaging will perform on-shelf before it is made.
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IM SYKES: Smurfit Kappa has been something of a pioneer in putting the science into shelf impact with the introduction of ShelfSmart. What technologies are involved in helping customers fine-tune their packaging?
RCO BERKENBOSCH: Having the right combination of data, insights and tools helps create the optimal packaging solution. That’s why we have a suite of ‘Smart’ services, SupplySmart, eSmart and ShelfSmart, to deliver innovative, efficient
and eye-catching packaging solutions. ShelfSmart is designed to give your packaging more selling power. Each Experience Centre is fully equipped with a Shelf Viewer tool which has an interactive touch-screen database of nearly 100,000 images from a variety of actual retail shelves around the globe. From these insights and customer understanding, we design new solutions and use pioneering technologies like the Store Visualiser to enable customers to see what their packaging will look like in store. Most importantly, we conduct research with shoppers to learn which performs best across a number of areas – brand impact, visibility and sales growth to name a few.
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DIFFERENTIATION
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Do you aggregate the conclusions of trials at these centres? Do certain best practice do/don’t rules start to emerge?
The data and research collected through our Experience Centres, databases and our own analysis gives our customers greater confidence that they will see a return on their investment. With insights from over 50,000 shoppers, we can be very confident that we know what will work. For example, many companies will apply primary packaging visual designs to the outer case but we know that shelf-ready packaging needs to follow different rules as people scan for cues in search of their preferred brands or indeed specific product features.
Thirdly, shelf-ready packaging has the potential to balance the demands of brand, retail marketing and logistics by marketing products in store and promoting a brand’s message. Products that stand out on the shelf can also boost sales – the shelf-ready packaging that we developed for a leading food company generated a sales increase of eight per cent. Meanwhile, there is less space in store. Retailers are increasing the amount of shelf-space they give to their own-brand products, limiting the space left for branded goods. The products that do have shelf-space are therefore under even more pressure to stand out. Finally, brands and products need to be easily identifiable to encourage repeat purchase. As consumers spend less time in store, they are more likely to pick up products that they can recognise instantaneously. Shelf-ready packaging adds another layer of recognition for branded products.
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Can you elaborate on the key points extrapolated from the Smurfit Kappa white paper?
There are five main points I’d like to highlight. First, timing is key, as shoppers are spending less time in store. For brands, this means that in-store packaging needs to be instantly eye-catching and differentiate itself from the competition. With insightful shelf-ready packaging, brands can have an increasing impact on how their products are displayed. One of the biggest shifts we have seen over the last few years is that consumers are spending less time in shops, putting more pressure on brands to immediately stand out in store. An average time of 12 seconds spent searching and selecting each item means that packaging that stands out on the shelf is vital for converting sales. Secondly, brands need to explore new ways of attracting shoppers’ attention and influencing their purchasing decisions with shelf-ready packaging. The changing face of retail means that consumers are being presented with more choice than ever before. But despite being surrounded with multi-channel marketing from numerous brands, most purchasing decisions are still made in store. This means that eye-catching packaging has the potential to make a real difference. In fact, research we carried out in partnership with EyeSee revealed that 86 per cent of shoppers see themselves as ‘switchers’ and are not wedded to any one product or brand when shopping.
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What are the lessons learned from Smurfit Kappa’s experience with customers?
A leading food company had recently launched a new product to the market. It was highly innovative but was not selling as well as expected. Using ShelfSmart, we identified that, as most of the time and development had gone into designing the primary packaging, the product appeared small on the shelf and customers were having difficulty finding it. We designed two on-shelf options and the solutions delivered increased visibility by 31 per cent and 44 per cent respectively.
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Do you think the increase in online shopping is changing the way consumers look at and perceive items on retail shelves? Is there evidence that it is changing packaging design strategies?
It’s all about an omni-channel approach, so having an aligned brand experience across every online and offline channel is key. The package should deliver a fit-for-purpose brand experience at every touch-point, for example, whether you are seeing the product on the shelf in a large retailer, on display in a petrol station or receiving an online order which you will unpack at home. The increase in online sales pushes the demand for alignment and highlights the opportunity to make packaging an integrated marketing tool.
EUROPEAN BIOPLASTICS REVIEW The 12th European Bioplastics Conference, which took place on 28-29 November 2017 in Berlin, was an opportunity to take stock of the extent and direction of growth and innovation in a segment that looks to have an increasingly prominent role in packaging. Packaging Europe’s Tim Sykes was among the 330 delegates seeking to map the future of bioplastics.
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erhaps the first take-home from the this year’s EUBP Conference is that geographically Europe and sectorially packaging are at the epicentre of bioplastics market growth at the moment. The packaging market accounts for (and is set to retain) 58 per cent of bioplastic production. Meanwhile, Europe is projected to increase its share of global production from 18 to 25 per cent
in the coming five years. Since world production is predicted to increase by 20 per cent during the same period, this reflects a huge increase in European capacity – a fact underlined by the several manufacturers present in Berlin who announced plans to commence or scale up production. Europe’s leading role in driving global growth can be attributed to proactive regulatory efforts. As Jean-Marc Nony of SPhere remarked, respective regulations in France, Italy and Spain have helped build up infrastructure across southern Europe, while the EU’s Circular Economy package is now laying the foundations for favourable market demand Europe-wide. As François de Bie, chairman of EUBP, remarked: “Europe is a world leader in developing and commercialising innovative biopolymers. The commitment of the European Commission to the transition to a circular economy and the stronger political support for the bioeconomy on the whole are crucial signals and are further accelerating the growth momentum of the bioplastics industry in Europe.”
Brand watersheds Amid a challenging climate for plastics, with packaging waste and ocean plastics prominent in consumers’ minds, it’s clear that there’s a market pull as well as a legislative push. Presentations by leading brand owners and retailers emphasised the deliberation and substantive steps being made by consumerfacing businesses on sustainability approaches – with bioplastics prominently on the agenda. Sandeep Kulkarni set out PepsiCo’s strategy, which takes its cues from the UN Sustainable Development goals and Paris Climate Agreement. Whereas the PepsiCo focus until the year 2015 had been on boosting internal environmental performance by improving production efficiencies, the October 2016 ‘Perfor| 28 | Packaging Europe
BIOPLASTICS
mance with Purpose’ review has shifted the emphasis onto total environmental footprints of its products. PepsiCo has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent between 2015 and 2030, and to work towards 100 per cent recyclable, compostable or biodegradable packaging by 2025. The adoption of bioplastics is therefore an acknowledged key component of its longterm sustainable packaging strategy. Meanwhile, Françoise Poulat of Danone and Jean-François Briois of Nestlé Waters introduced the NaturALL Bottle Alliance – an unprecedented initiative in which the world’s number one and two bottled water companies are working together to create a next-generation bio-based PET bottle. The project expects to achieve industrial scale PET resin production featuring 75 per cent bio-based feedstocks by 2020, rising to 95 per cent by 2022. The initiative is fully LCA audited and is scrupulously avoiding diverting resources from food production, therefore planning to use second generation ligno-cellulosic biomass such as used cartonboard and sawdust. Representing the retailer’s perspective, Kevin Vyse outlined Marks and Spencer’s ambitious Plan A 2025, the most revolutionary component of which is the One Polymer Roadmap – committing the business to move to use of a single plastic across all its private label packaging for simpler recycling. While a lot of work is yet to be done on identifying a polymer that ticks enough boxes across rigid and flexible packaging formats and diverse product categories, Mr Vyse hinted at a likelihood that the selected plastic would be bio-based. Could this be a watershed moment? Bearing in mind the pioneering record of M&S – who have previously, for instance, set the policy agenda with the introduction of carrier bag charges – there’s a distinct possibility that other retailers will follow this lead, and perhaps M&S will again anticipate the regulation.
Expanding possibilities The third important driver of the bioplastics market is innovation, in full evidence at the EUBP conference both at the primary research and the product development levels. A biopolymer we in the packaging industry probably need to start getting excited about is polyethylene furanoate, or PEF. PEF is a new, 100 per cent biobased polymer whose properties are very similar to PET and recyclable within
the PET stream. However, aside from its renewable credentials, PEF performs better than PET, offering remarkable shelf-life and downgauging opportunities in rigid and flexible (BOPEF) applications. As a carbonated soft drink bottle PEF has demonstrated six times better CO2 barriers and ten times better O2 barriers. In view of the ease with which PEF can be introduced into existing PET processing and converting infrastructure, capacity is the primary challenge. BASF and Avantium’s joint venture Synvina is hurrying to meet expected demand, with efforts presently at pilot plant scale and product reaching the market by 2020. Meanwhile, Corbion has been developing a biocatalytic process to produce renewable FDCA as an alternative to terephthalic acid, as a monomer that can be polymerised into PEF. Meanwhile, much discussion centred on the potential for biopolymers in flexible packaging – the most challenging material for our current recycling infrastructures due to the variety and complexity of substrates used. Biodegradable flexibles are a potential solution to this problem, with the added benefit that they may present an opportunity to divert food waste away from landfill (much as PLA coffee pods facilitate composting of packaging and grains). As such, developments such as biodegradable functional coatings (such as Fraunhofer ISC’s bioORMOCER®) and bio-based multi-layer barrier films (presented by Kuraray EVAL’s Stefan Corbus) may prove another significant pathway to sustainability. Impressive material innovations abound across bioplastics. One highlighted at the conference by Marie-Hélène Gramatikoff, CEO of Lactips, is a water soluble, biodegradable thermoplastic made from milk protein. A key application for this is the dissolvable caseine pellets used for dishwasher detergents. This represents an alternative to soluble PVA and is claimed to be the quickest biodegradable plastic in the world. Finally, a mention ought to go to ICEE Containers’ fold-flat boxes – a solution for refrigerated products such as fresh foods and pharmaceuticals, using BASF’s ecovio® plant-based biofoam. ICEE has patented a moulded, living hinge in the substrate, which enables economical flat storage and transportation of this reusable, compostable format. Thanks to a confluence of regulatory pressure, consumer demand, growing capacity and fast-moving R&D, we can be certain that bioplastics will be an ever more prominent element on the European packaging landscape. Needless to say, the 2019 EUBP Conference will be one of the key dates in the year’s diary. Packaging Europe | 29 |
ADF/PCD PARIS
ADF&PCD EVENT COUNTS DOWN TO NEXT EDITION The countdown has begun for the 12th edition of ADF and 14th edition of PCD. This year is again a turning point because the upcoming ADF&PCD Paris will be held in a new, more spacious, highly functional area at the Porte de Versailles, Hall 7, on 31 January - 1 February 2018. Christelle Anya, event director, takes time out of her busy preparations to talk about this key show for the aerosol and the perfume/cosmetics markets.
How is the 2018 edition of ADF&PCD PARIS shaping up? Everything is shaping up extremely well. Once again, the event will be full. 478 exhibitors have confirmed their attendance, including 129 newcomers, including 5 Sept Etiquettes, Arconvert, CM Smart Connect, DB Technique, Glass Surface Technology, Singulus, and Toly. All these new companies are aiming for growth, and some of them have chosen ADF&PCD to preview their innovations.
After all these years refining the event, are there any new developments? The format of the plenary conferences is changing this year. Our team has worked hard, conducting market research, meeting brands and industries, to understand their challenges and incorporate them into a high-level conference programme. The round table discussions will address global trends in Europe and the world, customer relations and regulations, and, of course, sustainable development and innovation, leading topics at ADF&PCD. A series of fascinating subjects will thus be proposed this year to attendees during these two days in the form of panel discussions where brands, design agencies and experts will come to describe their vision and stance. Furthermore, you will discover new events at the heart of the exhibition, like the Accelerator Zone specifically dedicated to the start-ups selected on the strength of their innovations in terms of materials and/or substances, etc. These young companies have addressed environmental and/or economic issues, inter alia. Or the Innovation & Technology Theatre, a conference area at the heart of the event, open to all, where exhibitors will showcase their new products in an interactive manner. In 2016, Easyfairs bought the Pentawards to round off its global packaging event portfolio. As this event is now a component part of our group, we have set aside a dedicated area at ADF&PCD PARIS 2018 for the Pentawards; they are a permanent exhibition that travels around the world to present the prize winners and thus the most surprising, innovative packaging in the world. The event will also be equipped with NFC+ technology!
Our exhibitors and visitors innovate, and so do we! All the attendees will thus be equipped with smart badges to collect digital information at exhibitor stands and receive a summary of their visit!
Could you tell us about the ADF&PCD AWARDS given at ADF&PCD? It is true that they are another one of the event highlights. Every year, a few weeks before the event, the numerous products in competition are assessed according to the various criteria pertaining to their category by the members of the ADF and PCD Juries. These two days are packed with exchanges and debates; it is always a wonderful, very friendly moment, and a means to highlight progress in the industry and reward the teams that worked on these projects! The award-winning products will be announced at the official ceremony – at the event - on 31 January for ADF at 16:45, and 1 February for PCD at 14:00, in their respective conference halls. ADF&PCD 2018 a genuine platform for the industry, looks forward to welcoming you at the first, leading packaging event of the year. Visit: www.aerosol-forum.com and www.pcd-congress.com
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PROSWEETS
SWEET SOLUTIONS ProSweets Cologne, taking place on 28-31 January, is a specialised exhibition for the confectionery and snacks industry, covering ingredients, packing solutions and production technologies. Packaging Europe spoke to Dietmar Eiden, vice president trade fair management Koelnmesse GmbH, to find out about the latest trends and highlights from the show. What are the most significant trends in the European confectionery market today?
What highlights do you most anticipate at ProSweets Cologne 2018?
he overall trend is the interest of consumers in more healthy sweets and snacks. The industry reacts by introducing new products with functional ingredients, less or no sugar, reduced fat and other health related issues as lactose-free. Another trend that influences the development of new products is sustainability. It is not only reflected by organic or traceable ingredients but also by packaging materials that are environmental friendly and enhance the carbon food print of the products. A decisive factor for consumers is also the look and mouth feel of a product. Softness and crunchiness, colouring and freshness of a product have to stay stable within the package even after opening.
The coming ProSweets Cologne will underline the significance of the packaging and technology section. Among others, together with the Fraunhofer Institute and designers, Koelnmesse is organising the “Function meets Design” special event. Acknowledged experts will also be addressing various themes from the packaging section in the lecture programme of the Speakers Corner. Experts from various organizations and companies will for instance highlight new technologies. Also the adjacent ISM (the world’s largest fair for sweets & snacks) offers lots of interesting insights into the state of affairs if it comes to packaging. For instance, the “ISM Packaging Award powered by ProSweets Cologne” will be conferred again.
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How are these trends giving rise to new demands for packaging technology and materials? Packing plays a decisive role in the production process of sweets and snacks. The freshness and quality aspects of the in some cases sensitive products have to be integrated into the packing concept as well as new conception of sustainability and carbon food print. Above that the trend towards more “To Go”-products cause packages that can be re-sealed. Sustainability is one of the major trends in the food industry and does of course also comprise packaging. Materials are under scrutiny as well as the packaging processes. Lighter materials, recycling, resource efficiency are central issues. Packaging Europe | 33 |
IPACK-IMA IPACK-IMA RETURNS WITH NEW VISION Speaking at interpack last May, Ipack-Ima chairman predicted that the 2018 edition would mark a ‘major turning point for the show’.
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ollowing the acquisition of the event’s management company by UCIMA (Italian Automatic Packaging Machinery Manufacturers’ Association) and Fiera Milano, the event’s strategies have been redefined with the aim of further expanding its international scope,” he said. “This will make the exhibition a key appointment for industry professionals keen to discover the latest technological innovations, the highest performing materials and cutting-edge logistics solutions.” Through the support of the leading Italian packaging machinery manufacturers affiliated to Ucima and the show’s longstanding exhibitors, a new exhibition space layout has been organised according to target markets. Each hall will host exhibiting companies organised into key industries centred around eight business communities. The major cross-cutting themes of anti-counterfeiting, e-commerce, sustainability and Industry 4.0 have been singled out to characterise both the exhibited products and the educational and conference topics at Ipack-Ima 2018. Innovative materials will also take centre stage in a new exhibition section entitled IPACK-MAT. Organised in collaboration with Material ConneXion Italia, it will be entirely devoted to innovative materials solutions including raw materials, semi-finished products and components for high value-added products and packaging and innovative containers. It will serve as a melting pot of ideas and creative inspirations for strategic corporate areas from R&D to Marketing. IPACK-MAT will collaborate with PLAST-MAT and PRINT-MAT, the analogous satellite events of the shows PLAST and PRINT4ALL. Another major feature of IPACK-IMA 2018 is its participation in The Innovation Alliance.
Upturn in domestic demand The industry looks ahead to the 2018 edition on the backdrop of encouraging market conditions, according to the latest findings of the Ipack-Ima Monitor. The first-half 2017 figures for the Italian processing and packaging industry revealed higher-than-expected domestic revenues driven by government incentives on the purchase of capital goods. The trend was expected to continue in the second half of the year as exports also pick up. The main risks and threats perceived by companies include increased competition, commodity prices, taxation and labour and service costs. Breaking down the trends according to types of machines or materials produced by the companies, the process machines sector saw a discrepancy between forecasts and actual data (52 per cent of companies posted export growth and 48.6 per cent growth in total turnover), prompting them to revise down their growth expectations for the current year: 69.7 per cent of companies expect to post overall turnover growth, while 71.4 per cent are anticipating growth in export turnover. By contrast, a strong correspondence between forecast and actual results was observed in the other capital goods segment consisting of packaging machinery manufacturers. Growth expectations in the second half of the year are intensifying, with 78 per cent of companies anticipating an increase in export sales (compared to 63 per cent
in the first half) and 83 per cent expecting growth in total revenues (72 per cent in the first half). The share of companies predicting strong turnover growth (>10 per cent) has also increased. As in the case of packaging machinery, the second-half projections made by packaging materials producers are similar to the final results reported in the first half, consisting in both cases of essentially stable growth. The optimistic forecasts made by the component producers in 2016 were confirmed, with 70.5 per cent of companies posting export turnover growth and significantly higher-than-expected domestic sales. A large majority of sector companies believe that the second half of the year will follow the same positive trend as the first half of 2017. The survey also assessed the perceived risks to business profitability reported by companies in the sample. While the severity of perceived risk varies between the different production segments, the main threats include an escalation of the competitive climate due to greater aggressiveness of competitors (25.6 per cent of respondents compared to 20 per cent in the previous half year), macroeconomic factors that affect sales in various ways (8.9 per cent compared to 12 per cent), rising raw materials and energy prices (20 per cent compared to 25 per cent), the costs of services (12 per cent) and labour (13 per cent, perception stable) and adverse changes in taxation (12 per cent in line with the sentiment in the previous half-year period). Threats that directly impact on the financial management of companies, such as access to credit and the relevant costs, appear less significant and were reported by just 6 per cent of respondents. The Ipack-Ima Monitor therefore reveals a general climate of confidence that is reflected in trade fair participation. Six months before the exhibition is due to begin, more than 800 companies had confirmed that they will be taking part and are preparing to present their latest innovations at the show. Meanwhile, more than 150,000 visitors are expected at Fiera Milano during the five days in which the five shows will be held.Companies in the industry have been responding enthusiastically to these new characteristics. Ipack-Ima takes place at Fiera Milano on 29 May – 1 June.
Packaging Europe | 35 |
THE COUNTDOWN TO FMD With just one year left until the Falsified Medicines Directive comes into effect, Bart Vansteenkiste (Global Life Sciences Sector business development manager, Domino Printing Sciences) assesses the industry’s readiness and the work still to be done.
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ur market insight indicates that despite a small minority of businesses still disregarding the regulation, approximately 65 per cent of the affected production lines of big pharma companies are well on their way to meet the 9 February 2019 deadline. The remaining 35 per cent of businesses have already placed orders for serialisation software solutions and accompanying code printing systems, with the average time for installation and implementation onto production lines being up to six months. We have noticed that the smaller companies have been slower to respond to the regulation and some have not even begun implementing the required changes. Failure to meet the requirements stipulated by the directive within the specified deadlines could result in companies no longer being able to
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sell their products in the EU market. Although there are no penalties for businesses that fail to meet the regulation, their portfolio which needs to comply with FMD is inevitably compromised. As a result, some of the smaller companies are now selling off their FMD product ranges to other companies that are serialisation ready. This is creating new opportunities for businesses that focus on serialised manufacturing. Another trend appearing in the market is that a number of companies are also implementing aggregation, despite this not being a requirement of FMD. Aggregation is predominantly being pushed by supply chains and the use of aggregated codes represents a convenient alternative to opening group packages – such as bundles or wrapped pallets – and scanning all the individual packages one by one which can result in a more expensive and much longer process. For these reasons, aggregation is also a solution worth considering, as long as the wholesaler can guarantee the veracity of all unique identifiers. An important step that each manufacturer will need to adopt is the on-boarding procedure with the European Medicines Verification Organisation (EMVO) and the National Medicines Verification Organisation (NMVO) to access the European Medicines Verification System (EMVS) hub. Manufacturers will have to upload every code that allows for the checking of each pack and its serial number at the point of dispensation. As of today, we understand that merely 15 per cent of manufacturers have registered with these organisations. What also needs to be taken into account is that there are still national systems (NMVSs) that need to be set up and made accessible by 9 February 2019, to ensure a comprehensive product verification network is up and running. Despite the fact that the EMVS system is already in place today, there are only a handful of EU member states where the local stakeholders have come to an agreement on their NMVS that will connect to the EU hub. Germany, The Netherlands, Scandinavia, the UK and Ireland are ready today, while most of the other countries are making good progress. However, there are still a few Eastern European member states that are behind schedule and unlikely to be FMDcompliant by next February. Nonetheless, whether Europe will be ready for a safe supply of medicines in 2019 will not depend solely on manufacturers having serialisation capability on their production lines and having signed up to the EMVS. The public and hospital pharmacies will also need to be able to scan and verify the authenticity of the medicines at the other end of the EMVS system. Public pharmacies will need to invest in new CCD scanners capable not only of reading linear barcodes, but also 2D codes. On the other hand, hospital pharmacies are part of a complete internal logistics system that will need to be upgraded to be able to scan and register the item serial numbers. One thing is for sure, there is still a lot of work to do.
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LEVERAGING SERIALISATION Steve Wood, CEO of Covectra Inc, sets out his vision of an industry that harnesses serialisation to deliver better supply chain efficiency and patient outcomes.
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the global pharmaceutical industry implements its serialisation to meet governmental regulatory requirements, other opportunities exist for pharma companies to realise other business benefits. The main driver for serialisation is to provide greater integrity to the supply chain, but other meaningful business benefits can be obtained from serialisation. In addition to tightening up the supply chain and channels of trade, serialisation can provide great efficiencies for processing shipments, and knowing what specific packages are included in shipments down to the lowest saleable unit. Tracking information can be updated continuously and provided to brand owners and supply chain partners on dashboards or on mobile applications. These developments in enhanced Track & Trace can be employed to more quickly and accurately detect diversion of product to unauthorised regions. To combat counterfeiting, new authentication technologies now exist for linking serial numbers to security features that are unique to each package in order to detect possible replication of serial numbers by counterfeiters. Despite increases in the quality of pharmaceutical manufacturing, there will periodically be a need for recalls of product. Serialisation can be used to provide for more selective identification and notification of product to be recalled, and can also be used to more quickly investigate the causes for the manufacturing problem. Expired product is now returned for credits in accordance with supplier contracts, but in some cases, it is difficult to accurately associate the selling prices for specific product. Interfacing serial numbers with ERP systems can provide accurate pricing and shipping information for specific products. Serialisation can also help to verify that the goods being returned are authentic. Statistics on medication adherence have revealed that on average only 50 per cent of the medications are not taken as prescribed, thus severely limiting the therapeutic effect of the drug. Applications employing serial numbers can be used to establish a means for patients’ recording that a medication has been taken, and if not, the prescribing physician or designated care giver can intervene. Adherence during clinical trials is very important to ensure the entirety of the drug trial. Patients enrolled in the trial can be provided with an easy to use mobile application that is programmed to remind patients when the drug
should be taken, and data can be collected to determine overall adherence of all patients. Given the cost of drug trials, brand owners can use this methodology to ensure that patients are adherent. To enhance the overall experience and outcomes of a patient, communications programs can be developed that require patients to register for product promotion programs such as coupons. Webinars can be made available in exchange for patients providing serial numbers of their current prescription. Brand owners can benefit from this direct communications channel with patients given the amount of unfiltered information that can be obtained. More attention is now being given to the concept of ‘The Connected Enterprise’. In the pharma industry, great benefit can be obtained by linking units of an organisation, including manufacturing, packaging, supply chain, finance, and sales/marketing. A serial number can be used as the critical enabling technology so that the life of a product can provide information such as when it was made, raw materials used, when and where is what packaged, when and how it was shipped, at what price, and to what region. Additionally, with end user patient communications programs, timely and accurate marketing data can be obtained directly rather than needing to purchase this data from market research companies. Now that much of the pharma industry is well on its way of implementing serialisation of its packaging lines, a return on investment can be obtained by developing business benefit programs using these same serial numbers that are being printed on packages to comply with regulatory requirements. Advances in technology have certainly increased the efficiencies of today’s businesses, but too many organisational units have become increasingly isolated in silos, limiting opportunities for cross-collaboration and timely information from customers, suppliers and distribution partners. Companies are encouraged to hold meetings with cross-functional groups within an organisation to stimulate thought and discussion about these possible benefits. Serialisation can be a highly effective solution for facilitating the transfer of timely and comprehensive information throughout the many functional units of an enterprise, its market, and external partners, most importantly, its customers. Packaging Europe | 37 |
THE CMO POINT OF VIEW As a leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation, Recipharm has had to grapple with the demands of serialisation both in terms of its internal needs and those of its customers and their supply chains. Erik Haeffler, VP of manufacturing services and head of CSR, shares Recipharm’s experience.
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e recognised the impact of the EU FMD quite early. Pre-studies started around 2013, and the project kicked off in 2014. It’s worth bearing in mind that other markets prior to the new regulations have required full or partial serialisation. For example, we have special labels for France already, and regulations in Italy have been around for a while. New Chinese requirements came into the picture in 2015. We therefore had experience, if not in serialisation, then in special marking of packs. So we have been ahead in that sense, but the important thing is that as a corporation we decided early to set up a comprehensive project to cover all our operations and to meet regulatory requirements. In terms of where we are today, we are on track to meet the deadline, we have ordered and installed equipment and renovated our software, so I do not foresee any reason that we will have problems. I think the main challenge we will have now is to get all of our customers on board. We see a lot of variation in their preparedness, whether they are ahead of the expected timescale or behind and need to catch up. That’s something we will learn and understand more during 2018. It is also about simple things, such as having to change your artwork on packaging material in order to fit the code on the pack. This is not technically complicated, but internally we are working with around 2500-3000 different packs. So big volumes – and that requires time.
Technological solutions As a CDMO we are managing somewhere between 150 and 200 customers across multiple geographies with different regulatory requirements. Obviously, the US and Europe are the two biggest ones, and the time schedule is tight. We recognised early that this would be very difficult unless we pressed ahead with | 38 | Packaging Europe
our preparations to deliver solutions for all of our customers. We concluded that we needed to develop a standard solution, which is compliant, simple and flexible enough to use it across our entire customer base. We believe we have this now. What we are offering to customers through our standard solutions does not include everything that a customer may want to have, but it meets all regulatory requirements and can be tailored to meet individual requirements. European legislation requires a 3D matrix code, human readable text, a tamper evidence label and extensive data management requirements. We are fully compliant with that. For the US we also have to deal with aggregation of cartons. If customers would like to have additional features, such as different types of labels, tamper evident sealing with logos, full aggregation, those will be offered separately. In terms of our technical solution we have selected standard pieces of equipment and are working with Marchesini for our packaging machines, SEA Vision for the level 3 system and in terms of data management we are working with Tracelink for our level 4 requirements. This is the same across all of Recipharm, which includes approximately 75 to 80 packaging lines stretching over 20 sites. With regard to the hardware, the packaging machines, they do look different depending on packs, but in general it’s a standardised type of equipment.
Beyond compliance There are great opportunities beyond serialisation once we have fully implemented our solution and we can start to explore this area more. We only have to look at how other industries manage similar kinds of systems in order to get a better overview of what is possible and then implement measures to give us greater control over the supply chain. I expect we will find numerous possibilities
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to improve the way the industry is operating. For us as a CDMO it will be a good opportunity to work with our customers to increase visibility of the machine-tomachine supply chain and start to drive further efficiencies. Regarding broader anti-counterfeiting objectives, I think the new regulations have been a bit of an eye opener for the industry. Generally speaking, we are less developed than other industries. Of course, big pharma companies with high price products have previously developed more advanced models for verifying the integrity of their products as it was in their interest to do so. As we move forward, it is likely we will see more innovation in this area. For example, at the moment at Recipharm we are primarily building our offering based on our customers’ wish lists. Once the appropriate solutions are in place we can begin to look beyond this. As for building innovative new areas of packaging functionality from connectivity, we’ve seen some ideas from our customers, particularly when it comes to dosing, and we have a couple of ongoing projects where we are working on such solutions. It’s also likely there will be further possibilities linked to the Track & Trace element of serialisation, which is interesting for the future. For example, thinking again about patient adherence, hopefully these models could help us to include more information in packs. We have also previously had discussion about RFID for packaging. This is not really an active discussion at the moment. However, depending on how much we are able to get out of the systems we are implementing, we will potentially be able to move this forward. When it comes to smart and interactive packaging, I think the product owners are likely to focus on patient adherence. However, this could be an issue for the industry as it can reduce the efficacy of treatments, create more waste and drive up costs. It’s something that I think will come into focus in 2018.
Erik Haeffler, VP of manufacturing services and head of CSR Packaging Europe | 39 |
SERIALISATION AS DRIVER OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION The costs of serialisation are significant – which is why many businesses are taking a keen interest in ways to spin this into a healthy ROI. Tim Sykes spoke to Tiziano Petrucciani, quality & technical development director at Molteni Farmaceutici, the renowned Italian specialist in pharma R&D and production, about the company’s collaboration with Rockwell Automation, using serialisation as a springboard for a profound modernisation of its manufacturing processes.
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ur old friend Directive 2011/62/EU and the related Delegated Acts require manufacturers of medicinal products to develop the capacity to apply to each package, verify and transmit, a unique identifier, which must be printed both in clear form and a data matrix code. In addition, pharmaceutical companies that are marketing authorisation holders are mandated to send serialisation data from their products to a European Hub. An undertaking of this kind involves a considerable organisational, economic and cultural effort for companies, according to Tiziano Petrucciani. “Organisational, because the complexity of this project requires, above all the involvement of top management and the establishment of a multidisciplinary team where the roles must be well defined and in which there are skills in IT, manufacturing, pharmaceutical engineering, quality, regulatory areas and in the legal area,” he remarked. “Economic effort, because the company has to bear the costs for the creation of a complex IT and technological infrastructure able to support this type of process that includes, among other things, a constant data exchange between machines, production lines and software platform of the site | 40 | Packaging Europe
that manages the production lines, and also between the site of the AIC Holder and the European Hub. And finally, also a cultural effort, just because every technological improvement must always be accompanied by the introduction of new skills and knowledge.” In considering this formidable task, Molteni concluded that it faced a choice between two possible solutions. The first was a stand-alone software system that would simply manage the serialisation process. The second would be to introduce a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) platform that not only guaranteed the correct implementation of the serialisation management process, but that could also be the starting point for a process of technological innovation, allowing a quality leap in manufacturing systems, in terms of quality and production efficiency. “Our company decided to orientate itself to the second option and selected, for this purpose, Rockwell Automation as a partner able to support such a complex and ambitious project,” revealed Mr Petrucciani. “Rockwell was able to provide an MES product on which to realise a modular, flexible, scalable
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and configurable solution, able to incorporate the variability of European and extra-European regulations and to support the implementation of possible future technological achievements.”
Holistic solution According to Alessandro Stroscio – MES functional consultant, system & solution business life sciences, Rockwell Automation – the basic requirements of such a solution are data managements, scalability and integration: “A solution must be flexible with an efficient architecture, whose interfaces must be separated in terms of technology and data processing. It also has to guarantee uniqueness and ownership of the data throughout the flow of information between all the levels from shop-floor to the external supply chain and supranational repositories. Furthermore, in the life-cycle of a serialisation product you might need to shift from a pilot line to management of multiple lines and possibly to deploy the solution to several production sites. You may have to migrate to new technologies, deal with new regulations and cover new markets. Finally, the customer needs to realise its investment by integrating the product successfully on the shop-floor. So we need to manage the diversity of technology and product formats at a line level, also with scope for new serialisation technologies to be added.” To meet these needs, Rockwell developed a holistic serialisation solution: a modular architecture consisting of several components working together, built on the platform of our off-the-shelf PharmaSuite with all the extended functionalities needed to cater to the specific requirements of serialisation. “PharmaSuite provides a complete solution to centrally model all the different packaging lines installed on a production site, manage master data and serialisation data (such as materials, recipes, packaging orders and, of course, serial numbers) and to handle all the serialisation activities to be performed at runtime on the shop-floor,” said Mr Stroscio. “The set of components includes both interface with production devices, and communication with external systems like ERPs, Serials Management Systems, EPCIS-certified repositories and central authority repositories (such as a HUB) identifying an architecture that provides interoperability across all the five levels of the ISA-S95 model. A key principle for us is that we integrate devices with open protocols and standard
communication techniques that do not force customers to buy a black box and a closed system. In the future RA will be adopting the Open-SCS protocols, which will guarantee even more interoperability across different technologies and levels.”
Opportunity for innovative growth In implementing this solution, Molteni sought to go beyond regulatory compliance and use its new connectivity as a spur for technological development – allowing an efficient data exchange, both within the manufacturing site and also outside, including with databases of CMO or other MAH, or with regulatory agencies. “This aspect will make it possible to achieve continuous improvements in company flows and, in particular processes with GMP impact,” Mr Petrucciani stated. “The progressive interfacing of the production system will allow us to constantly monitor its efficiency and effectiveness and to have a robust, paperless documentation available, in order to support the conformity of the manufacturing process. Moreover, we have a vision of how to leverage wider benefits in the future, such as using PharmaSuite to supervise and monitor efficiency of our packaging lines, optimising maintenance and quality control.” This is indeed the core message of Rockwell’s approach to serialisation. “Going beyond compliance with serialisation regulations, thanks to shared data management and leveraging cloud repositories brings opportunities to optimise a business,” Mr Stroscio reflected. “As part of this there is an opportunity to create new marketing and value-added products for the end user, who can make data-driven decisions. All the stakeholders throughout the supply chain can leverage this real-time information.” While regulation may be the initial driver, there are significant business benefits associated with supply chain optimisation. “You can have complete supply chain traceability, increased security and efficiency, and notifications directly to the customer,” Mr Stroscio continued. “In terms of optimisation, you can achieve improved forecasting, optimised inventory, more accurate business planning. Our customers are using serialisation as a driver of digital transformation: business optimisation based on data management.” Packaging Europe | 41 |
SERIALISATION
INSIGHTS FROM A PROJECT MANAGER Crest Solutions partners with pharma companies in Ireland, the UK, Benelux and Scandinavia to deliver and support solutions for Serialisation and Aggregation from Antares Vision. One such partnership is with a manufacturing facility in Ireland. There a state of the art manufacturing, filling and packaging operation produces close to 800 million units of product on an annual basis. Their serialisation journey began four years ago with compliance for China and Korea. Most recently, compliance was achieved for the FMD. The Project Manager from this site has shared key takeaways based on his experience. 1. Educate yourself
5. Planning and people
ince the first regulations emerged four to five years ago, multiple sources of knowledge and expertise have emerged. Audit these carefully and leverage what the market has learned to date to inform yourself of exactly what is required for your site and the best way to achieve it.
Following approval, draw up a detailed project plan and ensure all functional groups are included at each stage. People will be key to the success of your project and its delivery on time and within budget. Engage people early, let them know what is needed from them and communicate with them regularly to keep the project on track.
2. Vendor selection
6. Implementation
There are a number of key players in this space. Evaluate them carefully. Consider aspects such as: experience; expertise; support – focus here on the location, remote support is often not enough.
As each stage of the technology design progresses, stay in close contact with your vendors (software and automation may come from more than one vendor). Bear in mind any learnings from previous projects that you deem to be relevant. Test systems from your vendor as early as possible for potential weaknesses, even if these are demos rigs.
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3. Model From your research on market requirements and vendors, build a business case that covers how the regulation affects your site, your product SKUs, your budgets and your people.
4. Stakeholders Identify, early on, who are the key stakeholders in your project. Engage them early and be ready to educate and explain: what is involved; what is required of them and; the impact you imagine it will have on the business.
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7. Training Another key element in the success of this project will be in the embedding of the systems in your facility. Operators and technicians must understand why the systems are required and be given sufficient training to run the systems confidently.
8. Get started The FMD deadline is fast approaching and this project will take longer than you expect. Vendors have limited bandwidth so mitigate any constraints that you can now and make a move on initiating your project.
STANDING-UP TO MARKET PRESSURES Stand-up pouches are one of the fastest growing pack types, and now perceived by many consumers as a premium format. In 2014, Schönwald Consulting estimated that in the year 2018 in Europe almost 45 billion stand-up pouches would be used... This mark had already been exceeded in 2017. According to Schönwald’s latest study (‘The Market for Stand-Up Pouches in Western, Central and Eastern Europe 2017 to 2020 – Consumption, Spouts, Sales and Outlook’) by 2017, 45.7 billion stand-up pouches were used Europe-wide – almost one billion more than forecast, and representing 17-fold growth in the European market since the beginning of its rise in the mid-1990s. Packaging Europe spoke to some of the key players in the sector to find out about the core drivers of innovation and how they are addressing challenges in the field.
Trends pushing innovation
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food and beverage, parents are seeking mess-free, fast, yet healthy ways to feed their children, according to Johannes Braun, segment marketing manager, Amcor. “This especially has driven the demand for convenient, healthy, on-the-go products for children, such as fruit puree and dairy based drinks in spouted pouches.” In the category of home and personal care, he adds, “pouches are having an increasing importance as re-fill packaging. Increasingly, the consumer buys the traditional rigid container or bottle with pump once and then buy re-fill product in stand-up-pouches.” He also highlights accelerated lifestyles (long working hours, lengthy commutes) and increase of one-person households are driving the demand for con-
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venience, individual portions and recloseable packaging. Amcor recently made a significant investment to expand its production capacity for stand-up pouches in Russia to serve the Eastern European Market, in particular for the fast growing markets of pet food and ready meals. Laurent Chantraine, market development manager, Jindal Films, points to portability, convenience (ease of opening & reclosing), shelf display (stand-up, stiffness) and differentiation (compared to vertical bags) as some of the key drivers pushing innovation in pouches. Pouches typically have a lower total carbon footprint then alternatives and its lighter weight delivers supply chain advantages for manufacturers. However, there is also growing pressure from consumers for pouches to be recyclable according to Paul Tatarka, market development manager, TOPAS advanced polymers.
POUCHES Shelf-presence As a clear example of differentiating on-shelf, snacks and nuts are moving from standard pillow bags to stand-up-pouches to gain better shelf presence. Amcor recently worked with a customer on a new Doypack for a brand of loose tea using its AmLite metal-free high barrier laminate. In order to be differentiated in the market, the idea was to switch from the quadropack structure the customer had been using to a Doypack with a transparent window, all without compromising barrier strength. In addition to a unique packaging shape for tea that would stand out in the Eastern European market, AmLite’s transparent solution now allows consumers to see the tea inside at points of purchase, to better judge product quality. In the home and personal care category, Amcor also realises on-shelf differentiation through providing a 3D-effect on transparent stand up pouches. It is achieved by printing a design on the front of the pack that’s registered to a graphics printed on the back-interior of the pack. When viewed on the shelf through the transparent front, the two designs create a 3D-like effect. Amcor continues to focus technical development on transparent high-barrier films for pouches.
Growing variety equals increased challenges On top of visual appearance to support promotion, the proliferation of SUP formats across numerous market segments is elevating the importance of having different barrier technologies to provide protection, and stiffness requirements for performance. Jindal Films has observed an increasing number of format (sizes, shapes), aspects (clear, white and metallised) and production methods (pre-made, horizontal and Vertical FFS) resulting in more complexity in the types of laminates being used. In response to these market demands, Jindal Films has developed PE and PP based film solutions with (e.g. metallisation) or without barrier to cater to the needs of the different segments. Laurent Chantraine, market development manager, shares the biggest challenge facing the SUP segment as, “the need to move towards mono-material structures, which is inherently difficult due to the processing methods in place and the large use of PET base laminates for easier processing (heat resistance).”
Reducing complexity
Jindal Films Bicor 50SUP490 is a high clarity stiff OPP film aimed at replacing thicker PE films and reduce the thickness of the sealant by >20 per cent in some dry food segments (e.g. confectionery) where SUP formats are still growing. It delivers better clarity, improves puncture resistance and stiffness over existing solutions, enabling clean tear propagation from a notch without resorting to laser scoring. A range of oriented PE films SealTOUGH XE400(clear) and XE447 (white) have also been developed for more demanding sealing requirements which also benefit from the ease of tear from a notch.
Exploring new structures and materials A study conducted by TOPAS Advanced Polymers reveals that discrete layers of cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) provide significant performance enhancements in three- and five-layer packaging film structures made of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). The findings were recently shared by Paul Tatarka, market development manager for TOPAS Advanced Polymers. Via design of experiments (DOE) methods, TOPAS researchers demonstrated that COC provides greater than expected toughness, strength, stiffness, and appearance (low haze) in multilayer packaging structures made of LLDPE. “We found that by splitting COC into at least two layers in five-layer structures, further significant property enhancements are possible without changing COC content,” explained Tatarka. He adds TOPAS COC ®polymers deliver winning tear properties, stiffness and strength, and a noticeable enhancement in sealing properties. Feldmuehle Uetersen GmbH has focused on launching a heat-sealable paper solution. The coated flexible packaging paper with a heat-sealable reverse side can be easily used on existing packaging lines and can be recycled in the waste paper cycle. This provides brand owners with a natural and recyclable material option, which can be used in form-, fill- and seal packing lines similar to plastic films. Available with a high white, glossy or matt surface, the product is suitable for high-quality printed packaging as well as for simple inner pouch solutions. “For applications which don’t require a barrier function from the material, our product offers an environmentally friendly alternative, made primarily from cellulose instead of plastics,” explains Stefan Eitze, Technical Marketing Manager at Feldmuehle. The material gets its sealing functionality during the paper production process with a water-based dispersion coating applied. It is re-pulpable in the waste paper recycling process, so that the raw materials can be reused.”
Reducing the complexity of the structures (moving from 3-ply to 2-ply) and driving slowly but steadily towards mono-material solutions (e.g. all PP laminates) is a strong focus for Jindal Films. The ability to enhance stiffness with biaxially oriented materials (BOPP, BOPE) compared to conventional cast or blow sealants (CPP, PE), allows the industry to still significantly reduce the packaging weight, especially in the field of SUP. “We are developing a range of products aimed at the pouch segment, delivering improved barrier, ease of opening (tear), lower cost and improved sustainability (reduced total thickness of laminate) over current typical structure,” Laurent Chantraine shares. The range of BOPPE and BOPE films also address other market needs. “SUP formats are more subject to pressure, long dwell time and excessive heat in the sealing areas due to gusset folds in the seals and the common usage of zippers and fitments. This presents us with a challenge to redesign the laminates with thinner and more simple structures (2-ply) in our attempts to drive out cost.” Packaging Europe | 45 |
FORM-FILL-SEAL
FORMING THE FUTURE A recent study by Transparency Market Research (TMR) reveals that the global form-fill-seal machines market is estimated to grow at 5.7 per cent during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025 to reach a valuation of US$24 billion by 2025. Elisabeth Skoda discusses three key trends.
Automation
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artijn van de Mortel, product manager at GEA, foresees further integration of Industry 4.0 in FFS. “We will be able to gain even more knowledge from the machine to analyse and make improvements,” he tells Packaging Europe. “We will see automated or self-learning equipment, so if there is an error or flaw in the pack, the equipment will detect it itself and reset so it does not reoccur. Technical availability will improve, resulting in more uptime, creating a way that the equipment can continue to run even if it encounters issues.” The move towards flexibles has been accompanied by a drive to automate downstream packing operations, even at relatively low volumes. Rigid packaging is more likely to use robot pick-and-place with a gripper when being loaded into secondary packaging. “On the face of it, pouches would be ideally suited to vacuum end-effectors. But there are limitations,” observes Paul Wilkinson (commercial and information systems manager at Pacepacker Services). “Many vacuum systems will only grip a pouch on a flat side or face, and may not even achieve this if the contents are lumpy or irregular. Once the pack is gripped, it might be easy to place it flat inside a case, tray or crate, but challenges arise if you want your pouches vertical for transit.” For fresh produce, especially, holes in the film may make any vacuum contact impossible or difficult to achieve. Only pack-specific trials will highlight whether air creepage renders the use of vacuum end-effectors impossible, or whether this effect can be compensated for with different tooling or a more powerful vacuum. Often, an automated solution originally designed for one type of product in flexible packaging will lend itself to solving problems specific to other categories. For instance, Pacepacker’s Shingle Tray Loader (STL) was first developed for the birdseed industry, but has since been applied to human food. Flexible packs of loose or granular product will go ‘pear-shaped’ when held vertically for
packing into a retail tray, case or box. This in turn limits the number of packs that can be fitted into the tray. “The robotic STL addresses this challenge by forming the collation horizontally from an infeed conveyor, using gravity to maximise the number of bags or pouches, before swivelling the completed collation to the vertical and loading it through ‘bomb doors’ into the waiting tray, case or box,” Mr Wilkinson explains. “This approach has been used on lines packing products such as flour, but also wet noodles, where horizontal stacking might lead to lower layers of product being crushed and damaged.”
Premiumisation James Hosford, sales director at tna Europe, observes a trend towards premium bags for premium snacks. For an equipment manufacturer, the trend means technology needs to be designed to offer the highest level of flexibility when it comes to handling new materials, package sizes and varying line speeds. “The more flexible the packaging system, the less time is required to change production runs to accommodate different pack sizes or formats, resulting in minimum interruption to the production flow,” Mr Hosford remarks. “This includes no mechanical adjustments when changing product or film, quick former changes and a wide variety of jaw size configuration that enable full flexibility of bag size and format, film type and application on a single packaging system. For example, vertical form and fill seal systems like the tna robag® series can handle gusseted, block bottom, canoe pack and quattro seal formats, and provides ease-of-use when switching from one to another.” Premiumisation also has an impact on the packaging material as more manufacturers opt for packaging films that convey a higher value. Metallisation, for example, can improve the film’s barriers to moisture, air and odours and adds a glossy shine to the packaging. However, additional coatings increase Packaging Europe | 47 |
FORM-FILL-SEAL
the overall thickness of the film, which in turn affects the sealing temperature, pressure and time required to achieve the necessary seal integrity – driving innovations such as tna’s high thermal conductivity (HTC) jaws to optimise seal on thick laminates.
‘Shrinkflation’ The wellness trend and snacking behaviour have together fuelled demand for smaller bags. For FFS this translates to a need for speed: the same volumes of product going into more packs. “We notice ‘shrinkflation’, meaning that the bag size or the weight of the product are limited but the price is kept more or less at the same level, resulting
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in less product for the same price,” according to GEA’s Mr van de Mortel. “Bag sizes are getting smaller but the eventual output remains the same. Therefore, we need to offer higher speed with the larger amount of bags, and the flexibility to change over bag sizes quickly.” This has prompted developments such as GEA’s SmartPacker TwinTube machine, which can run up to 500 bags per minute but still has the flexibility to change over bags between three to five minutes. Meanwhile, tna will soon be releasing a new generation of solutions increasing throughput (along with equipment integration, reliability and flexibility), including the flagship VFFS packaging system, the tna robag 5, launching early this year.
INNOVATION AT THE HEART OF UK’S LARGEST PACKAGING SHOW
The UK’s largest annual event for the whole packaging supply chain, Packaging Innovations, Empack and Label&Print, returns to Birmingham’s NEC on 28 February & 1 March 2018. With over 290 exhibitors already signed up, the show is set to be the most innovative to date, with the majority of suppliers using the show as the UK launchpad for new products and solutions.
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ames Drake-Brockman, Divisional Director of Easyfairs’ Packaging Portfolio, comments: “Our research shows that one of the key reasons visitors attend the show year-on-year is to discover all the latest innovations within the marketplace, so it is fantastic to see so many of our suppliers unveiling their new products and services at the show. With so many new launches planned for the show, Packaging Innovations, Empack and Label&Print 2018 promises to offer buyers and retailers a fantastic opportunity to discover new technologies and the latest trends and developments from the industry.”
Innovation on Show Innovative products, design and functionality are at the heart of the show. For instance, Dantex Group will be introducing its latest innovation, the PicoJet Digital UV Inkjet Press. It is a 7-colour printing system, which can be custom configured to offer wide colour gamut printing. Working at 350mm width and at
75m/min (250ft/min), the PicoJet incorporates 600dpi at 2.5pl dot size and is ideally placed for high quality and long run lengths. In addition, the highly popular PicoColour UV Inkjet Press will be running on stand, demonstrating its enhanced capabilities, which includes CMYK + white finish, chilled roller printing and a full variable data option. Cambrian Packaging has expanded its extensive range of mist sprays, lotions pumps and triggers, with several new product launches planned for the show. It will also be demonstrating how its unique Flairosol sprays perform when mounted on cylindrical bottles and its ability to supply HDPE bottles in postconsumer recycled material. Graphic Packaging International will be launching IntegraflexTM, which incorporates the best features of a folding carton and flexible packaging for an effective on-the-go eating experience. The recyclable concept has the ability to stand on its own and is a great option for packaging hot snacks. Packaging Europe | 49 |
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Nth Degree will be showcasing its new TruPack range – the complete solution for creating colour accurate samples, mock-ups and prototypes. It allows customers to quickly and easily produce any form of packaging, including cans, pouches, shrink-wraps, bags, cartons, flow wraps, labels, and all with spot accurate colour. Plus, it can also create samples onto any substrate. Glass packaging company, Croxons, will bring its wide range of premium spirit bottles and luxury closures to the show. The range sits alongside its comprehensive selection of glass packaging solutions which caters for all sectors of the food and beverage industry. Printer brand, OKI, will be launching the OKI 4 and 5 colour label printers, as well as its first roll fed label printer live on the showfloor. The OKI 4 and 5 devices, which are quick and easy for short runs, require no set up costs and offer media handling flexibility, as well as ensuring less wastage. The OKI 4 and 5 will join its portfolio of printing products, including the industry’s first digital LED Five Colour A3 printer. Paper and cardboard packaging manufacturers, Graficas Salaet, will be launching two new products at the show. Its new Black Pizza Plate and its Step and Twist Tulip Cups. Also on show will be its extensive range of packaging for the food industry including baking cups, paper bags, trays, cake boxes and boards. Russel Richardson will be presenting its new reel splitter, which allows it to process and securely destroy packaging even more efficiently. The new reel
splitter will join the company’s heavy-duty primary shredder, which can process larger volumes of material such as wrappers, cores, palletised paper and other bulky waste. Greenearth Food Packaging will present its brand-new range of oven-proof, biodegradable ready meal containers made from paper pulp. The range is available with lids and in various sizes and colours to enhance the aesthetics of products.
Show Content In addition to a packed showfloor, the Packaging Innovations Conference Programme will be running across five unique seminar stages: The Keynote Stage, The Innovation Stage, The Label&Print Stage, The Ecopack Stage and The Packaging News Stage. The two-day educational agenda will feature over 20 hours of CPD-accredited content with dedicated forums for the key sectors of food, drink, retail, beauty, pharmaceutical and ecommerce. The show will also feature The Pentawards Exhibit, bringing cutting-edge design onto the showfloor, giving attendees a global perspective of the best and most creative packaging designs from the last year. For further information, visit www.easyfairs.com/PIUK, www.easyfairs.com/EmpackUK and www.easyfairs.com/Label&PrintUK or via the show team on +44 (0)20 8843 8800 or PackagingUK@easyfairs.com. Packaging Europe | 51 |
SPONSORED
Anilox roller manufacturer steadily strengthens partnership with OEMs
ZECHER’S CLOSE COOPERATION WITH MACHINE MANUFACTURERS
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or many years Zecher has worked intensively together with all well-known printing press manufacturers from the areas of flexible packaging, label printing, offset, coating and corrugated cardboard. Three years ago Zecher established a Key Account Management especially for this customer segment in order to offer in-depth support which is adapted to the special requirements of the OEM business. This step has already been proven to be successful for Zecher through significant sales increases in this area. In addition to the consistently positive feedback received from their existing customers, Zecher has been able to experience a continuous increase in the number of machine manufacturers as new or reactivated customers, according to André Huber, Key Account Manager at Zecher: “We have been able to convince more and more machine manufacturers of our anilox solutions, coupled with an optimum customer support. Particularly when it comes to large projects, as is often the case in the OEM sector, this service is highly appreciated. Our long-standing, satisfied customer base speaks for itself.” Their long-term partnerships with OEMs include Windmöller & Hölscher, Heidelberg, Gallus, Tresu, Allstein and Bobst. Zecher has also been able to strengthen business relationships with other machine manufacturers such as Soma, KBAFlexotecnica, Nilpeter and Mark Andy in recent years. Moreover, both parties also benefit beyond the purchase of rollers from the wide range of joint projects in the printing sector. As such, Zecher regularly provides anilox rollers for demonstration machines for trade fairs worldwide, as well as technology centres of the machine manufacturers. In addition to this, the team at Zecher informs and advises end customers about the latest anilox roller technologies at different open-house events held by the OEMs. With an | 54 | Packaging Europe
international network of distribution partners in over 65 countries, Zecher makes it possible for global machine manufacturers and their end customers to have the best possible on-site support. Zecher plans to continue to increasingly expand this close cooperation and thus further strengthen its leading position in the market. Zecher GmbH is an international manufacturer of chrome and ceramic anilox rollers. With continuous further developments and various innovations in the field of printing technology to its name, Zecher currently counts on over 65 years’ experience in the manufacture of anilox rollers. Zecher produces more than 12,000 engraved anilox rollers annually at its main plant in the German town of Paderborn. For more information visit www.zecher.com/en
Zecher cooperates with sales partners in more than 65 countries worldwide to offer its customers an extensive on-site-support
KEEPING AN EYE ON THE LINE: INNOVATION IN INSPECTION Inspection technology plays a vital part in consumer goods to prevent on-pack errors or contamination, which could result in high costs and damage to brands. Elisabeth Skoda explores innovations in print, vision, x-ray and inline inspection with pulsed x-ray technology.
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he consequences of an unwanted foreign object in a food, beverage or pharmaceutical product can be far-reaching – the costs of a product recall, for example, and the possibility of a fine from the retailer. Even causing minor irritation to the consumer can have wider implications with social media enabling any complaint or dissatisfaction to be widely shared. Underlying all this is the harm that can be caused to brand reputation.
Closed-loop print inspection Print inspection, process control and quality assurance provider AVT and printing press supplier Edale recently presented a fully integrated closed loop imagebased pressure, register and inspection system at Labelexpo Europe. The new solution comes on the heels of the successful launch of Edale’s Autonomous inking impression Registration, or AIIR. Integrated on Edale’s FL-3 and FL-5 flexographic presses, the solution incorporates camera technology from AVT that, among other benefits, guarantees a level of registration quality never before seen in single-pass printing. After makeready, AVT’s 100 per cent inspection system runs in the background, ensuring exemplary print quality. The configuration at Labelexpo Europe included a new feature: an integrated, imagebased pressure control system. AIIR functions as follows: Registration marks are printed on each station and fed to the AVT Helios S camera positioned at the end of the press. The camera | 56 | Packaging Europe
analyses the relative positions of the marks and sends necessary corrections to the respective print stations. Sophisticated tracking software developed by Edale ensures that no additional corrections are made until the initial corrections have passed the camera. “Working closely with Edale, we have achieved a solution that has exceeded our expectations,” says David Naisby, business development director for AVT. “Together, we’ve developed a unified, Helios-integrated platform performing multiple tasks to consistently minimize waste and increase overal quality.”
INSPECTION
The importance of vision technology Vision technology is commonly used to inspect various packaging components for physical malformation, randomly-occurring manufacturing defects and outof-spec dimensions or other characteristics. It can also be a vital component in protecting consumer safety and brand integrity. Vision technology provider Pressco Technology Inc. engineers and supplies vision inspection systems with an emphasis on the manufacturing and/or filling processes of food and beverage containers. Because contamination can occur at any point in the process, distributed inspection is vital. “In the world of plastic packaging, contamination can occur several ways: Either loose objects that ‘float’ in or on the container, or embedded material that is lodged within the plastic itself. Whereas loose contaminants pose a rather
obvious hazard, embedded foreign matter may adversely impact the structural integrity and performance of the package,” Michael Coy, marketing manager at Pressco Technology. points out. In the case of PET bottles, often the best place to inspect for foreign objects is in the preform stage. Contamination, whether loose or embedded, is generally easier to see when the geometric facets of many blown bottles aren’t yet present. “Inspecting preforms from multiple angles inside the blow moulder and rejecting them before blowing is key,” Mr Coy explains. Metal packaging is equally susceptible to foreign matter finding its way into empty containers which could pose a significant hazard to consumers. Can manufacturers commonly use vision inspection to detect these foreign objects and remove the container before it is delivered to the food or beverage packing facility.
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“In recent years, there has also been a noticeable shift on the part of filling companies to deploy vision systems as a final ‘failsafe’ check for foreign matter or contamination immediately prior to filling,“ he adds. Another recent development concerns the inspection of decorated labels on metal food and beverage packaging. “Canmakers worldwide are now investing heavily in sophisticated, high-speed multi-camera inspection systems such as Pressco’s DecoSpector 360 to check every single label of every can during the production process. One of the main drivers is the potential danger of a “rogue can” – for example, an empty soda can which has accidentally become mixed into a pallet of beer cans. Another driver is the brands’ fierce desire to remove any cans with printing anomalies which could tarnish the value or reputation of the brand,” Mr Coy says.
The power of x-ray X-ray technology is increasingly being adopted for product and pack inspection thanks to its great versatility. X-ray inspection systems are able to look for a wide array of foreign bodies, including metal, dense plastics and rubbers, glass and stone, and can also carry out a variety of additional quality checks, such as missing, undersized and broken items, deformed product and packaging, under-filled compartments, the presence of cracks and fissures in products, and weight estimation. Two important initial considerations when choosing an x-ray machine are the characteristics of the product and its packaging, and where the machine needs to be placed on the line, as Ciaran Murphy of inspection systems provider Ishida Europe points out. “Unpacked products such as raw materials for further processing, or meat and poultry, salad, vegetables and nuts may need to be screened at the very start. Finished, packed product will be inspected much further down the
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line. In terms of the product and its packaging, the overall size will be important in determining the choice of machine. At Ishida, for example, our range of x-ray inspection systems includes a model with a chamber height of up to 390mm, able to handle large size items such as 25kg blocks of cheese or butter.” In addition, while most x-ray systems operate from the top down, sending an x-ray beam through a product vertically, for taller pack formats, such as bottles, cartons and tubes, side-beam x-ray models are available which project the beam horizontally. As well as foreign bodies, this also gives them the ability to check for the correct fill level and that the closure is in place. Selecting an x-ray system with the appropriate level of sensitivity is also key, as Mr Murphy explains. “X-ray inspection involves the projection of relatively low energy x-rays onto a sensor or detector. As the product or pack passes through the x-ray beam, only the residual energy reaches the sensor. Measurement of the difference in the absorption level of the X-ray energy between the product and a foreign body enables the foreign body to be detected. Different x-ray models will therefore have different levels of sensitivity. Cost-effective entry levels systems, such as our IX-EN model, are able to detect foreign bodies with a reasonably high density. Softer or less dense items like glass or rubbers will require machines with greater sensitivity, such as our IX-GN range.” Ishida x-ray inspection systems incorporate genetic algorithm software that is able to analyse image data over a number of generations to achieve a high level of accuracy. Since many applications will require the detection of similar foreign bodies, the system can be optimised to look for these objects and help to eliminate recurring sources of contamination.
INSPECTION
Mr Murphy goes on to explain the challenges of meat and poultry inspection, and how Ishida tackles them. “A typical quality inspection requirement is the detection of unwanted bones in fillets. Because there is a relatively small difference in density between the bone and the meat, the bone can be particularly difficult to spot. This has led to the development of dual energy x-ray systems, which have two line sensors, one which takes images at high energy and one at low energy. This provides a better overall image of the product with a clearer contrast between the product and the bone or other foreign bodies.”
Efficient in-line inspection In-line inspection technology plays a decisive role in protecting consumer safety, as it effectively prevents unreliably packaged or contaminated products from reaching the market. Retailers are spared costly and image-damaging recall actions as a result. “This protects the brand and increases customer confidence in the safety of the product,“ says Heuft Systemtechnik GmbH‘s editor Hilmar Wagner. With in-line inspection, each individual product has to be examined on the line by means of a suitable procedure while still undergoing the filling and packaging process regardless of whether it is an empty container or filled packaging material. This is the only way to carry out truly continuous quality assurance. It is equally important to remove the products in question accurately and efficiently. “Product monitoring with millimetre precision and accurate rejection systems including reject verification are needed in addition to the most suitable state of the art inspection technologies particularly in the high-speed section,“ Mr Wagner explains. Mr Wagner highlights the HEUFT InLine II IXS, an innovative empty container inspector with pulsed x-ray technology, which was first presented at drinktec 2017. “This state of the art system features a specific rotation and fine adjustment of each individual bottle for eight views in each case and therefore considerably more than a 360° coverage during the camera-based sidewall inspection with double resolution. It offers unparalleled precision during the base, underchip, thread, finish and sealing surface inspection with high performance optics and HEUFT reflexx² image processing capable of learning, fully integrated, optimally arranged and safely encased detection modules including residual liquid detection. The food sector increasingly relies on systems which not only identify metal objects but also foreign objects made of a wide variety of materials. Our further optimised pulsed x-ray technology helps with maximum detection accuracy at low radiation levels.” In conclusion, Mr Wagner emphasises the HEUFT eXaminer II XOS which is
able to find all types of foreign objects regardless of their respective position in the bottle using sophisticated camera and pulsed X-ray technology. Full container inspection is playing an increasingly important role during the drink filling process. There is a growing awareness in the beverage sector of the necessity for full container inspection, as dangerous objects can still enter until arriving at the closer. “The compact HEUFT eXaminer II XOS identifies bits of paper, insects or film remnants which float about in the product or have sunk to the bottom of the bottle using LED strobes, mirror cabinets and colour cameras which are adjustable by motor. High resolution images are therefore produced which show the whole neck, body and base area completely. Bottle defects themselves are reliably detected with it besides low density foreign objects. It work even when the faults are covered by material structures such as embossing – thanks to the HEUFT reflexx² real-time image processing system.”
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THE POWER OF SILENCE In 2010 Mehmet Gözetlik (co-founder and executive art director of Antrepo) released images of familiar branded goods stripped of the ‘visual noise’. The project went viral, in the process shaking the design world and eliciting a profound emotional response from millions of consumers. With the benefit of seven years’ hindsight Mehmet talks to Tim Sykes about the ideal of minimalism in a maximalist market – and is as passionate as ever about rescuing the human psyche from data overload.
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IM SYKES: What was the starting vision behind the ‘Minimalist effect in the maximalist market’ project?
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EHMET GÖZETLIK: Today we live in a new world with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google. We check our emails with iPhones, and read books on iPads or Kindle. A tech company Microsoft (as you know, they are not a pharmaceutical company) is working on the cure for cancer. We are talking about AI, VR, AR, etc. We’re producing artificial organs and talking about immortality. We’re going to Mars to expand humankind’s habitat. We’re working on the Asteroid mining. We’re driving electric cars and some countries will completely ban petrol powered cars in a few years. So our environment has changed and is changing rapidly in progress. But when I looked at the supermarket, I felt like they didn’t reflect spirit of our era and I would like to ask to other people on this project. Do we need an update on the packaging? or not?
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Did you always prefer the minimalist version of the brand? Can we draw any conclusions about when minimalism is more or less effective? For example, is visual noise necessary when it’s a children’s product or when you need to get across lots of information as well as brand appeal? | 60 | Packaging Europe
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Actually, minimalism is not a visual style anymore in the big data age. It involves digging through the depth of the complexity. Yes, some people responded that “this approach doesn’t work for Pringles, Corn Flakes or Nesquik.” But I don’t agree with them. This was not a design proposal. I just asked a question through some visual illustrations, in a world becoming more simplified in the very near future, which side will you be more prone to? Are you in favour of ‘silence’ by saying ‘less is more’? Or do you love hundreds of varieties of sauces screaming ‘Buy me! Buy me!’? In my view the answer is that we strongly need an update about every part of our lives. The project pointed out the obvious necessity of minimalism for the 21st-century persona who is getting crushed under the weight of waves of information. For instance, if we produce a new packaging for Nesquik, we need to make a detailed research about kids, their technology, environment, etc. What information is essential for their parents now? By radically simplifying the information on the product, the solutions based on mobile technologies can be endorsed. Showing less and giving more information via new technologies such as AR, iBeacon could generate superb consumer experience.
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…So augmented reality and other digital extensions of the physical package or label might further accelerate the minimalist trend. The
DESIGN
© Mehmet Gözetlik
object itself doesn’t necessarily have to fulfil the communication function in the way that it used to. Do you see the packaging design of the future being driven by technology?
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The Wright Brothers used the most common and essential materials to humankind for flying: fabric and wood. Which means Ancient Egyptians could have been flying if it had been approved by the religious faiths. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 20th century that religious beliefs were set aside for progress. Then a phase of passionate human discovery commenced on and beyond the Earth. We climbed mount Everest, we invented all kind of airplanes, discovered new species in new places like north and south poles, dared to leave Earth and set foot on the outer space, on the moon… As this simple example highlights, innovation isn’t necessarily linked to new ideas but rather is associated with a new way of thinking. New ways of thinking lead to the discovery of hidden perceptions, solutions for better opportunities and most importantly for a better life for all. That’s why the people outside the system generate innovation. Our future can be surprisingly shaped by anyone’s unpredictable effect. For instance, Elon Musk’s irrelevance within the automotive or aerospace sectors doesn’t stop his inspiration to radically shape the automotive industry and future of space technologies. So even though important progress has been leading production technology, today’s packing approach is so much like NASA’s space programme with similar design formulas and resistance to change in certain perspectives. However, it is an absolute necessity to move towards a world with ‘Space-X’ empowered by innovative approaches. For such progress, an R&D project with a multi-disciplinary approach, integrating design and engineering and led by the innovation, can be developed.
TS
It seems to me that since 2010 a number of brands have moved towards simplicity just as you anticipated. How do you perceive the influence of the project in the real world?
MG
The project contributed to minimalism by raising global awareness. When major brands such as Starbucks and Target simplified their
logos, mainstream media outlets like adage.com and the Washington Post linked the strategic simplification move with my project. In same year, the project was publicised at the Shanghai Design Triennale in a group exhibition called ‘The Reason for Design Emotion’, side by side with the work of creatives such as Naoto Fukasawa, Zaha Hadid, Ross Lovegrove, Marc Newson, Norman Foster and Philippe Starck.
TS
Have you been involved in any extensions of the work that started in ‘Minimalist effect in the maximalist market’?
MG
The minimalist project was an inspiration for the ‘No Noise’ campaign by British retail giant Selfridges in 2013. During the exclusive campaign, the simplified products from major brands such as Heinz, Levi’s, Beats by Dre and Marmite were put to sale on a conceptual shopping spot called ‘The Quiet Shop’. After seven years we’re still talking about the project in this interview. A couple of the global consumer packaged goods brand owners, including Unilever, have contacted us to help develop a new approach based on our project. We have created many works which has same up-to-date design philosophy. We are working for one at the moment to help create a better tomorrow.
TS
What is your broader philosophy about the key to good packaging design?
MG
You need only one thing for a good design: a problem. A problem that needs a serious solution. In other words, your roadmap brings you to good design. You have to be a designer as well as an innovator, as an explorer, not as an ornament maker or visual artist. It should be human-centred, not functionally focused only. More designs from the ‘Minimalist effect in the maximalist market’ series can be found at packagingeurope.com/power-of-silence-minimalist-brand-design-Gozetlik Packaging Europe | 61 |
EVERY PACK IS IMPORTANT 10 INTERNATIONAL PACKAGING TRADE FAIR PACKAGING TH
INNOVATIONS 2018 IN WARSAW, POLAND
At the upcoming 10th anniversary edition of the International Packaging Trade Fair in Warsaw, visitors can expect modern, eye-catching designs and innovative solutions for packaging industry.
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ut packaging is not only refined design and unique character. It is primarily functional and protective. In a world of growing e-commerce and huge demand for packaging in the industrial and food sectors, logistics and technology are pillars of the packaging industry. That is why, for the next edition, the Logispack zone will be enlarged. The 10th edition of the exhibition, on 17-18 April at EXPO XXI Warsaw will take place under the banner of Packaging Innovations and Technologies.
Simplicity strength Transit packs are a key element of the supply chain. A pack that at first looks plain, becomes a desirable product for mail order companies. Demand for these products has grown substantially. In the logistic packaging zone, companies can find packs tailored to their needs. International exhibitors will present packaging for shipping in all shapes and sizes. Modern production facilities, quality procedures and packaging certifications meet high product requirements. Companies showcase their flexible and individual approach and the production of personalized packs.
Design and technology in one An innovative approach not only to design, but also to the packaging technology is the aim of exhibitors and organizers. The fair will also offer packaging solutions for the manufacturing sectors. Exhibitors will present, amongst others, packaging for pharmaceutical and industrial chemistry as well as the warehouse, logistics and food industries. Innovation and technology will be a key focus at the event. Visitors will be able to find the latest innovations in design and technology at the workShops presentation zones, with experts talking about the latest and most effective solutions in the field of brand marketing and presenting case studies in the area of packaging technologies. | 62 | Packaging Europe
The place to be For companies who want to showcase their products and services, Packaging Innovations Trade Fair is the place to be. The location in central Europe and its impeccable reputation as an industry leader in packaging attracts visitors both from central and eastern Europe, where the demand for packaging is growing rapidly. The show feature exhibitors from all over the world, such as DS Smith or Metsä Board. Visitors can choose from over 200 international companies. Therefore, the Packaging Innovations Trade Fair is visited by over 5200 specialists and decision makers representing more than a dozen industries each year. For more information visit: www.packaginginnovations.pl
SPONSORED
Streamline 5 print sample
SQUID INK: ALL AROUND PRINTING EXPERTISE As a manufacturer of both industrial inkjet printers and high quality inks, Squid Ink provides its customers with a one stop shop for all their printing needs. Elisabeth Skoda spoke to Jake Zender, vice president of sales, and European sales manager Paul Wheeler to find out more about the company’s impressive portfolio and its push to expand its market presence in Europe.
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quid Ink was founded over 25 years ago, and has grown from a small ink making enterprise run out of a garage to a large organisation with global reach. Originally focused on providing water-based inks for large character dot matrix printers, the company moved into the highresolution coding and marking sector for both the primary and secondary product markets.
Following several acquisitions, the parent company Engage Technologies Corporation was formed, which now includes Squid Ink, Eastey Enterprises, focusing on case sealing and shrink packaging equipment, American Film & Machinery (AFM), which covers shrink sleeve and labelling solutions, and Cogent Technologies, a leading manufacturer of infrared-based ink drying systems for the print media and graphic arts industries. Packaging Europe | 63 |
Jake Zender, VP of sales
Paul Wheeler, European sales manager
The company has six sites across the globe, with the corporate headquarters situated in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, the European headquarters in The Hague in the Netherlands, and a sales and service facility to support the Asia market in Shanghai, China. “Over the past 10 years we have become a global brand with the emergence of Engage. With more than 115 employees globally, we have seen double digit growth not only in the packaging but also the inkjet market.” Mr Zender reported. Squid Ink recently set up a new sales support and warehousing facility in The Hague with a view towards expansion in Europe. The facility contains space for ink, printer, and parts storage, as well as technical and sales support space. The location allows Squid Ink to better support a growing list of distributors in Europe. “I was pleased to join Engage in 2016 as vice president for sales for all our different brands.” Mr Zender explains. Paul Wheeler has 17 years of experience in the coding and marking and inkjet industry, having worked for big industry names such as Xaar, Domino and Hitachi. “I am excited to promote the Squid Ink brand in Europe,” he says.
Squid Ink’s CoPilot family of products offer high resolution printing and really were a catalyst for the industry. The standard CoPilot uses Xaar-based piezo technology to print up to 18mm of hi-resolution characters, razor-sharp text, scannable bar codes and logos at 185 dpi. Compared to some competitive systems, CoPilot users can expect 30 per cent larger print, increased throw distance, five times larger ink volume and the ability to upgrade to a 2nd printhead. The company’s most recent product release is the CoPilot 500, designed to print superior quality hi-resolution characters with up to 70mm of print height per printhead. It has the ability to run up to two printheads from one controller, effectively a 140mm print height. Printing over five inches of print height – 140mm is ideally suited to corrugated board, but can be utilized on almost any substrate requiring a mark. In order to close a product gap identified in the small character side of the market, the company released its CIJ printer Streamline 5, a printing system designed to print superior quality small characters on a variety of substrates. Printing up to five lines of text, the Streamline offers a reliable, yet cost effective solution for virtually any small character, primary package coding application. It was presented to the market at Pack Expo in Chicago 2016 and brought to market in 2017. Recently, the company also introduced new SQ-Laser marking systems, as Mr Wheeler points out: “These laser coding systems are designed for high speed food and beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and other primary coding applications. Squid Ink lasers can permanently mark onto paper, cardboard, plastic,
A complete product range As a manufacturer of coding and marking systems for product identification and traceability, Squid Ink provides high quality inks and low maintenance printing equipment. The comprehensive product range includes drop on demand (DOD) hi-resolution printing systems, large character dot matrix printing systems, continuous ink jet (CIJ) systems, laser coders, thermal transfer overprint coders, and a full library of inks and consumables. | 64 | Packaging Europe
CoPilot 500 Hi-Resolution Ink Jet Printing System
glass, wood, coated metal, leather, and more. Users can choose between a 10W (SQ-10) and 30W (SQ-30) system depending on their specific application requirements.”
A smorgasbord of unique selling points Mr Wheeler highlighted the fact that Squid Ink manufactures its own inks. “Thanks to my background in the coding and marking and inkjet industry, I am aware that this is not something all major players can do. Some have to rely on outside supply. We have full control of all the inks that go in our printers, something of a rarity in the coding and marking sector.” “All of our inks are specifically designed for our printers and applications, which gives us an edge on the global market,” Mr Zender adds. He talks about another feature that sets the company’s product offering apart from the competition. “Often, CIJ printers have the screen built into the machine. Streamline 5 has a separate tablet or desktop computer that runs the CIJ unit. This means that as
production manager you can take the tablet away from the machine and work remotely, or control different CIJ printers right from your desk. Underpinning all products’ success is the proprietary Orion software. “All of our CoPilot family and CIJ are tied together with Orion software, which guarantees easy operation. By just learning one software system, you can run all of our printers off one computer. Orion ties everything into one unique system overall,” Mr Zender explains. Across the group, customers who wish to set up a production line are offered a one stop shop with CIJ, laser and thermal transfer printing for primary coding and high resolution and UV printing for secondary coding. High quality coding and marking solutions are the very essence of Squid Ink’s products, capable of withstanding even the harshest conditions. “We deal with challenging applications, such as printing a barcode on a catalytic converter for an automotive supplier. Cars are driven in varying conditions with great temperature fluctuations, and we have manufactured a special ink that stays on the catalytic converter over the product’s lifetime,” Mr Zender says. Packaging Europe | 65 |
SQ-10 Laser Marking System
Trade shows and investments Squid Ink regularly exhibits at all the major industry trade shows, and was present at this year’s Interpack in Düsseldorf, Germany and at Pack Expo Las Vegas. In the coming year, the company will be present at Empack, in Utrecht in the Netherlands as well as several other global exhibitions. Squid Ink believes that continuous investment is the key for a successful business, and Mr Zender pointed out that the R&D portion of the business is more robust than ever. “We made significant investments in our CIJ technology, on the packaging side, upgrading our equipment, and also in the areas of high resolution and UV cure.” The company puts great importance on its investment not just in products, but also in its people, the appointment of Paul Wheeler being a notable example. “We really invest in our people and are growing our own talent from the bottom up. Many of our sales managers have been with the business for years, having excelled and moved up the ranks,” Mr Zender says. | 66 | Packaging Europe
A third important point is investment in processes to sustain long term growth, he adds. “Globally, Squid has invested significantly in our customer facing personnel as well as increasing our sales analytics capability. Our marketing is truly 21st century, offering an online marketing presence and multiple touchpoints with the consumer. We focus on the three P’s – investing in products, people and processes.” Mr Wheeler is excited to promote Squid Ink’s presence in Europe. “Squid Ink is extremely successful in the area of high resolution printing across the US and more generally North and South America and Asia. Many people still don’t know who we are in Europe. But if we can emulate the success enjoyed in North America, I will be very happy. My primary objective for the company is to increase the sales of both coding and marking equipment and consumables across Europe. I intend to make Squid Ink products a viable choice for all companies across Europe looking to invest in this type of equipment. The aim is to raise the profile of the Squid Ink brand across the continent. ”
Laser print sample
Squid Ink’s expansion plans for Europe are ambitious, aiming to expand in the UK as well as France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal and elsewhere. “I’ll be getting to know existing Squid Ink partners and actively looking for new distribution channels in Europe. Lincolnshire based Reflex Labels are our first new distributor in the UK, and we are looking forward to working with them,” Mr Wheeler explains. Squid Ink is a distributor-based business, where investment is key, and has
been the basis of our double digit growth rates. What we are trying to do with our investment is to be as successful in Europe as we are now in the US and Asia, raising the profile of the Squid Ink brand in strategic locations. The appointment of Paul Wheeler with his extensive industry knowledge and experience was an important step towards accelerating our growth in Europe throughout our distribution network.” Visit: www.squidink.com
Exterior of Engage Technologies headquarters
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COSMOPACK Cosmopack, held in conjunction with Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna, this year’s premier event dedicated to the beauty supply chain, takes place in Bologna on 15-18 March.
V
isiting Cosmopack helps understanding the evolution of cosmetic business in the world: trends, novelties, smart manufacturing, raw materials, formulation and packaging design are the ingredients of this unique format. The synergy with specific exhibition areas of Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna - from Cosmoprime and premium, ‘masstige’ and prestige perfumery, to the companies exhibiting in the halls dedicated to Perfume and Cosmetics, Green and Natural and Country Pavilions - increases the opportunities available to professionals of the cosmetic industry to develop new projects. The Cosmopack Factory is one of the special initiatives introduced for the 2018 edition. In March the format, presented six years ago in Bologna, will propose Powderful, a project aiming to produce a palette covering all the industrial steps from concept-design to the most appealing sell-out experience in the retail channel. Trend setters, designers, influencers, retailers and digital managers will take part in the project. Powderful, whose design will be curated by Centedegrés, international design agency, will have the technical support of a selection of companies exhibiting in Cosmopack.
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Richard Askam
DIGITAL NOMAD
HAPPY NEW OPPORTUNITY! Our new columnist Richard Askam (aka the Digital Nomad) woke up on 1st January feeling curiously good…
I
have a confession to make. Sitting here on New Year’s Day and feeling great is a little strange. Does that mean I didn’t enjoy myself last night? No. Does that mean I enjoyed myself but have become immune to the effects of alcohol? No. So this must be a symptom of the all-round excitement of another new year beginning. That is outweighing the tiredness and mild nausea brought on by a 4am finish to our New Year’s Eve party yesterday. So today I’m looking forward to what is going to be a staggeringly good year and of course I have to make some predictions, so you can judge me on them next January! Ahead for me this coming year I am super excited about my new regular column here in each edition alongside the many speaking events I do across the UK, Europe and the USA and the chance to explore all the possibilities that can come from these. I don’t know what I’m looking forward to more - the chance meetings, the innovative discussions or the creative possibilities. These all combine to make the next 12 months limited only by imagination. There has never been a better time to be involved in the world of packaging and the speed of evolution is breath taking. 2017 saw some groundbreaking campaigns executed across the globe with major brands and retailers all realising the growing importance of adopting a personalised approach to marketing, product and customer engagement – all enabled by highly creative and talented packaging suppliers. That will seem a drop in several oceans compared to the sheer scale and breadth of the opportunities available in 2018 and beyond. So my first prediction is this: simply put, we need to productise packaging and add value to it in the same way that the labelling industry has successfully done to date. I was intimately involved in those early personalisation campaigns that utilised the ease with which labels could be digitally printed in short runs. Very short runs. My feeling is if that sector of the packaging world can change, then everyone can. I believe that this year you will see a number of brands capitalise on this opportunity. But it requires a sea change from everyone involved. Stop being just the supplier of packaging and start being the seller of it! It’s a very different conversation when it starts with “Look what we can do!” as opposed to “How cheap can we do this for.” I spent a lot of time in 2017 talking at events about what I term The Believability Gap. This is when packaging innovators spend all their time | 72 | Packaging Europe
talking only to other packaging innovators and forget to include the customer in the conversation. A gap grows between capability and believability. Into that gap is injected doubt. The doubt comes from the customers who don’t understand the process or the pricing or more importantly, the added value that comes from the ideas. If you have to convince someone of a good idea, it makes the idea less good (just as explaining a joke makes it unfunny). Don’t be afraid to behave like a creative agency. After all the industry is full of creative people who see themselves as packaging suppliers. Get out there and work it baby! My next prediction is centred around personalisation and customisation. I predict that in 2018 people will realise that these are two entirely different things. A lot of businesses have adopted the P-word because they see it as a trend but then bent the definition of it to match what they are capable of. In doing so they have succeeded in diluting the potential opportunity. In actual fact, the celebrated Share a Coke campaign was simply mass customisation, not the dawn of a new era of personalisation at all. If you are simply choosing first names from a preset database, that’s like looking for a keyring with your name on it in a seaside gift shop. For me, the opportunity to offer true personalisation is still in play. Once the brand managers – or Logo Police as I call them – recognise the true value of personalisation and allow consumers to add memories, song lyrics, film quotes or anything that means something truly personal to the packaging, then I think we have ourselves a ball game. I think that’s enough for my predictions for now for 2018 (unless you count England winning the World Cup, Manchester Utd winning the Champions League and my daughter winning the Under 12’s tennis cup at school this summer). So take a few minutes to imagine how you could be a part of this next phase of the revolution and you will soon start to feel the excitement that’s coursing through my veins today. And the great thing is, it is all entirely possible – all the dots that need to be joined up already exist and nothing else is required except for you to join the conversation. I’d like to wish a very Happy New Year to all readers and raise a glass to you – the innovators, the entrepreneurs and the shapers of the future, I’ll see you in the next edition!