Smart packaging - From the shelf and dairy case to the internet of thingsGail Barnes PhD, Partner, Personify LLC

Active and Intelligent Packaging Association (AIPIA) Congress, (Nov. 2–4) during Pack Expo International and Pharma Expo 2014 (Nov. 2–5), McCormick Place, Chicago, IL.

SummaryA major trend feeding the growth of active and intelligent packaging for dairy is the demand for longer shelf life. For retailers this demand results from product loss due to shrink, which includes product going out of date code, which runs at between 2-5% in the United States.

Addressing shrink by adding even a few days shelf life through Extended Shelf Life (ESL) technologies including UV photopurification, could save retailers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and thus help to increase the profitability of the category. For consumers the demand stems from an increasing desire for fresh and unaltered foods.

In addition to standard ESL technologies, RFID tags by enabling the accurate tracking and tracing of product throughout the supply chain could play a role in both increasing efficiency as well as increasing sustainability. Printing with thermochromic inks could indicate if a product has suffered temperature abuse as well as the best temperature for consumption by consumers, while biosensors could indicate if a product has spoiled and should be discarded. Printable electronics will lower the cost of technology as such biosensors or RFID tags.

This presentation will cover the impact of these technologies through the use of case studies and industry concepts and examples from around the world.

The Internet Of Things• Wearables

• Connected cars

• Connected homes

• Connected cities

• Industrial internet

Source: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

Intelligent vs Smart Packaging

Mechanical packaging

Self heating

Self chilling

Active packaging

Oxygen scavengers

Absorbers and

Releasers

Smart packaging

Thermochromic inks

Indicators / Sensors

RFID

NFC

Intelligent Packaging

Dairy Lost By Shrink• Shrink, whereby a product has

to be disposed of because it has gone out of date code, is a major issue for processors & retailers

• Estimated to be around 2-5% for white milk in the US

• Major source of food waste in the dairy industry

• Requires a holistic approach to address– Processing– Packaging– Distribution

Source: Dr Tatiana Koutchma & Dr Gail Barnes, The Potential for UV Illumination as an Adjunct to Pasteurization, IDFA Conference on Worker Safety and Environmental Issues, May 29-30, 2013, Chicago, IL.

Processing Innovation To Extend Shelf Life

• Combine non-traditional technologies with traditional pasteurization

• UV photopurificationcan extend the shelf life from around 14 days (in the US) to 30/60/90 days depending on the product type

Packaging Innovation To Extend Shelf Life

• Minimize/eliminate recontamination– Clean blow technology for

producing plastic bottles– Consumable, pressurized

liquid instead of compressed air to form plastic containers

• ESL/UHT packaging/fillers – HEPA filters– Over pressured air– UV lamps– E-beam sterilization

Smart Packaging Innovation

• Thermochromicinks

• Indicators/sensors

• RFID

• NFC

Thermochromic Inks• Are inks that become visible only at

certain temperatures

• Are supplied as two components (both water based) as:• Active temperature sensitive product

• Carrier resin for printing

• Typical options suitable for beverage consumption purposes:• Fully activated at 5oC and below (not a

standard product)

• Fully activated at 8oC and below

Carton Package Case Study• In the converting process a

penguin and snowflake were printed onto aseptic cartons (ambient distribution and merchandising)

• No color visible at ambient temperatures

• When placed in the refrigerator and upon reaching 5oC, the penguin and snowflake would appear along with a message: “Perfect to drink”

• Placed first against an array of innovations that included the soda dispenser from the Space Shuttle

Indicators/BioSensors

• Detect temperature abuse

• Validate that the cold chain is working

• Electronic storage of reading data for analysis

• Validate incoming goods

• Create extra awareness on maintaining the cold chain

• Cost efficient and commercially available

Thin Film Sensors• Thin Film Electronics

prints “memory” on polymer-based substrates instead of using silicon and chips

• This powers Thin Film's Smart Labels, which are economically produced on roll-to-roll machinery in amounts of thousands at a time

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

• RFID is a technology that incorporates radio frequency to uniquely identify an object

• The advantage of RFID is that it does not require direct contact or line-of-sight scanning and can read many tags simultaneously

• System consists of three components– Antenna– Transceiver (Antenna / transceiver often combined into one reader)– Transponder (Tag, also called Electronic Product Code (EPC) tag)

• Can be either active (own power source/broadcast up to 100m) or passive (no power source/powered by a reader with a read range from near contact up to 25m)

Getting RFID Right• Products react differently in

a RF field• Two different locations on a

single box yield very different results based on the RF properties of the product

• Need to use scientific testing tools to determine profile of the product(s)

• No single answer, different product configurations demonstrate a continuous spectrum of performance

Source: Odin Technologies

RFID Applications• During the manufacture

of packaging material– Tests with RFID labelled

board reels in converting factories

– Co-operation between RFID label producer Rafsec and board supplier Stora Enso

• The pallet / container

• The traded unit

• The consumer unit

Hospital Vending Machine Dispenses Fresh Foods Via RFID

• The refrigerated vending machine has a built-in RFID reader to identify which food items consumers have removed from its shelves

• University of California, San Francisco Medical Center's nutrition and food services department and Stanford Health Care each piloted a refrigerated kiosk

Printed RFID Chips

• Chips based on printable organic semiconductors

• Printed on labels or directly onto the packaging

• E-beam technology is the “missing link” for printing chips directly onto packaging –allows adherence

Near Field Communication (NFC)

• Operate at same frequency as HF RFID readers and tags

• May act as both a reader and a tag

• Devices must be in close proximity due to short read range

• Used for information sharing and contactless payment

Smart Packaging Concepts

Source: CPG Marketing Reinvented Report, 2014

NFC – Tap & Buy

• YesTap NFC-based interactive shopping wall

• TV displays images of meals, each with its own NFC tag

• When tapped meal gets added to cart

• Details of ingredients and preparation instructions can be viewed on the mobile app

Sensor & Interactive Display

• Product sensors

• Interactive display

• Shows temperature history/vitamin content

• Allows products to communicate benefits directly to consumer

Thermochromic Ink + NFC

Smart Value Chain

Thank You

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@DrGailB