What is the packaging for? From the beginning of its strategy of simply screening the product to making sales through the consumer competition, the role of packaging has evolved substantially.
Smart packaging continues the trend toward greater functionality, using sensors, printed electronics, and wireless communication to increase value in new ways.
This was explained in the latest IDTechEx Smart Packaging 2023-2033 report, which found that the electronic smart packaging market will be worth around $2.6 billion by 2033.
But what are the situations in which smart packaging can improve? create value?
1. Package tracking label
Condition monitoring and location research throughout the logistics chain improve consumer confidence, especially for high-value items or those that can be easily damaged.
While these technologies are already implemented at the pallet level using individual devices, smart packaging can enable such a track in case or even level.
Technologies such as batteries and printed/flexible sensors help reduce costs and volume by allowing the status of individual deliveries to be tracked.
Logistics companies and even insurers can track when and where each item was lost, stolen or stolen, the study claimed.
This allows any problems to be solved quickly and provides a great deterrent effect.
Logistics can also provide value for click and collect items where warehouses serve the same order function as distribution centers.
Real-time item-level tracking, from smart packaging, can improve the accuracy of the inventory management of multiple systems, as different parts of the value chain undertake the fulfillment part.
2. Identification of the material to be recycled
Modern recycling processes are significantly short of what is needed for a true transition to a circular economy.
The unfortunate fact is that only about 10% of all waste is recycled, largely due to difficulties in digesting materials with similar properties or determining the extent of contamination.
3. Consumer commitment
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a global increase in the adoption of identification technologies, especially QR codes.
The adoption of QR codes in tracking and tracing techniques has rapidly normalized the use of consumer products, prompting many brand owners to identify the reasons for smart packaging.
The result is an increased focus on the “connected experience”, with brands engaging with consumers in designated areas accessed through smartphone scans of NFC antennas or QR codes.
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Guides and applications
Smart packaging promises the integration of electronic functionality into everyday products, condition monitoring, asset tracking, consumer engagement, and more.
There are several notable drivers for smart packaging.
The continuous growth of e-commerce over the past two decades has increased the demand for packaging and changing policy priorities, with greater work on sustainability and delivery optimization.
As stores increasingly perform fulfillment center functions, the need for streamlined inventory management drives the adoption of item-level customer tagging.
In addition, the use of digitally printed labels is being explored to facilitate the separation of recyclable packaging.
Smart packaging can also play an important role in the healthcare sector, where improving the patient experience without increasing costs is vital to meeting the needs of an aging population.
In the studies discussed in the report, poor medication compliance can be addressed through the use of smart blister packs that communicate wirelessly when medications are taken.
