The industrial revolution during the 18th and 19th centuries revolutionised the packaging industry after hundreds of years of very basic packaging such as glass, wooden barrels, and tins. As well as resulting in new products, this era resulted in machines that could make paper bags, cartons and clingfilm. During the 20th century, technological advances led to the invention of shrinkwrap, bubble wrap, the pop tab for opening cans and plastic bottles. Further innovations included the addition of printed labels to packaging providing key customer information.
Read on to find out about current technologies use the packaging industry and what future innovations might be in store!
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Current technology in the packaging industry
Technology plays a pivotal role in terms of reducing production costs, increasing efficiencies, and adding new capabilities to the packaging itself such as marketing, labelling, prolonging shelf life and protecting the environment. With zero-waste packaging.
Modern ‘smart’ packaging includes integrated technology such as QR or RFID codes that allow real-time tracking, colour-changing indicators that monitor freshness or temperature of food items and embedded audio files to enhance the customer experience. Technology has also had an impact on packaging aesthetics with products having a highly visual appearance (luxury touches as well as branding). Physical considerations can also be implemented, for instance addition of braille to increase diversity, or use of materials that are haptically pleasing, particularly when the packaging is also the product (e.g., top shelf alcohol bottles). Mobile robotic platforms have also dramatically improved efficiencies.
There’s also been a movement towards enhancing sustainability through reducing resource consumption and waste, for example, in the shrinkwrap industry.
Technology in the shrinkwrap industry
Shrinkwrap involves the application of heat to film that shrinks snugly around a product. Nowadays, shrinkwrap machinery is available in a variety of automated options: manual, semi-automatic and automatic. The introduction of machinery saves costs on volume of film, manual labour costs and reduced waste management. Even better, these machines can be used with newer environmentally friendly shrinkwrap products such as sugarcane polyolefin shrinkwrap.
Packaging technology innovations
Given the importance of packaging appearance and sustainability to today’s consumers, technological innovations will continue to revolutionise the industry. The following packaging technologies are in existence but not yet widely adopted:
- Edible or ‘disappearing’ packaging uses material similar to grape skin to package items, minimising waste material (for those who don’t want to eat it, the packaging is biodegradable)
- Micro-patterned packaging is starting to be used on coffee cups, providing improved grip and reduced heat loss
- Moulded fibre printing technology means information can be printed directly onto the product, reducing the need for separate labels
- Aqueous barrier coating is a much more environmentally friendly equivalent of laminated items
- 3D printing technology is being utilised in different ways, for example, a range of 3D-printed cups that have ingredients embedded in the packaging that produce an energy drink when water is added
- Water soluble packaging dissolves in water, reducing waste, for example cornstarch packaging peanuts or dissolvable coating on washing liquid pods
- Other new packaging materials include a bottle alternative that applies a clear layer over glass to improve durability and a lightweight paper packaging that is lightweight, durable and recyclable.
