Smart packaging is often referred to in the context of Industry 4.0 as manufacturers take advantage of the new integration of digital capabilities with artificial intelligence, machine learning, analytics, cloud computing, robotics and sensors into their factories. With more automated processes and robotic arms picking and packing products, labeling items and moving them with advanced forklifts, one can reduce workplace hazards for humans.
Mechanical engineers who follow developments in Industry 4.0 are turning their attention to smart packaging innovations and their potential to transform the industry for safety and efficiency. They are enhancing visibility into their supply chain by integrating advanced technologies such as sensors and Internet of Things devices into their processes. Smart packaging helps improve how products are traced.
With the expanding treasure trove of data that manufacturers gather in real time, stakeholders can make better informed decisions to run packaging systems more effectively. Other benefits of smart packaging include improving product quality control, enhancing the brand due to more transparency with customers and reducing the chance of criminals stealing or counterfeiting products.
READ MORE: How Zebra Technologies Uses Machine Vision to Transform Production Automation
Read on for insight into smart packaging technologies in this era of Industry 4.0 for improving processes in your organization.
About Smart Packaging and Industry 4.0
As society enters the Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, manufacturers increasingly use new technology to automate and improve their processes. They employ artificial intelligence and machine learning, often connected to cloud computing services. Robots play a more significant role in manufacturing and packaging.
The concept of Industry 4.0 was introduced at the Hannover Messe trade show in Germany in 2011, where participating vendors illustrated comprehensive integration of industrial production processes with communication technology.
Industry 4.0 harnesses today’s faster wireless data networks, cloud computing resources, embedded software in systems such as edge computing technology, and tools such as virtual reality and augmented reality. Internet of Things (IoT) data provides more real-time data for improved monitoring and control over processes without human intervention.
Packaging is an area ripe for enhancement in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. One can package items more efficiently, cutting costs and speeding up the time to market. Packages equipped with sensors and indicators give you information about product changes, from colors to gases to chemical signatures. They can also detect potential pathogens.
Sensors and Internet of Things
Smart packaging involves using sensors that keep track of product characteristics as units move through the supply chain. For example, chemical sensors identify whether the product contains certain chemicals of concern, which is helpful in determining changes, such as in pH or moisture.
Food manufacturers use gas sensors to ensure freshness, checking for gases including nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen, utilizing the latest food packaging equipment designed to maintain product quality and safety.
READ MORE: Digital Transformation: Guidelines for CPG Industry Implementations
One can identify the location of products according to the identifying data they transmit through the packages’ built-in radio frequency identification or RFID sensors.
For enhanced security, biosensors can be used in smart packaging to monitor signs of spoiled food, contaminants and pathogens. Food manufacturers employ colorimetric indicators that sense if a product has changed color, which can provide a window into food freshness.
Smart Package Options
Manufacturers have a wide range of smart packaging options to employ for product safety and integrity and tracking through the supply chain.
Intelligent packaging relies on indicators and sensors to track the freshness and security of products. Indicator and diagnostic technology, such as time-temperature indicators, convey the state of a product through its packaging.
Manufacturers turn to active packaging to control the temperature of products. They also use oxygen absorbers to maintain freshness. To keep food products dry, one can package them in materials that cut down on moisture.
Customers learn about products by using their smartphone to scan packages that incorporate near-field communication or NFC technology. The operator taps their smartphone on the package to discover more details about the product inside, or the latest promotional campaigns (such as discounts) from that manufacturer.
To drum up more repeat business, one can use connected packaging, which ties a smart package to an online platform. It’s convenient for a customer to scan the product package using a mobile phone’s camera and then select the “buy” or “reorder” option.
When a supply chain is plagued by product thefts, RFID tags can be used to see where items are at any time and detect deviations from where they are supposed to be located.
Many Benefits of Smart Packaging
Because smart packaging and sensors allow manufacturers to monitor the location of their products, they can trace items in real time, benefiting their logistics, such as identifying bottlenecks in the supply chain or quickly removing items during a product recall.
Tracking products in this way also helps to prevent criminals from stealing them or counterfeiting them. Doing so preserves the authenticity of products and instills trust in consumers about the items’ legitimacy.
READ MORE: Hannover Messe 2024 Preview: Automation, Digitalization and Electrification
Consumers can quickly learn more about a manufacturer and its products when they encounter smart packaging that includes a code, such as a QR code. Simply scanning the QR code by using a smartphone allows the consumer to browse a company’s website for instructions on using the item. If it’s a food product, the QR code may provide consumers with recipes as well as a convenient way to check nutritional facts or check an ingredients list and the product’s expiration date.
Some companies use QR codes on their smart packaging to promote customer loyalty programs or enable buyers to download a coupon to save money on their next purchase.
Using Smart Packaging in Your Facility
Because smart packaging offers so many benefits, it’s no wonder that manufacturers embracing Industry 4.0 rely increasingly on technology to gain greater visibility into the products they sell as they move through the factory and enter distribution channels.
From tracking and maintaining product safety to keeping fake items out of the marketplace and reducing theft, companies can improve their supply chain logistics and become more transparent to customers who want to know more about the items they purchase.