What is Smart and Intelligent Packaging?

Surely you have already heard about them but you still don't know what smart packaging is. Don't worry, we love to help you with the information and facilitate the process of choosing both the containers and the machinery that your company needs so that the processes, from packaging until it reaches the destination, is the most comfortable and efficient for your business. In this article today we are talking about smart packaging, what and how they are, we will name examples of smart packaging, what advantages and disadvantages they offer and, in general, all the information you need to know if it is the type of packaging that your product needs. Will you come with us? Keep reading!

What are smart packaging like? Some examples

Before describing what smart packaging looks like, we explain what this type of packaging is. In the midst of the boom of new packaging systems, such as sustainable packaging, containers that incorporate technology appear to offer more information to consumers: welcome to the era of smart packaging or smart packaging. Smart containers are those containers that offer a system of sensors and indicators that monitor and offer extra information about different parameters, such as the properties and the conservation status of food. In this way, we can know very useful information about the product. Among the information it provides, parameters of temperature changes, microbiological growth and the conservation status stand out through visual indicators that can be found on the labels or packaging. In this way the quality and safety of the product is guaranteed from the moment it leaves the factory until it reaches the destination. So, how are these containers? The images that accompany this article are some examples of smart packaging so that you can identify them and assess if they are the ones you need. They offer a technology that controls food and, at the same time, has indicators that inform consumers, such as sensors attached to the package that control temperature, humidity or freshness.

These sensors are able to capture some parameters such as the presence of oxygen, pH, carbon dioxide or ethylene in fruit containers to know their degree of ripening. Smart containers are also considered to be those that are capable of modifying the temperature of a food, such as heatable coffees or chocolates, and containers that change color when they are at the optimal consumption temperature, such as beer bottles and cans. In general, smart packaging or smart packaging provides a series of advantages for consumers, as well as manufacturers, having special territory within the food industry. Now that you know what smart packaging is and we have shown you some examples of them, do you know what advantages and disadvantages these containers have? In the next section we study them.

Advantages and disadvantages of smart packaging

We find advantages and disadvantages in smart packaging that will help you decide if it is the type of packaging you are looking for. Like everything in life, despite being very useful for both the consumer and the company, smart packaging also has certain limitations that we will tell below.

Advantages of smart packaging:

• Increased product safety.
• Monitoring quality reduces the time and costs of analyzing packaged food. They minimize food waste.
• It provides better traceability of the supply chain.
• Ease of use and low cost of information dissemination, especially in barcodes and QR codes

Disadvantages of smart packaging:

• It is not easy to find and purchase the indicators and sensors for monitoring.
• They are more expensive packaging, both in purchase, and in development and production.
• They can negatively influence consumer behavior, which will bet on foods with maximum freshness indicators, leaving perfectly consumable products that show an indicator of being less fresh apart.
• It can encourage food waste.
• The amount of unsold food is increasing.

Differences between smart packaging and traditional packaging

There are several differences between smart packaging and traditional packaging, but at this point in the post, you should already imagine some. The main difference between these types of packaging is the technology they use. While traditional packaging acts exclusively as a protector of the product (regardless of whether they provide an attractive design to attract the consumer), smart packaging is equipped with innovative technology that allows them to offer additional information to the consumer, as we have seen in the previous sections. This technology brings a higher cost of packaging, since this type of packaging has a higher price than traditional packaging, hence they have not yet spread so often. Another of the differences between smart and traditional packaging is that smart packaging is of maximum utility in food products, however, they lose meaning in other types of products. On the contrary, traditional packaging offers greater versatility, being suitable for a larger number of products. Once you have analyzed these differences, choosing one or the other type of packaging will depend on the needs of your product.

Visit www.eliter-packaging.com to fine more information on automatic packaging and automated packaging equipment.

Zixin Yuan - Digital Marketing Coordinator at ÉLITER Packaging Machinery Website: https://www.eliter-packaging.com