Last week (26th February 2014) saw another very successful Packaging Innovations show where a full house joined Christopher Waterhouse of iDi Pac for his expert presentation titled “Packaging design in the retail space; flexible, agile and cost-effective – are they mutually compatible?”.
Chris began with a high level overview of what it means to have Agility in the marketplace; by being responsive, reactive and proactive, and how this connects with the ‘digital world’ for in-date analysis of social media trends, the flexibility of digital printing and new technology innovations, such as 3D printing technology to deliver “Innovation”.
Taking the enthusiastic audience into the world of augmented reality within key areas of the supply chain to create a new way of thinking about marketing, order picking, the in-store shopping experience and the after-purchase functionality – how it can be used to boost customer emotion associated to the product/brand but also to improve the supply chain through efficiencies and data capture and analysis. Intuitively, this leads onto printed electronics in the market place; with creative examples of printed electronics implemented successfully within current packaging, but also indicates where this technology trend will take us in the not-so-distant future.
The presentation concluded with an insightful view on macro trends in the market place and weighed out the impact that this has on raw material suppliers, packaging companies, brand owners and retailers. Chris: “The bottom line is that agility within the retail environment will ultimately lead to cost savings, reduced waste and more customisation. Ultimately, this can only be achieved through initial investment in new technology”.
