Smart packaging research and development needs market thrust
With the application of high and new technology in the packaging industry, packaging has set off a wave of intelligence in the world. However, at present, the technical content of packaging in China is still low, and the development and application of smart packaging lags far behind developed countries. What caused the lag in the development of smart packaging applications and markets in China? How to solve these problems? I look forward to a new breakthrough in smart packaging in China. Li Dongli believes that China's smart packaging industry has the following problems.
Intelligent R&D is in its infancy
Li Zhiwei, secretary general of the Packaging Branch of China Printing and Equipment Industry Association, said that the current universal application of smart packaging in countries around the world has just begun. Some technologies are still in the stage of experiment and research. How to seize this opportunity to develop China's packaging industry and upgrade China The technical content of packaging to meet the needs of the international economic situation under the new situation is an unavoidable issue.
Dr. Li Dongli from the Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication said: "At present, the domestic food safety situation is very serious and has reached an imminent level. Therefore, we do not need to improve intelligence from packaging and maximize the use of various means to ensure food safety. It is a powerful measure to ensure food safety and it needs to be developed."
According to a survey by NanoMarkets, a US market research firm, it is expected that by 2011, the output value of the smart packaging market will increase to 4.8 billion US dollars, and in 2013 will reach 14.1 billion US dollars. American packaging companies are constantly developing the future. Novel raw materials for the smart packaging market.
Li Zhiwei said that smart packaging has gained sufficient attention and development in developed countries, and in China, the research and development of smart packaging and its application in various fields are still in their infancy. However, he also pointed out that from another perspective, although the application of smart packaging in China still lags behind that of developed countries, China's smart packaging market has broad profit margins waiting to be tapped.
Smart packaging products are more blank
Li Dongli said that in general, only the temperature-time history record (TTI), the microbial breeding indicator (MGI) in the packaged food, the photochromic indicator, the physical impact mark, the leak, the microbial contamination mark, the radio frequency tag. (RFID), DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) tags, etc. are defined as smart packaging; and air-conditioning packaging, anti-bacterial packaging, ethylene adsorption packaging, oxygen-absorbing packaging, self-heating / self-cooling packaging, odor adsorption packaging, aromatic release Packaging, absorbent packaging, etc. are defined as functional packaging.
The development and application of many kinds of intelligent (functional) packaging in China has just begun. Li Dongli said: "We can observe the big supermarkets around, how much is the food packaging, intelligent packaging and functional packaging?" He said that in terms of functional packaging, domestic air-conditioning packaging and aromatic release packaging are still relatively mature. Gas adsorption type packaging (moisture absorption, ethylene absorption, oxygen absorption) is generally in the form of a sachet, the technical content is not high, and the gas adsorption packaging developed abroad has been able to blend a non-toxic adsorbent into the interior of the film resin; Other functional packaging and a lot of smart packaging are still almost blank in China. â€
In addition, in these smart packaging, RFID (identification of radio frequency) electronic tags are an area well known to the domestic public. In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the government's efforts to strengthen the supervision of drugs and foods have promoted the use of RFID electronic tags in China, and have more applications in logistics, packaging, retail, manufacturing and other industries. Li Zhiwei also said that smart identification technology will be applied in some areas (such as medicines, high-end foods), but China will not become a big consumer of RFID electronic labels, because according to the consumption level of the broad masses of the people, intelligent identification technology has not yet entered the people's Daily consumer market.
Multiple factors constrain development
What factors have caused the lag of China's smart packaging applications and market development? “High cost has always been one of the main factors hindering the development of smart packaging,†Li Zhiwei said in an interview. He said that the popularity and application of technologies such as chips and printable antennas and circuits that can be used for packaging are not as simple as traditional printing, how to install and manage related infrastructure, how to place e-readers, and how to retrieve and use them. And the technique of storing tag information is complex and costly. Therefore, product transformation is not something that all domestic packaging and printing companies can achieve. At present, there is still a certain gap in their investment in smart packaging technology, the introduction of talents, and the updating of equipment and materials.
First, technically, the research base of smart packaging raw materials is weak. Polyethylene, polypropylene, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), nylon and other raw materials have fewer grades, and the use effect is poor, and some also need to be imported. The development of specialty resins with excellent printing composite properties is a major task.
Second, the existing functional packaging is low in technical content. China's flexible packaging research and development personnel are lacking, the foundation is weak, and the research and development cycle is long. It is necessary to carry out the introduction of technology and independent research and development at the same time. At the same time, domestic companies have low R&D capabilities, and only a few large packaging companies have research and development capabilities, and rely on universities or research institutes.
Third, the domestic smart packaging market is small, and the people's ability to accept is poor. He said that in the "market - asking questions - design - flexible packaging research and development - flexible packaging production - market" research and development process, the market link is the key. Without demand, R&D loses its momentum, which reduces the research and development enthusiasm of researchers and the slow progress of R&D.
Fourth, ordinary flexible packaging manufacturers have low profits, disorderly market competition, and counterfeit and shoddy products are prevalent.
Smart packaging research and development needs market thrust
To solve these problems, Li Dongli said that because ordinary people have insufficient understanding of the importance of packaging, resulting in high price of smart packaging and no market, affecting the development and promotion of products, the state should actively advocate the use of smart packaging, or even mandatory use, to Good to contain counterfeit and shoddy products. At the same time, the country should increase investment in scientific research in food packaging, encourage independent research and development and apply for national research topics, and introduce necessary flexible packaging testing equipment.
Research units must strengthen personnel training, speed up research and development, and actively cooperate with flexible packaging manufacturers to transform technology into productivity as soon as possible. For flexible packaging enterprises, China's flexible packaging market has just started, and the market space is large. Even in the “severe winter†moment, enterprises should increase investment in new product development, strengthen cooperation with universities or research institutions, occupy priority markets, and broaden enterprise development. the way.