Imagine a world where medical devices such as pacemakers could be implanted into the body, without the need for traditional batteries and cables and powered simply by body fluids. Well, it might not be as far away as you think. There have been some exciting and fascinating developments recently. Researchers have started to utilise a unique property of some materials, known as piezoelectricity, to generate electricity from kinetic energy….the same technology that is used in ‘wind-up torches’ to convert kinetic energy to electricity. Read more about this fascinating topic by following this link.

We are proud to announce an updated and improved one day intensive training course on pharma packaging!

Pharmaceutical packaging is a very specialised area with its own unique issues and problems. This introductory course will provide delegates with a good basic grounding and appreciation of what is required for the packaging of pharmaceutical and healthcare products – both Prescription Only Medicines (POM) and Over The Counter (OTC) and will have relevance in other affiliated areas such as Veterinary and, to some extent, Medical Devices too.

Whether you know nothing or have a basic understanding, this course will provide you with useful knowledge and insights from experts who have worked in the industry for over 25 years.

For more information – Follow this link to our Training Page to download a PDF flyer

Another exciting one day intensive hands-on training course being run by Design Cognition in October.

Injection moulding is used in many areas of packaging component manufacturing and in all sectors including cosmetics, food, healthcare, and toiletries. So this course is applicable to ALL.

It will provide delegates with a basic grounding in the processing of thermoplastics and elastomers by injection moulding methods including multi-shot moulding.

In addition the course will look at the key components that make up the injection moulding tool, including various gate designs and hot runner configurations.

To gain the best possible experience, you will get to see moulding machines in action and handle the tooling moulds themselves.

So whether you know nothing, have a basic understanding or are familiar with this area, this course will provide you with useful knowledge and insights from some of the leading tooling experts in the UK who have worked in the industry for over 40 years.

For more information – Follow this link to our Training Page to download a PDF flyer

Brand Protection & Authentication

Dear All,
Research has shown that there are now some 250 plus suppliers of security components and brand protection solutions active in the global marketplace. New technologies are being developed all the time.

So how best to navigate the complex terrain of security technologies and solutions in order to reach optimal and cost effective brand protection solutions tailored for specific product categories and different market conditions?

As a Brand Owner please join us on 23rd September for our INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP to take a detailed benchmark analysis across the spectrum of security technologies being used today, with specific reference to integration and aggregation of solutions by packaging and label converters and security printers.

Reference will also be made to emerging new technologies that show promise for brand protection, together with related smart phone enabled mobile concepts and social networking.

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST HERE QUOTING PROMO CODE: VDG01 TO GAIN A SPECIAL WORKSHOP DISCOUNT

Attendance at the above workshop will then entitle you to FREE ADMISSION on the afternoon of 23rd and all day on 24th September to the subsequent CONFERENCE that will cover:

• Materials science & security – From optical systems to nano taggants and forensic marker solutions
• Interactivity and the Internet – Combining digital protection with on-product / on-packaging coding and serialisation: from security with smart phones merging digital protection and coding to analytics & user metrics
• Integrator / Aggregator functions – A central role can be provided by packaging converters, label converters and security printers
• Digital protection and coding – From inventory control to product authentication with RFID / NFC and printed 2D codes
• Encouraging consumer interactivity through the Internet – Product authentication utilising smart phones or tablets

In particular the conference will help to find answers to key questions such as:

• What applications are other early adopters pursuing and why?
• What technologies can I adopt now & what are the resource and cost implications for me?
• Which technologies can be used alone or in combination to address my applications and how?
• What are the realistic time scales and when will it begin to affect my company?
• What commercialisation activities or development projects are worth engaging in now?

To bring you this event, Design Cognition has teamed-up with brand protection specialists Vandagraf International.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE EVENT BY CLICKING HERE

The Vandagraf International 2014 Workshop and Conference is organised by Vandagraf International in association with:

• Product and Image Security Foundation
• Design Cognition
• Tarsus International
• World Customs Organisation
• Securing Industry
• The Packaging Society

The Workshop, which is conceived specially for BRAND OWNERS, takes place in the morning of the first day (23rd) and is followed in the afternoon and all through the second day (24th) by the main Conference, WHICH IS OPEN TO ALL.

Both events take place in central London at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining’s modern yet historic conference venue.

Speakers have been carefully selected to cover as many aspects of brand protection as can be squeezed in to one and half days of this intensive event. They include:

• Solution providers – both offline (packaging related) and online (Internet related)
• Integrators / aggregators – packaging / label converters and security printers.

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST HERE QUOTING PROMO CODE: VDG01 TO GAIN A SPECIAL WORKSHOP DISCOUNT

If YOU or any of your friends or colleagues would like to find out more, please ask them to send an email to Chris Penfold via:  enquiries@designcognition.com and we will keep you updated as information becomes available.

Or give us a call on +44 (0) 115 8461914

Many thanks and we look forward to seeing you there.

Chris Penfold

CEO,
Design Cognition

If this event is not quite right for you, we are always willing and able to run bespoke workshops at your premises anywhere in the world. Let us know if you’d like us to put together a unique itinerary for you.

Or if you’d like to find out more about us and how else we could help you, check out Design Cognition
or the following links:

JOIN THE CLUB – What’s in it for YOU?

Dear All,
Rapid innovation is happening that will enable products & everyday things of all types to ‘interact’ in some way remotely with people or other products.  New devices and processes ranging from: smartphones and their ‘apps’ through 3D printing & nanotechnology to low cost Printed and Plastic Electronics (PPE), are becoming available that can:     Create new visual effects: including static or moving and scrollable images
    Produce a sound
    Contain embedded data: for instant information; for validating the identity or location of a product or person;
    Enable interfaces that can respond to touch, gestures or motion
    Sense & report on an environment, temperature or condition
    Release a chemical substance in a controlled way
    Gather energy from the ‘air’ ….and much more

Smart ‘things’ will form extended data communications networks and lead to the much-vaunted longer term vision of every product having its own unique IP address and being accessed by other intelligent devices anywhere.  This is part of what has been dubbed the ‘Internet of Things’ (IOT).

A new generation of devices and communication protocols that sit alongside RFID is emerging; e.g. Near Field Communication (NFC), Ultra Wide Band (UWB), ZigBee, RuBee etc.  These promise to deliver real time information on location.

So what are YOU doing about it?

If you have enjoyed the recent Pack To The Future (#PTTF) events with presentations on topics such as  ‘Printed Electronics in Packaging’ and the affiliated IPI events such as ‘Game Changing Developments for Brands and Packaging based on Smart Phones’, we have something very special FOR YOU that I’m sure will be very appealing.

Design Cognition is proud to announce an exciting new partnership with Interactive Product Solutions, and the forming of an Interactive Packaging Club dedicated to this area. In particular the club will help Members to find answers to key questions such as:
•    What applications are other early adopters pursuing and why?
•    What technologies can I adopt now & what are the resource and cost implications for me?
•    Which technologies can be used alone or in combination to address my applications and how?
•    What are the realistic time scales and when will it begin to affect my company?
•    What commercialisation activities or development projects are worth engaging in now?

GET YOUR FREE PROSPECTUS BY CLICKING HERE

So how will we do this?
Club details:
Together we are planning to run a series of special events:
1. A series of Webinars sessions which will will involve presentations by leading technology suppliers from around the world, followed by a discussion of the commercial implications of the developments presented.  A great way for our international clients to participate…..Webinars will cover specific topics or themes as follows:
-    Flexible Displays (battery & non-battery powered)
-    Sensors (biological & non-biological)
-    Controlled Release Devices
-    Brand Protection, Anti-Counterfeiting & Traceability Devices
-    Physical/Digital (phygital) Experiences, including Augmented Reality
-    Consumer Engagement
-    Packs as active tokens in game play
-    Indicative packaging

2. Regular full-day facilitated Working Group Sessions that will provide the opportunity for Interactive Packaging Club Members to develop an in-depth understanding and debate emerging technologies and identify new applications and commercial opportunities.
3. On-Line Interactive Packaging Resource Centre
Via the restricted ‘members-only’ web site, Interactive Packaging Club Members have access to a comprehensive and authoritative dossier of information relating to Interactive Packaging.

GET YOUR FREE PROSPECTUS BY CLICKING HERE

Payment will be via a one-off annual membership fee – see prospectus for provisional details.

If YOU or any of your friends or colleagues would like to find out more, please ask them to send an email to Chris Penfold via:  club@designcognition.com and we will keep you updated as information becomes available over the next few weeks.

Many thanks and we look forward to working with you

Chris Penfold

CEO,
Design Cognition

If this event is not quite right for you, we are always willing and able to run bespoke workshops at your premises anywhere in the world. Let us know if you’d like us to put together a unique itinerary for you.

To find out more email club@designcognition.com
Give us a call on +44 (0) 115 8461914

Pack To The Future 3 Flyer

As many of you may know, as well as running Design Cognition, I am Chairman of the East Midlands Packaging Society (based in Nottingham UK) and in that role, my main focus again this year is to entice more of you, our valued members, to take part in events and also to encourage ‘new blood’ into the industry.

By popular demand we are pleased to announce the THIRD  in our very successful PACK TO THE FUTURE  series of collaborations between academia and industry to explore insights into the changing global landscape impacted by issues such as Global Warming and water & oil depletion that will affect consumer demand and some of the exciting emerging technologies that will enable us to adapt & thrive.

We are pleased to be working with Loughborough University Design School on this occasion and as previously have a fantastic line-up of leading edge thinkers & ‘doers’ with which to ‘whet your appetites’. This time topics will include:

Explaining the Future – Peak Oil, Peak Water & Climate Change

Printed electronics in packaging

LumeJet – photonic imaging technology

Please make sure that you book early to this FREE event to avoid disappointment, as both previous events have been heavily oversubscribed!!!!

All are welcome, members and non-members, but pre-registration is essential – OR  drop me an email if you have any questions: chris@designcognition.com

We’ve also got other fantastic events lined-up later in the year, in which you could participate in a number of different ways and at a number of different levels – it’s up to you how far you want to get involved.

Much of it will be FREE and could directly benefit you personally and your business.

You may want to participate yourself, or you know someone else that could be interested. Either way, I’m looking for partners and I’d love to hear from you. The aim of the whole exercise is to help raise the profile of packaging but also to facilitate the integration of academia and industry for everyone’s benefit. So this is applicable to:

Students – who may want to learn & enhance career options

Universities – looking for business avenues/partnerships to help commercialise their ideas

Product development companies, packaging suppliers & design agencies – wanting to keep up with latest technology & also identify high calibre students for job placements & opportunities

Come along and listen to some exciting & leading-edge talks from the university & from the packaging design industry. Network with industry & academic experts – with various table-top demonstrations, discuss your design projects in an informal atmosphere and get practical mentoring help & advice.

Some of the previous highlighted topics have included:

Smartphone technology & how it can enhance the consumer experience

Using packaging technology to tackle counterfeiting

University research into brand design

Display technology for packing applications

Design of packaging for reuse / recycling

You can find out more about this and other East Midlands Packaging Society events on our ‘ning’ site:

East Midlands Packaging Society website

and also on our LinkedIn Group & Facebook Pages:

EMPS LinkedIn Group

EMPS Facebook page

So whether in academia or business – You decide how you want to get involved, which could be as a speaker, sponsor, exhibitor, trainer or as a participant – how could it best benefit yourself? I really do think that ‘everyone’s a winner’ with this. More details to follow in future blogs.

If you’ve got any other ideas yourself, let me know.

Chris Penfold

Chairman – East Midlands Packaging Society

chris@designcognition.com

00 44 115 846 1914

Planet Earth

I found it interesting to read Incpen director Jane Bickerstaffe’s argument against the introduction of single measures to assess packaging’s impact on the environment. There is so much ‘green wash’ and ‘hogwash’ out there, that it’s not surprising people are confused.

I totally agree that a holistic approach needs to be  adopted, considering all supply chain implications. Companies need to aim for overall resource efficiency and work towards sustainability balancing economic, environmental and social considerations. This may sound ‘easier said than done’, but as Jane points out “it isn’t if it is based on actual information about product damage and spoilage rates and a good dose of common sense. After all, that’s what we all do when we go shopping – we look at financial cost, quality, quantity, aesthetic appeal, life-span and, increasingly, many of us look at environmental information. We balance them all out and decide what we want.”

So take a ’step back’ and think again about your corporate ‘carbon footprint’ policy or your move to make all of your packaging ‘lightweighted’, ‘recyclable or ‘reusable’. You may be ‘hitting the right’ buttons in terms of government policies and legislation, but are you really doing what’s best for the planet and a sustainable future?

Let’s have some common-sense here. With a little thought, a multi-faceted approach can be justified and work. Let us know what you think!

Chris Penfold

To read Jane’s full article just follow the link to our friends at Packaging News

The use of Multisensoric for confectionery packaging on the increase

By Jane Byrne , 15-Dec-2009

Appealing to consumers’ five senses through innovative packaging techniques can result in increased brand loyalty and greater impact at point of sale, and it is a key driver in confectionery packaging, according to the organisers of the 2010 Pro Sweets trade show.

Multisensoric is an approach to packaging design that allows packaging to stimulate and arouse emotions in consumers to encourage purchase and examples include such elements as striking colour schemes, windows to view the product, exciting rustling sounds and foldout trays.

The Pro Sweets team said that, as a result, the confectionery industry is increasingly focused on touch, sight and sound finished packaging elements such as foil lamination, textured embossing, and varnishes.

via Multisensoric trend key to confectionery packaging, claims German group.

Simulating drug-packaging conditions can save up to six months in development time.

For pharmaceutical companies, time is money: Those who get to market first with a new product will often capture the largest customer share and maximize profits.Innovators of new drugs commit considerable resources to developing and seeking approval for breakthrough products. The sooner they can market a new product, the sooner they can begin to see returns on their investment. Time is of the essence for manufacturers of generic drugs, too, since they often have a suite of drug applications pending and vie with competitors to be the first to commercialize their products for the 180-day period of marketing exclusivity. For these reasons, technologies and services that streamline drug development can provide important competitive advantages to drug manufacturers.Sophisticated packaging simulation modeling can help formulation chemists and packaging engineers identify the right conditions in which to ensure the stability and potency of drugs. This mechanism, referred to as ‘pseudo-empirical’ modeling, can be performed early in the development process, guiding production decisions and helping to avoid costly errors that could prove to be roadblocks to production.Pseudo-empirical modeling is a technique that uses empirically derived data measurements from the packaging materials, including moisture vapor transmission rate MVTR through the bottle, surface area of the bottle, sorbent adsorption isotherms, and drug product adsorption/desorption isotherms. Linking these variables together mathematically will pseudo-empirically predict the relative humidity of a pharmaceutical package’s headspace and drug product hydration level over time. This resulting information will ultimately determine the means by which manufacturers can maintain a drug’s chemical and physical characteristics over time.

via Healthcare Packaging.

SIG pips rivals to produce first one-litre aseptic FSC carton.

SIG Combibloc has won the race to produce the first FSC-certified one-litre aseptic beverage carton for packaging long-life juice drinks and ice teas.The first run of the new cartons, which are marked with the FSC logo on the corner of the packaging, have gone on sale in all German branches of supermarket Lidl.Its launch means that the company has pipped Tetra Pak to bring a one-litre FSC-certified aseptic carton to market.

via SIG pips rivals to produce first one-litre aseptic FSC carton | packagingnews.co.uk. Ben Bold