Track & Trace

New UpToDate solutions meet consumer needs and help pharmacies become patient-centric, boost efficiency, and promote sustainability.

Merging opportunities in package design and sustainability have resulted in what Arizona AB InBev brewer Four Peaks Brewing believes is an USA beverage industry-first. As well as a portfolio-wide packaging refresh, the Anheuser Busch craft partner announced in April a partnership with CIRT Inc (Can I Recycle This?), making it the first North American beverage company to include CIRT’s digital, location-based recycling tool on its entire packaging portfolio, Anheuser Busch says.

The evolution of automation in biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing continues to move forward. Technologies have advanced from possibilities to realities in recent years, according to David Sheedy, head of Life Sciences Manufacturing Ireland, at Cognizant. He points to connected smart instruments, digital twins, and facilities that incorporate Industry 4.0 as examples. “Automation integration layers now make it possible to bring huge volumes of control data traffic from distributed sources across OT [operational technology] networks through a central function, making it available for further use to improve manufacturing intelligence,” Sheedy states.

The benefits of using QR codes for smart packaging — and best practices for adopting them to strengthen retail consumer relationships and your brand’s position.

In the current scenario, organizations are facing continuous onslaughts of grey market trading and counterfeiting. Along with the online propagation of fake products via e-commerce platforms, brand owners are grappling with the challenges of increasing customer loyalty and brand engagements. The answer to most of these challenges lies in digital packaging and customer loyalty program software.

The market has seen growth due to its rising popularity in the food and beverage, clothing, toys, cosmetics, gaming, and apparel industries, claims the report. The rise of e-commerce and the Internet of Things, along with high smartphone penetration through urbanization are also some of the drivers of growth in the connected packaging space. Brands are increasingly tapping into this form of packaging to verify the authenticity of purchased products and to offer incentives.

The company has been able to integrate ACSIS’ Serialization Management system without the hassle and cost of modifying existing secondary packaging artwork or labelling procedures to prioritize barcode placement, maintaining the existing carton surface composition, according to the report which appeared in Packaging World.

These novel, carbon-based paper RFID tags are cheaper than the metal based versions and, while a conventional tag accounts for 3.5g of CO2, the Pulpatronics version uses just 1.1g for an equivalent tag, a 70% reduction in emissions, it states. In terms of cost the company claims the chipless, paper versions are about 50% cheaper than normal tags used in the sector and the antenna operates at the same capacity and performance levels as metal. Another claim is a simplified manufacturing process which uses far fewer components.

This Congress brings together the industry’s leading developers across the technology spectrum to showcase the latest innovations and discuss the applications and impact of smart packaging in consumer spaces, supply chains, and food waste, as well as its role in sustainability. From addressing food waste to exploring how AI will shape the future of packaging, this event covers it all.

It’s been an unfortunate year for corporate sustainability targets. As we find ourselves at the halfway point of 2024, companies are standing in the looming shadow of their ambitious goals for 2025 – and some are having to admit defeat. Unilever kicked off the trend back in April. Despite its pledge to halve plastic consumption by 2025, it has taken a step back and amended its target to one-third by 2026. CEO Hein Schumacher cited his “need to drive performance in the company” and attributed the moving goalpost to shortcomings in existing recycling systems – but critics of the move warned that 100,000 tons of fresh plastic could now be produced annually as a result.

This recall involves updating instructions for using 731 Ventilator devices and does not involve removing them from where they are used or sold. The FDA has identified this recall as the most serious type. This device may cause serious injury or death if you continue to use it without following the updated instructions.

BL.INK, an enterprise link management company, has announced the launch of a connected packaging and personalization platform, BL.INK CXP (Consumer Xperience Platform). This solution marks a significant advance in product packaging, enabling brands to deliver personalized, data-driven consumer experiences at scale, it claims. It seamlessly integrates GS1 standards, such as Digital Link and Digital Product Passports (DPP), into its enterprise link management platform.

AIPIA member Tageos has launched the ARC Spec C2-certified EOS-360 U9 inlay for retail and logistics applications. The inlay is based on a completely new, very slim antenna design with unique compactness ( the antenna size is only 64 x 4mm) and excellent performance on cardboard, plastic and rubber, it says. The product is ideal for tagging a wide range of general merchandise such as cosmetics, DIY, sporting goods, toys and many others products, according to the company.

FindR est la première marque centrée autour des QRcodes, conçue pour protéger vos biens les plus précieux tels que les clés, pièces d’identité, passeports, appareils électroniques, portefeuilles, sacs, bagages, lunettes de soleil, cartes et plus encore. Nous prévenons la perte d’objets avec des autocollants dotés de codes QR uniques. Notre objectif est de faciliter la récupération des objets grâce à des autocollants disponibles dans diverses couleurs et matériaux (formats : Nano, Micro, Mini, Maxi). En tant que service « phygital » (Physique + Digital), les stickers FindR fonctionnent avec une application iOS/Android, gratuite et conviviale, qui facilite la gestion sécurisée de vos biens les plus précieux.

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Bayer has collaborated with packaging provider PAPACKS on fibre-based consumer health packaging.

With an estimated 33 million Americans suffering from food allergies, undeclared allergens on food packaging pose a significant risk to individuals with sensitivities or allergies, potentially leading to severe health consequences and damaging repercussions for brands. But despite laws increasing in recent years to better protect consumers, the issue of inaccurate labeling continues to remain persistent. Just earlier this year, a young woman died after eating cookies not correctly labeled as containing peanuts.

To support pharmaceutical companies in optimizing their supply chains, Schreiner MediPharm has developed an innovative solution: Late Stage Customization (LSC) for RFID-Labels, enabling sophisticated smart labels to be supplied on short notice with order-specific programming of the integrated RFID chip.

These ‘cutting-edge technological solutions’ have been developed by the company’s incubated innovator ME3W. They offer RFID enabled identifiers for paper-based and/or plastic-based products. A unique production method allows for the manufacturing of ultra-lightweight (20gsm) paper and ultra-thin (sub -20 micron) film-based RFID tags that can be integrated into regular paper stock items, such as security seals, certificates, stamps, labels, or packaging materials.

Pharma 4.0, a framework coined by the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE), represents the dawn of a new era for the pharmaceutical industry, a leap towards a digitized, connected and optimized future. This paradigm, inspired by the Industry 4.0 revolution, encapsulates the transformation of the pharmaceutical value chain through a broad spectrum of enabling technologies and strategic approaches.

The increasing global e-commerce market, which is in step with the changing advancements in the logistics and warehousing sectors, is responsible for the market's expansion. Sustaining the rapid expansion of the online retail sector will require maintaining sales data, guaranteeing exact timing, and tracking products in real-time throughout supply chain networks. For online retailers, being able to track items in real time has become essential. These days, 2D barcode readers are essential for controlling inventory levels and sales data.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not only helping organizations weather the storm but also fundamentally transforming how they operate. As the global supply chain has become increasingly complex, the need for swift, informed and efficient decision-making has only become greater. AI, with its ability to analyze vast amounts of data, generate predictive insights and automate complex processes, is stepping up to meet this demand.

Serialization is assigning a unique product identifier to the smallest saleable unit that can be uniquely verifiable. Tracking is understanding the current and past locations of a serialized unit. Trace is to identify the history of all entities that came into contact with the serialized unit along the supply chain.

The way data was managed in the past was to keep on-premise IT infrastructure deployments which had problems with both pricing and performance. Adding to this was also the challenge of hiring efficient resources to manage both the systems and data deployed on premise. The data recorded in these systems was also not readily available for quick analysis and insight.