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There is a wide variety of processes in the 3D printing family. Basically, they all have the same core principle: an object is created one layer at a time by binding an input material either through heat or chemical reaction and then building up a body, one thin slice at a time.
Rapid prototyping or 3D printing has been around for a several decades, with the first stereolithographic process being patented in the early eighties. For a long time the technology was confined to engineering labs and the high tech design & prototyping workshops of large manufacturers and universities, however today the use of 3D modelling programs and CAD files has become more widespread and 3D printing has entered the mainstream. Companies like Makerbot and Printrbot are helping to pave the way by offering low cost home assembly kits, raw materials and community platforms to share ideas and breakthroughs.
Today we find ourselves in the midst of a 3D printing revolution. No longer limited by high input costs or unobtainable technology, the potential benefits of additive manufacturing are being applied in ever more imaginative applications, from the home enthusiast tinkering with robotic components to astronauts on the ISS building 3D camera housings in space and pharmaceutical companies producing medicine. Engineers are literally printing houses, tech savvy pastry chefs are printing petits fours, and we have recently been amazed by reports of organic tissue being printed to form skeletal structures for the growth of human organs – the cost of bionic prosthesis has plummeted with organisations such as http://enablingthefuture.org/ making it possible for people to print their own limbs!
These developments have not gone unnoticed here at IPL, with our R&D radar firmly focused on appropriate new and future tech. We have, for a number of years, utilised the multitude of benefits inherent in the 3D printing system. Quick testing of concepts through the use of 3D printed prototypes makes it possible to analyse the viability of a potential product without spending huge amounts on moulds, mock ups and handmade samples. We use this technology to analyse potential production pitfalls, and to demonstrate particular benefits in different materials. With 3D printing not being limited to one material, we can sample anything from engineering grade nylon to titanium, producing tangible testable parts, at a reasonable cost, in a very short time.
New ideas can quickly be made into tactile accurate facsimiles, thus decreasing development time and avoiding costly mistakes.
So, what does the future hold? How will 3D printing influence manufacturing in the decades to come?
While we are now seeing the first proper mass produced products being made solely through additive manufacturing we are not yet at a stage where this technology is threatening more traditional processes such as injection moulding and casting. However it is really just a matter of time until we are producing replicated parts on an atomic level.
At IPL we are dedicated to researching new technologies. Our Design and Innovation Department, along with our project management teams and manufacturing partners, endeavours to use technology like 3D printing where we can to ensure our clients get the best possible product, thoroughly tested and manufactured using the latest innovations in design, sampling, pre-production analysis and mass production.
With global smartphone usage expected to top 2.5 billion by the end of 2018 the enormous potential these devices unlock for marketing and branding opportunities are allowing packaging to be more integrally involved in the fast changing landscape of smart phone interaction. There have already been some great examples of different available technologies being exploited for some creative brand building opportunities:
QR or Quick Response codes, as we all know by now, are small barcodes that are readable by using your smartphone. They’re quick and easy to generate, they’re free, and can link to websites, email addresses, phone numbers and more. Due to their simplicity and ease of use, they’re found almost anywhere – from product packaging to printed advertisements and storefront displays. They’re a means of bridging the gap between the physical and digital worlds. They can be used more creatively too. Qkies, for example, prints edible QR codes on cookies. Customers can order cookies with customizable messages embedded on them in the form of a QR code. When scanned with a smartphone, the cookies reveal their hidden message.
NFC OR Near-Field Communication is similar to Bluetooth in nature. It allows brands to push information to smartphones, but without the need for devices to pair with one another. Instead, a consumer would simply “tap” their device against an NFC receiver. This information can span anything from a website link to a video.
NFC chips are relatively cheap, small and flexible as to where they can be applied. Remy Martin plans to release a new type of bottle this year that utilizes this technology. The bottle’s lid contains an NFC chip that is activated as soon as it’s opened. Any NFC device or smartphone will be able to determine information relating to when the bottle was opened and whether it has been resealed since then. Click here to read more.
AR or Augmented reality allows packaging companies to create intricate 3D worlds that come to life on consumers’ screens with nothing more than an app and a camera-equipped smartphone. Usually, these virtual worlds are fully interactive.
Companies that have embraced augmented reality in their marketing strategies include Blippar and Pepsi MAX, who teamed up to bring interactive gaming to every Pepsi MAX can and bottle. Using a free app, customers could unlock exclusive Pepsi video content – including behind-the-scenes footage and an interactive augmented reality football game directly from the pack.
Touchcode is an invisible electronic code that can be printed onto paper, cardboard, labels or files with nothing more than an ordinary printer. Its invisible and interactive and while is similar to that of QR codes, the main difference is that Touchcodes are recyclable, environmentally friendly and very easy to produce.
The technology is extremely versatile in its use ranging from authenticity confirmation of products/brands to adding multimedia content to mass media publications. Touchcodes have already been printed onto pizza boxes to provide information on whether the product remained frozen during shipping and has also been used on over the counter medicine to allow dosage instructions to be read aloud once activated by the smartphone. Very useful for the visually impaired. For more information about Touchcode and its many uses, go to http://www.touchcode.de/ .
But it is not only smart phones that are opening up creative packaging opportunities. With previously expensive technology becoming much more commercially viable, secondary packaging can become intelligent too!
Our talking box contains a hidden voice-chip, activated by a light sensor on opening, which enables the box to deliver impactful audio messages to consumers.
The parrot box offers purchasers the opportunity to send a gift accompanied by a personal message delivered in their own voices. The easy-to-use controls facilitate recording either directly or remotely through an audio file sent by email (for gifts purchased online).
The aroma or “nose” of a fine spirit is a highly underrated attribute. Our aroma box brings this feature to life by applying prints of aroma-impregnated friction-release varnish into the interior of the box. As an alternative, the sensory experience can be triggered on opening by means of a vapour spray.
Our temperature box, with its constant readings of the ambient temperature, enables consumers to create an optimal drinking experience so that whiskeys and fine spirits are enjoyed at the correct temperature.
The video box is the full package with the ability to communicate both by video and audio sophisticated brand, product and category messages to consumers (and potential consumers), especially for more premium offerings where the depth of value is not immediately evident.
The light box, illuminates its contents using an LED light when it is opened.
The music box amplifies music played from a phone or an MP3 player, creating an impromptu sound system for any occasion – at the bar, at a picnic, or whenever people are casually sharing a drink together.
Ultimately, smartphone and other technologies available to the packaging world are not a one-step solution to launching and maintaining a successful product but they do have the potential to springboard brands above their competition.
When a brand develops a new variant, marketers refer to it as a line extension – the purpose of which is to build volume by offering an existing consumer the opportunity to derive additional enjoyment from a favourite brand, or by introducing elements into the brand which may attract new consumers. The danger, especially with consumable products, is that these initiatives can cannibalise the original product, and dilute the focus of the brand.
This of course should be guarded against, most importantly in the conceptualisation of the extension – does it play a valid role and hold true meaning for the consumer? – but also in its presentation to market. How can its connection to the core brand be retained, how can it demonstrate its fit and value-add, and how can it be promoted in and of itself at the same time? In the search for optimal response to these challenges there is a packaging format with a small but significant role to play: the taster pack.
A taster pack is packaging that draws multiple variants together in a single purchase. It enables an integrated experience of the new, the diverse, and the tried and trusted – a broad appeal that meets a variety of needs.
You may want to try something new, but without stepping into the unknown. You may like the reliability of a trusted brand, but also want a little something more. Or you may want the comfort of a favourite brand, but without being limited to a single dimension of enjoyment. There are many arenas in which these packs are employed by many brands – an interesting “case study” being the Scotch whisky industry.
One of the great joys of Scotch whisky is its variety, an attribute on which it outperforms all the other major spirits. If you sift through the online ramblings of anoraks, those self-proclaimed whisky experts who specialise in the generation of convoluted tasting notes, you’ll find (dubious as these sources may be) that whisky can taste like anything from coarse leather beaten with a hessian flail, and loamy soil drying in the sunshine after an early spring thundershower, to a buttered scone with jam made from Anatolian figs and clotted cream made from Ayrshire milk…or a combination of these, or something in between. Everything really. Whilst these guys may have wedged their imaginative heads slightly too far up their own arses, they do have a point: the potential for different flavours and for our own individual interpretations thereof is almost limitless. This is the wonderful privilege of drinking whisky – the journey is long and interesting.
In recognition of these possibilities, Glenmorangie, the legendary Scotch malt distillery, has for some years been producing a 4x10cl pack (and more recently the similar 3x35cl), a taster pack – featuring four whiskies ensconced in a rigid box with a display aperture, supplied by luxury packaging experts IPL. The offering includes Original, and the three whiskies making up the “extra matured” range: Lasanta, Quinta Ruban and Nectar d’Or. It affords whisky lovers the ideal opportunity to facilitate and further their malt whisky exploration, and their appreciation of the Glenmorangie brand. Four distinct whiskies side-by-side, some essential experiential insight into how maturation affects the flavour of a whisky, and a hell of lot of enjoyment. All in one convenient pack.
