Technology and Packaging in Food and Beverage Industry.
In the era of Industry 4.0, where technology and innovation have played a vital role in the product development because the Industry 4.0 is the adoption of digital and internet technology for use in the production process that has a distinctive advantage of being able to directly connect the needs of individual consumers to the production process, for example: a factory in the 3.0 era which could produce a large quantity of the same product in the blink of an eye, but in the future, a factory in the 4.0 era so called “Smart Factory” can produce a large quantity of different types of products in the blink of an eye by using an economical and efficient production process with integrated digital technology.
A selection of a suitably automated system to be a part of the product development or production process can help to well strengthen and continue to increase the production volume, particularly, in the food and beverage industries that can efficiently drive the production process starting from the step of the conveyance, packaging and transportation, etc., e. g. in the food and beverage industries.
In addition to the needs of consumers, which are things that manufacturers have to cope with at all time, they also need to keep up with the changing trends all the time including a necessity to create something new and innovative in order to stimulate the interest and respond to the consumers’ needs which are rapidly changing, as well. What have challenged the ability of the packaging industry entrepreneurs to cause the creations of innovations in the world today are the increases in the world population, the consumption demands of middle-class people including the behavioral trend to buy products via Mobile commerce (M-commerce) that have occurred exponentially amidst the other trends such as the arrival of the aging society, the trend of society that cares about health and the economic drive by women, etc.
It has been estimated that, at present, up to one-third of foods totally produced for consumptions are spoiled and in order to worthily use the environment for mankind, packaging technology has therefore been invented to play a role in reducing quantity of damage or simply to say; increasing the role of the packaging in helping to safely preserve food and beverage products and allowing human beings to keep them for longer consumptions consequently resulting in the packaging designs to be significantly important as that of the functionality. In addition, the advance on the matter of the packaging materials adopted for use in making the packaging and the change in technology that have an effect on the packaging processes are still the important factors affecting the development of the currently existing packaging, as well.
It is well known that in Thailand as well as in most Asian countries, consumers pay more attention on the products than the packaging. However, the creation of packaging to distinctively stand out with colors, the selections of materials and designs are the influence and things to draw consumers to be interested in the products available on store shelves or sold in stores. Moreover, the newly emerged technologies which eventually helping in the development of packaging in terms of technical and functional aspects have helped consumers to have new experiences on the use, thus, resulting in the creation of a modern brand image which is yet another factor that makes the products gain attention and helps attract the consumers, as well.
The examples of adopting new technology to help develop packaging to make it interesting and to attract consumers are such as vacuum packaging which is used with the products in food group, both fresh and dried ones, that in addition to helping to preserve them for longer life, it also adds the interest by revealing the appearance of the products inside with a freshness or tasty look. In addition, the adoption of vacuum packaging for use with the products in the agricultural crops group which are grains will help reduce damage from weevils that eat seeds or grains, as well.
Packaging in the form of a stand-up zip lock bag other than being able to help keep the foods fresh and clean for consumers for consumption or reuse, it also helps the setting arrangements on the product shelves to be interesting and easy to catch the eyes of consumers as well as reducing the total weights of the products, saving the cost and being convenient to the transport, helping to reduce the cost of logistics management.
PET pull-lid packaging used for containing dry and liquid foods adds the interest on the product shelf, prolongs the shelf life, increases convenience for consumption and transportation and reduces transportation costs.
Hence, it can be seen that the development of packaging using new technology has helped in adding the value of the products in terms of the advantage of the utilization, the emergence of worthiness, reduction in the loss of both the food resources and the management process of the enterprises and, finally, to help in adding the value and worthiness on the creation of brands that make the brands stronger as a result of building up the experience and the attractions on consumers.
Source: Department of Industrial Promotion.
