Interactive technology

Labels target food waste reduction

Piotr Wnuk — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 23:21:56 +0000

Avery Dennison has published research highlighting how intelligent labels can address food waste across the global supply chain, which is forecast to reach 540 billion USD by 2026.

The Making the Invisible Visible report, which surveyed 3,500 global food retailers and supply chain leaders, found that 61 percent of businesses lack full visibility into where food waste occurs across their operations. The company positions intelligent labels as a key technology to address these blind spots and transform food waste from an operating cost into measurable value.

Transit emerged as a critical area where labels can provide visibility, with 56 percent of companies reporting they do not have a clear understanding of how much food waste happens during transportation. The research identified meat as the most challenging category, projected to cost 94 billion USD in lost output in 2026, followed by fresh produce at 88 billion USD.

'The biggest challenge is what we can't see. From transit to shelf, blind spots are silently eroding margins,' noted Julie Vargas, vice president and general manager of enterprise intelligent labels growth at Avery Dennison. 'With the right innovation, we can turn this loss into measurable value and shift the conversation on food waste, from being purely seen as a sustainability issue, into a business critical one.'

The report found that inventory management and overstocking contribute significantly to food waste for 51 percent of business leaders. Avery Dennison suggests that intelligent labels can enable item-level inventory visibility, demand forecasting and real-time shelf-life management to address these challenges.

Economic volatility and shifting consumer demands are exacerbating food waste issues, with 74 percent of retailers stating inflation is making it harder to predict demand for fresh meat and 73 percent reporting rising consumer demand for smaller meat portions or alternatives.

'Over seven in ten business leaders told us that they see tackling food waste as a growth opportunity,' added Michael Colarossi, vice president and head of enterprise sustainability at Avery Dennison. 'That's why the 540 billion USD in lost value should be a clear call to action for the food retail supply chain to cut waste and boost efficiencies.'

If current trends continue, the cumulative cost of food waste from 2025 to 2030 is expected to reach 3.4 trillion USD.

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Labels target food waste reduction

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Avery Dennison research highlights intelligent labels' role in supply chain visibility.

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Digital watermarks prove their worth in real-world trials

Piotr Wnuk — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 01:47:00 +0000

Sustainability 22 December 2025

Digital watermarks prove their worth in real-world trials

HolyGrail 2.0’s latest industrial trials demonstrate the technology’s readiness for commercial deployment across European recycling facilities.

The quest for accurate plastic sorting has reached a pivotal moment. After years of development and testing, digital watermark technology has finally proven it can deliver the precision needed to transform how Europe handles post-consumer packaging waste. The HolyGrail 2.0 initiative’s latest industrial trials, conducted at Germany’s Hündgen Entsorgung facility, have demonstrated detection rates consistently exceeding 90 percent, a significant leap forward in sorting technology.

Over 100 days of rigorous testing from August to December 2024, the facility processed real household waste from Germany and Denmark, clocking an average of nearly 56,000 detections per day. The numbers are impressive: 5.66 million detections across 5,949 unique SKUs, with detection efficiency ranging from 87.9 to 93.8 percent. This represents the largest-scale testing of digital watermark technology to date, proving its potential for widespread commercial adoption.

Beyond traditional sorting limitations

Current near-infrared and visible light spectroscopy (NIR/VIS) systems, while effective at separating basic materials like PET, polypropylene and polyethylene, face inherent limitations that digital watermarks can overcome.

‘NIR/VIS spectroscopy separates materials and colors; however, certain packaging features limit its detection capabilities. For instance, the presence of sleeves does not allow you to see the color underneath, multilayer packaging hinders the detection below the top layer, and additives and polymer physical properties are not visible by NIR/VIS,’ explains Margherita Trombetti, project manager and sustainability policy officer at AIM, the European Brands Association.

Traditional sorting technologies also cannot identify crucial information, such as product application, whether for food, cosmetic or detergent use; recycled content levels; or whether materials are bio-based or fossil-based.

Margherita Trombetti, project manager and sustainability policy officer at AIM – the European Brands Association and Martyn Tickner, technical advisor at the Alliance to End Plastic Waste

‘There are certain types of information that it is impossible to obtain via the technology alone. This is why new technologies are needed,’ adds Trombetti.

Digital watermarks address these gaps by encoding detailed information directly into packaging during the printing process.

‘Digital watermarks’ ability to identify packaging features at the SKU level unlocks a new set of data about the packaging, granting access to any packaging attributes such as additives, viscosity and hidden layers,’ notes Trombetti.

These granular sorting capabilities extend far beyond current systems. ‘When packaging is marked with digital watermarks, it can be sorted based on usage such as food, cosmetics, detergents and others, as well as traced for brand owners’ collection statistics by product and for EPR purposes,’ she explains.

Complementary technologies

Rather than replacing existing infrastructure entirely, the most effective approach combines digital watermarks with established NIR technology. This hybrid approach maximizes sorting efficiency while accommodating both marked and unmarked packaging, a practical necessity.

‘Digital watermarking allows for the splitting of any fraction to a higher level of granularity than is currently possible with near infrared technology,’ states Trombetti.

Integration proves essential for practical implementation. ‘Not all objects will be digitally watermarked, and so a combination of DW and NIR/VIS provides the best of both worlds, enabling mixed sorting of both marked and unmarked SKUs, including responding to dirty, partially marked or damaged packaging,’ explains Trombetti.

“Digital watermarking is a proven method at commercial scale, and the early-adopter markets will benefit from this”

The Hündgen facility trials exemplified this integrated approach through sophisticated equipment configuration. ‘On Hündgen’s main line, a new 2.8m-wide Pellenc ST module enabled with Digimarc watermark detection was installed to process an input stream consisting of post-consumer plastic from the German and Danish collection systems,’ details Trombetti.

‘The detection efficiency ranged from 87.9 percent to 93.8 percent, with strong evidence of consistent detection over 90 percent over long durations,’ Trombetti notes. These results proved particularly impressive given the complexity involved: ‘Nearly 6,000 SKUs from collection in two countries, challenging post-consumer waste, including the presence of films and flexibles in the rigids stream, and the uneven distribution and crumpling of material.’

Implementation challenges

Integrating new technology into existing facilities requires careful consideration of both technical and economic factors. Martyn Tickner, technical advisor at the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, emphasizes the distinction between detection and sorting components. ‘It is important firstly to recognize that the transition to circular systems requires major investments into sorting capability, the key enabler to high-quality recycling,’ he explains.

Investment strategy becomes crucial for successful implementation. ‘We should differentiate between the detection/decision making and the sorting step itself, most typically by air-jet separation of a stream, with the most significant part of the capital cost being the latter,’ he notes.

The detection systems themselves increasingly utilize multiple sensor inputs, combining NIR, visible light, digital watermarks and object recognition technologies.

‘Detection/decision making increasingly utilizes multi-sensory input, with the choice determined by the cost and value that each technology brings to the problem being addressed,’ notes Tickner.

Real-world sorting presents challenges beyond technology implementation. Contamination remains a persistent headache, with waste conditions presenting multiple obstacles.

‘In general, sorting is made more difficult by elements that consumers put in the garbage bag despite not being plastic, metal, or paper, hence contaminating the input. It is estimated that around 40 to 50 percent of such elements can be found in the yellow bag,’ explains Trombetti.

The trials also encountered operational challenges that provided valuable learning opportunities. ‘Waste conditions also presented some challenges: harsh soiling, crumpling, crushing and aging. During the trials, there were some hardware and cooling challenges associated with the detection, but these did not negatively affect the detection and ejection results,’ she adds. Such real-world hiccups are exactly what the industry needs to understand before widespread rollout.

Economic viability

The transition from research trials to commercial deployment hinges on demonstrating clear economic value for all stakeholders. The newly formed Circular Packaging 2030 consortium, emerging from HolyGrail 2.0, focuses specifically on proving the business case for intelligent sorting across European markets.

“Meeting the 2030 EU-wide PPWR targets requires investment not only in sorting, but in recycling capabilities”

‘Circular Packaging 2030 is a collaborative consortium of companies and organizations representing the entire packaging value chain. Its mission is to prove the economic viability of a circular economy for selected plastics packaging use cases,’ explains Trombetti.

The consortium’s comprehensive approach addresses multiple stakeholders’ needs simultaneously.

‘The primary aim is to demonstrate end-to-end business value creation by implementing intelligent sorting for all PP plastic materials, and identification of the right recycling path to create food-grade [recycled polypropylene] material. This may later extend to other material types,’ she continues.

The consortium’s methodology encompasses rigorous evaluation criteria, including sorting performance metrics, business case evaluation and return on investment assessment.

This comprehensive evaluation approach recognizes that advanced sorting represents just one component of the circular economy equation.

‘Meeting the 2030 EU-wide PPWR targets requires investment not only in sorting, but in recycling capabilities. However, advanced sorting is a key enabler for recycling and hence PPWR compliance,’ emphasizes Trombetti.

The infrastructure investment strategy focuses on scalable approaches rather than retrofitting facilities individually. ‘The industry should focus on implementing advanced sorting, including managing this on a large scale as a second sorting step rather than retrofitting capabilities into each individual municipal sorting facility,’ she advises.

Strategic market demonstrations

The transition to commercial deployment begins with carefully selected market demonstrations in Belgium and Germany. These locations offer distinct advantages for validating the technology’s commercial viability under different conditions.

‘Both markets were selected for strategic reasons. Belgium offers environment to demonstrate the business case for a circular economy in flexible polypropylene packaging,’ states Trombetti.

The country’s institutional advantages make it particularly suitable for testing. ‘This is largely due to Fost Plus, a well-positioned and highly proactive Producer Responsibility Organization, whose ambition makes them a key partner,’ she notes. ‘Leading brand owners who were instrumental in previous semi-industrial and industrial trials are also actively involved in this market demonstration, driven by their commitment to meeting the EU-wide 2030 targets for recyclability and recycled content.’

“Plastic recycling rates will increase progressively and differently region by region”

Belgium’s existing infrastructure provides an excellent foundation for advanced sorting implementation. ‘Belgium sees high annual volumes of flexible packaging and its advanced sorting centers already deliver very pure flows. By introducing watermark recognition technology, we are completing the final step toward achieving truly circular flexible packaging,’ Trombetti explains. Its positioning as a perfect testing ground makes sense.

Germany offers complementary advantages for rigid packaging applications. Germany is also being explored, given high amounts of rigid PP in their market. Moreover, this market demonstration can benefit from the sorting equipment that is already installed in the partner MRF Hündgen Entsorgung,’ she adds. Leveraging existing infrastructure makes economic sense.

The demonstrations will follow a structured two-year timeline focusing on specific outcomes. ‘This will be a two-year market demonstration, focused on sorting post-consumer, digitally watermarked PP packaging from selected markets. The resulting fractions will be recycled using various technologies to assess performance and output quality,’ details Trombetti.

Regulatory compliance

The European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation creates urgent timelines for industry transformation, requiring sophisticated tracking and reporting capabilities.

‘Digital watermarks embody the perfect example of how the EU-wide goal of the green and digital transitions can happen together: DW carry a wide range of attributes such as manufacturer, SKU, type of plastics used, composition for multi-layer objects, food vs non-food application,’ notes Trombetti.

The technology’s data collection capabilities support comprehensive regulatory reporting requirements. ‘Digital watermarks have the potential to meet other PPWR requirements. Notably, to enable the creation of a Digital Packaging Passport that can help companies meet EU reporting requirements, such as communicating about the material composition of the packaging to facilitate sorting, or about the presence of substances of concern, or even to get highly reliable and accurate data for EPR reporting obligations,’ she explains.

Timing becomes critical for meeting regulatory deadlines.

‘Given the urgency for improvement, it is important to move forward with technologies that are already in place today that will support the viability of downstream investments, rather than waiting for maturation of even newer technologies,’ explains Trombetti. This approach provides ‘the most assured route towards PPWR compliance.’

The regulatory framework also requires significant infrastructure development beyond sorting capabilities.

‘Next to progress on sorting infrastructure, an upgrade in recycling capabilities is needed. It will take many years to install adequate infrastructure for chemical recycling. However, we already have significant mechanical recycling infrastructure in place, which can be more rapidly developed to provide the quality required to meet the PPWR targets as long as feedstocks are accurately and efficiently sorted,’ she notes.

Global adoption

While European markets drive current development, the technology’s global potential depends on varying regional conditions and requirements. Tickner outlines how adoption patterns will differ based on local waste management maturity and economic conditions.

‘Plastic recycling rates will increase progressively and differently region by region, driven by waste management policies, targets, brand-owner ambitions and financing mechanisms, which in turn create end-markets that support the investment in collection, sorting and recycling,’ he explains.

Regional infrastructure variations create different opportunities for implementation. ‘In OECD countries with more mature waste management systems, sorting will largely be fully automated and capable of advanced detection such as NIR, DW, object recognition [OR]. In lower-cost countries and those with less mature waste management systems, manual sorting will dominate,’ notes Tickner.

However, advanced detection technology can provide value across diverse operational contexts. ‘Even here, advanced detection can be deployed, using laser lights to guide manual sorters. And in all cases, quality control of incoming materials will be relevant,’ explains Tickner.

The strategic decision for brand owners involves weighing implementation approaches and timing considerations. ‘Perhaps the trade-off for brand owners between taking the initiative and costs for digital watermarking versus relying on others to implement object recognition may favor a strategic decision to adopt digital watermarks,’ suggests Tickner.

Competitive landscape

The sorting technology landscape continues evolving rapidly, with artificial intelligence-enabled object recognition advancing alongside digital watermarks. However, a pragmatic perspective on technology selection and implementation timing should be maintained.

‘For sorting and data collection, the capabilities of AI-enabled object recognition (OR) are advancing fast, and while the limits of performance and operational cost in highly complex systems are not yet determined. OR represents an approach with a lower entry barrier for brands, at least for today’s needs in rigid packaging,’ explains Tickner.

Tickner highlights the importance of action over prolonged evaluation. ‘We believe that the actual choice of detection approach is of secondary importance and is consuming too much energy. Digital watermarking is a proven method at commercial scale, and the early-adopter markets will benefit from this,’ he states.

Risk management considerations favor implementation over waiting. ‘The regret cost of inaction is far higher than the regret of implementing a detection technology and then finding in five to 10 years that performance boundaries and market requirements have evolved in favor of a different approach, and some retrofit costs are required,’ observes Tickner.

The competitive landscape will likely support multiple detection technologies, each optimized for specific applications.

Next steps

The Circular Packaging 2030 consortium has established comprehensive milestones for commercial deployment over the next two years, encompassing technical performance, economic viability and regulatory approval processes.

Key objectives include achieving ‘sorting performance metrics comparable to those in HolyGrail 2.0 Phase 3 and aligned with regulatory standards’, along with demonstrating ‘added value for both feedstock and recyclates, focusing on the production of high-quality materials suitable for target packaging applications,’ explains Trombetti.

Economic validation remains central to the consortium’s mission. The program will ‘assess the ROI for all stakeholders to validate the commercial viability of a circular economy model’ while working to ‘produce high-value recyclates that justify investment in intelligent sorting technology,’ she details.

The demonstration’s expected outcomes extend beyond immediate commercial deployment. ‘By the end of the market demonstration, the Consortium expects to achieve a pathway for food-grade PP recyclates initially for non-food contact applications and outline a clear roadmap toward EFSA approval,’ she explains.

Success in these demonstrations will provide the foundation for broader rollout across European markets. The readiness for widespread implementation represents the culmination of years of hard work and testing. With high detection efficiency and the ability to sort at unprecedented granularity, digital watermarks offer a proven path toward the accurate sorting essential for circular packaging systems. The transition from HolyGrail 2.0 research to HolyGrail 2030 marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of packaging recycling, one that the industry has been waiting for.

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Identiv opens Thailand manufacturing facility

Piotr Wnuk — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:05:54 +0000

Identiv has completed its manufacturing transition from Singapore to its Bangkok, Thailand facility, positioning the company as a leader in multicomponent manufacturing (MCM) for advanced RFID and BLE IoT applications.

The production transition to Thailand represents a significant achievement for the Perform pillar of Identiv's Perform, Accelerate, Transform (P-A-T) strategy, establishing a highly efficient manufacturing operation in a location known for its strong workforce and competitive cost structure.

'The completion of our Thailand production transition is a foundational milestone for Identiv as a pure-play IoT company, marking the end of a successful two-year process and delivering on a key strategic objective for operational excellence,' stated Kirsten Newquist, CEO at Identiv. 'By providing a state-of-the-art, high-quality and cost-efficient base, the Thailand facility is now the engine of our competitive advantage, engineered for the future of IoT and sustained, profitable growth.'

As IoT applications expand from inventory management and asset tracking to complex, high-value applications such as real-time location tracking, condition monitoring and advanced security, simple, single-component inlays are evolving into more sophisticated, multi-component designs. MCM is a production method for this new era of IoT manufacturing, enabling the industrial-scale integration of various components, including chips, sensors and batteries, into advanced RFID and BLE-enabled tags.

'Multicomponent manufacturing is not merely an assembly method; it is the orchestration of interdependent disciplines, including product design, process engineering, material science and testing,' explained Dr Manfred Mueller, chief strategy officer at Identiv. 'The decade of experience our teams have in refining these parameters across thousands of production runs is a key competitive advantage for Identiv. This expertise is what allows us to rapidly prototype and commercialize complex systems for critical high-value applications, cementing our role as the infrastructure layer shaping IoT's future.'

MCM is expected to play a key role in expanding Identiv's specialized IoT offerings, including advanced BLE capabilities for healthcare and logistics applications.

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Identiv opens Thailand manufacturing facility

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The RFID and BLE IoT manufacturer establishes a multicomponent manufacturing capability.

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FoodChain ID and Unpac partner for EPR compliance platform

Akanksha Meena — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 13:54:43 +0000

FoodChain ID, regulatory compliance products and services provider, and Unpac, the AI-powered SaaS platform have entered into an exclusive strategic alliance to deliver the advanced Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) compliance platform to the global food and beverage industry.

With EPR laws now active in seven US states and legislative drafts in 10 more, packaging compliance is no longer optional – it’s a financial imperative with implications for business margins, operations and CFO-level priorities. This partnership combines FoodChain ID’s food industry and regulatory compliance expertise with Unpac’s intelligent EPR software to create a new capability in packaging compliance ‒ one that turns regulatory burden into a business advantage.

‘Together, we’re eliminating the friction from EPR compliance and giving brands a smarter way to reduce risk, meet regulatory deadlines and find savings in their packaging data,’ said Marc Losito, vice president of regulatory solutions at FoodChain ID. ‘This partnership isn’t just about EPR reporting, it’s about helping our customers future-proof their packaging strategy with defensible data and intelligent tools.’

‘We built Unpac to make packaging data actionable, to turn compliance into measurable business value,’ said Lee Lubner, CEO of Unpac. ‘Our mission is to help brands unlock the power of their packaging data with automation, accuracy and intelligence.’

The alliance offers a single, integrated EPR compliance platform that streamlines packaging data collection, automates reporting across jurisdictions, and delivers actionable insights for procurement, packaging design and sustainability teams.

Key benefits for customers include one-click, multi-jurisdiction EPR reporting, powered by Unpac’s automation engine and supported by FoodChain ID’s regulatory consulting team for compliance confidence across US state-specific frameworks. Automated data validation, gap analysis and eco-modulation simulations reduce fees and improve packaging performance, guided by FoodChain ID’s domain expertise in food and beverage packaging standards.

It offers up to 80 percent reduction in manual effort and 20 percent+ reduction in EPR-related fees, with packaging cost savings of 10-20 percent validated by FoodChain ID’s expert interpretation and defensibility reviews. Unpac’s Single Source of Truth for packaging data, enriched with FoodChain ID’s broader compliance intelligence and audit support capabilities. Brands get end-to-end support from data to decision, combining Unpac’s AI-driven platform with FoodChain ID’s advisory, implementation, and enterprise enablement services.

The partnership supports food and beverage brands by making it easier to manage regulatory complexity and state-by-state reporting, while also surfacing cost savings and elevating operational performance.

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FoodChain ID and Unpac partner for EPR compliance platform

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Key benefits for customers include one-click, multi-jurisdiction EPR reporting for compliance across US state-specific frameworks.

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Paragon ID and Dracula Technologies expand partnership

Piotr Wnuk — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 22:10:57 +0000

Paragon ID and Dracula Technologies have strengthened their partnership to scale production of XgenTag-L, a battery-free Bluetooth Low Energy smart tag powered by ambient light.

The collaboration includes a multi-year product order representing several hundred thousand LAYER organic photovoltaic modules per year. The tags harvest energy from ambient light to power BLE chips, enabling transmission intervals of one second in bright conditions without batteries or maintenance infrastructure.

'The success of XgenTag-L demonstrates that sustainable IoT is not a future vision, it's happening now and delivering value,' commented Eric Cariou, vice president of new product development at Paragon ID. 'By strengthening our collaboration with Dracula Technologies, we're making this breakthrough technology accessible at global scale across logistics, transport, aviation, healthcare and retail.'

The XgenTag-L combines Paragon ID's connected traceability expertise with Dracula Technologies' Layer OPV modules. The tags operate via smartphone applications provided by Paragon ID in compatible environments.

'Our Layer energy-harvesting modules deliver the energy autonomy required for truly maintenance-free connected devices,' stated Brice Cruchon, CEO and founder of Dracula Technologies. 'Together, we're proving that sustainability and industrial performance can go hand in hand globally.'

The companies report the tags eliminate batteries, reducing CO2 emissions and e-waste while avoiding critical raw materials. The system is designed for over 10 years of maintenance-free operation, with total cost of ownership reductions of up to 35 percent and return on investment in six months.

Target applications include supply chain tracking of reusable containers and pallets, healthcare asset monitoring, ground-handling equipment visibility, smart packaging for retail and aviation equipment tracking.

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Paragon ID and Dracula Technologies expand partnership

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A multi-year order supports the scale-up of battery-free Bluetooth tracking tags.

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A multi-year order supports the scale-up of battery-free Bluetooth tracking tags.

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Esko Print Clone wins Zero Impact Packaging award

Akanksha Meena — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 05:21:27 +0000

Esko Print Clone, the advanced cloud-native color matching software launched earlier this year, has won the 2025 Zero Impact Packaging award in the Printing Technology category. The Zero Impact Packaging awards highlight the industry’s best packaging innovations of the year.

Unveiled at this year’s Esko World event, Print Clone leverages AI and automation to enable digital press operators to replicate colors from previously printed packages with precision, regardless of the original printing process. Esko Print Clone was among the innovations awarded a trophy at a special event held in Paris on Monday, December 8.

‘Esko Print Clone delivers high-quality results with minimal manual intervention,’ explained Esko CMO Jan De Roeck. ‘This innovation eliminates the traditional trial-and-error approach to color matching, significantly reducing manual interventions and accelerating job completion times for packaging and label converters.

‘The ultimate color-matching solution, Print Clone boosts digital printing productivity, eliminating lengthy test cycles and helping minimize waste and subsequent environmental impact.’ he said.

‘Decreased press downtime serves to improve profitability, and the fact that Print Clone is cloud-native, requiring no installation, means users can just log in, upload, connect, and measure. Moreover, Print Clone is exceptionally user-friendly – this ease of use makes it possible for anyone to prepare files for digital printing.’

First teased at drupa 2024, Print Clone was officially unveiled and made available worldwide as part of Esko World 2025, which took place in St Louis, Missouri in June this year.

Explaining how the innovation works, De Roeck said: ‘Once a PDF file has been drag-and-dropped into Print Clone, the software guides the user to measure a number of colors on the physical sample using a spectrophotometer. The AI-powered algorithms then optimize color accuracy to deliver a high-quality, color-accurate re-separated PDF file. By integrating Print Clone into their workflows, digital press operators can ensure consistent, high-quality results while reducing their environmental impact and operational costs.’

With the Esko Print Clone, packaging and label converters can instantly refine colors by uploading PDFs and using a spectrophotometer. They can replace tedious trial-and-error methods with just a couple of clicks. Advanced algorithms ensure colors match specifications perfectly. Converters can maintain uniform color across different substrates and print jobs. The dynamically adjusted PDFs match original artwork seamlessly.

The Zero Impact Packaging Awards are the new incarnation of the Oscar de l’Emballage, known as the Packaging Oscars, which have honored innovation in the sector for 70 years. They reward projects and products that move the industry towards more sustainable, smarter and more responsible packaging. Focused on innovation, impact reduction, circularity, new approaches to materials or uses, the award ceremony honors players who combine performance and meaning.

‘We are delighted that this innovation, which saves significant time, energy and waste for digital press operators, has been recognized by such a highly regarded French awards program,’ said De Roeck. ‘This is a real testament to the effort that goes into delivering meaningful improvements and driving operational efficiencies at outstanding value for our customers.’

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Esko Print Clone wins Zero Impact Packaging award

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Print Clone enables digital press operators to replicate colors from previously printed packages regardless of the original printing process.

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Print Clone enables digital press operators to replicate colors from previously printed packages regardless of the original printing process.

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Esko partners with io.tt

Piotr Wnuk — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 01:03:26 +0000

Esko has partnered with io.tt to integrate connected packaging capabilities directly into its design and workflow tools.

The collaboration embeds io.tt experience templates into Esko's software ecosystem, including ArtPro+, Automation Engine, WebCenter and comply. This allows brand owners and packaging suppliers to create and deploy connected experiences without bespoke development or manual design rework.

'As an official Connected Packaging Partner to Esko, we're bringing connected packaging, and their common use-cases, into the everyday workflow for brands,' said Cameron Worth, CEO and founder of io.tt. 'By embedding io.tt templates within Esko's trusted tools, brands can now activate digital experiences from day zero – reducing design complexity, cutting development costs and accelerating time to market.'

The integration enables brands to build digital engagement tools at the design stage rather than as an afterthought. Pre-configured templates are available directly within Esko's tools, streamlining the creation of compliant, data-driven and consumer-ready packaging at scale.

'This exciting collaboration with io.tt represents a big step forward in how packaging workflows can serve both operational and strategic business goals,' noted Jan De Roeck, marketing director at Esko. 'By embedding connected packaging capabilities directly into ArtPro+, Automation Engine, WebCenter and comply, we are helping brands to build digital experiences into their packaging from the design stage, not as an afterthought.'

Key benefits include reduced development and design costs through standardized templates, faster time to market by eliminating handoffs between physical packaging and digital experience teams, and built-in support for evolving regulations, including the EU Digital Product Passport and GS1 Sunrise.

The partnership also integrates io.tt's Connect and Insights with Esko's reporting systems, providing unified visibility into packaging performance and real-world consumer engagement.

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Esko partners with io.tt

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The new integration brings connected packaging into everyday design workflows.

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The new integration brings connected packaging into everyday design workflows.

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Tageos expands RFID inlays portfolio

Piotr Wnuk — Sun, 23 Nov 2025 20:51:41 +0000

Tageos has launched two new RFID inlays developed in collaboration with EM Microelectronic: the EOS-920 and the EOS-620 Seal, designed for product authentication, supply chain efficiency and consumer engagement.

The EOS-920 EM4332 NFC inlay combines Tageos' antenna design and manufacturing capabilities with EM Microelectronic's chip technology, offering performance for secure product authentication, smart packaging and proof of presence applications. The NFC Forum Type 2-compliant product features a pre-programmed unique 7-byte ID, 308-bytes user memory and cryptographic functions for enhanced security. With a compact antenna size of 20 mm diameter, the product is available in dry, wet and plastic-face delivery formats.

The EOS-620 Seal EM4425 expands Tageos' anti-tamper inlay portfolio. The product features a tamper-loop design and tamper-detection interface powered by EM Microelectronic's em|echo-V ICs, enabling both HF/NFC and RAIN RFID (UHF) dual-frequency use cases on a single chip. RAIN RFID applications include supply chain management and inventory visibility in retail, food and beverage, healthcare and pharma, logistics and manufacturing. HF/NFC functionalities allow consumers and retailers to verify product origin with a smartphone tap, while unlocking digital experiences, enriched product information and personalized loyalty programs.

The EOS-620 Seal EM4425 inlay complies with NFC Forum Type 5 specifications and offers user-configurable non-volatile shared memory accessible via NFC and RAIN RFID. The product is available in dry, wet and paper-face form factors.

'The em|linq chips give every product a secure digital identity that consumers can verify instantly with a simple tap,' said Pierre Muller, manager of the RFID business unit at EM Microelectronic. 'Each interaction builds trust and ensures authenticity, making transparency real and protection reliable, whether for medicines, premium beverages or high-value goods. Furthermore, the em|echo-V HF-UHF combination bridges the chasm between the B2B use cases using professional, closed-loop RAIN RFID infrastructure and B2C use cases, allowing each consumer to interact with the product via their smartphone in a complete open-loop environment, making it an ideal support for implementing Digital Product Passport.'

'By enabling highly secure product authentication, enhanced consumer engagement and improved supply chain transparency, all without compromising functionality, Tageos once again underscores its leadership in RFID and wireless IoT innovation,' added Hector Gomez, vice president of specialty products at Tageos. 'The new EOS-920 EM4332 and EOS-620 Seal EM4425 inlays reinforce our commitment to support label converters and their customers to build trust directly into their products.'

Tageos' market partners, ForgeStop and 4iD Solutions, have already received significant customer interest with first deployments such as IFA Celtics based on these new products. At two upcoming tradeshows in India, CPHI and PMEC 2025 (November 25-27, booth 15A.A90) and the Brews and Spirits Expo 2025 (November 27-29, booth B203), all partners will jointly showcase their latest innovations.

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Tageos expands RFID inlays portfolio

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New NFC and dual-frequency products target authentication and supply chain applications.

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New NFC and dual-frequency products target authentication and supply chain applications.

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Avery Dennison extends San Francisco 49ers collaboration

Adyasha Sinha — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 07:39:33 +0000

Avery Dennison has extended its partnership with the San Francisco 49ers to enable the latter to transition from traditional brand awareness marketing to a new era of digital connection between fans, sponsors, and the team. It is leveraging its atma.io connected product cloud platform for the same. This enables deeper engagement, data-driven insights and dynamic brand experiences uniquely tailored to every fan’s journey.

The multi-year agreement builds on the original digitally connected merchandise program, establishing Avery Dennison as the 49ers' exclusive partner for cutting-edge embellishment and personalization technology. The latest evolution of the partnership further leverages Avery Dennison’s Embelex offering portfolio.

The partnership extension arrives at a pivotal moment, as Levi’s Stadium prepares to host an exciting lineup of global football and soccer events in 2026. These initiatives are designed to elevate the stadium’s international profile and provide unparalleled opportunities for fans from around the world to engage.

Over the course of the partnership, Avery Dennison and the 49ers aim to enhance the gameday experience by adding personalized ball engraving services. These custom, unique footballs will celebrate fans’ experiences at Levi’s Stadium and their history as members of the team’s loyal fan base.

'This partnership shows how far fan engagement has come,' says Steve Mason, vice president/general manager, commercial and embelex, Avery Dennison. 'It used to be about buying a jersey off the rack. Now, with on-demand customization and digital patches, fans can create something personal and interactive; a memento that connects them to a moment, a season, even the community around the team.'

'From the start, the 49ers and Avery Dennison have worked together to deliver an elevated fan experience through innovative retail technology,' added Kevin Hilton, vice president of corporate partnerships at the 49ers. 'Together, we’ve leveraged Avery Dennison’s digital capabilities to create impactful business solutions for our fans, our organization, and our corporate partners - and we look forward to expanding those integrations in the future.'

The move also establishes a framework for continuous innovation, ensuring the program remains at the forefront of sports technology. This includes expansion through existing 49ers sponsors, as well as exploring new possibilities for digitally enabled experiences by extending smart technology beyond traditional merchandise to create even more opportunities for fan engagement.

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1 month 3 weeks ago

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Avery Dennison extends San Francisco 49ers collaboration

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The multi-year agreement builds on the original digitally-connected merchandise program between the two organizations.

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The multi-year agreement builds on the original digitally-connected merchandise program between the two organizations.

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Impinj expands Gen2X RAIN RFID capabilities

Selah Zighelboim — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 19:27:48 +0000

Impinj, RAIN RFID provider and Internet of Things company, unveiled new Gen2X capabilities at its Gen2X Solutions Developers Conference 2025, the company’s exclusive event for IoT developers and partners. The three key innovations inhibit fraudulent items and tags, reduce stray tag reads and help readers find and focus on tags of interest in retail and industrial environments. In addition, Impinj added Gen2X support to its M770 and M780 series endpoint ICs, thereby expanding Gen2X’s use in logistics, manufacturing, automotive and healthcare.

Released in December 2024 and now widely available across the RAIN industry, Gen2X is a standards-compatible enhancement to the industry radio protocol that speeds inventory, improves reader sensitivity and range, improves read-zone confinement, inhibits fraudulent items, protects consumer privacy and reduces solution cost.

'I am thrilled with the industry’s adoption of Gen2X, including partner launches of more than 100 Gen2X-enabled inlays and 50 readers in less than a year,' said Chris Diorio, Impinj co-founder and CEO. 'As global demand for RAIN continues to grow, we’re expanding Gen2X to help our solution developers and partners better address enterprise opportunities and solve enterprise challenges. Today’s announcement fulfills our promise to keep advancing Gen2X to address market needs. We will continue making our Gen2X innovations, developed through our work with leading enterprises, widely available to the industry to drive RAIN adoption.'

Counterfeit tags and items are a persistent challenge for enterprises and brands, causing lost revenues, eroding brand reputation and trust, risking product safety and negatively impacting IoT solution performance. Impinj Endpoint IC Verification, a new Gen2X innovation, inhibits fraudulent tags and items by allowing RAIN readers and printers to verify – during normal inventory and with no speed penalty – whether a tag contains an authentic Impinj endpoint IC. This new verification effectively replaces EPC-TID verification, eliminating a critical vulnerability from illicit endpoint ICs, available on the market today, that have changeable TIDs.

Stray tag reads are another persistent enterprise challenge, with unwanted tags outside the desired read zone degrading autonomous reading solutions. Gen2X Fast Reinventory, when combined with read-zone-confinement techniques that Impinj introduced at the conference, reduces stray tag reads. In addition, a new Gen2X Tag Selection capability allows readers to better specify which tags should respond during inventory and which should remain quiet, helping enterprise solutions read only desired tags.

'Having already launched over 35 Gen2X-enabled RAIN RFID inlays and tags based on Impinj’s powerful M800 endpoint ICs, Tageos is excited to continue working closely with Impinj to integrate these new Gen2X innovations into our broad portfolio of Impinj M700- and M800-based inlays for retail and industrial applications,' said Chris Reese, chief technology officer at Tageos. 'Enabling the highest quality tagging of even smaller and more challenging items with critical requirements such as extended memory is our ultimate product development goal. These new Gen2X innovations help us improve inlay and tag readability through advanced tag filtering, and will help businesses protect themselves against counterfeit tags and items.'

The new Impinj Endpoint IC Verification and Gen2X Tag Selection innovations are available in the latest versions of M800 series endpoint ICs, Impinj R700 reader firmware and E Family reader IC firmware and software tools. Gen2X Fast Reinventory is in limited availability today, with general availability to follow in mid-2026.

Impinj is adding Gen2X to its M770, M775, M780 and M781 endpoint ICs, designed for applications and use cases requiring larger EPC and/or user memory. The Gen2X addition improves performance on smaller tags, in large tag populations, on densely packed items and on traditionally hard-to-read items such as those containing liquids and metals. Impinj also upgraded these ICs with substantial mechanical and process enhancements to improve inlay manufacturability, reliability and quality for industrial applications. Impinj also added Enduro V2 bonding pads to strengthen chip-to-antenna adhesion, providing exceptional mechanical stability, assembly consistency, reliability and durability over a tag’s lifespan.

'Beontag is thrilled to upgrade our tags based on Impinj M770 and M780 series endpoint ICs with Gen2X to unlock new use cases with our industrial customers,' said Miika Pylvänäinen, global product director, Beontag. 'With the addition of Gen2X, M770/M780-based products such as Silverline Blade II+, Ironside Slim, and Survivor take performance to the next level, delivering faster, more accurate and verifiable reads while unlocking exceptional reliability as customer demand for RFID tags continues to expand at a rapid pace.'

'Checkpoint Systems is excited to upgrade our high-performance industrial tags with Impinj M770 and M780 series endpoint ICs that include new Gen2X capabilities,' said Al Green, vice president technology development, Checkpoint Systems. 'For pharmaceutical and healthcare applications, industrial tags demand the highest levels of quality and readability – especially in densely packed shipping environments where tags are challenging to read. Gen2X enhancements noticeably improve tag performance and reliability, helping ensure product authenticity, accurate tracking and patient safety across the supply chain.'

To help system designers to leverage these new Gen2X capabilities, Impinj announced new E Family reader IC firmware and software tools supporting Impinj Endpoint IC Verification and Gen2X Tag Selection. In addition to Gen2X, the latest E Family firmware and software add new deep scan inventory capabilities that intelligently sequence inventory rounds.

'Using new Gen2X innovations included in the latest Impinj E Family reader firmware, our overhead readers are dramatically reducing inventory times and numbers of missing tags, differentiating our AdvanTrack series from competing solutions,' said Ramir De Porrata-Doria, co-founder and managing director, Keonn Technologies. 'Impinj's Gen2X capabilities are hugely impactful for RAIN RFID inventory management efficiency and accuracy, improving scanning automation in retail stores, warehouses and factories.'

Impinj’s latest Gen2X innovations and extended Gen2X product support expand the benefits of Gen2X to further drive RAIN RFID adoption. Impinj’s expanded Gen2X solution toolbox can help retailers reliably inventory and track their smallest items, grocery stores to manage freshness at the individual unit level, healthcare organizations use secure smart cabinets for pharmaceutical storage, and logistics and manufacturing enterprises to intelligently track and authenticate packages and the items inside them.

Posted date

1 month 3 weeks ago

Short title

Impinj expands Gen2X RAIN RFID capabilities

Short summary

These capabilities inhibit fraudulent items and tags, reduce stray tag reads and help readers find and focus on tags of interest.

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These capabilities inhibit fraudulent items and tags, reduce stray tag reads and help readers find and focus on tags of interest.

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North America

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