With the application of high-tech in the packaging industry, packaging has set off a wave of intelligentization worldwide. However, the current technical content of packaging in my country is still low, and the development and application of strapping tapes lags far behind developed countries. What is the reason for the lag in the application and market development of strapping tapes in my country? How to solve these problems? The reporter of "China News Publishing" interviewed experts and scholars in the industry, looking forward to new breakthroughs in my country's strapping tapes.
Intelligent research and development is in its infancy
Li Zhiwei, Secretary-General of the Packaging Branch of the China Printing and Equipment Industry Association, said in an interview with "China News Publishing" that the widespread application of plastic steel belts in countries around the world has just begun, and some technologies are still in the experimental and research stage. How to seize this opportunity to develop my country's packaging industry and improve the technical content of my country's packaging to adapt to the needs of the international economic situation under the new situation is an unavoidable issue.
Dr. Li Dongli of Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication said: "At present, the domestic food safety situation is very serious and has reached an imminent level. Therefore, we urgently need to improve the intelligence of packaging and make the best use of various means to ensure food safety. Plastic steel belt is a powerful measure to ensure food safety and needs to be developed urgently."
According to the survey report of Nano Markets, a US market research company, it is expected that the output value of the plastic steel belt market will increase to US$4.8 billion by 2011 and will reach US$14.1 billion in 2013. US packaging companies are constantly developing new raw materials for the future plastic steel belt market.
Li Zhiwei said that iron belts have received enough attention and development in developed countries, while in China, the research and development of iron belts and their application in various fields are still in the initial stage. But he also pointed out that from another perspective, although the application of iron belts in my country is still lagging behind developed countries, there is a broad profit space waiting to be explored in my country's iron belt market.
There are many blanks in iron belt products
Li Dongli said that generally, foreign countries only define temperature-time history label (TTI), microbial growth indicator label (MGI) in packaged food, photochromic indicator label, physical impact label, leakage, microbial contamination label, radio frequency tag (RFID), DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) label, etc. as iron belt; while modified atmosphere packaging, antibacterial packaging, ethylene adsorption packaging, oxygen absorption packaging, self-heating/self-cooling packaging, odor absorption packaging, aroma release packaging, moisture absorption packaging, etc. are defined as functional packaging.
The development and application of many types of intelligent (functional) packaging in my country has just begun. Li Dongli said: "We can observe the big supermarkets around us and see the dazzling array of soft food packaging. What percentage of them are iron belts and functional packaging?" He introduced that in terms of functional packaging, domestic modified atmosphere packaging and aroma release packaging are still relatively mature; gas adsorption type packaging (moisture absorption, ethylene absorption, oxygen absorption) generally takes the form of sachets, with low technical content, while gas adsorption packaging developed abroad can already blend non-toxic adsorbents into the interior of film resins; other functional packaging and many iron belts are almost blank in my country. "
In addition, among these PP strapping tapes, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) electronic tags are a field that the domestic people are more familiar with. The 2008 Beijing Olympics and the government's increased supervision of drugs and food have promoted the use of RFID electronic tags in my country, and there are many applications in logistics, packaging, retail, manufacturing and other industries. Li Zhiwei also said that intelligent identification technology will be used in some fields (such as drugs and high-end foods), but my country will not become a major consumer of RFID electronic tags, because according to the consumption level of the general public, intelligent identification technology has not yet entered the daily consumer market of the people.
Multiple factors restrict development
What factors have caused the lag in the application and market development of PP strapping tapes in my country? "High cost has always been one of the main factors hindering the development of PP strapping tapes. "Li Zhiwei said in an interview with reporters. He said that the popularization and application of chips that can be used for packaging and printable antennas, circuits and other technologies are not as simple as traditional printing. The technology of how to install and manage related infrastructure, how to place electronic readers, and how to retrieve, use and store label information is complex and expensive. Therefore, product transformation is not something that all domestic packaging and printing companies can do. At present, there is still a certain gap in their investment in PP strapping technology, the introduction of talents, and the updating of equipment and materials.
Li Dongli believes that there are the following problems in my country's strapping industry.
First, Technically, the research foundation of strapping raw materials is weak. There are few raw material brands such as polyethylene, polypropylene, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), and nylon, and the use effect is poor, and some need to be imported. Developing special resins with excellent printing and composite properties is a major task.
Second, the technical content of existing functional packaging is low. my country's flexible packaging R&D personnel are scarce, the foundation is weak, and the R&D cycle is long. It is necessary to carry out both the introduction of technology and independent R&D at the same time. At the same time, the R&D capabilities of domestic enterprises are low. Only a few large packaging companies have R&D capabilities, and they rely on universities or research institutes.
Third, the domestic strapping market is relatively small. Small, people have poor acceptance. He said that in the process of R&D and production of "market-propose questions-design-flexible packaging R&D-flexible packaging production-market", the market link is the key. Without demand, R&D loses its motivation, which reduces the enthusiasm of scientific researchers and slows down the progress of R&D work.
Fourth, ordinary flexible packaging manufacturers have low profits, disorderly market competition, and counterfeit and shoddy products are prevalent.
R&D of strapping requires market push
To solve these problems, Li Dongli said that due to the lack of awareness of the importance of packaging among ordinary people, strapping tapes are expensive and have no market, which affects the development and promotion of products. Therefore, the country should The use of strapping tape should be actively advocated, and even mandatory, to better curb counterfeit and shoddy products. At the same time, the country should increase investment in scientific research in food packaging, encourage independent research and development and apply for national research projects, and introduce necessary flexible packaging testing equipment.
Research units should strengthen talent training, speed up research and development, actively cooperate with flexible packaging manufacturers, and transform technology into productivity as soon as possible. For flexible packaging companies, my country's flexible packaging market has just started and has a large market space. Even in the "severe winter", companies should increase investment in the development of new products, strengthen cooperation with universities or research institutions, occupy priority markets, and broaden the path of corporate development.
