Future Links March 3rd 2015
Here are our daily links with the most important news from the printing industry. Today they feature the collaboration between Shapeways and Meta, new opportunities for high-value printing, smart labels that alert customers, 3D printed devices for personalized medicine, new recycling methods for a cleaner future, the motivation behind beverage packaging decisions and Lecta’s new paper.
Shapeways and Meta collaborate on augmented reality 3D printer
This is what happens when two breakthrough technologies cross paths at just the right time: Meta, the first wearable computer for augmented reality, and Shapeways work on ways to combine 3D printing with augmented reality technology. One possible outcome is 3D photocopying.
More at Shapeways
High-value printing presents new opportunities
As digital printing advances, more and more applications are possible. One example is printing with metallic inks. New digital solutions offer the promise of producing metallic images rivaling those of traditional processes, while delivering all of digital printing’s advantages.
More at Xerox Digital Printing
Printed electronic labels alert customers
Near field communication is gaining popularity, especially with printed sensors or electronics. The Norwegian company Thinfilm and Diageo are partnering on a prototype that uses printed sensor tags and near field communication to deliver personalized messages from a bottle on the store shelf to consumers’ smartphones.
More at Automation World
3D printing seen as tool in personalized medicine
Researchers and engineers collaborated to print catheters, stents and filaments that were bioactive, giving these devices the ability to deliver antibiotics and chemotherapeutic medications to a targeted area in cell cultures. These devices are seen as an important way to further personalize medical care.
More at Laboratory Equipment
New recycling methods for a cleaner future
In a pilot program to return plastic to its original feedstock oil and gas, nearly 26,000 residents of a U.S. town were asked to place plastic packaging and other plastic items into specially provided bright purple energy bags. Through a collaborative effort, the pilot program demonstrated that there are opportunities to convert non-recycled waste into energy in a way that is complementary to mechanical recycling.
More at Environmental Leader
New usage occasions for beverages drive packaging decisions
Packaging Digests asked industry insiders about the factors that drive their packaging decisions. More than half of the respondents said expanding the product’s usage occasion was behind their efforts to develop new packaging formats or sizes as a way of increasing their company’s beverage business.
More at Packaging Digest
Lecta launches paper for labels and flexible packaging
Lecta is introducing its Creaset Endless Possibilities line of one-side coated papers specially designed for labels and flexible packaging applications. The line includes paper for food and beverage packaging. The Creaset range of products is manufactured with ECF wood-free pulp and can be requested with PEFC and FSC certification.
More at Packaging News