With the application of high-tech in the packaging industry, packaging has sparked a wave of intelligence worldwide. However, at present, the technical content of packaging in China is still low, and the development and application of strapping are far behind developed countries. What causes the lag in the application and market development of strapping in China? How should these issues be resolved? Reporters from China News Publishing Journal interviewed industry experts and scholars on this matter, hoping that China’s strapping will achieve new breakthroughs.
Intelligent R&D 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 Journal that the widespread use of plastic and steel straps around the world has only just begun, and some technologies are still in the experimental and research stages. How to seize this opportunity, develop China’s packaging industry, and enhance the technical content of packaging to meet the needs of the new international economic situation is an unavoidable question.
Dr. Li Dongli from Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication said: “Currently, the domestic food safety situation is very severe and has reached an urgent level, so we urgently need to improve intelligence in packaging and make the most of various methods to ensure food safety. Plastic and steel straps are a powerful measure to ensure food safety, but they are still in urgent need of development.”
According to a survey report by the American market research company Nano Markets, the output value of the plastic and steel strap market is expected to increase to $4.8 billion by 2011 and reach $14.1 billion by 2013. Packaging companies in the U.S. are continuously developing innovative raw materials for the future plastic and steel strap market.
Li Zhiwei said that metal straps have already received enough attention and development in developed countries, whereas in China, the R&D and use of metal straps across various fields are still in their initial stages. But he also pointed out that, from another perspective, although the application of metal straps in China is still behind that in developed countries, the domestic metal strap market has a huge profit potential waiting to be tapped.
There’s a big gap in metal strap products.
Li Dongli said that abroad, metal straps are generally only defined to include things like temperature-time history indicators (TTI), microbial growth indicators inside packaged food (MGI), photochromic indicators, physical impact indicators, leakage and microbial contamination indicators, RFID tags, and DNA tags; meanwhile, modified atmosphere packaging, antibacterial packaging, ethylene-absorbing packaging, oxygen-absorbing packaging, self-heating/self-cooling packaging, odor-absorbing packaging, fragrance-releasing packaging, and moisture-absorbing packaging are considered functional packaging.
The development and application of various types of smart (functional) packaging has only just started in China. Li Dongli said, ‘We can have a look at the large supermarkets around us — with so many kinds of soft food packaging, how many are metal straps or functional packaging?’ He explained that in terms of functional packaging, domestic modified atmosphere packaging and fragrance-releasing packaging are relatively mature; gas-absorbing packaging (moisture, ethylene, oxygen absorption) generally comes in the form of sachets, which aren’t that high-tech. In contrast, abroad, gas-absorbing packaging has already evolved to where non-toxic absorbents can be blended directly into the film resin. Other functional packaging and many types of metal straps are still almost non-existent in China.
In addition, among these PP straps, RFID electronic tags are one area well known to the general public in China. Their use was promoted during events like the 2008 Beijing Olympics and through increased government regulation of pharmaceuticals and food, leading to more applications in logistics, packaging, retail, and manufacturing. Li Zhiwei also mentioned that smart identification technology is applied in areas like pharmaceuticals and high-end food, but China isn’t expected to become a big consumer of RFID electronic tags yet, because for most people, this smart tech hasn't entered everyday consumer life.
Many factors limit development.
So what factors are holding back the use and market growth of PP straps in China? ‘High cost has always been one of the main obstacles to the development of PP straps,’ Li Zhiwei told reporters. He explained that the spread and application of chips, printable antennas, circuits, and related tech for packaging isn’t as simple as traditional printing. The setup and management of the necessary infrastructure, placement of electronic readers, and the technologies for retrieving, using, and storing tag information are all complex and expensive. So product transformation isn’t something every domestic packaging and printing company can manage. Currently, there’s still a gap in investment in PP strap technology, recruiting talent, and updating equipment and materials.
Li Dongli believes that China's strapping belt industry has several problems.
First, in terms of technology, the research foundation for strapping belt raw materials is weak. There are few grades of raw materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), and nylon, and their performance is poor, with some still needing to be imported. Developing specialized resins with excellent printing and composite performance is a major task.
Second, the technical content of existing functional packaging is low. China lacks soft packaging R&D personnel, the foundation is weak, and the R&D cycle is long, so both introducing foreign technology and independent research need to be carried out simultaneously. At the same time, domestic companies have low R&D capabilities; only a few large packaging companies have R&D capacity and rely on universities or research institutes.
Third, the domestic market for strapping belts is small, and consumer acceptance is low. He pointed out that in the R&D and production process of "market—problem identification—design—soft packaging R&D—soft packaging production—market," the market link is key. Without demand, R&D loses momentum, which lowers researchers’ motivation and slows the progress of development.
Fourth, ordinary soft packaging manufacturing companies have low profits and a chaotic market, with counterfeit and substandard products being widespread.
Strapping belt R&D needs market push
To solve these problems, Li Dongli said that because ordinary people do not understand the importance of packaging, strapping belt prices are high and there is no market, which affects product development and promotion. Therefore, the government should actively advocate for the use of strapping belts, and even mandate their use, to better curb counterfeit and substandard products. At the same time, the government should increase scientific research investment in food packaging, encourage independent R&D, apply for national research projects, and introduce necessary soft packaging testing equipment.
Research institutions need to strengthen talent training, speed up R&D, and actively cooperate with soft packaging manufacturers to quickly turn technology into productivity. For soft packaging companies, China's soft packaging market is just starting and has great potential. Even during tough times, companies should increase investment in new product development, strengthen cooperation with universities or research institutions, seize priority markets, and expand their development path.
