Intralogistics backs research and development

A summary of the current market situation in Germany was prepared in early spring by the Intralogistics Forum, which is supported by various VDMA associations and the Association of Storage and Associated Equipment Manufacturers – Verband für Lagertechnik und Betriebseinrichtungen. Compared with the record year 2008, the sales of German intralogistics suppliers with their approx. 100,000 employees dropped by 21 % to 17 billion EUR in 2009. Although the signs of an upturn are increasing, the long project lead times and the fewer orders received in 2009 mean the sector will have to cope with another decline of some 17 % this year. The forecast sales figure for 2010 of a good 14 billion EUR corresponds roughly to the level of 2005. Ways out of the crisis are shown by the trend study “The Future of Intralogistics 2020+”. This identifies three mega-trends that influence the sector: resource efficiency, globalization and innovations. Efficient resource management focuses all the resources in the manufacturing and utilization process that are relevant to intralogistics. One answer to the shift of the economic centres of gravitation is global service. Market shares in these growth markets are best achieved with innovations, which have always been the basis for success of the German intralogistics sector.

EFSA publishes the updated database of health claims

EFSA has published the updated database of general function claims under Article 13.1 of the Regulation on Nutrition and Health Claims. This database contains the 4.637 health claims submitted to EFSA for evaluation.

More informations here

Packaging industry gets going again

A good 1,300 exhibitors and over 33,000 visitors are expected at FachPack 2010 in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 28–30 September 2010

. Leading companies in the packaging industry particularly used the difficult economic situation in 2009 to invest heavily in research and development. The experts can therefore look forward to innovative packaging solutions (FachPack), creative approaches to packaging processing (PrintPack) and cost-saving ideas for packaging logistics (LogIntern).

Nano-based RFID tag, you're it

Long lines at store checkouts could be history if a new technology created in part at Rice University comes to pass.

Rice researchers, in collaboration with a team led by Gyou-jin Cho at Sunchon National University in Korea, have come up with an inexpensive, printable transmitter that can be invisibly embedded in packaging. It would allow a customer to walk a cart full of groceries or other goods past a scanner on the way to the car; the scanner would read all items in the cart at once, total them up and charge the customer's account while adjusting the store's inventory. 

Beverage market confirmed as fastest growing segment for self-adhesive labels

The beverage market was the third largest sector for self-adhesive labels in Europe during 2008, according to a recent end-user market survey and industry report commissioned by FINAT, the international trade association for the self-adhesive label industry.

A total of 430 million square meters of self-adhesive materials were consumed on the bottling lines across Europe in 2008. During the period 2005-2008, the beverage segment was also one of the fastest growing markets for self-adhesives – driven primarily by the growth in premium and export beer sales.

Consumers may pay more for unusual designs

Recent studies, commissioned by M-real Consumer Packaging, have found that cartons with innovative designs attract consumers on the shelf, but that difficulties in opening and closing the same package will alter opinions dramatically and influence the decision on whether to repurchase a product.

Move people to buy more

To commemorate 50 years of corrugated cardboard displays in Europe, international experts from the branded goods, retail and advertising industries accepted the STI Group's invitation to partake in a journey through 50 years of display history followed by a daylong congress on march 4th 2010 with high-quality presentations from internationally renowned trend researchers and POS experts.