Tetra Pak transforms its milk and juice cartons into digital packaging

The launch comes after the company carried out pilot trials with customers in Spain, Russia China, the Dominican Republic and India. One customer in Spain increased sales by 16% through a scan and win campaign.

Microsoft Azure​

Ivan Nesterenko, VP, cross portfolio, Tetra Pak, said the project has been in development for around two to three years at its facility in Lund, Sweden, and it partnered with Microsoft Azure on its cloud service. 

”Tetra Pak’s connected packaging platform will offer transparency and communication between producer and consumer​,” he said.

”The platform will allow consumers to; access digital product experiences via product packaging, learn more about the products you buy, where they come from and how they’re made, enable consumers to align their  purchasing decisions with their personal values and priorities and have their voice heard​.

“Direct interaction with producers will allow people to play an active role in shaping the future direction of their favorite brands​.”

Nesterenko added the trial was limited to certain regions because ‘market and technological readiness is not equal in all markets’ and it was using a phased approach. 

“We are very ambitions and hope this product will reach every continent. However, this is currently an aspiration and depends on differing markets supply chains and infrastructure  - neither of which are currently robust enough to accommodate worldwide expansion,​” he said.

Circular economy​

On expanding the connected platform to other products Nesterenko said: “Rather than being scaled for specific products the platform can be scaled across the entire supply chain, being applied to every step of the process, sharing information with retailers, producers as well as consumers​.

“The interaction will aid customization and a move towards the circular economy as data is collected, compared and analysed across the entire value chain of a product​.”

He added, driven by the trends behind Industry 4.0, and with code generation, digital printing and data management at its core, the connected packaging platform will bring a lot of benefits to food producers, retailers and shoppers. 

“To design something of this massive undertaking requires a lot of capabilities – we have worked closely with Microsoft Azure to tackle development challenges,​” said Nesterenko. 

Benefits of the connected platform include; end-to-end traceability to improve the production of the product, quality control and supply chain transparency.   

Greater supply chain visibility and real-time insights, enabling distributors to track stock movements, be alerted when issues occur, and monitor for delivery performance. 

And, the ability to access vast amounts of information such as where the product was made, the farm the ingredients came from and where the package can be recycled.  

“We are unlocking new opportunities for our customers to get more value from packaging than even before​,” said Nesterenko.

“No longer is it only about product protection and functionality, it is about connectivity. The future of packaging is undoubtedly digital: this launch is a step towards a truly intelligent package, and we are excited to collaborate with our customers on this journey.​”