Packaging
TransPanther: Corrugated board protects stored information
Thursday 01. May 2008 - The use of RFID technology provides the background for the development of "TransPanther": a packaging system patented by the Panther Group in which RFID chips are built directly into corru-gated board. Corrugated-board sheeting is created which incorporates one or more transponders (depending on the design and size of the packaging).
These corrugated-board sheets are subse-quently made by Panther Packaging into finished packaging with integrated information carriers which are always located beneath a closed surface. The transponders are not visible and are there-fore protected against manipulation or theft, while the design of the packaging remains unaffected.
The placement of tags is possible across the whole of the packaging – at any desired location. Fur-thermore, the transponder cannot be removed without destroying the packaging and is at the same time safe from external influences such as dirt. Packaging is identifiable with packed contents at all times, while mix-ups through wrong labelling are excluded. The technology also helps to monitor current stocks or to prevent undesirable out-of-stock situations, because the electronic registration provides information on available quantities on site at all times. All of these details help to achieve the great objectives of both the trade and manufacturers of consumer goods: optimization of ware-house stocks, more efficient processing of business transactions and reduction of error rates. Quan-tifiable time savings can be achieved throughout the whole of the supply chain, the degree of auto-mation is increased and business transactions become more transparent.
Since its introduction to the market, “TransPanther” has already won a large number of national and international prizes (for example the German Packaging Prize awarded by the DVI and the World Star from the World Packaging Organisation). In intensive tests with important members of logistics supply chains, the packaging system has already proved itself in practice. The partner-like coopera-tion between the Panther Group on the one hand and leading retail chains and brand-product manufacturers on the other serves as a basis for the further development of “TransPanther” with a view to differing fields of application and usage environments.