OMET TV focuses on smart labels

“Smart label is a highly innovative concept that introduces some electronic printed components in a standard label, making it interactive”. The 15th episode of OMET TV deals with smart labels and their applications, featuring Francesca Scuratti, Product Developer Manager of Ribes Tech, an OMET start-up specialized in printed electronics.

Labels’ aesthetics the main driver for consumers’ choice. Despite this, most of their surface is generally used to report information, at the expense of its attractiveness. Smart labels respond to this need by giving appeal to labels with interaction with the consumer or thanks to new features such as multimedia, “Wow effect” and anti-counterfeiting devices.

“An intelligent label is made up of three main elements: a photovoltaic film, which is the base and fulcrum of the label, some electronic circuits and a printed electrochromic display” says Francesca Scuratti, Product Developer Manager of Ribes Tech, start-up of the OMET Group based in Milan and dedicated to the development of photovoltaic plastic films, printed on plastic with rotary printing machines. “A smart label looks like a normal printed label – continues Scuratti – but it can react to specific events. For example, opening the product can activate an electrochromic display giving the end user an optical feedback of something that has happened to the product”.

“The applications of a smart label are quite wide and can range from some simpler to more complex ones – she explains the interviewee to the microphone of OMET TV-. For example, a smart label allows to evaluate the integrity of a product, providing the customer with the certainty that it is authentic. We could imagine more dynamic applications, for example after opening the product: the customer may need to know when an open cosmetic expires, and the label could display a countdown that activates after opening and communicates the remaining time before having to throw it away”.
“Obviously this kind of labels are a bit more expensive than standard labels – concludes Scuratti – because the inks and materials we use to produce them are special: they must be electronically active. The real challenge is to set up an industrially scalable production process, both in terms of volume and price”.

The 15th episode of the web series conceived by OMET and conducted by Armando Garosci was published on December, 23rd 2021 and is visible for free on the OMET social channels and on the dedicated website (http://omet-tv.omet.com).

Watch again the interview with Francesca Scuratti – OMET TV, Episode 15
https://youtu.be/Nwy7r9jKgH0