For companies throughout the flexible and printed electronics supply chain, perhaps the most important question is what exactly do the large end users want from the technology.
 
At Printed Electronics USA 2015, organized by IDTechEx, attendees heard first-hand from three industry giants what flexible and printed electronics can bring to their companies, and what is needed to get to that point.
 
On hand for the End User Insight Panel were Frank Fu, senior technologist, ETA Global R&D for The Coca Cola Company; Dirk Schapeler, director digital health at Bayer HealthCare LLC; and Scott Demarest, director at Colgate-Palmolive. Combined, their companies total $17 billion in annual sales.
 
Fu noted that Coca-Cola is on the lookout for technologies that draw consumers to their products.
 
“We are interested in consumer engagement in packaging or on the vending equipment level,” added Fu. “It also gives us supply chain optimization.”
 
“We evaluate what difference a technology makes in the consumer’s everyday life, and we are always looking for breakthrough innovations,” Demarest said. “We need to be able to move quickly and relate what your product can do for our consumers. We also see it continuing to be used in the supply chain.”
 
“RFID is used in pharma and the supply chain, and printed electronics can help us with some ideas we are working on,” added Schapeler. “This is a relatively new technology.”
 
Fu noted that scability is critical to major consumer goods companies. “Scalabilty is a factor,” Fu said. “We sell 1.8 billion servings a day.”
 
There are areas where RFID and flexible and printed electronics have found opportunities, but item-level tagging remains elusive, primarily due to costs..
 
“The biggest challenges for RFID are cost and infrastructure, plus it is not standardized,” Fu told the audience. “We don’t have the margins that alcohol companies have.”
 
“The issues are cost and value-add,’ Demarest said.
 
“Cost is a factor,” noted Schapeler.
 
All three of the panelist spoke of the need to show what flexible and printed electronics can do.
 
“We find a lot of companies that have interesting components,” Fu said. “We need integrators that can put it all together into a prototype. We do need proof of concept, and it is a case-by-case basis. Proof of concept is still the first need.”
 
“The prototype should show what the technology can do,” Schapeler added.
 
“We put an emphasis on understanding big ideas, but we need a line of sight on how to make these products,” said Demarest. “Putting together multiple technologies is not easily done. A prototype is the best way to showcase your technology. We want to have more conversations and learn more about printed electronics.”