Jones Packaging Enters Commercial Parternship with ThinFilm

Jones Packaging Inc., a provider of packaging solutions for healthcare and consumer brands, has entered into a commercial partnership with Thin Film Electronics ASA, a Norwegian technology company specializing in printed electronics and smart systems. Jones and ThinFilm will integrate ThinFilm’s Near Field Communication (NFC) OpenSense technology into paperboard pharmaceutical packaging. The companies will also establish manufacturing processes for production on Jones’ high-speed lines.

NFC OpenSense tags are thin, flexible labels that can detect both a product’s factory sealed and opened states. The tags can wirelessly communicate contextual content with an NFC-enabled smartphone and remain active even after a product’s factory seal has been broken. Each tag contains unique identifiers that make it possible for pharmaceutical companies to authenticate products and track them to the individual-item level using software and analytics tools.

The work conducted by Jones and Thinfilm will also include the integration of ferrite shield labels with the NFC OpenSense tags. This will enable the NFC technology to function on metalized packaging, such as blisters commonly used for cold/flu medication.

The Jones/Thinfilm smart packaging collaboration will be funded, in part, by grants from both the Swedish and Canadian governments. 

Source: ThinFilm