Mumbai-based Kunal Enterprise and Germany's Saralon have partnered to introduce printed electronics for smart packaging in India. The venture will focus on introducing various printed electronics technology in packaging, label, POS and POP displays in the Indian market.

Saralon is a spin-off of Chemnitz University, Germany, specialised in developing printed electronics technology. The printing electronics ink specialist has moved towards packaging/label/POS segment to provide new addition in luxury and smart packaging segments.

The joint project will predominantly see integration of illuminating devices and smart packaging with the help of printed electronics (conductive tracks to battery) in packaging, label, POP and POS applications.

"There are almost no wires involved with LED integration in any of the jobs, which provides an attractive proposition for printers and brand owners," Kunal Gandhi, executive to president at Kunal Enterprise said. "It can provide lighting and counterfeit protection in packaging labels, as they are sleek and can be incorporated with any packaging, label, or POS jobs."

All conductive tracks are screen printed. "Hence, screen printing plays an important role in LED and smart packaging when it comes to luxury packaging," Gandhi added. He said that Kunal Enterprise can provide sampling, short run jobs, technology transfer and conductive inks to develop printed electronics in LED/smart packaging and labels segments to printing companies.

The process of printing electronics usually involves printing of silver ink and conductive glue via silk screen. Placing of LED on a substrate is handled by a pick-and-place machine. It can be integrated to regular offset or digital jobs to provide light emitting effect/smart application, which can then be used for customer attractiveness, product authenticity or for product launch campaign runs.

"There are many printing electronics ink providers in the market, but very few are organised," he added.

According to Gandhi, Kunal Enterprise aims to bring innovative solutions to the printing industry, especially in the screen printing segment. "In the past five years we have been successful in providing  screen printing setup to top packaging, label and commercial printing facilities in India. Our mantra has been to provide something new to our customers," Gandhi explained.

He also pointed out that although many have been talking about printed electronics and smart packaging over the past few years, there have been no major steps taken towards the same.

"It's because it is a developing market and surely there is a lack of expertise in creating track designs or selecting right materials," he said. "This venture can be a first step for all commercial printers and packaging owners as well as brand owners to get into the printed electronics segment and become pioneers for the era of visual communication via smart packaging."