Printed Electronics 2015 (Santa Clara, CA, November 17-20) again this year included an End User Insight Panel with panelists from Coca Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, and Bayer HealthCare. As in last year’s panel discussion, representatives with direct involvement in applications of printed electronics from large multinational firms were asked to provide their views on how the printed electronics industry can assist end users in applying their technology and products. Given the different industries from which the panelists hailed there were as you might expect both similarities and differences in their views and guidance.
The End User Insight panelists included Scott Demarest, Director, Delivery Systems & Packaging Colgate-Palmolive, Dirk Schapeler , Director Digital Health Bayer Healthcare, and Frank Fu, Senior Technologist Coca-Cola.
Schapeler of Bayer would like to see product application prototypes rather than just a technology (e.g. a printable ink). Demarest of Colgate-Palmolive would like to see better integration of technologies so as to support porotype development. Demarest would also like to see “iterable” prototypes to allow different product concepts to be tested and allow assessment of consumer acceptance. Fu of Coca-Cola asks for integrators to assist in development and also stated that, as compared to some firms such as alcoholic beverage companies, Coca-Cola’s margins are very slim so that low cost solutions are very important to him.
The audience had several opportunities to bring questions before the panelists which led to an interesting interactive give-and-take for this End User Insight panel. For example, a questioner from the audience asked if a potential integrator also needed the ability to scale to production in a comprehensive manner. Here the panelists differed in their views. Schapeler of Bayer said that an integrator with only prototype capability was satisfactory. However, Fu of Coca-Cola said scalablity is very important but that proof of concept prototyping was also important. Fu summarized saying both prototyping and scaling to manufacturing are important to him.
Another audience question concerned the timescale for productization and launch of a printed electronic project. Again among the panelists there was a wide range of views ranging from 1-3 years to 10-20 years showing that it really depends on the demands of a particular player and industry. Another audience question concerned RFID which is a relatively large printed electronics application area. Here, the panelists agreed that cost and the need for and application of RFID were the primary concerns.
Interestingly, a final audience question concerned the role and importance of the recyclability of printed electronics, particularly for applications which result in disposable objects. Here the panel agreed with Demarest of Colgate-Palmolive who observed that these issues have not yet been worked out and are an open issue at present.
My take on the End User Insight panel at Printed Electronics 2015 is that it is still early days for applications of Printed Electronics as they relate to consumable goods. However, the industry is interested, and engaged, and wants to research, identify and apply at scale applications of printed electronics that apply to their products. – Phil Wright
