Harold Gankema | Programma Manager Circular Packaging

The environmental and economic impact of leaking packaging is big. A leaking packaging leads directly to material and product loss throughout the entire chain. Because of this the right seal is a basic need for a good packaging. But what exactly is a leak? And how do you decide if a package is leaking? And how big is the environmental and economic impact of these leaking packages? And how can we start sealing with other (recycled) materials in the future? And how can we predict sealing behavior by using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning?

Harold Gankema starts this afternoon session (13.00 – 15.00 o’clock) of Brightlands Materials Centre.

Within the Circular Packaging program of Brightlands Materials Centre a redesign of the polymers of multilayered packaging materials is in the making. This short introduction presentation will give insight into the research program and the different challenges to reach fully circular packaging.

Subjects which will be discussed:

• Introduction about hidden costs of leaking packaging
• The importance of leak proof packaging
• The theory of sealing by a seal expert
• What are leaks and how can they be tested?
• Knowledge mining by Machine Learning

Veronique Barthemely | Scientist

Veronique Barthelemy is a scientist at TNO/BMC who specializes in circular plastic packaging and plastic recycling and degradation. She is currently working on developing machine learning algorithms to support the packaging and recycling industry.

Her primary focus at BMC is packaging design, with a particular emphasis on sealability. In addition, she is dedicated to advancing the field of plastic recycling by gaining deeper insights into the quality of recycled plastics.

With a background in numerical modeling for biomedical applications and materials, she brings a unique perspective to her work.

Ton Knipscheer | Packaging Business Consultant

In this session you’ll learn more about how digital sealing can help reaching sustainability goals. Our industry is being forced to look at mono-materials, paper substitutes for plastic laminates. The problem is that we cannot process this economically yet. Mono-materials have a smaller sealing window, which makes it difficult to process at full speed. Digital sealing makes this possible, whilst at the same time saving energy. Non-destructive Inline Quality Control provides additional process optimization. Learn more about digital sealing with Ton Knipscheer.

Ton Knipscheer is an independent packaging Business Consultant. He held senior positions in the packaging industry, including the Weidenhammer Packaging Group, being responsible for the Pringles cans. In his role at watttron, Ton is helping the German scale-up with the marketing of the revolutionary digital heating devices, cera2seal and cera2heat. Next to international sales, Ton has a broad experience with packaging development for both food and B-to-B packaging.

Ton is an active member of the Dutch Packaging Professionals Association (VNV), serves on the board of the European Co-Packers Association, ECPA and is a juror of the NL Packaging Awards.  

Serge Smit | Oxi Leak Detection 

De milieu- en economische impact van lekke verpakkingen is groot. Een verpakking die lekt, leidt direct tot materiaal- en productverlies door de gehele keten. De juiste seal is daarom een basisvereiste voor een goede verpakking. Maar wat is nou precies lek? En hoe bepaal je of een verpakking lek is? En hoe groot is de vaak onderbelichte milieu- en economische impact van lekke verpakkingen? En hoe gaan we sealen in de toekomst, met andere (gerecyclede) materialen? En kunnen we sealgedrag voorspellen door middel van Artificial Intelligence en Machine Learning?

Ilknur Ilhan | Ph.D. candidate 

Ilknur Ilhan is a Ph.D. candidate researching on seal integrity issues that occur during the heat sealing of flexible packaging at the University of Twente.

After her bachelor’s degree in Food Engineering at Istanbul Technical University, her interest in food loss and waste prevention drives her to work on novel food packaging solutions in her master’s. She synthesizes shape memory polyurethane films for dynamic packaging applications that can reduce postharvest losses in modified atmosphere-packaged fresh fruits and vegetables. Since the success of modified atmosphere applications depends on seal quality, in her Ph.D. research, she focuses on understanding the reasons behind seal integrity issues which impact quality of food products negatively through their shelf life.

Her research areas are:

• Seal integrity in flexible films
• Dynamic modified atmosphere packaging
• Extending the shelf life of fresh produce