O-I takes customised recyclable packaging to new heights with O-I: EXPRESSIONS SIGNATURE, making it the first decorated glass packaging with variable data printing

O-I, the leading producer of glass bottles and jars, has become the first glass manufacturer to produce decorated glass bottles using variable data printing. O-I: EXPRESSIONS SIGNATURE provides a complex level of personalisation on glass packaging, taking customised, recyclable glass packaging to new heights.

With personalised packaging growing 40% faster than others, O-I’s innovation enables beverage companies to offer a unique, collectable bottle to their customers from one source file—quickly, simply, and with no costly mould or label changes—allowing them to change graphics on the bottle, colours within the graphic design, edit a name or a word on the bottle and offer customised tactile digitally printed effects with O-I: EXPRESSIONS RELIEF. For the most prized limited editions with a sequential number system, O-I’s latest innovation provides a solution.

Creating connected packaging with QR or 2D data matrix codes unlocks an online experience, adding a more exciting customer experience, but can also enable increased traceability solutions. O-I has collaborated with its technology partners to overcome a range of technical challenges, including ensuring the accuracy of reading the customer’s data, minimising time delays in the print cycle, inspecting variably printed bottles, and data protection.

Melianthe Leeman, Global Marketing Director, of Wines and Spirits at O-I, says, “This is an exciting time to be in glass manufacturing as the industry is developing more attractive and sustainable packaging at speed. We see great opportunities for O-I: EXPRESSIONS SIGNATURE not just for premium and luxury special editions but also for global brands who can make one run of a common bottle shape and then create culturally appropriate designs for different markets within the same print run."

A sample of each bottle was printed in different colours with the city name ‘embossed’ vertically using transparent relief printing. The bottles all featured unique QR codes taking users to the O-I: EXPRESSIONS on their website.

For more information on O-I’s design, visit their website or follow them on Instagram.

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