Our partners at BarTender® recently gathered information from six industry experts about the top trends and predictions for 2022.  The Auto Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) industry which includes businesses that “create technologies to automatically identify and capture data from an object”, has already gone through some major changes. Several of these changes occurred when consumer behaviors shifted, supply chains were disrupted and massive increases in e-commerce emerged.

Industry experts ranging from the Director of the AutoID Lab at the University of Memphis and the Product Manager at Digimarc, to the Senior Director of AIDC, GS1 Global office, and Seagull Scientific’s President and CEO share some of the trends they have seen and also their predictions of what’s to come.

A few of the trends these experts discussed are:

Encoding of variable data– The need to serialize products and extend attributes like expiration date, batch/lot information.

Barcoding labeling for fresh foods– will grow in acceptance with retailers and consumers.

A nimble and resilient supply chain-manufacturers have shifted from the narrow focus of cost reduction to ensure their supply chain has the ability to change and grow

E-Commerce– with a growing expectation from consumers for door-to-door delivery, product labeling must keep pace.

Some predictions in the new year:

An increase in the use of extended attributes– in packaging and distribution facilities along with automation.

The interoperability of product codes and symbols– is the ability for these two things to work together and allow for accurate product information.

E-Labeling– is a great way to meet the need of consumers to have a deeper engagement with the products they purchase. When done properly, it can also help gather marketing data.

Print-on-demand labeling– will continue to grow, as well as warning and nutrition identifiers.

In conclusion, there are 3 common themes “surrounding 2022 labeling trends and predictions, including more nimble supply chains, new labeling technologies, and new, enhanced consumer safety regulations.  Pragmatyxs is ready to support these new trends and continuing technological advances in 2022. As a valued partner of BarTender, we have in-depth knowledge of this Enterprise labeling solution.