Up to 20 new jobs due at PCH centre for green packaging

ELSEWHERE IN Shenzhen, Cork-based PCH has announced the opening of a design centre of excellence for sustainable packaging – part of its efforts to expand its design packaging with minimal carbon footprint.

The new centre will have a material library and a structural design engineering and quality test lab based in Shenzhen, while a product showroom and material library will be opened in San Francisco early in 2013.

Up to 20 new jobs will be created in the next six to 12 months in diverse roles including project managers, material expert supply base managers, lab operators, print supplier management specialists and green practice experts.

“We know that beautiful packaging can entice people to purchase a product, and our aim is to offer consumers the most impressive out-of-box experience. PCH is now designing solutions to ensure this packaging is 100 per cent sustainable, with minimal carbon footprint and a full Life Cycle Assessment,” said PCH founder and chief executive Liam Casey.

The aim is to look at the entire packaging life-cycle and see how to make it completely environmentally friendly, from material sourcing to design, manufacturing, transport and final disposal.

This means that clients get smarter package design, removing excess materials, improving shipping efficiency and minimising package-associated bill of materials costs.

PCH has also announced a tie-in between its Accelerator programme, which helps start-ups to develop their qualified hardware product concepts to commercial readiness, and MetaWatch. Its Strata watch (inset) is a sports watch that is compatible with both IOS6 and Android smartphones.

The Strata has a Bluetooth 4.0 connection to a smartphone, allowing the wearer to check messages, see who’s calling, control music, view weather and use GPS, all from their wrist.

“The Strata is truly a fusion of fashion and technology. This is a watch that not only tells time, it saves time,” MetaWatch chief executive Bill Geiser said in a statement. MetaWatch publicly launched Strata on the crowd funding website Kickstarter and, within 48 hours, had raised nearly €250,000, tripling its initial target. Some 1,767 people pledged €127 or more to be the first to wear the start-up’s Strata watch that syncs with iPhone and Android.

Accelerator aims to provide product development and supply chain management services to smaller companies, and PCH chief Liam Casey said it is “helping to build the Fortune 500 companies of the future”.

The Accelerator programme allows MetaWatch access to PCH’s expertise in product development, module mechanical design, case mechanical design, prototyping, tooling, manufacturing, quality testing, packaging design, kitting and order fulfilment.