News in Brief

Krriyan Kontainers Adds Holograms to Flexible Packaging and Cartons

Krriyan Kontainers, previously known as Darshan Flexibles, is expanding its operations into holographic solutions for the packaging industry in India.

The Mysore-based company, which specialises in printing and converting conventional flexible packaging materials and manufacturing composite canisters, aims to meet growing demand from brand owners for unique and counterfeit-proof packaging with innovative solutions based on its holographic offerings.

‘There is a growing demand amongst brand owners to make their packaging unique and counterfeit-proof. That is where holographic solutions come into play. These solutions can be applied in a variety of packaging segments such as cartons and shrink sleeves,’ said Ashwini Kumar, Managing Director, during the recently held Propak India 2023 tradeshow.

Krriyan’s decision to diversify into holographic solutions stems from the intense competition of the conventional flexible packaging market in India. Entering the holographic segment, Krriyan saw an opportunity to achieve faster growth, higher margins and reduced competition, aligning with its strategy to explore new avenues for business expansion.

NovaVision Acquires PrimeSource

In October 2022, Holography News® reported that Incline Equity Partners, a Pittsburgh-based private equity firm, had announced that it had made an investment in NovaVision, a manufacturer of consumable security and authentication products. Part of Incline’s approach is to accelerate growth through strategic acquisitions, and now NovaVision has acquired PrimeSource, deepening the company’s security product and service offerings.

Based in Bowling Green, Ohio, NovaVision offers a comprehensive portfolio of consumable security and authentication products, including hologram labels, tamper-evident stickers, security tape and mechanical security seals. The company’s products are used to help prevent counterfeiting and product tampering in markets such as electronics, government, pharmaceutical, retail, transportation and logistics.

NovaVision has been granted several patents in the area of holographic films, foils and labels, including the 1995 patent for ‘Holographic document and method for forming’ that describes a method for printing a holographic image directly onto a document.

The patent explains that a film on which a holographic image can be directly stamped upon the final document includes a layer of metal with a thickness in the range of 20-100 nanometres, a lacquer coating with a thickness in the range of 0.5-3.0 microns, and a heat activated adhesive. The metal layer, lacquer coating and heat activated adhesive adhere to the substrate of the final document during a stamping operation which releases the metal layer, lacquer coating and heat activated adhesive from a plastic carrier film.

PrimeSource, with facilities in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia, is a manufacturer of durable labels, decals, tags and signage for safety, identification, promotional and product packaging applications.

Further Investment for Holographic Automotive Augmented Reality

Envisics Ltd, a UK-based holographic augmented reality (AR) display maker for inside cars, has closed a $100 million Series C round to continue development of heads-up display (HUD) technology that can be installed in cars to increase driving safety.

As reported in Holography News®, Envisics originally announced receiving a $50 million portion of the funding in March at a $500 million valuation.

The initial investment was led by Hyundai Mobis with participation from InMotion Capital, the investment arm of Landrover Jaguar Automotive PLC, and Stellantis NV. The new round attracted a few new investors, including M&G Investments.

Holographic technology inside cars acts as an HUD on the windshield to provide navigational, informative and warning displays for the driver in a way that doesn’t distract from driving so that it can be seen without glancing away from the road.

Using intelligent systems, Envisics displays can identify objects in the view of the windshield and overlay it with holograms that match what the driver can see and provide suitable symbols or navigational aids. A safety example could be warning markers that appear on vehicles or pedestrians that are dangerously close, to make them more visible for safety reasons.

Envisics has been moving closer to commercialising its products by partnering with major automotive manufacturers, which have signalled their intent to embrace AR technology in their vehicles. In 2010, Jaguar Land Rover became the first automaker to incorporate Envisics holographic applications and was the first customer of its technology.

At the time of the company’s Series C announcement, General Motors also confirmed that it would be adding the company’s second-generation AR-HUD displays to its upcoming models with the all-electric 2024 Cadillac Liriq.

Envisics has also partnered with Panasonic Automotive Systems, a major supplier of automotive electronics under the Japanese multinational parent company Panasonic Holdings Corp – giving Envisics a much broader global potential customer base.

The List of Holo-Attractions Grows

In last month’s Holography News® we reported on Australia-based Axiom Holographics and the opening of their ‘holographic zoo’ in Brisbane. Now we can report on another holographic family attraction – a circus in Luebeck, Germany.

Due to concerns over animal welfare, Germany’s Roncalli circus stopped using lions and elephants in its shows in 1991. But it went further in 2018 and completely removed live animals from its programme.

‘It is no longer appropriate for Roncalli to show real animals in the ring,’ circus boss Patrick Philadelphia said.

As Roncalli looked for ways to preserve the magic of animals for children, a show in which Justin Timberlake ‘collaborates’ with a holographic projection of the late Prince triggered the idea to turn to 3D imagery.

‘If you can project someone who’s no longer living onto a holographic screen, why can’t you do it with an animal, a horse, an elephant? So that’s where the idea came from,’ said Philadelphia.

In Luebeck, a steam train circling the ring kicks off the show, before a bright green parrot appears. The bird gives way to an elephant and her baby, who stomp and trumpet at the audience, only to be chased by a herd of galloping horses.

Designing the visual illusion was a technical challenge, as the circus seats its audience in a circle, unlike a theatre where the public sits in front of the stage. Using 11 cameras, arranged on the ceiling of the big top around the ring, the high-resolution images are projected onto a fine-mesh netting which surrounds the performance space.