Author: Ross Blair, Head of Engineering at BMT
Digitalisation is currently transforming the industry of packaging. Powered by Artificial Intelligence and advanced simulations, it is changing how bottles are being designed, tested and delivered to the market.
With manufacturers under an increased pressure to reduce material use, cut waste and meet sustainability goals, these data-driven approaches enable faster, smarter decisions which reduce risk and improve efficiency before production starts.
Concurrently, packaging is becoming more complex, with lightweighting, higher levels of recycled PET (rPET) and more demanding performance requirements all placing a greater strain on development processes. Meeting these challenges while remaining sustainable depends on understanding how these materials interact with each other and behave, and how designs will perform from the offset.
What does digitalisation actually mean in the world of packaging?
Digitalisation in packaging centres on the integration of simulation, AI and advanced material characterisation into the development process. Instead of relying on trial-and-error testing, manufacturers can predict how a bottle will form and perform before it is physically produced, reducing unnecessary iterations and material waste.
At its core, this approach replaces assumption with measurement. Material characterisation shows how the resin behaves when it is heated, stretched and shaped, capturing deformation patterns, stretch ratios and stiffness changes. Simulation then uses this measured data to model the full bottle-forming process, predicting how material distributes throughout the bottle and how it will perform in real-world conditions.
As digital design tools evolve, including AI-powered simulation, manufacturers are able to test, refine and validate designs virtually. This shift enables faster, more informed decisions while reducing reliance on physical trials, directly supporting more efficient and sustainable development.
Embedding digitalisation into sustainable practice at BMT
At BMT, digitalisation is implemented through a simulation-driven approach combined with advanced material characterisation, enabling reliable virtual performance testing of “as-manufactured bottles” under real-world conditions.
Rather than relying on constant wall thickness or uniform material properties, BMT’s methodology predicts how material stretches and distributes during blowing, creating a thickness and stiffness profile that reflects physical bottles. This accuracy enables teams to identify issues earlier and make confident decisions before committing to tooling.
In practice, this data-driven approach directly supports sustainability. By improving how performance is predicted during development, the need for physical prototyping is reduced, accelerating timelines while avoiding unnecessary material use, in some cases reducing development timelines by up to six months through effective simulation. It also enables optimisation for lightweighting and strength, helping manufacturers use only as much material as required while maintaining performance.
More broadly, BMT’s ‘Measure, Digitise, Execute’ approach captures how materials behave, translates that into virtual models and applies those insights to real-world production. By replacing trial-and-error with measurable, repeatable insight, this workflow reduces waste, shortens development cycles and supports more sustainable outcomes at scale.
By enabling precise prediction, reducing reliance on physical trials and providing insight at each stage of development, BMT’s digitalisation approach helps manufacturers reduce real-world waste, optimise material use and move faster with greater confidence, while building a robust foundation for future AI-enabled development based on measured data rather than experience alone.
Ross Blair, Head of Engineering w BMT
