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Latest news from Packaging Innovations & Empack
Revolutionising packaging with AI: A new era for sustainability and speed
With rising regulatory pressures and sustainability demands, Hamburg-based one.five, co-founded by Claire Hae-Min Gusko, has built an AI-driven copilot to transform packaging development.
Today, industries are under mounting pressure to innovate at a faster pace, reduce costs, and minimise environmental impact. Packaging faces some of the most complex challenges in these industries, driven by changing regulations, consumer expectations, and sustainability goals. Companies seeking to stay competitive need to adopt a fresh approach – and, according to Hamburg-based one.five, this is where AI-driven solutions can play a game-changing role.
Packaging development is anything but simple. It involves balancing multiple factors, such as material performance, sustainability, cost efficiency, and compatibility with existing production systems. Traditionally, packaging developers have relied on incremental optimisations and hard-won experience to navigate this complexity. But this approach is no longer sufficient as new demands emerge – whether from stricter regulations or heightened consumer scrutiny.
At the forefront of this transformation are AI copilots, smart tools designed to enhance human creativity and streamline development processes. By blending human expertise with advanced machine learning, these tools can significantly accelerate packaging innovation while ensuring better customer outcomes.
“We’re a packaging company that has built an AI copilot, enabling us to develop and tailor packaging solutions for our customers to a greater extent and at a much faster pace than might be possible today with more classic and established organisations,” said Claire Hae-Min Gusko, Founder of one.five. “We aim to be the first port of call for customers with ambitious packaging transformation projects or those with a sense of urgency regarding new packaging solutions driven by changing regulations or market dynamics. We aspire to become the go-to partner for everything related to new and sustainable packaging going forward.”
AI copilot: A game-changing tool
The company sees its advantage in having conducted a comprehensive analysis of the entire packaging value chain, from start to finish. Many businesses have built their operations around specific, narrowly focused processes in a mature industry with numerous established players. Given the highly complex nature of packaging, incremental improvements occur in isolated areas because there are so many distinct factors to consider. This fragmented approach can make it difficult to maintain a holistic view and balance conflicting priorities effectively. A key challenge lies in reconciling sustainability with affordability – two goals that often conflict, as many of today’s most sustainable packaging solutions remain out of reach for the average brand due to high costs.
“This is where our AI copilot comes in – there are so many competing factors that a human developer would struggle to manage them all effectively,” she continued. “By programming these factors into a model, we can better identify which aspects to focus on today and where to direct our future efforts. Our goal is to minimise resource inefficiencies as much as possible.
“To give a concrete example, machine runability trials during the form, fill, and seal stage often reveal that new packaging solutions don’t fully meet customers’ requirements. Many customers are reluctant to change their infrastructure due to cost and want to maintain their existing production speeds, which directly impacts profit margins. However, packaging developers often overlook many mechanical factors at this stage, which can lead to downstream failures despite months of development on a new solution designed to solve other issues. We see these kinds of cases repeatedly, so our goal is to minimise these easily made mistakes by augmenting our developers with a powerful machine that helps us work more comprehensively.
“This approach is also why we believe we can work faster than some of our competitors. Internally and with customers, I often joke that developing the perfect packaging solution is akin to the challenge of putting man-made objects on the moon. The constraints set by customers and the market are so definitive that finding the perfect balance of all required factors is incredibly difficult.”
In light of these challenges, one.five focuses on utilising available technology to simulate various conditions – such as those found in form, fill, and seal machines – and material combinations before carrying out real-world testing. By generating predictions through data-based models, Claire Hae-Min Gusko and her team can evaluate whether performance goals are being met before investing in physical trials. This approach allows for substantial learning while minimising the use of resources and time. When transitioning from prototyping or small-scale production, the likelihood of making major errors is greatly reduced, as thorough sensitivity analyses have already been conducted to pinpoint potential failure points in new designs or concepts.
“If this approach works in other industries – automotive and aerospace, for example – there’s no reason why we shouldn’t apply similar methods in packaging,” she added. “While packaging may not be as complex as aerospace engineering, where entirely new materials are often developed, we believe using analogous processes and philosophies will allow us to make larger gains in less time. As a company, our primary objective is to replace pollutive and non-circular materials as quickly as possible. We believe this is one of the leading contributors to both global pollution and climate change, and our mission is to have a positive impact on these issues in the shortest possible time. We are confident that our approach is the best way to achieve that.”
Paper packaging, a promising alternative due to its recyclability and renewability, has traditionally struggled to match the speed and efficiency of plastic. However, recent AI-driven innovations are bridging this gap, enabling fibre-based packaging to integrate seamlessly with existing machinery while maintaining over 90% paper content. Claire Hae-Min Gusko will share her insights on these advancements during the panel session “Paperisation in Practice: Exploring the Potential and Limitations of Fibre-Based Packaging” on Wednesday, 12 February, from 2:45 PM to 3:30 PM. The discussion will focus on ensuring that fibre-based solutions uphold product integrity, usability, and recyclability without compromising on cost or durability.
She added: “We can’t just tell customers, “Hey, look at our past achievements, so you should trust our input or opinions.” So, our data-driven approach has helped us significantly because when we build models to understand how problems might vary or how materials sometimes behave atypically, it provides a visual layer of understanding to the customer. It allows us to present the data and insights we’ve generated to have a discussion at eye-level. This shifts the discussion to being fact-based or data-driven, rather than relying purely on subjective opinions.
Of course, there’s still room for debate, but framing the conversation around data makes it less about “my opinion versus your opinion” and more about collaboratively reviewing assumptions and verifying the accuracy of the generated data. Even if some assumptions turn out to be incorrect, both parties can learn from those discussions. Overall, this approach has enabled us to engage with customers at eye level, fostering a sense of shared learning. This approach is more effective than simply telling them, “Everything you know is wrong,” without much evidence to back it up. Without the tools we have at our disposal, we wouldn’t be able to make a compelling case.”
Being able to clearly demonstrate the rationale behind decisions makes the process of securing buy-in much smoother. This is particularly important when working with brand customers. While the company typically communicates with one or two individuals during development projects or discussions, they understand that these stakeholders often need to secure approval from other decision-makers within their organisations. Since the company is rarely involved in these internal decision-making processes, providing relevant materials and insights becomes essential. This enables stakeholders to effectively advocate for the decisions or methods being promoted within their own organisations.
“By offering quantitative data, we reduce the risk of translation errors when our stakeholders communicate with their internal teams,” she added. “While not entirely eliminating the chance of misunderstanding, it certainly lowers it compared to relying solely on a qualitative pitch, which often depends more heavily on soft skills. Some of our stakeholders may lack those skills, or their decision-makers may not respond well to them.
“Therefore, we do our best to equip our champions – our customers and direct stakeholders – with as much information as possible. This helps them feel more confident in securing buy-in from their decision-makers and ensures that they can effectively represent the proposed solutions within their organisations.”
The company is excited to launch its first two products at Packaging Innovations & Empack 2025, where they will have samples available for customers to take home directly from booth B12.
Enhancing efficiency through simulation
At the event, the company will also share more details on the role of their AI copilot, which currently acts as a support tool for the internal development team. While the team interacts directly with the AI, customers will experience its benefits through the materials they receive – whether it’s simulations, models, or the final packaging solutions that emerge from the collaboration between the team and the AI copilot. Brands attending the event, including major names in the packaging industry, will be able to dive deeper into how this innovative approach can help them meet their sustainability and efficiency goals.
“We built the AI copilot specifically to augment the capabilities of our team,” she said. “Since we only have a small group of developers, we can’t rely on a large R&D team like some of our competitors who may have 15, 25, or even more researchers and significantly larger budgets. The copilot helps us compete at eye level with these much larger players, despite having fewer resources and less of a track record.
“For our customers, the AI copilot is always seen as a positive addition. Customers respond positively to the idea of maintaining similar performance at a comparable cost or even delivering better performance in a shorter timeframe.”
In mainland Europe, significant regulatory changes are on the horizon, particularly in the lead-up to 2028 and 2030. Many European brands will need to adapt and meet stricter standards. “This makes the concept of a powerful AI copilot very appealing to customers, as it offers a solution for navigating these upcoming challenges,” added Hae-Min Gusko. “Generally, customers react positively to this promise. The only ones who don’t are those who don’t currently perceive a high degree of urgency regarding packaging transformation. These companies may have already implemented significant changes in recent years or believe they still have plenty of time before making it a priority. They may see our offering as a bit premature but acknowledge that we might become more relevant when this issue gains importance for them internally. Timing is a critical factor here, and unfortunately, it’s something we can’t control.”
In an ideal scenario, and while it’s not something the company can promise immediately, it is a goal they are actively working toward: delivering packaging solutions tailored to each customer’s unique needs. A one-size-fits-all approach can often lead to inefficiencies even if it appears optimal from an economic or performance perspective. These inefficiencies are revealed during life cycle assessments, where it becomes clear that a product or solution may be over-engineered or requires more material than previous versions, ultimately compromising sustainability performance.
“The most sustainable solution is the one tailored to a customer’s unique requirements – considering their supply chain, distribution channels, and even how consumers use the packaging once it reaches their hands,” she said. “There are so many variables to factor in. The challenge lies in how quickly we can gather sufficient data to make reliable predictions or projections about these additional aspects, many of which are relatively new.
“For example, suppose a customer shifts focus to promotional packaging and isn’t entirely sure how consumers will use it. We’ve seen cases where certain types of new packaging inadvertently leads to higher food waste. This offsets sustainability gains and degrades the overall user experience if consumers find the packaging difficult to handle. That’s a tough scenario to model unless you’ve encountered it multiple times – yet few customers make the same mistake 10 or 15 times for us to build a reliable model around it. That’s one of the key challenges we face.”
“Some of these aspects, perhaps in the near future or over the long term, may allow us to collect preliminary data that could help flag potential issues. However, I believe certain elements will always require input from the customer, particularly from their marketing team and their past experiences regarding what has or hasn’t worked. There are certain insights that simply can’t be replaced by a data-based model because there isn’t enough data available to fully automate those judgments. Therefore, we’ll always need to rely on customer feedback to some extent.”
With mounting pressures to innovate sustainably and stay ahead of evolving regulations, one.five’s AI-driven approach offers a compelling blueprint for the future of packaging. By combining advanced technology with deep industry expertise, the company is accelerating the pace of innovation and making it easier for brands to adopt high-performance, sustainable solutions. As Claire Hae-Min Gusko and her team continue to refine their methods and share insights, including at key events like Packaging Innovations & Empack 2025, they are well-positioned to lead the industry toward a more efficient and environmentally responsible future – one solution at a time.
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Latest news from Packaging Innovations & Empack
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