MeadWestvaco opened a new Packaging Innovation Center in Richmond, Va. recently. The new facility features demonstrations of innovative packaging technologies and capabilities.

"Packaging has traditionally conveyed the product inside and enticed consumers to buy them," says Rita Foley, senior vice president of the Stamford, Conn., packaging company and president of the new Consumer Packaging Group. The Packaging Innovation Center was created to highlight forward-thinking design capabilities and to develop customer collaboration throughout the entire process of packaging solutions.

Foley says that MeadWestvaco's customers in such markets as media, healthcare, cosmetics and personal care, "operate in an increasingly competitive and regulated environment, requiring their package designs to be functional and compliant as well as exciting in order to strengthen their branding efforts.''

The facility showcases the latest features and applications in packaging solutions to meet these demands, including radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology; anticounterfeiting technologies; and interactive "smart packaging" concepts.