Aihearkisto: Articles in English

Marketing communications in a company whose products are designed for children

Articles in English, LAMK Pro, Muut

The article raises an issue of marketing to children. Companies usually do not readily admit that they promote products to children, despite the fact that they are selling products to children as a customer group. The reason behind it is that the subject of marketing to children is ethically sensitive. Nevertheless, the article tells how marketers can reach children in order to communicate the value of companies’ products and build strong customer relationships.

Authors: Anna Elizarova and Riku Nummikoski

Marketing to children

The question how companies whose products are designed for children can improve marketing communications was studied in the Bachelor’s thesis of Anna Elizarova (2018) on an example of the case company that produces modular programmable robotics kits for children 6-12 years of age. The article gives a brief introduction to the research and discusses additional ways of understanding promotional activities in child-oriented businesses.

In marketing research, children are interesting primarily as consumers. Children represent a large group of the population, they are also major buyers of certain types of products, e.g. toys and sweets. Besides, children are responsive to marketing messages and strongly influenced by advertising.  Children’s significance as consumers and consumption influencers was recognised in the 1950s. Very young children begin to develop preferences and most of them are able to recognize brands from the age of three. (Preston 2016.)

Child-oriented markets are growing since women in the developed countries tend to have fewer children and have them later in life than it used to be in the past. Thanks to this, parents commonly have more resources available at the time when they have children, especially in dual-working families. This contributes to richer parents, better-educated children and a more sophisticated market for children. In addition, thanks to these traits, parents and children have increasingly well-informed, refined tastes and opinions in the sphere of consumerism. (Gunter & Furnham 2008.)

To develop marketing communications in a company whose products are designed for children, it is essential to deepen understanding of children as a customer group. Children just like adults are economically active members of society. However, their needs, values and perceptions differ from what adults have. To promote products to children, a number of factors should be considered.

First and foremost, children at different stages of their cognitive development have different needs, abilities and consumer behaviour patterns. The youngest children at the age of three are able to recognise brands and logos. Approximately at the age of 6 children start reading, they are exposed largely to different types of media, and they have their own attitudes towards brands. The controversial thing is that it is still dubious whether children of these ages are able to recognize the persuasive intent of commercial messages fully, especially due to advancements in online marketing. Young people have powers to like, dislike and even reject certain products. Between the analytical stage of 7-11 years, they shift from egocentric orientation to a point when they start to differentiate points of view.

Second, children as consumers are affected by several influential agents – parents, peers, mass media and a direct experience. Doing marketing to children is to a certain extent a rewarding business since children are a fairly homogeneous group around the industrialised world. Children’s culture is less sophisticated than the culture of adults. Children of young age globally share very much the same needs and wants. It does not mean that children are the same everywhere, but that they have more in common than they have differences. (Marshall 2010, 1-16.)

Third, children influence family purchases. This is happening because parents ask for advice from their children and because children can pressure parents to buy certain products. They can do it both ways: pestering parents with perseverance over and over again and communicating the importance of the product for them. (MediaSmarts 2018.)

Social Media and Children

Social media companies often place age limits for children below a certain age, in case of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube the threshold is of 13 years old. In many states, laws govern the collection of data about children. It means that children cannot use a certain type of websites without a parental consent. Nevertheless, primary-age children use the Internet and social media to stay connected, mobile and social with their friends. Children use a wide variety of internet-enabled devices such as computers, laptops, mobile devices and game consoles. Moreover, they are not always using it under parental control and supervision, but also at schools and at friends’ houses. In any case, they are largely exposed to social media, and for many of them, this is an integral part of life. (O’Neale 2013; Jamieson 2016.)

Currently, YouTube is the biggest children’s entertainment platform in the world. Video content, in general, is more popular with millennials. Nearly two thirds of millennials would rather watch a video from a brand than read a text. In terms of video marketing, specialists agree that it is essential, not optional to use videos to promote brands. Millennials find watching videos helpful while shopping online, and statistics say that the likelihood of reading newsletters with a video in it increases. The same can be said about Generation Z. Visual information is so powerful because it is processed by brain much faster. Moreover, people remember stories better than hard facts. In fact, images and videos tell stories faster than text. (Gillett, R. 2014.)

Children are the future

The marketing communications to children established to make a positive impact on consumer’s lives, e.g. for educational purposes solely, is beneficial for both companies and children. Responsible companies promote healthier choices for children, advice and support parents on products and services for their children and protect children as such. Such companies communicate values of their product in a way that is easy to understand for children, assisting parents in engaging them in healthier diets, educational process and etc. For instance, the case company has developed a robot that teaches children robotics and coding that will prepare children for their future and promote its services to children. All in all, marketers in child-oriented businesses reach children directly accidentally and intentionally, and the author of the article wishes to emphasize the positive outcomes of such practices.

References

Elizarova, A. 2018. Understanding Children as a Customer Group. Case: Company X. [Online document]. Bachelor’s thesis. Lahti University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Business and Hospitality Management. Lahti. [Cited 12 June 2018]. Available at: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018061213551

Gillett, R. 2014. Why We’re More Likely to Remember Content with Images and Video (Infographic). Fast Company. [Electronic magazine]. [Cited 13 May 2018]. Available at: https://www.fastcompany.com/3035856/why-were-morelikely-to-remember-content-with-images-and-video-infogr

Gunter, B., Furnham A. 2008. Children as consumers. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Jamieson, S. 2016. Children ignore age limits by opening social media accounts. The Telegraph . [Electronic magazine]. [Cited 7 June 2018]. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/children/12147629/Childrenignore-age-limits-by-opening-social-media-accounts.html

Marshall, D. 2010. Understanding Children as Consumers. London, United Kingdom: SAGE Publications.

MediaSmarts. 2018. How Marketers Target Kids. [Cited 7 June 2018]. Available at: http://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/media-issues/marketing-consumerism/how-marketers-target-kids

O’Neale, R. 2013. Kids online: The statistics. KidsMatter. [Cited 7 June 2018]. Available at: https://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/health-and-community/enewsletter/kids-online-statistics

Preston, C. 2016. Pre-school children and marketing communication. International Journal of Consumer Studies. Vol.40(5), 618-623.

About the authors

Anna Elizarova has studied International Business at Lahti University of Applied Sciences and has graduated and received a BBA degree in June 2018.

Riku Nummikoski works as a Lecturer at the Faculty of Business and Hospitality Management, Lahti University of Applied Sciences.

Illustration: https://pixabay.com/en/aroni-arsa-children-little-model-738302/ (CC0)

Published 13.6.2018

Reference to this publication

Elizarova, A. & Nummikoski, R. 2018. Marketing communications in a company whose products are designed for children. LAMK Pro. [Electronic magazine]. [Cited and date of citation]. Available at: http://www.lamkpub.fi/2018/06/13/marketing-communications-in-a-company-whose-products-are-designed-for-children/

The adoption of E-invoicing in Vietnam

Älykäs liiketoiminta, Articles in English, LAMK Pro

Electronic invoicing undoubtedly performs a crucial role in the digitalization of business operations. It has gained foothold throughout the world. However, some businesses are still skeptical about the implementation of e-invoicing. This article discusses the benefits and challenges related to the switch from paper-based to electronic invoicing. A special focus is on Vietnamese market, where the Ministry of Finance has taken measures to accelerate the replacement of paper-based invoicing with electronic one.

Authors: Ha Giang Le and Sirpa Varajärvi

E-invoicing and its benefits

The traditional method of billing is paper-based invoicing. However, e-invoicing has proved to be a competitive method as it is faster and more efficient than paper-based invoicing. Koch (2009, 99) defines electronic invoicing as “the sending, receipt and storage of invoices in electronic format without the use of paper-based invoices as tax originals”. To put in other words, e-invoicing eliminates the use of paper in every step.

Why companies decide to switch to paperless invoice? The top 9 benefits of e-invoicing are summarised in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Top 9 benefits of e-invoicing

Companies can benefit from e-invoicing process in many ways. Touchless process is the first advantage of e-invoicing. Another benefit is invoice tracking – e-invoicing automates this process and makes it more efficient. It is inevitable that a higher integration level among accounting systems of the buyer and the seller stems from the implementation of e-invoicing. This leads to transparency of information. At the same time, account reconciliation is improved as invoices are accessible to both trading partners. Therefore, e-invoicing ensures the automation of reconciliation and thus a faster payment process. Since the whole process is monitored automatically, no more time is spent on creating, delivering and routing invoices to account payable department. Hence, e-invoicing is time-saving. (ICG consulting 2018.)

Undoubtedly, e-invoicing brings cost effectiveness to firms. Direct costs – such as ink, paper and mailing costs – related to paper-based invoicing, can form a significant sum altogether. Less money spent on invoicing means more money allocated to other important business activities, and thus competitiveness may be improved. An additional value of e-invoicing is cash management. Once sent, electronic invoices are visible immediately for the receivers. Hence, cash managers are aware of cash flow and can enhance financial forecast accuracy. Finally, environmental benefits are also to be considered. By implemeting e-invoicing, and thus decreasing paper consumption, companies can reduce their carbon footprint. (Ruisaho 2018.)

Challenges related to e-invoicing adoption in Vietnam

Although e-invoicing might be a great solution, businesses in Vietnam are still reluctant to adopt this method. Do the benefits overweight the challenges that firms will face during the adoption? The mass adoption of e-invoicing undoubtedly poses challenges which vary from business to business. The most common challenges that companies have to tackle were studied in a research made by Ha Giang Le as a Bachelor’s Thesis at Lahti University of Applied Sciences. The research was carried out as a case study on Danang Power Company, which is a subsidiary of Electricity of Vietnam Group, and one of the few pioneers in e-invoicing in Vietnam.

The empirical research included two interviews with the case company’s personnel and a survey with its clients. Based on the findings of the research, the challenges are divided into two categories, namely internal challenges and external challenges. Internal challenges are challenges that affect the company’s success of switching to paperless invoice. Contrastively, challenges that the company faces while convincing its customers to adopt e-invoicing are external challenges. (Le 2018.) Challenges are described in table 1.

Table 1: Challenges of the migration to electronic invoice

Among the challenges mentioned above, Bartlomiej Wojtowicz (2015) from Comarch EDI pointed out top biggest challenges that firms are facing. The first big challenge is the resistance to change in small businesses. Besides, data security is another reason for companies to postpone the adoption of e-invoicing. Lastly, technical requirements in e-invoicing process discourage the acceptance of electronic billing in firms.

In order to promote the national spread of e-invoicing in Vietnam, there is a quest for solutions to such matters. The study of the case company is a good example to understand what challenges Vietnamese firms are facing. The possible recommendations are illustrated in table 2.

Table 2: Recommendations for the development of e-invoicing

In order to effectively implement e-invoicing, the case company requires several strategies. Firstly, the company is incapable of upgrading the whole system simultaneously, and thus it should allocate its resources and power reasonably. Besides, the higher the quality of e-invoices is, the more applicable they are. E-invoicing should be treated as a matter of all departments for better ongoing services. Finally, helping its customers to understand e-invoicing process and benefits creates incentive for them to use e-invoicing. (Le 2018.)

Conclusion

The adoption of e-invoicing is obviously associated with a wide range of benefits. However, the process poses a lot of varying challenges, depending on the specific features of the company or business involved.

The transition from paper invoice to paperless one in the Power Company in Vietnam is a typical example of going digital in business. This company in particular and other businesses in general are supposed to profoundly analyse the internal and external factors arising to ensure a favorable adoption of e-invoicing.

References

ICG Consulting. 6 benefits of Electronic Invoicing. [Cited 30 May 2018]. Available at: http://www.icgconsulting.com/6-benefits-of-electronic-invoicing

Koch, B. 2009. E-invoicing/E-billing in Europe: Taking the next step towards an automated and optimised process. [Online document]. Billentis. [Cited 30 May 2018]. Available at: https://www.norstella.no/getfile.php/1295634.177.ursydetwpv/Extract_Market_Report_Europe_2009.pdf

Le, G. 2018. Adoption of E-invoicing in Vietnam – case: Electricity of Vietnam Group, Danang Power Company. [Online document]. Bachelor’s thesis. Degree Programme in International Business. Lahti: Lahti University of Applied Sciences. [Cited 30 May April 2018]. Available at: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201804275705

Ruisaho, M. 2014. Why we switch to e-invoicing and how it benefits you? Greencarrier. [Cited 30 May 2018]. Available at:                                                                                           https://blog.greencarrier.com/why-we-switch-to-e-invoicing-and-how-it-benefits-you/

Wojtowicz, B. 2015. 4 Challenges For E-invoicing A hot global topic. E-invoicing platform. [Cited 30 May 2018]. Available at: https://eeiplatform.com/16679/4-challenges-for-e-invoicing-a-hot-global-topic/

About the authors

Ha Giang Le has studied Business and Administration at Faculty of Business and Hospitality Management at Lahti University of Applied Sciences and has graduated and received a BBA degree in May 2018.

Sirpa Varajärvi works as a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Business and Hospitality Management, Lahti University of Applied Sciences.

Illustration: https://pixabay.com/fi/binaarinen-k%C3%A4det-n%C3%A4pp%C3%A4imist%C3%B6-2372131 (CC0)

Published 8.6.2018

Reference to this publication

Le, H.G., Maturana, T. & Varajärvi, S. 2018. The adoption of E-invoicing in Vietnam. LAMK Pro. [Electronic magazine]. [Cited and date of citation]. Available at: http://www.lamkpub.fi/2018/06/08/the-adoption-of-e-invoicing-in-vietnam

Medicine pricing and its relevance to healthcare workers and patients

Articles in English, LAMK Pro, Muut

Medicines, just like any commodity are commanded by economic laws of supply and demand. However, medicines are not and should not be treated as any ordinary product because they are of such great importance to patients in need for treatment. Pharmaceutical prices are affected by multiple factors, each of them offering a significant level of complexity. Understanding the basics of medicine pricing, the economic burden on health budgets, and its impact on healthcare should be of great concern to all, healthcare workers and patients alike.

Authors: Joy Duran, Tomas Maturana and Anne Vuori

Factors affecting medicine pricing

The constant increase of pharmaceutical expenditure is of great concern since it threatens the sustainability of healthcare budgets (WHO 2008, 1). In developed nations the problem is aggravated by aging population, which increases the demand for services (Halpenny 2016, 546). Low and middle income countries spend up to 60% of their healthcare budget in pharmaceutical products, compared to 18% in high income countries (WHO 2015, 4). This is clear evidence of the serious level of inequality that rules the access to essential medicines across borders.

Medicine prices are influenced by multiple factors and its regulation is widely practiced across the world, independently of the level of development of a country. Public providers of healthcare need to hold some level of control over public expenditure in pharmaceutical products to protect the sustainability of their systems and the citizen’s access to treatment. Consequently, multiple systems and policies aim to control medicine pricing.

Price negotiation tools are utilized by most countries; aiming to control their health budgets and safeguard public access to healthcare. External Reference Pricing (ERP) is a fairly simple and popular system that aims to obtain the cheapest drug prices by comparison with other countries (Espin et al. 2011, 2-3; Acosta et al. 2014, 6). Pharmaceutical companies often fight ERP by adopting international pricing and launch sequence strategies in order to avoid negative impacts on the company’s revenues. ERP can also motivate parallel trade, and/or hurt investment in Research & Development since manufacturers obtain lower than desired profits. (Espin et al. 2011, 11; Rémuzat et al. 2015, 9; Persson & Jonsson 2015, 4-5, 7; Schulenburg et al. 2011, 7-8.)

Value-Based Pricing (VBP) is an invaluable tool that, in combination with Health Technology Assessment (HTA), determines an appropriate price to pay according to a drugs’ therapeutic efficacy. However, the price will be set by the value that high income countries with strong HTA capacity deem fit. This value-based price is often not affordable and neither suitable for lower income countries with limited or no HTA. (Kaló et al. 2013, 735; Faden et al. 2011, 21, 29; Whyte & Hall 2013, 20.)

Along the supply chain (Figure 1), mark-up regulation attempts to set limits to the profit margins of distributors and retailers (pharmacies) of medicines. Most European countries use some form of mark-up. Nevertheless, its effectivity depends on enforcement tools and reliable price/sales monitoring mechanisms to prevent market manipulation by distributors and retailers.

Taxes are also a direct contributor to the price of pharmaceuticals. Although fiscal policies vary across the world, any tax poses different levels of economic burden on consumers and studies put in question the morality of taxing medicines (Creese 2011, 15-16, 23).

Figure 1. Traditional Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

Intellectual Property Rights and patents are meant to promote innovation for new medicines as companies can remunerate their spending in research and development. While it works as supposed at some extent; patents can be abused and experiences of lengthened patent terms have proven not to increase innovation (Halpenny 2016, 544-545). The patent system also leads to neglected diseases because for some illnesses it is not profitable to develop treatments (Stiglitz & Jayadev 2010, 220). Finally, the ability of a single entity to control the sale of possibly life saving medicines for an extended period of time can have catastrophic effects. Particularly for countries which cannot afford the prices demanded by the patentees. This is a problem affecting both the developed and developing world (Satyanarayana & Srivastava 2010, 53; Stiglitz & Jayadev 2010, 225).

Competition, especially in the case of generic drugs, can motivate the highest price decreases as compared to other price containment tools, with 10 generic competitors a given price can decrease up to 70% (Schweitzer & Comanor 2011, 1557). Competition must be commanded by strict laws and regulations to ensure that anti-competitive behavior remains unsolicited. Without laws regulating competition, mergers and acquisitions of companies lead to monopolies and will inflate prices leading to unaffordability and in some cases drug shortages. (Hawkins 2011; Gagnon & Volesky 2017.)

The factors discussed (Figure 2), interrelatedly affect medicine prices and can have positive outcomes such as mitigating public expenditure on pharmaceuticals, boosting innovation, and increasing availability. However, they can also cause inequity in availability due to economic differences resulting in unaffordable medicines and in some cases outright medicine shortages. The scope of influence of each factor varies from country to country, depending on laws and regulations, health policies, taxes, and economic conditions.

Figure 2. Factors affecting medicine pricing

A topic of concern for healthcare workers and patients

Medicine pricing should be a topic of concern for nurses, other healthcare professionals, and patients alike. Nurses make up the largest group of healthcare workers. If financial resources are shifted towards higher and higher pharmaceutical bills, budget allocation for personnel will be under pressure potentially affecting nurses first. Furthermore, a limited budget will have a direct impact on quality and availability of health services, thus jeopardizing public health. This is why all healthcare workers should be aware of the importance of medicine pricing. Finally, the public in general, as users of healthcare systems, should know that the prices of pharmaceuticals determine public access to pharmaceutical therapies.

Well-informed healthcare workers have the potential to play a role in curving public expenditure in pharmaceutical products, thus influencing the budget allocation for health services. This can be done for example, by prioritizing cost-effective drug treatments (e.g. generic substitution) and by offering relevant guidance to patients concerning their purchases of medicines (e.g. fighting misconceptions).

References

Acosta, A., Ciapponi, A., Aaserud, M., Vietto, V., Austvoll-Dahlgren, A., Kösters, JP., Vacca, C., Machado, M., Diaz-Ayala, D. & Oxman, A. 2014. Pharmaceutical policies: effects of reference pricing, other pricing, and purchasing policies. [Online document]. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews. 16 October 2014. [Cited 28 May 2018]. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD005979.pub2

Creese, A. 2011. Sales Taxes on Medicines. [Online document]. WHO / HAI Project on Medicine Prices and Availability. Review Series on Pharmaceutical Pricing Policies and Interventions. Working Paper 5. [Cited 28 May 2018]. Available at: http://haiweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Taxes-final-May2011a1.pdf

Espin, J., Rovira, J. & Olry de Labry, A. 2011. External Reference Pricing. [Online document]. WHO / HAI Project on Medicine Prices and Availability. Review Series on Pharmaceutical Pricing Policies and Interventions. Working Paper 1. [Cited 28 May 2018]. Available at: http://haiweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Working-Paper-1-External-Reference-Pricing.pdf

Faden, L., Vialle-Valentin, C., Ross-Degnan, D. &  Wagner. A. 2011. The Role of Health Insurance in the Cost-Effective Use of Medicines. [Online document]. WHO / HAI Project on Medicine Prices and Availability. Review Series on Pharmaceutical Pricing Policies and Interventions. Working Paper 2. [Cited 28 May 2018]. Available at: http://haiweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Working-Paper-2-Health-Insurance.pdf

Gagnon, M. & Volesky, K. 2017. Merger mania: mergers and acquisitions in the generic drug sector from 1995 to 2016. Globalization and Health. [Electronic journal]. Vol. 13:62. [Cited 28 May 2018]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-017-0285-x

Halpenny, G. 2016. High Drug Prices Hurt Everyone. ACS medicinal chemistry letters. Vol. 7(6), 544-546.

Hawkins, L. 2011. Competition Policy.  [Online document]. WHO / HAI Project on Medicine Prices and Availability. Review Series on Pharmaceutical Pricing Policies and Interventions. Working Paper 4. [Cited 28 May 2018]. Available at: http://www.haiweb.org/medicineprices/05062011/Competition%20final%20May%202011.pdf

Kaló, Z., Annemans, L. & Garrison, L. 2013. Differential pricing of new pharmaceuticals in lower income European countries. Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research. Vol. 13(6), 735-741.

Persson, U. & Jonsson B. 2015. The End of the International Reference Pricing System? Applied Health Economics and Health Policy. Vol. 14( 1), 1–8.

Rémuzat, C., Urbinati, D., Mzoughi, O., El Hammi, E., Belgaied, W., & Toumi, M. 2015. Overview of external reference pricing systems in Europe. Journal of Market Access & Health Policy. Vol. 3, 1-11.

Satyanarayana, K., & Srivastava, S. 2010. Patent Pooling for Promoting Access to Antiretroviral Drugs (ARVs): A Strategic Option for India. The open AIDS journal. [Electronic journal]. Vol. 4, 41-53. [Cited 28 May 2018]. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819698/pdf/TOAIDJ-4-41.pdf

Schulenburg, F., Vandoros, S. & Kanavos, P. 2011. The effects of drug market regulation on pharmaceutical prices in Europe: overview and evidence from the market of ACE inhibitors. Health Economics Review. Vol. 1(1), 1-8.

Stiglitz, J. & Jayadev, A. 2010. Medicine for Tomorrow: Some Alternative Proposals to Promote Socially Beneficial Research and Development in Pharmaceuticals. Journal of Generic Medicines: The Business Journal for the Generic Medicines Sector. Vol. 7(3), 217-226.

Schweitzer, S. & Comanor, W. 2011. Prices of pharmaceuticals in poor countries are much lower than in wealthy countries. Health affairs. [Electronic journal]. Vol. 30(8), 1553-1561. [Cited 28 May 2018]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0923

WHO. 2008. Measuring medicine prices, availability, affordability and price Components. [Online document]. 2nd Edition. World Health Organization. [Cited 28 May 2018]. Available at: http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/access/OMS_Medicine_prices.pdf

WHO. 2015. WHO Guideline on Country Pharmaceutical Pricing Policies. [Online document]. World Health Organization. [Cited 28 May 2018]. Available at: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/153920/9789241549035_eng.pdf

Whyte, P. & Hall, C. 2013. The Role of Health Technology Assessment in Medicine Pricing and Reimbursement. [Online document]. WHO / HAI Project on Medicine Prices and Availability. Review Series on Pharmaceutical Pricing Policies and Interventions. Working paper 6. [Cited 28 May 2018]. Available at: http://haiweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/HTA-final-Aug2013a1.pdf

About the authors

Joy Duran & Tomas Maturana have studied Nursing at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Healthcare at Lahti University of Applied Sciences and will graduate in June 2018.

Anne Vuori PhD is working as senior teacher of nursing at Faculty of Social and Health Care at Lahti University of Applied Sciences.

Illustration: https://pixabay.com/fi/pillereit%C3%A4-l%C3%A4%C3%A4ketieteellinen-rahaa-943764/ (CC0)

Published 31.5.2018

Reference to this publication

Duran, J., Maturana, T. & Vuori, A. 2018. Medicine pricing and its relevance to healthcare workers and patients. LAMK Pro. [Electronic magazine]. [Cited and date of citation]. Available at: http://www.lamkpub.fi/2018/05/31/medicine-pricing-and-its-relevance-to-healthcare-workers-and-patients

Effects of moisture on automatic textile fiber identification by NIR spectroscopy

Articles in English, Kiertotalouden ratkaisut, LAMK RDI Journal

Lahti UAS has recently acquired a textile identifying and sorting unit REISKAtex® in order to develop identification analytics for different textile fibers. This article evaluates the effect of various humidity conditions in near infrared (NIR) spectrum of three different textile fiber materials, namely cotton, wool, and polyester.

Authors: Jussi Salin and Lea Heikinheimo

Introduction

Textile recycling has a significant environmental impact. In Finland, 71.2 million kg of textiles is removed from use each year (Dahlbo et al. 2015, 41). Various existing and new recycling processes for textile fibers depend on the purity and the right type of fiber material for each recycling process, because wrong materials create interference (Schmidt et al. 2016, 9; Fontell & Heikkilä 2017, 36). Automatic sorting could allow a larger portion of the textile waste flow to be processed into new fibers, if the fiber material contents of the recyclable textiles can be identified in order to send each textile for appropriate processing. In automatic sorting, a NIR analyzer could be used to identify the fiber materials of the recyclable textiles.

Water is known to be a significant variable in NIR spectroscopy, and therefore it could affect the automatic identification result of a NIR analyzer (Smith 2011, 16). Water absorption is used to determine the amount of water absorbed in textile materials under specified conditions. Factors affecting water absorption of a fabric are type of textile fiber, fabric structure, temperature, and length of exposure.

The analyzer used in this study is attached to a sorting unit located at Lahti UAS. This study is part of the Telaketju project. Telaketju is a co-operation network in Finland, which promotes circular economy by creating improvements both in recycling processes and in the flow of materials between companies. Telaketju is coordinated by VTT and Lounais-Suomen Jätehuolto Oy. The storage conditions of discarded textiles have raised concerns, including the effects of absorbed moisture. Developing automatic textile sorting is one key area of improvement of recycling. (Fontell & Heikkilä 2017, 31; Telaketju 2018.)

Testing methods and equipment

All fabrics used in the test have been stored in a normal room at the faculty, which has been at about 19 % relative humidity (RH) and 19 °C temperature throughout the experiment. The fabrics that are used for moisture testing are dried in a UT 12 drying cabinet by Kendro Laboratory Products at 104 °C. They are being dried till their weight stabilizes. An A&D GF-3000 digital scale is used for weighing the samples. Dry weights of the test fabric pieces can be obtained at this point. Next, the test fabrics are placed in various conditions, where they absorb air moisture till their weight no longer increases. The various moisture conditions are generated either by an ARC-500 weather cabinet by ArcTest company, or in a special room that has a Conairr CP3 air moisturizer and a temperature-controlled Glamox 200 radiator. (Salin 2018, 64-65.)

Between each tested moisture condition, the test fabrics are dried again to eliminate the hysteresis effect that occurs in textile fibers. If the fabric was not dried, it would gain slightly more moisture in a moist condition for being already in a more “open” state. In standard test methods, conditioning should always begin in the dry state (Collier & Epps 1999, 64).

NIR spectrums are obtained with NIRS Analyzer Pro by Metrohm AG, which is accompanied by Vision software. The software is used for gathering spectrums of textile samples, plotting them as graphs, and for creating an identification library. The identification library is trained with numerous samples of all textile fiber material groups chosen for the test. After verifying the library, it is then possible to attempt automatic identification of the test samples in their different moisture states, to report if identification fails at certain known amounts of moisture. The spectral range of the analyzer is between 1100 nm and 1650 nm (Metrohm AG 2017).

Fabric samples

Textile samples are taken from the textile library of Lahti UAS, which has collected fabrics of various fiber materials by various textile and fiber manufacturers. A total of 65 cotton fabrics, 9 wool fabrics and 178 polyester fabrics were chosen for training the identification library in Vision software (Salin 2018, 31).

One separate fabric piece of each fiber material is chosen for moisture testing. The structure of all three fabrics is plain weave (Salin 2018, 66).

Effects on fabric weight

The digital scale reports weights with 0.01 g accuracy when test fabrics are measured multiple times in a row. After weighing the test fabrics in each condition and calculating how much their weight has changed from dry weight, a graph is drawn (see Figure 1). The weight of wool is greatly increased by air humidity, it therefore being the most hydrophilic fiber material in the test, whereas cotton shows only relatively small increases. Polyester appears to be unaffected by humidity.

Figure 1. Measured water content increase of each test sample in different conditions next to commercial moisture regain coefficients located at 65.0 % RH and 20.0 °C (Salin 2018, 69).

By knowing dry weights of the test fabrics, it is possible to calculate water content regain coefficients of each measured condition. The measured coefficients can be compared to commercial moisture regain coefficients listed in the SFS 4876 standard. Coefficients of the standard are specified for 65.0 % ± 4.0 % RH and 20.0 °C ± 2.0 °C standard atmosphere condition of the SFS-EN ISO 139/A1 standard (SFS-EN ISO 139/A1). In Figure 1, the commercial moisture regain coefficients are drawn at 65.0 % RH as dots, next to the measured coefficients connected by lines. The commercial moisture regain coefficients are reasonably in line, except for polyester. The polyester test piece does not gain weight to an extent that can be measured by the digital scale even at 85 % RH, but commercial moisture regain expects it to gain 1.50 % more weight at 65.0 % RH (SFS 4876). That would be an 0.2 g increase to the 13.2 g dry weight of the test piece.

Effects on spectrum

Spectrums are gathered of each condition and test fabric, shown in Figure 2. Judging from the weight, wool and cotton absorb water content from air humidity, while polyester appears unaffected. The same effect can be seen in how the spectrum of polyester appears relatively unchanged, while wool and cotton have definite changes by absorbed water. The first overtone of water (H2O) causes a peak at 1460 nm, and the first overtone of hydroxide (OH–), which is bundled in small amounts along water moisture, causes a peak at 1600 nm (Davies 2017). The more moisture the fabrics have absorbed, the greater the change in the spectrum. Cotton has relatively small changes because it is less hydrophilic than wool. Because of this, as an additional demonstration, the cotton test fabric is held in running water and then a spectrum is acquired again, which can also be seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Non-pretreated NIR absorbance spectrums of cotton, wool, and polyester test fabrics, at 1100-1650 nm, as water content changes in different humidity conditions (Salin 2018, 70-71).

To produce one spectrum, NIR sampling is done 32 times by the analyzer, in order to reduce noise. Spectrums in Figure 2 are averaged.

Effects on automatic identification

When running automatic identification for the test fabrics in Vision software, all spectrums are correctly identified without an error, except the experimental cotton sample that is directly soaked in running water. No other spectrums are ambiguous, non-identified nor mistaken as wrong material (Salin 2018, 72.)

The identification algorithm in use is Correlation in Wavelength Space, with threshold value of 0.73. The threshold value is forked by trial-and-error and determined by result of zero failures as the most optimal for this identification library. Calculation of 2nd derivate and Standard Normal Variate (SNV) are used as spectral pre-treatments, as they perform adequately in verification. (Salin 2018, 41-43.)

Conclusion

Textile recycling can have a large environmental effect. It has been estimated, that for example in Scandinavia textiles create the largest environmental impact after food, housing, and mobility (Schmidt et al. 2016, 7). By automatic sorting, recycling can be improved as more textiles can be sent for appropriate processing by their known chemical composition. This enables the use of both mechanical and chemical fiber recycling processes that are unique to each fiber material of sorted textiles. Water content in textiles could however pose a problem for automatic identification with NIR analysis, which is used to make the sorting decisions (Smith 2011, 16). The experimental results of this study answer to some questions about the practical moisture sensitivity in automatic textile identification by NIR analysis. Furthermore, to make the results practical, the same NIR analyzer unit was used in this study that is being used in the REISKAtex® sorting unit of LUAS, which is a model that can be used on industrial scale.

When the identification library was trained with samples stored at 19 °C and 19 % RH conditions, it was still possible to correctly identify textiles that were dry, as well as textiles that had been kept at 85 % RH of 20 °C (Salin 2018, 72). This wide range of acceptable changes in water content was the major finding of this study. Wool fabric was the most hydrophilic fabric, measured by water absorption, and it also had the greatest changes in spectrum, therefore being the most moisture sensitive textile material for NIR identification. Cotton fabric was also hydrophilic, but it was a less sensitive material because of smaller changes in both spectrum and weight. Polyester fabric did not gain water absorption in measurable amounts and had no noticeable changes in spectrum, being hydrophobic and the least moisture sensitive material for NIR identification.

Considering the experiments discussed in this article, it would appear that humidity does not pose an obstacle for automatic identification of single fiber cotton, wool, and polyester textiles. Every test fabric piece was identified correctly in all intended conditions of the experiment. It should be noticed, though, that the experiments did not go beyond 85 % relative humidity of 20 °C.

References

Collier, B. & Epps, H. 1999. Textile Testing and Analysis. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Dahlbo, H., Aalto, K., Salmenperä, H., Eskelinen, H., Pennanen, J., Sippola, K. & Huopalainen, M. 2015. Tekstiilien uudelleenkäytön ja tekstiilijätteen kierrätyksen tehostaminen Suomessa. [Online document]. Helsinki: Ympäristöministeriö. [Cited 16 May 2018]. Available at: https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/155612/SY_4_2015.pdf

Davies, A. 2017. An introduction to near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. [Cited 16 May 2018]. Available at: http://www.impublications.com/content/introduction-near-infrared-nir-spectroscopy

Fontell, P. & Heikkilä, P. 2017. Model for circular business ecosystem for textiles. [Online document]. Espoo: VTT.  VTT Technology 313. [Cited 16 May 2018]. Available at: http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/technology/2017/T313.pdf

Metrohm AG. 2017. NIRS Analyzer PRO – DirectLight/NonContact. [Cited 16 May 2018]. Available at: https://www.metrohm.com/en-gb/products-overview/process%20analyzers/applikon%20nirs%20pro/A629281130

Salin, J. 2018. Automatic Identification of Textiles with NIR-spectroscopy. Master’s thesis. Lahti University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Technology. Lahti.

Schmidt, A., Watson, D., Askham, C. & Brunn Poulsen, P. 2016. Gaining benefits from discarded textiles. LCA of different treatment pathways. [Online document]. Denmark: Nordic Council of Ministers. TemaNord 2016:537. [Cited 16 May 2018]. Available at: https://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:957517/FULLTEXT02.pdf

SFS 4876. 1987. Tekstiilit. Kuitusisällön ilmoittaminen. Helsinki: Finnish Standards Association SFS.

SFS-EN ISO 139/A. 2005. Textiles. Standard atmospheres for conditioning and testing. Helsinki: Finnish Standards Association SFS.

Smith, B. 2011. Fundamentals of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Telaketju. 2018. Telaketju ­– Mikä se on? [Cited 16 May 2018]. Available at: https://telaketju.turkuamk.fi/mita_telaketju_tekee/

Authors

Jussi Salin is a Master’s Degree student at Lahti UAS in the  Programme in Smart Industries and New Business Concepts.

Lea Heikinheimo, D.Sc. (Tech), is a principal lecturer at Lahti UAS, Faculty of Technology, in the Degree Programme in Process and Materials Technology and in the Master’s Degree Programme in Smart Industries and New Business Concepts.

Published 24.5.2018

Illustration: Oona Rouhiainen

Reference to this publication

Salin, S. & Heikinheimo, L. 2018. Effects of moisture on automatic textile fiber identification by NIR spectroscopy. LAMK RDI Journal. [Electronic journal]. [Cited and date of citation]. Available at: http://www.lamkpub.fi/2018/05/24/effects-of-moisture-on-automatic-textile-fiber-identification-by-nir-spectroscopy/

Circular economy in selected EU National strategies

Articles in English, Kiertotalouden ratkaisut, LAMK Pro

This article introduces the concept of circular economy (CE) in terms of EU policy. Recently, the Commission introduced a series of measures in which countries are expected to implement CE into their national strategies. A selection of European countries were chosen based on their geographical and socio-economic differences, and their current CE strategies were analyzed.

Authors: David Huisman Dellago & Susanna Vanhamäki

Introduction

Ever since the industrial revolution, society has been pushing the use of natural resources exponentially. This is leading to major environmental issues linked to waste generation and greenhouse gases emissions from unsustainable business practices. Traditional economic models follow a linear pattern in which the production process works solely on new raw materials, generating substantial amounts of waste (Geissdoerfer, et al., 2017).

CE is an economic model which operates in a regenerative way, where used resources are reintroduced into the production process as by-products (minimizing waste). Within CE, two main pathways can be distinguished: the technical and biological pathways. The technical cycle involves product recycling and reuse, whilst the biological cycle observes the conversion of natural resources (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017).

In European law, CE plays an important role in the economic strategy of the EU. In 2015, the Commission launched a set of directives addressing regenerative and sustainable practices within the member countries (European Commission, 2015). The CE package is an ambitious plan aiming at establishing a CE framework.

Method

This article presents the results of a qualitative analysis of national CE strategies in selected EU countries. The countries were selected based on geographical and socio-economical differences, as well as the accessibility to their policy data. Part of the data was gathered in the BIOREGIO project (2017) in autumn 2017, whilst the other selected countries’ information is based on desk research.

The strategies analyzed belong to the nations of: Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands. The way CE is implemented (CE focus) is studied, as well as the nature of their policies.

Results

The following results display the role of CE in national policy strategies within a variety of EU member nations. The strategies reflect the countries’ pathways toward the European 2015 CE Package goals for the upcoming years, delivering an interesting set of data.

The effect of the EU transnational policies through the CE directive launched in 2015, is reflected throughout the analyzed countries. Only one of the studied countries lack CE in its national strategy. In Greece’s current strategy, a CE focus is absent as well as no mention to circularity as the program is based solely on waste reduction (Greek National Plan for Waste Management, 2015-2020). However, a change is expected in the upcoming year.

CE policies are presented from different perspectives within the EU countries, two general approaches can be distinguished. On the one hand, there are multidisciplinary strategies which address several pathways within CE, in many cases including bio-based CE. These strategies are known as roadmaps and can be observed in Finland and the Netherlands. The Finnish national policy addressed CE holistically and a regenerative business model, in order to achieve sustainable practices by 2025 (The Finnish Roadmap to a Circular Economy, 2016-2025). The Netherlands is undergoing an ambition plan in order to become a totally circular country by 2050. The plan focuses on closing the loop and becoming self-sufficient, by enhancing sustainable technologies (Government of the Netherlands, 2016).

Portugal is implementing a green growth program (Government of Portugal, 2013) where CE is linked to the green industry, aiming at enhancing the country’s sustainability. Similarly, but focused on the bioeconomy, Germany and Sweden opt for the CE implementation in the agricultural and biotechnological production processes. This way, they expect to achieve self-sufficiency, increased competitiveness and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (Federal Ministry of Education and Research, 2013; Government of Sweden, 2012; The Waste Management Program of the Slovak Republic , 2016-2020).

On the other hand, a waste management approach is shown where CE is explicitly mentioned. This is seen in the Spanish, Slovakian, French and Romanian strategies. The countries are utilizing waste reduction as a direct tool to improve the circularity of their respective economies. According to their policies, through recycling and e.g. biowaste conversion, a regenerative economy can be obtained (Waste Management State Plan PEMAR, 2016-2020; Law relative to Energy Transition for Green Growth, 2015-2030; Romanian National Waste Management Strategy, 2014-2020).

CE in National Strategies from selected EU countries (Table 1), shows the name of the analyzed policy and the CE focus. The CE focus corresponds to the way regenerative economy is intended to be applied. Roadmaps are integrative, multidisciplinary approaches as they affect many different industries. Furthermore, bioeconomy and waste management focus on that specific industry. Finally, one country have no national strategy related to CE at the moment.

Table 1. CE in National Strategies from selected EU countries

Conclusion

The CE package from the European Union is influencing the economic models from its member countries. The ambitious directive was established in 2015 and is pushing countries to adopt sustainable practices aiming at minimizing waste and enhance the European industry (European Commission, 2015).

A series of EU countries based on their socio-economical and geographical differences were analyzed. The form in which CE is reflected was analyzed based on the national policies. The main findings conclude that:

  • Finland and the Netherlands are implementing an integrative roadmap in order to achieve a full CE model before a certain year. Through this way, CE is implemented in many different industries and the economy of the country as a whole.
  • Germany, Sweden and Portugal aim their programs at a specific industry. CE is directed at the green and bioeconomic sectors, meaning agriculture and biotechnology are prioritized.
  • Spain, Slovakia, France and Romania integrate CE aspects to their national strategies through waste management. Waste reduction and conversion is an essential part of CE, however, it is not the only potential way to apply the circular model.
  • Greece, does not currently have a national strategy related to CE implemented. The current programs focus on waste management but CE is not mentioned as a policy goal. Nonetheless, due to new EU regulations, a future strategy is envisioned and being prepared in order to enhance CE.
References

BIOREGIO. 2017. Interreg EU. [Online document]. Interreg Europe. [Cited 29 Jan 2018].
Available at: https://www.interregeurope.eu/bioregio/

Ellen MacArthur Foundation. 2017. Circular Economy. [Online document]. [Cited 3 May 2018]. Available at: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/interactive-diagram

European Commission. 2015. CE Package. [Online document] European Commission. [Cited 6 May 2018]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/jobs-growth-and-investment/towards-circular-economy_en

Federal Ministry of Education and Research. 2013. National Research Strategy BioEconomy 2030 – Our Route towards a biobased economy, Berlin: German Government. [Online document]. [Cited 14 May 2018]. Available at: http://globaltrends.thedialogue.org/publication/national-research-strategy-bioeconomy-2030-our-route-towards-a-biobased-economy/

Geissdoerfer, M., Savaget, P., Bocken, N. M. & Hultink, E. J. 2017. The Circular Economy – A new sustainability paradigm? Journal of Cleaner Production [Electronic journal]. Vol. 143 (1), 757-768. [Cited 25 Mar 2018]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.048

Government of the Netherlands. 2016. Circular Netherlands 2050 – Roadmap to Circular Economy. Dutch Ministry of Environment. [Online document]. [Cited 14 May 2018]. Available at: https://www.government.nl/documents/policy-notes/2016/09/14/a-circular-economy-in-the-netherlands-by-2050

Government of Portugal. 2013. Green Growth Commitment. Ministry of Environment of Portugal. [Online document]. [Cited 14 May 2018]. Available at: http://www.crescimentoverde.gov.pt/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2015_02_0Portugal-green-taxation-reforma-and-green-growth-deal.pdf

Government of Sweden. 2012. Swedish Research and Innovation Strategy for a Bio-based Economy. [Online document]. [Cited 14 May 2018]. Available at: http://www.formas.se/PageFiles/5074/Strategy_Biobased_Ekonomy_hela.pdf

Greek National Plan for Waste Management. 2015-2020. [Online document]. Government of Greece. [Cited 6 May 2018]. Available at: http://www.ypeka.gr/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=8rKEKVFO8G0%3d&tabid=238&language=el-GR

Law relative to Energy Transition for Green Growth. 2015-2030. [Online document]. Government of France. [Cited 6 May 2018]. Available at: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000031044385&categorieLien=id

Romanian National Waste Management Strategy. 2014-2020. [Online document]. Government of Romania. [Cited 6 Feb 2018]. Available at: https://legestart.ro/hg-nr-8702013-privind-aprobarea-strategiei-nationale-de-gestionare-a-deseurilor-2014-2020/

The Finnish Roadmap to a Circular Economy. 2016-2025. [Online document]. Government of Finland. [Cited 6 May 2018]. Available at: https://media.sitra.fi/2017/02/24032659/Selvityksia121.pdf

The Waste Management Program of the Slovak Republic. 2016-2020. [Online document]. Government of Slovakia. [Cited 6 May 2018]. Available at: http://www.minzp.sk/files/sekcia-enviromentalneho-hodnotenia-riadenia/odpady-a-obaly/registre-a-zoznamy/poh-sr-2016-2020_vestnik.pdf

Waste Management State Plan PEMAR. 2016-2020. [Online document] Government of Spain. [Cited 6 May 2018]. Available at: https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2015/12/12/pdfs/BOE-A-2015-13490.pdf

About the authors

David Huisman Dellago is an exchange student from Avans University of Applied Sciences in Breda (The Netherlands). He is developing his bachelor thesis working as an intern in Lahti University of Applied Sciences.

Susanna Vanhamäki works as a RDI Specialist at Lahti University of Applied Sciences.

Illustration: https://pixabay.com/en/garbage-can-garbage-bucket-green-1111449/ (CC0)

Published 24.5.2018

Reference to this publication

Huisman Dellago, D. & Vanhamäki, S. 2018. Circular economy in selected EU National strategies. LAMK Pro. [Electronic magazine]. [Cited and date of citation]. Available at: http://www.lamkpub.fi/2018/05/24/circular-economy-in-selected-eu-national-strategies/