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Package graphics: cutting time and costs

Lead times and costs of package graphics are clearly in the ‘cross-hairs’ of most packaging buyers, say survey respondents.

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More than two of every three participants in this package graphics survey said their companies have not made specific initiatives to cut the cost of package printing or the lead times from artwork to finished packages. However, the remaining 30% were very vocal about how their companies would tackle those two issues.

That was the major surprise in Packaging World’s survey about package graphics, conducted late last year on Packworld.com, the magazine’s Web site.

Many participants have targeted the artwork design and approval process as a way to speed up the process from graphic design to finished packaging.

“We’ve expedited the artwork approval process through the use of electronic sign-offs internationally,” said a packaging executive with a large midwestern cosmetics maker. At a national food company, a packaging executive reported his company is “evaluating the possibility of online proofing.”

“We’ve automated parts of our proofing process, especially involving bar coding,” said a packaging engineer for a maker of nonfood consumer products in the Midwest.

Others indicated that their companies had changed the approval process for designs. A purchasing manager with a major motor oil producer in the Southeast, said: “We’ve improved communication with suppliers to eliminate steps that affect lead times without jeopardizing the project.” A similar plan was described by the maintenance manager for a major brewer in the Midwest.

A production executive for a major national meat processor based on the West Coast had cut lead times by “purchasing graphic computer programs.”

Several participants reported their companies had cut costs and project lead times by moving more design functions in-house. An engineer at a large chemical company in the Southeast said her company was “bringing design back in-house.” The same comment came from a marketing executive at a small manufacturer of medical products in the Northeast. On the West Coast, a packaging engineer for a mid-sized frozen food maker reported his company “was interested in exploring more in-house printing.”

Costs targeted, too

A variety of techniques were being employed to help cut the costs for packaging graphics. A production executive at a small cosmetics maker in the Northeast reported his company has cut costs “by ordering in larger quantities.”

Better graphic asset management was mentioned by a few participants. “We’ve moved to a central source for global color separations,” said a packaging executive with an international maker of cosmetics headquartered in the Northeast. Also in the Northeast, a packaging executive with an international pharmaceutical company reported his company had “established a partnership with color separators to produce all mechanical art, instead of using design firms.”

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