Package Design | packagedesignmag.com

(February 2005) posted on Tue Dec 08, 2009

By Noel Jeffrey

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If competitors in the packaging world agree on anything, it’s that accelerated time to market for their clients’ products is critical. Clients expect controlled costs and quality. Quick turnaround and innovation are the differentiators a packaging business offers.

Still, a tangible 3D package model is essential to most bags, boxes, and bottles—just to be sure they work and have the look and feel the customer envisions. What’s more, product packages may be targeted to gender, age groups, and even hand size. Therefore, in the case of producing prototypes of all kinds, the need for speed is driving technology acquisitions, many of them digital, and some business realignments.

All-in-one models
Scott Jost, president of Studio One Eleven, the in-house design agency for Berlin Packaging in Chicago, says that one of the megatrends he sees is that more packaging companies are bringing design agencies in-house, and these agencies are offering prototypes produced in-house. “It used to be rare,” Jost points out. “There are 10 to 12 companies in the country that produce prototypes for designers but now you can get into a digital 3D prototype system for about $25,000 - $30,000—the price of a good color copier with built-in RIP.”

At Englander Container & Display, still other digital methods are saving customers time and money while assuring more accurate, predictable results. Marty Englander, company president, says: “Prototyping is a very important part of what we do, and it has to happen quickly. Retailers are very demanding of their suppliers and on down the supply chain.”

Englander explains that his Waco, Texas-based company offers design services and prints using offset lithography as well as flexography. He says that whether it’s flexo or litho, you are working with film or at least plates and there are always two issues. First, creating the prototype for customer approval is time-consuming. Second, when matching the end product that will be printed to a glossy Matchprint proof, it is difficult and sometimes impossible to meet client expectations.