SPOTLIGHT: Workflow Solution

McCain Snack Foods Keeps Expanding the Functions Of OEC Graphics I.T.’s Digital Asset Management

Digital asset management is a liquid, customizable, up-to-the-minute database with as many uses as there are SKUs in the consolidated McCain Foods product lines.

When McCain acquired Anchor Food Products three years ago, they aggressively decided to consolidate McCain heritage and Anchor heritage SKUs and “re-brand” as one company. This ambitious plan required OEC Graphics I.T. to create new artwork and complete customized prepress work for each and every packaging component of roughly 1,500 products, or about 2,200 components, in less than eight months.

Digital asset management (DAM) software and management systems made this rapid turnaround possible, and the expertise was supplied by Image I.T., now known as OEC Graphics I.T. All existing McCain heritage 4D database specs were transferred into the system, modified or deleted as needed, and retrieved efficiently during the re-branding process. New packaging specifications for the re-branded SKUs were established and entered into the system.

As Mike Liotta, manager of packaging research and development at McCain, summarizes: “This project would not have been completed on schedule without OEC Graphics I.T.’s packaging specification and project management system.” The whole system and user interface was conceived, designed and built starting in December of 2001, and rolled out as the project began in earnest in early March of 2002.

Company-wide, employees and clients were trained on how they would use the new system in their work routines. Simultaneously, SKUs were consolidated, sales/marketing planning was feverishly completed, and artwork design was approved. OEC Graphics I.T. completed all brand line extension, chain, and private label projects with co-packed artwork, pre-press, and plates. Packaging started to print in April and May of 2002 and was rolled out in phases from June through November.

What DAM can do for you

Digital asset management can be difficult to define, so many find it hard to envision its many benefits. Liotta stresses a few of the many efficiencies that digital asset management brings to the table, beyond its wholly customizable databases. Reducing errors and duplication of effort, for instance, is a result of the ease of cut-and-paste updating of files, communicating changes to files, and getting approvals of files. With everyone able to read everyone else’s comments, image updates and approvals can occur in minutes instead of hours or days.

Paul Ziemer, OEC Graphics I.T. account manager on the McCain account, stresses the flexibility of the digital asset management databases, as well as the depth and breadth of experience that OEC Graphics I.T. staff has in prepress, printing, and packaging. “We just bring a lot to the table. We talk to customers at every level to make certain we design the best company-wide solution,” Ziemer explains.

I.T.’s database software backbone allows for a customized, liquid program, and customers are always finding more ways of using it. Account manager Paul Ziemer conferences with Mike Liotta daily to discuss McCain’s needs and how those needs can be met. A simple discussion can lead to new applications of existing capabilities. Once a system is in place, it becomes part and parcel of each production phase, from R&D to QA. “It’s a whole process control system,” says Ziemer.

Efficient digital asset management was very helpful in three major aspects of McCain’s specification and project management system during the re-branding effort—communication tools, workflow management control, and speed-to-market. To better understand how the system helped at McCain Snack Foods, these features will be explained in terms of functionality, how they were applied in the re-branding project, and how they are now applied on an ongoing basis.

1st Feature: Communication Tools

Packaging specifications are always available from the system via web browser or I.T.’s database software. Any of the specifications can be exported for use in other database programs or spreadsheet programs. The system is able to retrieve data continually and export it to other applications for packaging price bids.

OEC Graphics I.T. customized its digital asset management tools and user interface for McCain’s “re-branding” project.

Additionally, other purchasing personnel and those needing spec information frequently access the database via a website, available 24 hours a day, worldwide. For packaging approvals, a browser link to the packaging project PDFs is sent via e-mail to designated “approvers” from Packaging, Marketing, R&D, or QA, so all designated personnel can view the links and comment on the content simultaneously.

As the McCain re-branding proceeded, hundreds of links were quickly viewed, approved, and converted into printed packaging. Product history is also comprehensively tracked by having all previous and pending changes for a product or packaging component available for future reference by R&D or QA. Finally, individual groups with password protection can see specs and PDFs of the individual product’s components.

2nd Feature: Workflow Management Control

As R&D issues specs for products or QA issues changes for existing products, these specs are electronically transferred into Filemaker to be used in revised packaging artwork or plates. As changes were made during the McCain re-branding, new specs were transmitted and used in the artwork without the need for two or three proofing steps.

Tying into the purposes of Supplier Managed Inventory, “held” changes are added to artwork or plates, as necessary to replenish inventories of print suppliers. For example, any of the eight McCain appetizer print suppliers can access the web and determine on their own whether the component they need to print is a “rerun” or requires changes. The system also tracks all projects and all steps within the project in real time. Additionally, designated personnel can access project costs at any time to assess costs related to their budgets.

3rd Feature: Speed-To-Market

New products speed through the system using the project-planning portion of the system. A project is created for new product development, allowing all approved personnel to view specifications as they are developed. Additionally, an automatic Gantt charting capability can be added to project planning so all parties involved will know what to expect and what their part will be in meeting the expectation.

As the McCain re-branding progressed, all interested parties used this function to assess their project status. The system can also service just-in-time thermal label printers at distribution centers for outer case labels. This capability eliminates the need for preprinted labels or cases, thereby reducing packaging inventory while allowing production lines to run up generic product for delivery to all distribution centers.

Finally, marketers or salespeople can easily reference previous packaging and ask that similar art be used to produce new customers’ packaging. The system implementation by the McCain appetizer group and resulting successes bring credibility to the ease of use, functionality, and IT friendliness of OEC Graphics I.T.’s packaging specification and project management use of their digital asset management resources.