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PPC's Ideas and Innovation Handbook Has Become an Indispensable Tool for Designers

The first Ideas and Innovation handbook was published in 1988 by the Paperboard Packaging Council and had less than 100 pages. This handy resource has since evolved into the expansive current version, which offers over 350 pages of detailed drawings and design guidelines.

The well-organized and well-illustrated Ideas and Innovation handbook has become an industry standard for designers because it is thorough and user-friendly.

PPC developed the handbook to foster more cooperative efforts and stronger communication channels with packaging professionals and universities across the country. The handbook's purpose is to create a common language for all involved in the paperboard packaging development process. It is a comprehensive manual that offers a strong foundation for every packaging professional.

Converters, customers, designers, packaging decision-makers, university faculty, and their students have at their fingertips a reference tool detailing the basic materials and processes used to manufacture and convert carton grade substrates. The handbook offers 700 detailed drawings of the basic carton styles such as tubes, trays, multi-packs, and specialty packaging. It also presents sections on alternative paperboard packaging, special carton features (such as tear-strips and handles), set-up boxes, combination packaging, and fluted folding cartons (miniflute).

Easy to use and comprehensive

Ideas and Innovations is used frequently at packaging programs at Cal Poly, Clemson University, Fashion Institute of Technology, Michigan State University, and Rochester Institute of Technology, among others. Along with providing students detailed package schematics, the handbook works in concert with a professor's syllabus, as professor Sandra Krasovec of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York testifies: "It is a good source for covering the history of folding cartons, the manufacturing process, and design patterns. It is extremely convenient to have one reference tool that I can cross reference to check terminology, patterns, and manufacturing."

Karen Proctor, the packaging science program chair at RIT, adds specifically that the handbook's overview is extremely valuable in helping students understand the folding carton industry. "The overview is the foundation of the book," Proctor explains. "It clearly defines the market and the manufacturing of this material. The balance of the book demonstrates all the design opportunities." A common thread with university faculty's comments is that the Ideas and Innovation handbook is easy to use, with clear illustrations and pictorials that increase students' understanding of the manufacturing process and paperboard package design.

Clemson University's Packaging Science Department has incorporated the Ideas and Innovations handbook into their curriculum.

The handbook is used in their Packaging Design Fundamentals and Consumer Packaging Systems courses. These courses are developed to examine the design features, product compatibility to the form of packaging, and marketability of the packaging.

Dr. Kay Cooksey affirms that: "The Ideas and Innovation handbook is easy to use, with well-illustrated pictorials that increase our students understanding of paperboard package design. I personally find that the sections on characteristics and typical uses of substrates and the pictorials on design variations are excellent, and the information in this handbook is not available to us anywhere else."

Getting involved at conception

PPC's Ideas and Innovation handbook is a comprehensive manual that has clearly raised the bar. The latest version of the handbook is now being used widely as the industry standard for anyone involved in the package selection and the package design process, and a useful reference tool for both student and seasoned veteran alike.

Today, converter companies want to become involved in the package development process at the conception stage. Getting involved early helps converters fully understand customers' requirements and enables them to present a range of package design options and styles. Having a common language to begin that process increases efficiencies.

The handbook validates the "on the same page" mantra—it means the benefit of having a quick reference tool readily accessible for discussions with box manufacturers or in-house buyers, packaging engineers, product managers, and marketers. Communications are improved because all parties can refer to a single standard text.

The "self-service" marketplace of current package development places greater demands on product differentiation, making the design and graphics of packaging even more critical. For companies looking to expand paperboard packaging options, the Ideas and Innovation handbook can open doors to a host of paperboard packaging options. For more information, contact Paperboard Packaging Council at (703) 836-3300, or visit www.ppcnet.org.