Warning: main(/w1/c/cpcpkg//magazines/breadcruminc.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /var/home/w1/c/cpcpkg/magazine/09_07_perspectives.php on line 20
Warning: main() [function.include]: Failed opening '/w1/c/cpcpkg//magazines/breadcruminc.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') in /var/home/w1/c/cpcpkg/magazine/09_07_perspectives.php on line 20
Perspectives: James A. Burk, Paxonix
James A. Burk
Collaborating to avoid mistakes.
Before there was packaging, corn was sold by the bushel, beer-to-go by the bucket, and pigs in pokes. Packaging has changed all that. Initially driven by the need to efficiently and safely transport finished products over long distances, packaging is now a primary means of communication with end-users. In fact, given the worldwide spectrum of legal and regulatory compliance issues, packaging now represents a virtual contract with the customer.
To a consumer, packaging usually simply means the color of a shampoo bottle, or maybe a friendly tiger on a cereal box. Certainly, creative visuals are key elements in building brand identity. However, the packaging process has evolved tremendously to encompass so much more than just colors and graphics.
Cosmetic and personal care products present unique challenges for the entire packaging team. Product packages that convey the promise of silkier hair, alluring fragrance, or whiter teeth must also provide physical protection to SKUs, which can range in price from a few dollars to several hundreds of dollars. Also, product regulatory and compliance mandates must be designed into a package’s overall visual appearance. At the same time, filling-line speeds and sound structural engineering often determine the practicality of any package design.
Today, creating a successful new package means having immediate access to the ocean of data that are required to pull all of the critical elements together in an efficient, cost-effective manner. Here are just a few examples of packaging data that must be managed individually and as a group at the very same time: packaging specifications, sustainability data, graphics, logos, marketing copy, ingredient copy, legal copy, regulatory information, symbols, and, of course, package quality.
The challenge is that some companies don’t have the tools necessary to ensure that reliable data are widely available across many different disciplines in real time. Traditionally, within the packaging world, creative, engineering, R&D, legal, and compliance teams work independently, each focused on its particular contribution with limited visibility of the entire process. Moreover, each team is not always able to easily communicate and collaborate with other teams. In a global economy, not everyone involved in the process is in the same room, or most likely, not even on the same continent. As a result, limited communication can cause the need for reworking of a package, slowed down speed to market, and hampered management of projects, all contributing to growing frustration between parties as well as loss of profit.
Collaboration can ensure that packaging is done right the first time. Packaging-specific, Web-based technology makes this critical communication possible. Web-based systems allow people to participate in the packaging process from wherever they are at the moment.
In an economy in which most companies are forced to do far more with far less, the entire packaging team, from creative to converter, must work together, in a way that eliminates mistakes. In this economy, companies can’t afford not to get it right the first time.