Bang for Your Big-Box Bucks

Package printing is all about high-quality printing and eye-catching graphic presentation. This has been especially evident in recent years as technology advancements have broadened the ability to achieve high-quality graphics, coupled with the growing sophistication of marketers and brand owners to have the package and its graphics help sell the product on the store shelf.

One segment that is getting more and more attention is the corrugated packaging market. In addition to the widespread use of point-of-purchase (POP) displays for merchandising, the growth of warehouse club stores is raising the stakes for secondary packaging, as it is playing a much larger role in the product sale.

Accurate Box Company (Paterson, N.J., www.accuratebox.com) is one package-printing company that got into this game early. The company was founded by Henry Hirsh in 1944 as a folding carton company. In the 1960s, Henry passed the reigns of the business to his son, Charles, who serves as chairman today.

According to Larry Shapiro, vice president and CFO, it was Charles' vision that brought together the company's focus on graphics and litho-laminated corrugated packaging. In the early 1980s, he acquired Berles Carton Company and relocated the business from Newark, N.J. to the acquired Paterson location. It was during this time that Accurate Box began its transition from a folding carton printer to a high graphics corrugated company, relates Shapiro.

Today, the company operates from a 9-acre location with about 175 employees. It serves a diverse range of markets. "We design and produce high graphics corrugated packaging for the consumer markets, primarily the food and beverage industries," notes Shapiro. "Other market segments include micro-breweries, auto aftermarket, and warehouse club store trays. We also produce point-of-purchase [POP] displays and standees."

Lisa Hirsh, president and CEO, and the daughter of Charles Hirsh, has been leading the company since the mid 1990s. In 1997, the company became certified as a women-owned business (WBE, Women Business Enterprise).

"Our niche is the production of exceptional high graphics corrugated packaging for nationally-recognized brands such as Kellogg's and Pepsico," she says. "This type of packaging has become more brilliant, and requires higher color reproduction due to the growth of the big-box retailers like Costco and Sam's Club. Our job is to produce the logos and graphics with the highest quality on a strong corrugated material that will withstand shipping, storage, and display, and entice customers to purchase the products."

The company focuses on the needs of its customers for both high-quality graphics and the need to efficiently run packaging materials on their filling lines. "We pride ourselves on our ability to adapt to the needs of our customers and to provide superior graphics that fulfill our customers' requirements for retail environment shelf presence," says Shapiro. "In addition, the precision of our print-to-cut registration ensures that our boxes perform on our customers' high-speed filling lines at specified fill rates."

Plant modernization

Accurate Box focuses exclusively on sheetfed offset printing, positioning itself as a full-service high graphics corrugated box manufacturer. Its capabilities include complete in-house graphics design, platemaking, and diemaking; two 7-color, 64˝ fully computerized KBA (www.kba.com) Rapida presses; two Bobst (www.bobstgroup.com) Version IV Asitrade laminators; two Bobst flatbed diecutters; and eight folder/gluers.

The in-house structural and graphic prepress process "facilitates a smooth coordination with printing and production to ensure adherence to customer specifications," says Shapiro. "We have the ability to show design concepts, make copy corrections, and generate proofs, with all work performed in-house. These capabilities increase speed to market and help us to work within extremely tight time lines." The company also enhances its prepress operation with Agfa (www.agfa.com) computer-to-plate (CTP) technology.

Accurate Box uses sheetfed offset printing because of its ability to provide high-quality graphics, along with competitive pricing on short runs, says Shapiro. "We routinely run 200 linescreen for our customers. In addition, 'Just in Time' shop-floor initiatives allow us to produce customer orders and meet their release schedules in a timely manner."

The company has a history of investing in new technology to support the needs of its customers. Its most recent example is a plant modernization program that was brought online in early 2009. It was centered around a new KBA Rapida 162 7-color press, along with expanded finishing capabilities.

"Our investment was necessitated by our need to remain state of the art with our printing capability, as customers' demands for higher graphics resolution in their packaging increased," says Shapiro. Along with the new press, the existing KBA press was upgraded.

The new press technology also satisfies the need for faster turnaround times. "Our customers are ordering shorter run lengths and we're seeing much more frequent copy changes to keep the copy fresh," observes Hirsh. "Our new KBA Rapida press, equipped with all of its automation, is allowing us to cut our makeready times, quickly set up the press to print, and scan our jobs to ensure that color is exact."

The Logotronic management system provides improved data utilization throughout the overall workflow. "We incorporate KBA's Logotronics—a JDF workflow system—to supply CIP4 data to our printing presses," says Shapiro. "This system enhances communication and information flow between prepress and the printing department areas. This, in turn, facilitates the elimination of errors and reduces makeready times."

To further support its printing capabilities, Accurate Box installed a Sentinel inking system from Pamarco Global Graphics (www.pamarcoglobal.com). This system provides economies of scale when using process inks, says Shapiro.

In the finishing operation, the modernization program included adding a second Bobst Version IV Astitrade laminator. This is used to laminate the printed sheets to single-face corrugated to produce the high graphic corrugated sheet. "The addition of a second laminator has provided us with increased scheduling flexibility and capacity," says Shapiro. "We are able to produce a broad range of flute sizes and strengths with minimal set-up changes.

Continual improvement

Accurate Box has a culture of continual improvement. "Our goal is steadfast—to retain the capability to respond timely to changing customer needs," he says. "We will continue to assess market conditions and make those prudent investments that ensure that our customers' needs are perpetually met and that we remain their preferred supplier of choice." pP