September 2007 Issue

Branded —Tom Polishuk

Brand protection is hot and getting hotter. A brand’s equity needs to be protected at all costs. It is sometimes developed over decades, can impart implicit trust, and can be lost in a matter of days, if not hours. Some major consumer products companies are getting first-hand exposure to the ramifications of what can happen. Mattel is taking a beating with multiple recalls involving its Fisher-Price and Barbie brands, and Colgate-Palmolive’s Colgate toothpaste has had a scare due to counterfeit products on the shelf. Companies have an exposure with any negative events impacting their brands whether they are responsible for the problems or not—and they

CURSES, Foiled Again!

In the words of John Giusto, senior vice president of manufacturing, Curtis Packaging, foil decorating “is still probably the most significant enhancement that can be made to a package.” That’s a pretty strong choice of words, but not entirely out of line. Foil decorating is a very useful way to differentiate one package of graham crackers from another as they stand side by side on a supermarket shelf. It permeates high-end cosmetic packaging. “A high-end cosmetic package is not a high-end cosmetic package unless it has foil stamping on it,” says Giusto. “It just exudes quality or upper end.” High quality means higher value,

Excellence Awards — And the Winner Is...

During the judging of packagePRINTING’s 2007 Excellence Awards, the judges’ eyes were drawn to this year’s collection of digital entries. But, one entry earned more than just a glance. Wilmington, Mass.-based Dow Industries, received the honor of Best in Show for it’s “Canary Island Banana - Hybrid” label, produced for The Yankee Candle Company. The entry is also the first-place winner in the digital labels category. What struck judge Dean Gilbert—assistant professor, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University—was that the label’s sharpness, striking color, and offset-like quality were achieved using a digital press. “Until now, [digital printing] hasn’t really been recognized for outstanding

Go, Speed Racer

Turnaround times are critical in today’s package-printing world. Couple quick turnaround with the demand for shorter runs, and your press operators will be switching tools almost constantly. Diecutting is an integral part of the entire printing process and can impact the speed at which you can fulfill print orders. Just as diecutting impacts the speed of your print job, external forces, such as consolidation, globalization, new substrates and shorter runs, affect the diecutting market. “The label printing industry as a whole has been changing rapidly in recent years,” says Frank Hasselberg, executive vice president, Kocher + Beck USA. “These changes also have a huge

Looking for trends at drupa 2008

drupa, the quadrennial celebration of print, is upon us once again. The 2008 show will be a great opportunity to see everything and gather critical information for one’s business plan. Compared with 2004, this show will have a high number of products with JDF 1.3 capabilities, and will mark the debut of JDF 1.4. The systems to note at drupa 2008 will be those that apply similar principles to more complex challenges, enlisting the customer and its IT system as an active participant in the print workflow process. With the increase in JDF/JMF automation potential, as well as a plethora of print-specific database technologies,

The Dichotomies of the Global Printing Industry

By Frank Romano, USA We are currently experiencing a period of significant change as technology, transportation, and global competitive forces combine to challenge all printing companies no matter where they are on this planet. These opposing statements may help to describe the global printing industry: 1. All printing is local, except when it is global. 2. All printing is monochrome, except when it is in color. 3. All printing is conventional, except when it is digital. 4. All printers are printers, except when they are in-house or office retailers.

Top Folding Carton Converters — On the Rebound

A few years after folding cartons fell into a slump, the state of the industry is showing promise. In a July Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) study, “2007 Shows Recovery in Carton Shipments After Soft Close to 2006,” the association reported that although shipments from the first half of this year were down slightly compared with the first half of 2006, “the outlook for 2007 could be brighter after a slow start to the year. Year-to-date shipments have slowly but steadily improved over a soft fourth quarter 2006. Inventories have risen in June by 18.2 percent compared to May levels, which appears to indicate that

Wanted: A MISsionary Zeal

The term MIS—management information systems—gets thrown around so much that the significance of its impact gets taken for granted. Company management and all employees making management decisions (and in well-managed companies, these decisions are made at the lowest possible organizational level) depend on accurate, real-time information to make good decisions that enhance the bottom line. So, you would think systems that provide the information for management decisions would get top billing, or at least some priority. However, this is not always the case. Companies that are in the MIS business for the printing arena sometimes struggle to win the battles for investment

What’s the Combination

The use of combination printing/processing is not a rarity in package printing—not by a long shot. A printer that has the need could combine any of the printing processes, in addition to converting operations such as foil stamping and embossing. The value provided by combination printing is that each printing process can bring its own specific attributes to the party, says Andy Colletta, president/CEO of Nilpeter USA. “Flexography and offset printing provide the lion’s share of the coverage on a signature, including the text and four-color images,” he explains. “Rotary screen is often used to provide an opaque background prior to printing, while

What’s the Combination

Where the Rubber Hits the Road

In today’s intensely competitive consumer environment, a package is considerably more than an inert enclosure or container for a given product. As marketers compete for shelf space and consumer dollars, packages have become dynamic, high-performing marketing tools. From a design perspective, the creation of a package involves two distinct but intimately related workflows representing structure and graphic design. And, while graphics continue to play a critical a role in boosting a product’s visual appeal, the practical and functional advantages of a well-engineered package should never be discounted. Indeed, the lexicon of box styles—reverse tuck, same tuck or rollover end, crash bottom, snap-lock bottom

All Issues