Design2Launch Aims To Shorten Brand Graphics to Package Cycle Time
By Kevin O'Marah, Roddy Martin

Packaging accounts for 60% to 70% of total product cost for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) (see “Packaging Operations: Where Manufacturing Rubber Meets the Supply Chain Road,” in the Alert on Product Lifecycle Management, September 19, 2002). While much of the discussion about the role of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) applications in the CPG market has been about process manufacturing issues, getting brand graphics and label details right is just as much of a bottleneck as getting formulas and recipes straight. The typical review/change/approval cycle involves three to four iterations between graphic design, color separator, and printer--with marketing owning the final go-ahead. Since the process generally requires hard proofs moving back and forth by courier, the cycle can take weeks.

CPG companies may be able to take a lesson from the Electronics industry that long ago discovered the value of electronic Engineering Change Orders (ECOs). Agile Software had an immediate and measurable effect on time-to-market for High-Tech manufacturers, improving cycle times by 70% to 90% with ECOs across companies, especially between the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and their contract-manufacturing partners. The same type of improvement looks possible with emerging technology from a small vendor called Design2Launch. The recently funded startup has developed technology for color matching on any substrate that allows a graphic designer working on a Mac to exchange soft proofs electronically with print and packaging specialists like Mead Westvaco (a Design2Launch customer) and know that what they show to marketing is what will roll off the line for delivery to stores.

While this element of getting a new item on the shelf is just one link in the chain, it is also where technology can clearly have an impact. The software for managing graphic files and handling their submission to partners is hosted by Design2Launch, and calibration services are provided on site to match color across ink jet printers, monitors, and production scale printing presses. So far, Estée Lauder is the only prominent CPG company to begin using this system. If it can replicate any of the success that electronic ECOs have had in High-Tech, it will demand attention from other CPG manufacturers looking to improve new product development and introduction.

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