11 replies to this topic

[rhodamcclure]

Dear All,

I am currently putting together some research regarding the commercial opportunities for packaging design consultancies in the UK - in particular trying to define which market sectors have the most potential for consultancies in the next 5 years and the factors (such as economic/environmental/social etc) affecting those sectors.

Two things I'd really like to know:

1. Where does your company go to get it's packaging design done - ie. in-house, design consultancy, packaging manufacturer etc?

2. Which of these factors are most influencing your company at the moment and specifically what are the issues?
- Social
-Economic
-Environmental
-Technological
-Political
-Legal

If any of you guys would like to voice your concerns about current influencing factors or you'd just like to have a good old moan about having to recycle your shredder paper, then please stick a response together.
I'd particurlay like to hear from the food/drink, medical, costmetic, giftware, household producers or any business involved in packaging their product.
Also, if you could include what sector your business is involved in, that would be helpful.
Thank you in anticipation for your comments.

Rhoda McClure :D

ps. if anyone would like to contact me in person my email address is rmcclure-pdr@uwic.ac.uk

[Simon]

Hi Rhoda and welcome to the Forum :D

I will take a look at your 'detailed' questions and report back early next week. I'm sure one or two of the other members will help you out with your research also.

Regards,
Simon

[Simon]

Hi Rhoda,

My answers in green.

1. Where does your company go to get it's packaging design done - ie. in-house, design consultancy, packaging manufacturer etc?

The company I'm involved with design and manufacture packaging - 'heat sealable lidding', which is used mainly by the food and drink sector (yoghurts, cream, drinks, snack foods etc.). Although food and drink is the largest market the lidding is also used wherever there is a requirement for a heat seal tamper evident seal including on chemicals, pharmaceutical and even optical products. Most customers use their own design / art agencies to create the initial artwork which is worked by the origination's department who take the artwork and format it for the printing process, they also produce the negatives which are used to manufacture the printing plates which we outsource.

2. Which of these factors are most influencing your company at the moment and specifically what are the issues?

Social
Although we have seen a slight increase in interest from customers on Social Responsibility issues this has been negligible.

Economic
For many years our UK customer base was SME's and often SSE's (Small to Small Enterprises) :D . However, over the last few years the food industry has seen a trend of mergers, acquisitions and consolidations and now we are dealing more and more with large groups and blue chip customers who (driven by the large retailers) have with their inimitable power eroded our profit margin exponentially. Obviously dealing with smaller operations had financial benefits I think the term is "divide and conquer". We are also seeing more pressure from European competitors and I believe this will increase significantly in future when the likes of Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic become full EU members in May 2004.

We've all had to tighten our belts and I don't think we've quite finished yet.

Environmental
Obviously things like the packaging waste regulations have had an impact and as from 2004 the targets have been tightened. This will obviously be an added burden to business.
http://www.defra.gov...003/031120a.htm.
Apart from needing to meet our obligations under the Packaging waste regs. we have to comply with solvent emissions and over the last few years this has seen a move away from solvent inks to other ink systems and the obvious associated costs of this. With regard to Environmental Management Systems such as ISO 14000 we find there is much more interest from overseas customers especially and almost exclusively Scandinavian countries.

Legal
UK Food Businesse's must comply with The Food Safety Act 1990 and The Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995. Under the terms of the Food Safety Act, retailers have an obligation to take all reasonable precautions and exercise all due diligence in the avoidance of failure, whether in the development, manufacture, distribution, advertising or sale of food products to the consumer. To directly aid this legal due diligence defence the British Retail Consortium developed the BRC standard for food companies and The BRC/IoP Packaging Standard for packaging companies. Another additional overhead for the food packaging industry.

I hope this helps a little if you need any clarification or have more questions please fire away.

Simon

[rhodamcclure]

Hi Simon,


Many, many thanks for your reply- I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.

Unfortunatley your reply has spurned a whole series of further questioning!

On the packaging design front - Does your company ever outsource it's design (for example if a customer really doesn't know what they want in terms of design) to design consultancies that specialise in packaging? Does your company ever get involved with pacakging designers?

Re: Economic factors: Do other EU countries (esp. those that are soon to have that status) have slacker regulations for packaging disposal and is that a possible reason for businesses moving their custom to those countries?

Re: Environmental
Is it primarily the resposibility of the packaging manufacturers or the food manufacturers to dispose of packaging?

Are there few companys that have attained the ISO14000? Is it a competive advantage to have attained this standard?

What Ink systems have you moved to?

I hope I haven't bogged you down way too much with my questions!

Thanks again,

Rhoda

[Simon]

Hi Rhoda,

My comments in green.

Unfortunately your reply has spurned a whole series of further questioning!

It's no problem that's why we are here. :)

On the packaging design front - Does your company ever outsource it's design (for example if a customer really doesn't know what they want in terms of design) to design consultancies that specialise in packaging?

Sorry I think I may have not explained clearly before. Most of the artwork we receive is from design consultants who are employed by the customer. We usually just do some technical things to format the artwork for our printing process and then make the negatives, which we send out to the plate manufacturer. However, from time to time we do designs from scratch ourselves.

Does your company ever get involved with packaging designers?

Yes quite often there is an artwork meeting early on in the design process, this is usually attended by all interested parties i.e. the customer (usually marketing), our art guy, the pot manufacturer's art guy/gal and the design consultants. This is to ensure that the lid and pot colours are consistent, to agree project timelines and to ensure that the artwork is produced to best suit our print process. I.e. we can work with it.

Do other EU countries (esp. those that are soon to have that status) have slacker regulations for packaging disposal and is that a possible reason for businesses moving their custom to those countries?

Hmm - legislation is set by the European union and must be adopted by ALL the member states equally. Obviously the new members may be behind on some things but they must fall into line pretty quickly. No the reason why a UK food business may consider purchasing food packaging from Poland as oppose to the UK is solely down to price. The much lower labour costs there means they can produce and sell their packaging [at a profit] cheaper than we can manufacture it - and it this will be the case for many years. And come May 2004 there will be no barriers to trade.

Is it primarily the responsibility of the packaging manufacturers or the food manufacturers to dispose of packaging?

Packaging manufacturers, converters, food packer / fillers and sellers can all be obligated under the regs and this varies by criteria. This is a really good website they have a wizard to find out if your are obligated as well as an obligation calculator.

http://www.prns.com

Are there few companies's that have attained the ISO14000?
I don't have figures but I would say very few.

Is it a competitive advantage to have attained this standard?
Not really in the UK - like I said maybe Scandinavia.

Rightly or wrongly often with certification standards it is either pressure from existing customers or because of a barrier from entry to a new market that is the driving force for companies seeking certification to a standard. For UK food packaging companies the only 'must have' standard if you supply retailer branded packaging (even if it's only 2% of your business) is the BRC/IoP Packaging Standard. Some customers will also require ISO 9000. I think very few will demand their packaging suppliers have the likes of ISO 14000 or Investors In People (IIP).

What Ink systems have you moved to?
The printing process is UV Flexographic.

Hope this helps.

Simon

[rheath]

I was going to add my own comments but Simons are far more eloquent. We too have our own design department, as a general rule work undertaken by design consultants rarely take into account production capabilities and are not realistic.

I can see a market for the conceptual designers/marketers but when it gets down to the nitty gritty of manufacture - they are a waste of time / resource & money as designs have to be 're-designed' so that they can be produced.

Some excellent resources for you on the general topic (if you have access) are the PIRA strategic futures reports. I would post them but they are copyrighted (Simon if you approach Pira they may let you post)

There are three in particular that would be of use (in order of usefulness):

1. "The packaging buyer of the future"
2. "Facing the challenges of sustainable development - the implications for companies supplying in the packaging supply chain"
3. Realising Profit Improvement through removing damage in the FMCG supply chain"

Pira have undertaken extensive research in these areas & the reports are pretty good.

Regards

Richard

[Simon]

Some excellent resources for you on the general topic (if you have access) are the PIRA strategic futures reports.  I would post them but they are copyrighted (Simon if you approach Pira they may let you post)

Hi Guys,

Excellent idea Rich.

It's a bit of a long shot but definitely worth a go. I've contacted the Marketing Manager there and let's just wait and see if and how they respond.

Simon

[rhodamcclure]

Dear Simon and Richard,

Thanks guys for those comments, this is proving a really great source of info and guidance!

I thought it was interesting, Richard, what you said about designers not getting the technical side of things right and not understanding the production capabilities of the manufacturer. Do you think that is a general attitude of manufacturers toward design consultancies? What kind of designers have you worked with - e.g. specialist packaging designers, product designers, general design consultants?

Actually this would make a great new topic!

Also thanks for the lead on the PIRA reports, any luck Simon with allowing me to have a look?

Cheers,

Rhoda

[Simon]

Nothing as yet Rhoda. Let you know one way or t'other tomorrow.

Simon

[rheath]

Rhoda,

All my comments are based on the corrugated industry - design may differ in different sectors.

Have worked with (or had to deal with the fall out) of quite a few different types of designers.

Product designers: Generally the final thought is for packaging - where packaging design is involved at an early stage there can often be minor changes to product that will give major advantages to the packaging utilisation / performance requirement (ultimately could have a major reduction in material requirement / cost / environmental impact). Note under the packaging waste directive Article 11 - there is a requirement for companies to minimise packaging to the lowest practicable level. This can only be done where all elements of design are integrated / involved.

New Product Development tends to focus on product - because the packaging market is set up for quick turn around this becomes the norm.

General design consultancies - similar to Simon these tend to be graphics based - where design is looking at a logo or a general style this area of consultancy can be quite useful - the problem comes when they try to set up the layout, number of colours / tight print etc..

Within different types of print processes there is a multitude of variation in the capability the process (indeed, even within a type of process there is a great deal of variation between machines). As such it is unlikely that a design consultancy will ever be able to produce a manufacture ready design.

General Packaging Design Consultants - Have only had bad experiences - Because these people are 'experts' customers believe that their solutions are workable - for all the reasons above this is rarely the case.

My best example is from about 7 years ago - a packaging supply chain consultant (integrating design) was working with a large organisation (c.£1million Corrugated Packaging spend) – 2 specialist consultants had been employed on site for 6 months.

Part of the consultants review involved putting packging out to tender - We had an invitation to tender for this packaging - there were in excess of 500 product lines. The tender was fairly easy as all cases were in 1 board grade (effectively the strength characteristic of the box).

We gained the business & started to supply - we immediately started having major complaint issues where cases were collapsing & snarling in automatic packaging machinery.

To cut a long story short - a consultant had recommended that to improve supply chain management it would be in the interests of rationalising packaging (sounds good eh), this included rationalising board type (still sounds good). On the consultants recommendation the customer went with a particular board grade.

The significant question which had not been asked - which board grade will meet the needs of all product types.

The consultant or the customer concerned are no longer in business!!

(Don't think it is to do with this decision on its own but this did cost a lot of money)

The ironic thing is we offer supply chain review free as part of our standard cost improvement programmes.

Anyway - enough typing for now - happy researching!!

[Simon]

Within different types of print processes there is a multitude of variation in the capability the process (indeed, even within a type of process there is a great deal of variation between machines).  As such it is unlikely that a design consultancy will ever be able to produce a manufacture ready design.

I agree with everything Richard says.

Speaking specifically about design in terms of print designs /artwork for packaging - I would add to what Richard says about print machine variability the variability of the printers themselves.

Throwing all this into the mix it is critical that somebody in the team has intimate knowledge of the print process who can ensure that the agreed design is within the constraints of the print process - design for manufacture.

Its difficult saying no when you are attending an artwork meeting that includes big noises from the retailer, food producer, design consultant, marketeers etc. but it is extremely important also. I mean there's no point in having the most amazing print design if it's not fully achievable and ultimately disappoints the customer or worst still is rejected by the customer every other order.

Rhoda I don't think it is an attitude of us guys and although I don't want to generalise most of the attendees of the above meeting usually lack understanding about the dirty end of the process [printing] and often put a lot of pressure on to remain true to the original design.

I believe it would be very difficult for an external design consultant to have the kind of print process understanding we are talking about, as often even the artist/designer within the packaging organisation does not always get it right, they do over time after maybe a couple of years of confrontation with the Print Manager. WHY DID YOU DO IT THAT WAY??

Maybe the best packaging design consultant would be an ex-printer with an aptitude for art. Realistically a design consultant should have a good level of understanding of the end-to-end process, this is critical if we want everyone to win.

By the way PIRA didn't reply - never mind.

Simon

[rhodamcclure]

Dear Simon and Richard,

Thanks for sharing your experiences of designers - There's plenty to think about there! Hopefully my research should improve the packaging design 'experience'.

have a great weekend!

Rhoda