New Product Packaging
Packaging is important, and it plays a vital role in the promotion of a product. For a product to make a good impression, it must have a well-designed package that will not only make a selling point but also serve as a brand image. After designing a package, one needs to decide on how to print the design onto the packaging. The new product which is being produced in China requires a well-designed and printed packaging to aid in promotion. The product will be small runs at first, and the package will be a folding carton with a three-colour print. There are several print methods which are suitable for short runs.
Digital printing would be suitable for the first smaller runs. The digital printing process involves printing the design directly onto the folding carton. According to Das (2018), digital printing is quite easily accessible since it comes with zero tooling costs. Also, digital printing is appropriate for small runs since it is inexpensive to print low volumes. Furthermore, the digital printing process has quick turnaround times that give quality printing with the correct configuration. I find the digital printing method suitable since the product is new to the market. Therefore, promotional costs are high, and since the digital printing method is cost effective, it would reduce promotional costs. Furthermore, the digital printing method is inexpensive for small-runs. Since the product will start in small runs, digital printing is a suitable choice. Also, the digital printing process comes with zero tooling costs, and as such, it does not require skilled professionals to print the design onto the folding cartons, an advantage which reduces production costs. The digital printing method is easily applied to flexible packaging materials such as folding paper cartons. As per the benefits of digital or inkjet printing, the technique would be suitable for the new product packaging.
Lithography is also a suitable printing method on a folding carton. According to Henry (2017), lithography provides retail-quality printing. In lithography, the printer uses printing plates to make a negative of the image of the design. By exposing the mixture to ultra-violet lights, lithography produces quality images. Although lithography can use more many colours, the method can also use three colours to create quality images. Furthermore, lithography allows special overlays to be applied to the packaging material, giving the package a prestigious look. Since our product is new in the market, it requires a look that attracts potential clients. Lithography delivers quality images with a glossy look, and as such, the packaging will attract attention. One drawback of this method is the high tooling cost. For the price to remain low, one needs to print high volumes. Since our product is in small runs, lithography would be cost ineffective, thus increasing promotional expenses. However, considering the high quality images on the packaging, which in turn attracts a high number of customers, lithography will play a vital role in promoting our new product.
Flexography also produces quality images on folding cartons. Commonly known as flexo, flexography is almost identical to lithography only that instead of plates, flexo uses a photosensitive chemical compound. In line with Tech Sleeves (2019), a 3D relief is assembled and then mounted on a roller to print the image. Flexography is efficient for high-speed production as well as quality image production. In comparison to lithography, tooling costs are much lower, which is useful in lowering production costs. Considering that our product is new in the market, the packaging should be cost-effective as well as have quality images. Flexography would be a suitable printing method seeing that it is fast, cost effective as well as produces quality images on a folding carton.
The silkscreen printing method is also suitable for printing on folding cartons. In line with Das (2018), “silkscreen is an excellent printing option for custom packaging printing, especially when the packaging is made independently”. In our case, our product is produced in a small town in China and then shipped and sold in the United States and therefore, silkscreen would be an effective printing method. A chemical compound mesh acts as a stencil, and it is used to transfer the ink into the substrate. A squeegee is used to shift the ink through the mesh and onto the surface of the packaging material (Das, 2018). The entire silkscreen process requires human manual effort, and therefore, human error may interfere with the quality of the images. However, save for the human error, silkscreen is suitable for small runs since the cost of production is low compared to most printing methods.
I would shift to a different method if the product does well and goes into larger production runs. During the small runs stage, I would prefer the digital printing method. As stated earlier, the digital printing method is cost effective with quality image production. Also, the digital printing method would be inexpensive for short runs, which make it cost-effective for short run printing. However, the quality of images of lithography is higher than that of the digital printing process. On the other hand, lithography is expensive for short-run printing and cost-effective for larger production runs. If the product does well and goes into larger production runs, I would change the printing method from digital to lithography. In line with Henry (2017), the market is biased towards high volumes since packages and labels for most consumers have to be mass produced as demand increases. Most printing processes have low production costs for mass printing, and as such, as the new product goes into the larger production runs, it will be necessary to change the printing method. According to Zumbiel packaging (2012), on a conventional press, short runs are inherently less efficient than long runs because they cannot fully tap into the economies of scale that high-volume production affords. Furthermore, when a product enters the larger production runs, using a short run printing method increases time wastage, which reduces the gross profit.
In conclusion, when the product is still new to the market, I would use a digital printing method. The digital printing method is cost effective for small-runs, and it offers quality images. However, as the product enters the larger production runs, I would shift from the digital printing method to the lithography method. Lithography not only produces quality images, but it is also cost effective on a large scale production.
References
Das, R. (2018, December 11). Picking the Right Packaging Printing Method for Cartons. Retrieved July 2, 2019, from BIZONGO: https://bizongo.com/blog/packaging-printing-methods/
Henry, P. (2017, July 21). Making Short Work of Short Runs. Retrieved July 2, 2019, from Packaging Impressions : https://www.packagingimpressions.com/article/making-short-work-short-runs/
Tech Sleeves . (2019). Flexography . Retrieved July 2, 2019, from Tech Sleeves : https://www.tech-sleeves.com/the-company/flexography/
Zumbiel Packaging . (2012). A Comparison of Folding Carton Printing Processes. Zumbiel Packaging , 6.