Esko - Pre-Production Tools for Packaging Design, Development and Production

A staggering 30% of all profit growth originates from product launches while 70% of all new-to-market offers fail. Esko believes it takes just a few simple measures to avoid the pitfalls that accelerate failure and as such has developed a range of creative tools designed to help brand owners navigate a smooth path to success.

Pre-production tools for creative packaging professionals

The approach is clearly working with packaging for nine out of ten major brands touched by Esko tools during pre-production. The worldwide market leader in pre-production tools for packaging design, development and production has an array of dedicated integrated design tools, developed especially for creative packaging professionals as brand owners recognise that, today more than ever before, product packaging is the most important carrier of their brand message. Equally, it is important for packaging designers, prepress shops and printers/converters to get much closer to the brand owners.

Educating brand owners

The first step in getting the right balance is educating brand owners so that they understand more about supply chain processes in general and packaging supply chain more specifically. This in turn enables process standardisation. Brand owners also need technology that supports process efficiencies in packaging, a natural extension of their product lifecycle management systems. Building strong links between the packaging production process and the product lifecycle management system increases the support and confidence level between packaging buyer and supplier.

Design lifecycle management for packaging

The term, design lifecycle management, complements product lifecycle management. Architecturally, it means a larger, integrated system, configured for specific workflows. Those companies, brand owners or packaging suppliers that are able to manage the packaging supply chain, typically take into consideration five specific practices that relate to the most significant packaging business drivers:

• Enhance: enhance practices, operations, skills and knowledge, tools and workflows that get the job done efficiently
• Create: smart tools add flexibility to your creative process, ultimately reducing costs and time to market
• Sustain: packaging rightsizing, reduce waste of consumables like substrates and inks and reduce costs while increasing efficiency
• Comply: single point of entry in the workflow avoids errors and costly product withdrawals
• Standardise: streamline and standardise processes and procedures to cut workflow inefficiencies and simplify the globalisation of artwork
  

Brand packaging from ideas to production

Esko's portfolio has been created to address these areas and help brand creators make the right packaging decisions through earlier communication of ideas by placing real samples in front of consumers for early testing. It also helps maintain brand equity, one of the most valuable assets brand owners have to compete, by delivering constant quality in the shortest amount of time, improve quality control with a reduction in double-checking and rework to meet reduced lead times and delivering a faster 'time to market'. All these combine to allow the development and production of products in the most cost-effective way.

Productivity, creativity, error reduction and faster speed-to-market

Designed to support the creative process they also streamline the handoff to production. Other benefits imperative to brand owners are increased productivity and creativity, error reduction and faster speed-to-market.

Packaging graphic design, prototyping and online collaboration tools

Esko's tools can help with structural design, graphic design, virtual prototyping, real prototyping and online collaboration. The most popular are:

• ArtiosCAD: the world's standard structural design editor specifically for packaging professionals
• Studio: a unique set of tools for 3D packaging design made specifically for packaging artwork professionals
• Dynamic content solution: an internet-based solution for packaging content creation, approval and management
• DeskPack: a set of Adobe Illustrator CS and Adobe Photoshop® CS plugins that enhance creativity and increase
• productivity of designers
• WebCenter: a 24/7 global communication, secure internet-based view and approval service that allows information to be stored centrally and shared globally