Package Design - January/February 2013 - 14

CONVERTER’S CORNER

By Ryan Falkman

Parallel Processes
Smart collaboration delivers the best outcomes for rush jobs.

obody likes emergencies. Unfortunately, it’s
not always a choice. So how can package
designers and brand owners avert a last-minute
emergency when developing a new package? By
working in parallel with all your supplier-partners,
including your converter.
This requires package designers and brand owners to get everyone on board as soon as possible.
For example, in a structural design project for plastic packaging, the design process generally follows
the same three-step process.

1. Ideation
Concept Development and Refinement

2. Validation
Engineering, Prototyping, Testing,
Market Studies, etc.

3. Realization
Final Tooling and Production for Retail
In this type of project, you need to start working
with your packaging supplier at the ideation stage.
You may think it’s not time yet, but by getting vendors involved early, you give your converter time to
order materials or have manufacturing tools made.
Your supplier in-turn can also help you avoid designs
that cannot be produced in time by alerting you to
potential roadblocks or non-negotiable timelines.
In addition to telling you what can and can’t be
done, packaging suppliers can use their in-house
design staffs to help understand costs. Unforeseen
costs can prevent a job from reaching completion.
I frequently see projects come in with overly
expensive tooling components, or I may receive a
computer model of a design that doesn’t fit within
even the most basic production requirements.
Addressing these critical points late in the game
not only adds unnecessary time to a project but
also result in disappointment when great ideas
can’t be realized. To realize your design’s intent,
you need to create designs that can be tooled economically and run efficiently in production.
Here’s an example of how costs can impact the
timeline. A long-time customer of ours hired an
outside design firm to develop a new package but
we weren’t brought into the process until after
marketing approval. While it was a great looking

january/february 2013

package, the cost came in more than 1,000% over
budget. The additional costs necessitated a fromscratch redesign.
We were able to avoid this scenario in future
collaborations with the same design firm, but
through several different customers, with early collaboration in the development process. Working in
unison from the start allowed manufacturing and
design to ensure capabilities and budgets were
accurate. We were able to meet everyone’s goals—
especially the customer’s.
Working in parallel with your suppliers will help
you fight the urge to find shortcuts too. Forgoing
steps may often sound like a good way to move
faster, but can actually push you past the deadline.
For example, it’s risky to assume that a package
will pass a drop test, unless it is intentionally overpackaged. Skipping the prototype and ship test
may take a week off your timeline, but the failure
of an unproven design can add months.
By working with your converter and accounting
for minimum lead times, you can develop new plastic packaging quickly. We were able to work in parallel with a large, international company to quickly
develop both a two-pack clamshell and six-piece
display tray for the company’s flagship hygiene
product despite hitting a snag in the process.
Both the clamshell and the display tray started
as concept sketches created by our in-house design
team. When the prototype did not meet expectations, we were able to revise and retest the design
without affecting the final ship date. This project’s
outcome would have been very different if we
skipped the prototype testing.
All converters strive to meet their customer’s
needs with a rapid response. Work with your suppliers, schedule tasks backwards from deadlines,
and be prepared to make adjustments and you’ll
find that you’ll be working to your timeline, not
chasing it. PD

Ryan Falkman, IDSA, is a product designer at Transparent
Container Company Inc. (www.transparentcontainer.com)

Package Design - January/February 2013

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