Phototype Hires Steve Carter as Director of Information Technology

Cincinnati, OH—-Phototype, a leader in Packaging Lifecycle Management for some of the world’s most recognized brands, has hired Steve Carter as director of IT. A recognized thought leader in the areas of packaging workflow, Carter brings cohesive long-term strategy to Phototype’s supply chain management expertise.

“Phototype occupies a unique position in the market with its ability to marry traditional premedia operations with brand strategy and design, and Steve’s experience and skill set give us yet another edge,” says Phototype COO David Olberding. “We have respected Steve’s work for many years and have valued our relationship with him as an industry collaborator. To have him working on our team is very exciting for us.”

Carter comes to Phototype with nearly 30 years of experience in the packaging industry. In his most recent role as corporate director of enterprise solutions with a large prepress provider, he was responsible for developing and implementing online collaboration, asset management, review and approval tools and reporting and tracking tools.

An industry pacesetter in the areas of soft proofing, routing and collaboration systems and PDF in the packaging workflow, Carter serves as co-chair of the Ghent PDF Workgroup Packaging Subcommittee and sits on the board of the EskoArtworks Users Group International.

“Steve has a unique relationship with industry providers,” Olberding adds. “He is a trusted collaborator and partner in commercializing new emerging technologies. Phototype’s one-of-a-kind packaging campus and distinctive entry into the industry, coupled with Steve’s expertise, will enable us to be an incubator site for these compelling new technologies.”

Flexo faces the quality challenge

Though flexography has many advantages for package printing, the process is plagued with some inherent quality challenges due to the way ink is applied to the substrate.Flexo printing plates have the tendency to “hydroplane” over the surface of the substrate–particularly over non-absorptive film materials, as well as many other substrates. This hydroplaning causes the ink to transfer erratically from the plate.

The typical effects of hydroplaning are dot gain and uneven ink lay, which in turn produce a number of undesirable printing artifacts. Solid color areas may appear weak and mottled. Tints and vignettes aren’t as smooth. Highlights and shadows lack brilliance and detail. Fine type and linework may fill in and have soft edges or halos. Overall, flexo’s color gamut is shorter, so photos and illustrations appear less vibrant, less accurate to the original, and less eye-catching to the consumer.

Until now…

Phototype’s revolutionary plating process was developed specifically to address these quality challenges. As its name implies, NuDot produces new and unique dot shapes that change the very way ink is transferred from the plate to the substrate.The patent-pending NuDot process uses high frequency components to alter the dot shape resulting in an increased shoreline. These shorelines, which resemble crosses and honeycombs, work with the surface tension properties of ink much better than round dots and provide relief from hydroplaning.

NuDot offers three line extensions– GR3 and Radial 8b for digital and analog applications on high holdout substrates and NuDot PB4 designed for plates printing on paper and board substrates. Each application has specific attributes that are uniquely tailored to provide the highest quality possible in the designated environment.

In side-by-side comparisons, NuDot plates consistently produce a range of exceptional printing results compared to round dot plates:

• Crisp, open positive and reverse type
• Rich, smooth overprints in screens and solids
• Clean, sharp edges on line work
• Well-blended vignettes with no dirty zones
• Improved color saturation
• Expanded tonal range from 5-18%
• Increased ink densities from 5-20%

NuDot ® in the pressroom…

NuDot plates can be introduced into your standard pressroom parameters without making any changes to anilox rolls, ink formulation, or press operating conditions—with a couple of notable and welcome exceptions: NuDot plates typically run with lighter impression, and many printers report they can actually run faster (in some cases 200-300 fpm faster) using NuDot plates. .NuDot technology is field-proven to give you a new level of productivity and performance from your flexo printing equipment:

• More accurate match to client-approved proof
• Fewer plates by combining line and tone
• Less cylinder impression and longer plate life
• Faster makeready with less waste
• Higher press speeds
• Tailored for use with existing anilox roll selection and press set-ups

Accept no substitutes.

NuDot isn’t the first, or the only, alternative flexo screening system designed to tackle the negative effects of dot gain and poor ink lay. It is, however, the only technology solution that addresses these problems throughout the entire tonal range–from the darkest solids straight through to the finest highlights. No other screening technique can give you the extraordinary accuracy and control of NuDot.

Join the believers

NuDot plates are currently being specified by printers and packaging buyers for a wide variety of packaging printing applications on film substrates such as PET, PVC, OPP, LDPE, and paper or board substrates. NuDot works with solvent, water base and UV inks and has been field-proven on many different wide and narrow web flexo presses.“We’re running our presses faster, stopping less often and still keeping the print open and clean.”
Jeff Zeber,
Amcor Stevens/Flexibles

“Our brands never looked better on shelf!”
Krys Bush,
Roman Meal

“NuDot gives us the same excellent quality as gravure without the cost.”
Dennis Allen,
O.K. Foods

“NuDot brought new life to our older 6-color presses. It performs for us every day, all day long.”
John Phillips,
Gibraltar Packaging Group

Click here to download

Does Size Matter?

Consumer products companies are under brutal pressure to meet the ever-changing needs of massive retailers as well as consumers. In light of this pressure, what characteristics and values should you be getting from your packaging supply chain partners? Which is more important: The size of your vendor companies or their focus on your goals? The numbers of their workforce or the talent of their workforce? The amount of their revenues or their ability to quickly achieve alignment with your brand’s needs? The number of production plants they have or their ability to offer you dedicated resources? The cost of their services or their ability to lower the total delivered costs of your product?In service market segments it is quickly becoming true, as marketing wunderkind Seth Godin says, “Small is the next BIG.” What does that really mean for a supply chain partner? Where size matters is in relation to critical mass. Critical mass is defined as: a size large enough to produce a particular result. So, the key is to define what particular result is needed and then define the critical mass needed by your supply chain to deliver that result.

The consumers we all serve want WHAT they want, WHEN they want it, WHERE they want it, for the PRICE they want it. And manufacturers and retailers are scrambling to meet that need. Brands are scrambling to create business models that are constantly being redefined. The squeeze is on. A behemoth supply chain can no longer be counted on to accept a brand mission in January and expect that mission to stay static for the rest of the year. A new supply chain model is needed. A supply chain of tightly knit companies that are aligned in systems and processes, but are highly adaptable to dynamic, evolving needs at each step of the chain.

A larger sized vendor may be of great value if you are purchasing components, but not necessarily when you are in need of highly integrated services. The service sector is the fastest growing segment of our economy. This is due in part to a growing number of small to medium sized service providers who have learned to wrap themselves around their clients’ business needs, and actively morph their companies to address those changing needs.

Their smaller size allows their management to be nimble, connected, innovative and, most of all, responsive to the marketplace. A much larger organization must fight organizational inertia to be nimble. In this case, size is of critical importance. The larger the company; the greater the inertia. How do the best large companies deal with this size issue? They know the secret of being small. They break their company down into smaller, more focused and more flexible business units that often operate much like standalone entities.

Yes, there are relationships where size matters. But it may not be the criteria that matters most. In today’s world of change, being nimble and innovative may be far more important than being big. Consider the case of CraigsList. This internet upstart has only 18 employees, but boasts the fourth largest amount of traffic of any web destination. Ebay, in contrast, has over 4,000 employees but can only dream of that kind of traffic–which may be why they recently bought CraigsList.

Small is the next big…and this is a trend that will have major impact on how Consumer Products Companies manage their supply chains.

The excitement generated by the Gravity design group illustrates the vital connection between on-strategy design solutions and the enhanced equity value created by effective brand-centered in-store display.That view was emphatically reinforced by the work Gravity just completed to restage the packaging with a contemporary profile for the well-regarded Ball brand. Its home-canning customers rely on the Ball products, one of America’s oldest and most-respected brands. A complete brand repositioning was clearly needed to generate growth for Ball.

Working with a Venerable Brand
“Gravity worked with Ball by becoming the company’s packaging partner from start to finish across the entire product line,” stated Rick Murphy, Gravity Creative Director.

Gravity is the creative arm of Phototype,
a nationally known single source graphic
communications firm specializing in
packaging and brand promotions. The
company’s clients include consumer
product giants such as Procter & Gamble,
Church & Dwight, and Cargill.

“There is a synergy here that enables
Gravity to answer design challenges as
well as manufacturing and printing
issues,” Murphy noted. “With assistance
from Phototype, we addressed design as
it impacted Ball’s manufacturing process
as well as such issues as speed to market
and on-shelf integrity. ”Defining the problem to identify the solution is Gravity’s design strategy. The company’s initial move with any new client is to ask questions until it’s clear to both where the client company has been and what the future ambitions may be. Preserving the FutureThe design company’s team reached out to Ball, a division of Jarden Home Brands, by actually going through the entire canning process. At the end, they presented prospective-client Ball with gifts of their homemade pear preserves — and plenty of insight about the products. “From the outset, Gravity showed us creativity well beyond our expectations,” stated Cheryl Holliday, Ball’s Senior Brand Manager. “They thought outside the box and helped us to consider new ideas about our brand, our products, and our image in a contemporary context.“And their preserves were pretty good, too.”The eventual design, due on store shelves next February, addressed a critical shift in consumer behavior. The market research preceding the packaging concepts showed that home canners were spending less time on canning, preparing smaller batches, and looking for healthier options.

Appealing to New Users“This is where design architecture becomes so critical,” added Terri McConnell, Gravity’s Director of Business and Brand Strategy. “We created an updated identity for Ball that makes the brand accessible and relevant across the entire scope of their product categories.

“We expect that new users will discover the ‘new’ Ball for the first time. Key retail customers who have viewed the revitalized product family already are unified in their embrace of a repackaging that will lead to company growth.

“In the research stage Gravity examined the psychographic profiles of Ball’s customers and responded with focused strategy,” McConnell stated. “We sought to stimulate appetite appeal by harmonizing the product family with colors, label styling, and vibrant food photography that delivered the end-user appeal.”

Gravity’s integration of the steps needed to revitalize the Ball brand ensured that all of its marketing communications would speak with one booming, brand-dominating voice. Click here to download

For more information, contact:
Frank Grimaldi, VP Creative Services
Gravity
513.281.9700
www.gravityisgood.com

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