The Right Tools for the Job

Automated workflows are beginning to address the many special requirements for package printing.

August 2008 by Jean-Marie Hershey

multipage

With very specialized cartons and shapes, for example, one important question becomes how best to use the available material during the production run. Another requirement is making sure the copy is appropriately visible and in the correct location on a 3D object.

“Without the right structural file, and without the right kinds of tools up front,” Harrell explains, “you might wind up with two identical tabs, left and right, and no clear way to know which tab folds under which. From a designer’s point of view, the tabs appear interchangeable. But the structural guy built the box so that it folds in a particular order and a particular way, so that thing you thought would show on the bottom winds up inside the box instead.”

Functionality for packaging

In developing its Prinect ­Packaging Workflow (introduced recently at drupa 2008), Heidelberg has created a completely integrated workflow from structural design to finished product, with integration from MIS. Given the company’s traditional focus on commercial printing, it is instructive to learn how Heidelberg has sought to optimize the functionality of its comprehensive Prinect workflow to accommodate the needs of package printers.

Signa Station Packaging Pro enables users to not only import a wide range of data formats used in packaging, but also to calculate the most cost-effective manufacturing method based on sheet size. “It isn’t like commercial printing, where you always use 50 x 70 cm paper,” says Sabine Roob, senior product manager for Prinect, Special Applications in Packaging. Instead, “the sheet size depends on the machine. By comparing sheet formats, one can readily determine the most cost-effective method of production.” Once that is accomplished, he explains, “you can export the imposed file to a toolmaker. If you already have a complete sheet layout, it can be used for positioning only, or to correct the file at an early stage.”

Prinect Package Designer combines a library of resizable box designs with 3D proofing functionality to simplify the drafting process. Files can be checked with or without graphic images and text, as well as in transparent or semi-transparent mode, and then exported to create samples on any cutting table, or directly to the customer as a virtual proof.

According to Roob, although ­Heidelberg’s Prinect Packaging Workflow currently lacks the extensive design functionality that is connected directly to Illustrator in other workflows, “commercial printers and big packaging companies love the integration story.” pP

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