The Wide World of Packaging Prototypes

The Importance of Accuracy

While it’s always important to strive for high-quality output no matter what is being printed, a potential pitfall in prototyping can occur when a packaging sample is not a true representative of what can feasibly be produced on a production press. For example, Marek Skrzynski, technical director of Ludlow, Mass.-based CSW Inc., says if a printer does not produce an accurate prototype, a brand owner may get excited about the quality and color, only to be disappointed when the production run of the package doesn’t match.

Skrzynski explains that CSW, a packaging premedia and 3D visualization company, has placed a strong emphasis on color management, using a highly calibrated prototyping system that utilizes GMG OpenColor software in order to predict and control output based on customers’ press profiles. This leads to accurate prototyping on CSW’s SureColor S80600, a new addition to Epson’s lineup of wide-format inkjet printers.

“We print by numbers, including the white ink opacity and when we do our prototypes and mockups, we try to mimic the finished product as close to reality as possible,” Skrzynski says. “If you don’t, then you’re creating false expectations and that’s probably the biggest mistake, considering the fact that people get excited about what you put in front of them.”

In addition to the ability to replicate the printing condition of a production level press on a wide-format inkjet machine, Skrzynski explains it’s also essential for printers to have a good understanding of the converting process before attempting to produce packaging prototypes.

For example, CSW produces prototypes for every packaging segment, particularly in the flexible packaging and shrink sleeve markets, two-dimensional printing and graphics can become distorted during the converting process. Skrzynski explains that in order to create accurate prototypes for this market, CSW invested in Creative Edge Software’s iC3D solutions that can apply pre-distortion to graphics in advance so the prototype will appear accurately after the shrink sleeve or flexible package is formed.

“By having access to predictable digital devices, specialized visualization software and a variety of lab-size converting equipment, now you can experiment with the output and have instant feedback in the office before you even go on those expensive million dollar presses to see what’s going to happen,” he says. “Not just in terms of color, but when it comes to flexible packaging or shrink, how does the whole three-dimensional package perform, including its response to the pre-distortion we’ve applied?”