How to Create Custom Printed Packaging
With everything going on in the world right now, there has been a rush to create more customized packaging in-house. For our part, we have been receiving more and more inquiries on various packaging and printing machinery that we offer.
With this in mind, we thought it would be great to put a blog out that went through some of the options available to our customers who are looking to start producing short run custom boxes and packaging.
Some of the questions we ask customers when they first reach out may help guide those who are looking to find the right solution for their business.
What type of packaging does your business need?
There are a ton of different types of packaging that customers want to gain the ability to customize. Whether it is for a specific marketing campaign, or the ability to add variable printing, the first step in determine the correct equipment is to understand what you are looking to print!
Some of the items that we commonly get request on printing are:
Corrugated Cardboard
Many customers want the ability to add branding and logos to their cardboard boxes prior to shipping. Have custom printed boxes allows for increased branding as the package is being shipped to the final location.
You can see this in effect with Amazon packages that are covered in their branding. This is not by accident!
Amazon knows that as the package is moving throughout the country, every touch point increases their brand awareness, and can lead to increases in sales!
Custom printed shipping boxes can get expensive, especially if you have a number of different sizes that you use. Most packaging printers have MOQ’s that you need to meet in order to order custom boxes. This can get extremely expensive, and cause a lot of headache holding inventory.
Flexible Packaging
There has been a huge increase in the need for short run flexible packaging driven by the cannabis and food industry. This type of packaging is usually printed in extremely long runs with high MOQs due to the types of equipment that is traditionally used to print it.
This leads to a lot of waste from smaller companies who may not need a full MOQ, or companies who need multiple different skews of bags with variable data printing (VDP).
Poly Mailers
Customized poly mailers are an efficient way to send documents and samples in envelopes with your companies branding already on them. You can also digitally print customer data direct to the packaging rather than having to print a separate label and attach it with the customer information.
Customized mailers can also be extremely effective in increasing response rates when doing a targeted mail campaign. A customer is much more likely to look at the mail piece if it is in a custom mailer vs if it is in a generic envelope.
Custom Labels
Of course we receive a ton of inquiries for custom label solutions as well! We have already done a number of blogs on this process, so we won’t go into too much detail on this.
If you would like to learn more about custom labels you can check out these great resources:
Beginners Guide to Printing Labels
What type of equipment is right for you?
A lot of times this comes down to your volumes and current factory set up. We have a wide range of equipment that allows customers to print on all of these various types of packaging, but the logo that you want to print, and the number of prints that you want to produce will determine the type of equipment we would recommend.
We will start below with some of the smaller equipment, and then move into larger, more industrial printers for companies looking to produce large volumes or automate their process.
Arrow OverJet
The Arrow OverJet is the T3-OPX big brother. It features a wider print width with offset printing quality for bags, boxes, envelopes, mailers, and more!
It uses a high speed printing process for box printing and can be integrated with VDP software for variable data printed pieces to be processed with ease.
For customers looking to increase their short run production, the OverJet is the perfect solution!
Limitronic
Limitronic is a unique addition to this list since it is used to print boxes and packaging as it comes through an automation line. That being said, the UV inkjet technology can be used to print on just about any substrate!
Limitronic is one of the only companies who can make customized equipment and ink chemistry based on the application. For more advanced projects, as well as projects that need extremely high speed printing, Limitronic is by far the best solution on the market!
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Arrow Systems, Inc. is committed to helping customers find the right digital printing equipment for their needs. If you have any questions on the type of equipment needed for your applications feel free to CONTACT US TODAY and one of our experts will be more than happy to help!