Case Study VIP (Value, Impact, Productivity) Plate

As a leader in innovative thinking in the flexo industry, we were asked by one of our larger consumer packaged goods customers to develop a plate that would reduce their costs, maintain print quality, and, oh, by the way, they need to convert over 1,400 items to the new plate in just 7 months.

A detailed study of this business unit by our print analysis team revealed an opportunity for us to reduce the cost impact for our customer through the development of a completely new plate. This plate would be specifically designed for this niche category where the print need was for shipping containers with 1 or 2 colors.

After 3 months of research, development and prototyping, we had developed the perfect solution for our customer, and following an additional 6 weeks of production environment testing, we received the go-ahead to completely convert their entire product line to our new VIP plate.

We were now in full production, and with the customers deadline fast approaching, we were able to further streamline the manufacturing process whereby in the month of July alone, we were shipping an average of 16 plates per day in addition to our existing production schedule. By September we had almost completely converted the entire line requested by our customer with a staggering total of over five million square inches in plates.

In addition to the benefit of the aforementioned cost-effectiveness, we were also able to maximize the user-friendliness aspect of this plate, with solid mass reductions applied throughout the manufacturing process. This meant that the resulting plate was an incredible 42% lighter, and much easier to work with in production environments, reducing handling inefficiencies, and the potential for operator injury. Previous plates weighing 63 pounds and requiring a two person transport to press, could be easily handled by just one person as the new VIP plate weight was only 37 pounds.

Equally staggering was the total savings for our customer of $1,099,256.00 to date.

We were also thrilled that this solution was well received by the print partners on this project, with one printer stating that “We have proven the effectiveness of this plate over time, and this is the only solution especially when it comes to issues like bar-code friendliness with over 2-3 million impressions on the plate. It’s also very user-friendly when you consider the reduction in weight versus conventional plates.”

At PRPflexo we believe that partnering with our customers is always a sound investment, resulting in a stronger business relationship that delivers even stronger results.

“By developing the RIGHT solution for our customers we are able to build a solid foundation on which we can build and our customers can grow their business” said Chris Green, General Manager of PRPflexo.

“Many of our competitors will steer their customers towards one solution, because that’s all they have. We tend to think a little differently, because as we all know, one size does not fit all. That’s why we’re so proud of our new “VIP” plate, as it further compliments our customer solutions, from our Patented ExSpect® plate to our new patent pending digital ExSpect® plate. We are able to offer the RIGHT and most cost-effective solution to our customers print needs.”