Limited technology and human constraints hindered the client’s efforts to maintain their profitability for short-run packaging. Layout creation was a manual and time-consuming process. With shorter runs and faster turnaround times being their current reality, the trial-and-error method of human planning was eating away at their margins.
For instance, the client would have what they called a “combo day” once a week, where they would gather cut samples and place them on press sheets for the best fit. They would then staple or tape the samples onto a larger sheet and deliver the layout to the CAD department for production files. However, the client managed 500 unique SKUs and a minimum of 100 production jobs per week, making this 24-hour process inefficient at best.
The company turned to Phoenix, which enabled estimators and planners to nest CAD designs with one click, determine optimal press and sheet size, and report press and material cost. Phoenix allowed prepress operators to drag and drop artwork to impose CAD layouts, auto-snap to artwork CAD dielines, and decorate forms with production marks. This minimized bleed overlaps and allowed them to export files into industry standard formats.
Phoenix’s AI technology enabled the company to import files with SKUs to auto-plan across multiple sheets. Automated impositioning helped manage the volume of SKUs by automatically taking graphic files and populating them on the CAD dieline. Phoenix’s AI algorithm evaluated the best ways to reduce costs and decrease press time by combining items, analyzing minimum and maximum overruns, and auto-computing press forms based on the most cost-effective, optimal way of running a particular batch of items.
Phoenix enables faster, smarter, and more calculated decisions for shorter runs. Before Phoenix, the company spent 24 hours per job planning, 8 hours per job in CAD, and 1 hour per layout to impose. After implementing Phoenix, this converter reduced job planning time by 22 hours and took their layout creation process from 1 hour to 20 minutes! Items per sheet went from 2.1 to 2.5, which, when spread out over the sheets, resulted in $70,000 of net change over savings per month and 337-hour of capacity on press that was freed up.
