3 Ways to Boost Your Packaging Impact

Don’t let a bad code ruin a great package: know your package design essentials.
Don’t let a bad code ruin a great package: know your package design essentials.

Beauty manufacturers face unique challenges on the production line. From managing many different packaging types to upholding distinct and consistent product appearance, they need to print on individual products and various packaging types with the right dates, lot number, serial number and other codes consistently.

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Manufacturers seeking the best solution for their unique production line needs should evaluate the following three areas for boosting packaging impact.

1. Don’t let a bad code ruin a great package: Know your package design essentials.

A package is an essential marketing tool in the cosmetics, personal and home care markets. Many brands spend considerable time and money developing and implementing their packaging vision.

However, manufacturing and in-store circumstances can prevent the consumer from viewing the ideal package design concept. Misplaced, distorted or unattractive lot, batch or expiration codes can turn off consumers to your product and ruin an outstanding package design.

Protect your packaging investment and brand image by considering coding technology during the package design process. Understanding the different coding technologies available for package marking enables you to leverage the manufacturing process instead of fighting against it.

The key areas you should consider during packaging design are the packaging material or substrate and the content required to be printed on the product package to ensure these are aligned.

2. Make sure codes aren’t costing you: Understand your unique code requirements.

Many beauty manufacturers require customized packaging by batch due to multiple product or packaging types being fulfilled on the same production line. Each package may require unique variable data such as a bar code, color name or logo.

Individual products might also have special product use instructions, expiration dates or ingredients. Finally, shipping cases and pallets often require large text, logos and shipping bar codes.

Today, much of this information is pre-printed and placed on the product by batch as it’s produced, a process that creates waste and complexity. However, advanced coding technology is available that can print more than just bar codes, batch, lot and date information.

Product-specific information such as color names or numbers, logos and ingredients are just the start. Digital coding technology can print almost any single-color pattern, image or text in-line during production.

Using a value-added coding solution delivers the ability to customize standard packaging information, enables quicker changeovers, reduces pre-printed package inventory and facilitates a more flexible manufacturing process.

3. Pre-empt counterfeiting and diversion: Ensure supply chain visibility. 

Counterfeiting and diversion are costly, critical issues for cosmetics and personal care products that erode profits while tarnishing brand image, damaging consumer trust and threatening channel partner relationships. Smart coding and marking technologies can provide a whole new level of visibility and tracking to your supply chain, helping to protect your profits.

The best brand protection is a multi-layer approach that includes advanced digital coding solutions combined with integrated tracking software to provide you with a daily view of your supply chain, making counterfeiting and diversion trackable. This includes a combination of:

  • Smart coding: unique single item product codes for individual products on your line that are difficult to emulate by third parties
  • Overt coding: visible, clear, and permanent codes
  • Covert coding: concealed from consumers but visible to distribution channel partners with specialized readers, adding additional security and protection of sensitive information 

There are a number of options available for printing and marking the many types of beauty packaging substrates that can meet manufacturers’ competing needs. By choosing the right coding and marking technology, beauty manufacturers can make a significant impact on supply chain traceability, brand image and consumer safety:

 

Printing/Marking Technology Solutions Best Suited for Beauty Packaging

Technology Solution

Key Features

Ideal For

Continuous Inkjet (CIJ)
  • Versatile, ink-based, non-contact coding solution
  • Create durable, long-lasting codes
  • Easy to integrate into the production line
  •  High-speed lines and curved surfaces
  • Almost any packaging type or shape
  • Up to five lines of text, linear and 2D bar codes, or graphics
Thermal Ink Jet (TIJ) 
  • Ink-based, non contact printing solution
  • Capable of printing at high resolutions, up to 600 dpi
  • Minimized maintenance costs with no wear parts 
  • 2D DataMatrix and other high-quality text and bar codes
Thermal Transfer Overprinting (TTO)
  • Uses ribbons to print directly onto packaging
  • Provides high-resolution, real-time codes
  • Multiple ribbon ink colors
  • Flexible packaging
  • Labels, plastic sleeves
Laser Marking 
  • Creates permanent codes directly on the product or label
  • Helps to maintain code integrity and prevent counterfeiting
  • Engraving and color change options
  • Consumable cost savings
  • Products used in wet environments

 

Bio

Sergio Zamora is the Cosmetics and Personal Care Marketing Manager for Videojet Technologies.

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