Yooji, a start-up baby food brand in Agen, France, partnered with UNI Packaging after it wanted to launch a range of its premium products with minimum production runs of 3,000 m2 per design for conventional rotary printing presses, packaging more varieties.
'The cost of conventional packaging production is high'
Philippe Briffault, co-founder/MD, Yooji said UNI-Digiflex packaging produced on the HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press allowed the company to launch 20 varieties of organic baby food on a smaller budget than the one planned for a five-product launch using conventional packaging.
“The cost of conventional packaging production is high so to launch the five varieties originally planned we considered producing a single run of generic, white stand-up pouch and then applying a different adhesive label for each of the five varieties. It didn’t match our aspirations, it was still expensive and we would have packaging stock which would last for years,” said Briffault.
UNI Packaging offered Yooji a short run capability and variable data printing for personalisation, promotional content and traceability. The stand-up pouches containing 12 or 24 units of small portions (20g), are designed to stand upright and with a re-closable seal to maintain the protection and quality of the product.
Its UNI-Digiflex packaging production line on the HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press including the press’s HP Inline Priming unit, first produces the and back of Yooji’s packaging and then the base, automatically creating the package on an inline bag-making machine, with APLIX re-closable sealing system.
“We were able to offer Yooji 5,000m² of attractive, high quality packaging for 20 products,” said Franck Caresmel, CEO, UNI Packaging.
Second HP Indigo 20000 digital press
According to Briffault, large distribution outlets are reluctant to set you up as a supplier for one or two SKUs from an unproven producer.
“When they saw our packaging and our 20 product SKUs they agreed to meet to discuss the amount of valuable shelf space they could offer. At the launch, Yooji was available in 40 stores across France,” he added.
“Our sales success has been six times higher than the pre-launch projections we had for our original launch of five products.
“The additional SKUs not only attract additional sales, but the greater choice brings increased product credibility and confidence in the brand, which helps to grow sales too.”
UNI Packaging says it has further increased its capacity by investing in a second HP Indigo 20000 digital press. Providing a 30-inch (750mm) wide-web technology for flexible packaging and sleeves, the press will be located at the firm’s digital facility in Périgny, France, and will begin operations this month.
'We expect growth to accelerate even more in coming months'
The HP Indigo 20000 Digital press is capable of gravure-matching print in high definition up to seven colours (including white ink) on a range of substrates, including: Film (PET, BOPP, BOPA, PE), shrink film (PETG, PVC, OPS), paper, aluminium and biodegradable materials, in thicknesses from 10 to 250 microns, for diverse packaging jobs.
“With the HP Indigo press we have opened up a whole new market not only by attracting new customers, but also by allowing us to offer new products to our existing ones,” added Caresmel.
“It’s been a long time since new and exciting packaging products have come on the market. The processes and workflow HP develops performs consistently, giving us greater peace of mind than other technologies we have examined.
“With variable data we are opening up a whole new market that didn’t exist before. You can place different content on each package if you want, whether it’s a barcode, a link, or a personalised message, or a promotional text or price for a campaign.
UNI Packaging adopted the HP Indigo Digital Press in 2012.
“In the first year, we were printing two to three hours a day. By the beginning of 2013 we were printing a complete shift. By June 2013, we were on three shifts,” added Caresmel.
“We expect growth to accelerate even more in coming months as we are on track to obtain quality approvals from larger customers.”