Making cartons digital - online exclusive

Colebourne & Partners has never been afraid to invest. Four decades ago, Peter and Margaret Colebourne established the business as a wholesale packaging company for bakeries and green grocers. A few years on, it saw an opportunity to move the business into the ethnic takeaway market and took the risk of investing in equipment for mass production of solid board lids for aluminum food containers. From there, the business built up a strong reputation for quality, service and reliability, producing around 90 million digital units a year.

Now under the management of the family’s second generation, Colebourne & Partners has installed a Xeikon 3500 to instigate its move from converter to printer. It is thought to be the first and only dedicated digital producer of folding cartons in the UK.

Decision making

Sadly Peter Colebourne passed away in 2001, prompting his son Guy to return to the family business – based in Wiltshire, UK – as managing director, to continue the legacy.

Until 2013, Colebourne outsourced all of its printing to a local offset printer. Aware of the limited flexibility and the long lead times incurred by this arrangement – and acting on customer feedback – the company looked into and evaluated purchasing its own printing press several times. However, the price and/or equipment didn’t seem to match up to requirements.

As the popularity of digital grew and the technology developed, Colebourne began trials with what it believed to be the two leading digital press manufacturers: HP and Xeikon. The company had a particular interest in how digital technology could reduce its customers’ exposure to redundant inventory, as the requirements of the food industry are constantly changing and packaging was printed well in advance.

According to Guy, the HP reached higher printing speeds but width restrictions and the need to pre-coat made it less suitable to Colebourne’s needs.

A deal was agreed upon at Drupa 2012, and the Xeikon 3500 press was installed in April 2013 as part of a totally new set up at Colebourne headquarters, using all new equipment in a project amounting to 900,000 GBP. Guy explains: ‘We listened to our customers; the food to go sector is extremely fast moving and they needed a supplier that can keep pace in this ever changing market.’

The vast majority – 98 percent – of Colebourne’s business is food packaging, most of it coming into direct contact with food. Much of this food will be prepared in an oven, with the Colebourne lid on, usually at 160 degrees C for up to an hour. For this reason, Colebourne prints on food grade oven-able boards using FDA approved toner. A polyester laminate is added on the finishing line to act as a protective barrier between the food and its packaging. Guy Colebourne says this was another key factor in the decision of which press to invest in, saying: ‘We have to be sure our products are certifiable for direct food contact, Xeikon’s toner is approved to be used with food packaging and our varnish and adhesives are Swiss Standard Low Migration ’.

After some initial teething problems Colebourne’s digital production line now runs 50,000 – 75,000m a week. Printing roll-to-roll on the Xeikon has also delivered benefits Guy had not anticipated. ‘There are efficiency gains and waste management benefits from using reels. The space on the substrate is used in the optimal way whereas with our previous sheet-fed operation, the design needed to be fitted on – which created extra waste. We can also now use different width substrates – maximum 520mm down to 300mm – which minimizes waste and optimizes design’.

The flexibility of digital is well suited to the food industry, allowing changes to be quickly made so that the right information is provided all the time, without waste. Guy estimates that Colebourne previously had 15 percent waste due to design changes or new regulations, now the amount of stock written off due to legislation changes is minimal.

Colebourne has also realized significant savings on operational overheads as the reduced space requirement for a digital operation enabled it to downsize from a 17,000 sq ft factory to a 4,500 sq ft building which was previously used as a customer warehouse.

Although there are typically no limitations to orders with digital printing, Colebourne implements a minimum order of 250 pieces due to the requirements of shrink packaging. This is still a significant reduction to the previous minimum order of 12,000.

Guy says the digital project is a combination of his product design and new media background. He is enjoying having ‘total control’ since moving pre-press – including web development and database using his own admin system – and printing in-house. He estimates it now produces a shade under 90 million units a year.

Asked what he would have done differently in switching to digital, Guy Colebourne suggests the company should have spent more time fully testing finishing. ‘Let’s say we learnt what not to do,’ says Guy. He adds it would have been beneficial if Xeikon had provided 24-hour customer support to help Colebourne in the initial set-up; we hit the ground running with a lot of volume. To be fair to Xeikon they did respond to our needs and set-up an American support number as an interim solution. Duncan Sargeant, sales manager for labels and packing at Xeikon, notes: ‘We are working on improving the support we provide customers.’

Persuading customers

‘Digital is an unusual pitch,’ says Guy Colebourne. ‘It is more expensive than conventional printing but the benefits are clear; simpler time management and planning for print on demand, quick response times and flexibility. These all also add up to cost and waste savings.

‘We needed to identify where costs could be saved and the extra opportunities digital would provide to persuade our customers about the original premium – generally this is about expanding or personalizing their product offerings.’

Digital technology allows Colebourne to print only what is needed, when it is needed. It now has total control of print jobs, which naturally greatly improves lead times. Previously, the company had to work 8-12 weeks ahead, now it can print and deliver the next day. Guy says: ‘With the digital capabilities we can manage all our customer needs and react quickly to them. And that’s before we’ve even got to the fun bit – there are new opportunities for customers to explore’. Other opportunities include the ability to easily and cost effectively handle changes and variations such as marketing promotions, which would disrupt a conventional operation.

Guy claims the move to digital has ‘rid the headache’ of printing using analog methods. ‘It is a simpler, more integrated way of working as the purchase order goes direct to the press.

‘Colebourne has also gained new customers since going digital.’ He believes this is because the industry is no longer controlled by cost; ‘it is about getting professional, high-quality packaging and digital is the only way to achieve this,’ he states.

He adds: ‘Digital empowers the customer; our proprietary software has a lot of wizardry that enables our customers to manage their brand, artworks, content and order processing online which simply makes their lives easier.’ Colebourne is working with customers to see how they can best use the new equipment and take advantage of the opportunities it provides. One customer and its designer recently spent a trial day on site at Colebourne, testing different colors, designs and product branding configurations etc. There were obvious benefits for the designer being able to test and instantly see the results.

The future

Colebourne plans to invest in another press soon and sees a natural progression into the pharmaceutical arena, although this will require more accreditations.

‘The vision is to enable premium printed packaging for the masses’ eg small to medium microbrands. We want to make premium printed packaging for any business on low volumes – plain is boring.’

The company says it has changed a lot since moving to digital. Guy and Nick Muckley, operations manager, are both trained in running the digital press but Colebourne intends to expand its workforce of 10 people to support the growing volume of work. The press runs 14 hours a day, on two shifts – 06:00 to 14:00 and 14:00 to 22:00.

Further, Colebourne and Partners is currently a UK operation but Guy is quick to add: ‘At the moment.’