Product packaging has been blending art ingredients for many years, and design requires the use of advanced CAD software or engineering tools. Graham Packaging, a US packaging company, has developed a package design system based on Delcam's Powershape, ArtCAM and CopyCAD.
Consumer products companies in the United States have spent a lot of thought on product packaging design in order to obtain greater profits. They have little choice because the US market is overcrowded and the profits are thin relative to other markets in the world. In order to develop better packaging, they will consider a series of issues, including the cost of the packaging itself, the cost of filling and sealing, the cost of shipping and handling, and even the unpredictable cost of all arriving at the shelf.
The focus on product packaging design has made consumer product companies aware that consumers are always in a hurry. When they walk through the aisles of the supermarket, consumers' eyes are only on the product for a very short time. At the same time, there are still many brands competing with each other, the release of new products, and so on.
As a result, consumer product suppliers rely heavily on packaging companies such as Graham Packaging, a world-leading packaging company that designs, manufactures and sells blow-molded plastic containers for food and beverage packaging. Household products, cosmetics and automotive lubricants. The company has set up 60 factories in North America, Europe and Latin America, producing billions of containers each year.
Package Design
Design packaging often has some time pressure and requires the use of CAD and engineering tools. Sheldon Yourist, GPC's global design manager, has developed a notebook-based system that uses Delsha's powershap, ArtCAM, and CopyCAD software to rapidly design new packaging solutions based on their data, logos, and processes in the customer's office.
"Using Delcam software, we can demonstrate the idea and concept of packaging design on the display and can be adjusted according to customer requirements," Yourist said. "This ability is very important for GPC, because our customers always require us to be more creative and faster. Customers tell us that we can do a lot of work now and our competitors can't do it."
Mr Yourist said that GPC tried out some other professional CAD packaging software, but none of them was easier to use. He suggested, "In one evaluation, we gave every CAD company a requirement, but none of the other Delcam could meet our needs."
"Powershape is a good piece of software," Yourist said. "It's practical for bottle designs such as grips and surface labels. It's easier to adjust the details of the bottle design than many surface treatments."
"The use of Powershape software to adjust the size of the packaging design is also very fast. We have found that even for irregularly shaped bottles, it can be handled very accurately." He said. Customers often ask GPC's designers to modify the packaging a little higher or lower, adjusting only a few millimeters, but keeping the capacity constant.
"The entire design and demonstration process only takes about 45 minutes," he said. "This includes creating the bottle and planning the size and capacity, plus the conversion surface for STL output. With ArtCM and CopyCAD software, we only need to put the letter icon On the package, it takes only 10 to 15 minutes."
Of course, there are also some shortcuts. "The neck of the container will not change because of the need to meet industry-standard cap sizes." Yourist said: "The neck and cap are always made on separate layers in the Powershape software. When the new geometry When the shape is complete, they will be integrated with the overall shape."
Material production occupies a large proportion in GPC's packaging design. Yourist uses ArtCAM's material functions. “Before we used ArtCAM, the surface of the bottle was either modeled by chemical etching or by hand-sculpting,†Yourist said. “The etching process only takes a few hours, and because the work needs to be outsourced to other companies We also need to factor out travel time. Now the ArtCAM surface material function can achieve the same effect in a few minutes."
Visualized photo effects
The RS-Render module in Powershape is also very practical. Rendering works in the background and can be easily made into photo effects. In some CAD packages, producing high quality rendering takes several hours. "We can finish rendering in minutes and provide customers with the latest design drawings."
For customers who need a new design model, you can also send Powershape's CAD model to an in-house molding system. This allows the design department to convey the concept of new packaging to their management. "Delcam's STL file output function can achieve this step," Yourist said: "This is one of the reasons why our packaging design industry has grown rapidly."
“We found that the time spent on manual mapping and calculations is much less,†Yourist said. “And most of the time it is done using computers. The computer is at least twice as fast and it can be calculated accurately. This is why we feel that Powershape software is well worth the investment,†he added: “With ArtCAM and CopyCAD software, we can add the customer’s portrait to the newly packaged design, which looks very real and not just a logo. Sketches. High-quality visual design is also a key factor in our customer satisfaction."
Source: "Modern Packaging"
