A packaging redesign approved remotely, with the suppliers in the same flow.

The product and the reason for the redesign

Dadz Alimentos is a gluten-free food maker that favours natural ingredients, to keep the nutrients, and offers healthy food that can be eaten at any time, anywhere. Its Croquinole Protein Cookie Bar is sold online and in gourmet stores in São Paulo.

To take the brand abroad, the company created a new packaging concept: the product had to say at first sight that it is healthy, ready to eat, safe and waste-free. Croquinole would land first in Latin America and the United States.

Augusto Zarpon, CEO of Dadz, also expected to sell more in Brazil with packaging suited to the new positioning and with the visibility of going international. According to him, the product’s market share could not be defined yet, but there was already global demand to absorb the company’s whole production capacity.

From the “From file to shelf” event to the project

The idea of making the redesign viable in flexographic printing was born at the event “Do arquivo à gôndola” (from file to shelf), organized by Clicheria Blumenau and DuPont Cyrel Solutions. The wish to have a flexible plastic packaging printing process from start to finish was immediate, and DuPont gathered the project’s suppliers, LinkFlow among them, born inside Clicheria Blumenau.

Taking part were 3M (double-sided tapes), Laserflex (anilox rolls), Gualapack (conversion of the flexible packaging), Clicheria Blumenau (prepress and plates) and DuPont (Cyrel flexographic plates).

The project was orchestrated by Apex-Brasil, which follows Dadz’s internationalization through Design Export, a programme for companies that want to bring design into their products, packaging or processes and compete abroad. Casa Rex, Centro Brasil Design, Fiesp, Ciesp, Senai São Paulo and Sebrae also took part.

How the approval happened in LinkFlow

The new packaging was approved remotely, through the LinkFlow Workflow and Approval modules used by Gualapack, the converter that printed it. Until then, artwork had been approved by e-mail.

Whoever runs the approval enters the layout in the system and defines the users and departments involved, who are told that an approval is pending. Each one sees the details in real time and asks for changes until the final approval of the file.

Those involved followed the status of each approval safely and automatically. The system controls versions, shortens the lead time, connects the departments and delivers performance indicators of the process.

What the project showed

The packaging change gained speed. Participants followed production remotely, with less communication noise and fewer errors, and each department recorded its decision in the system.

For Clicheria Blumenau, which prepared the files and engraved the plates, the gain was having the SKU information and the file approvals in a digital, secure environment, from the start to the end of the process.

What to take from it before redesigning a packaging

A redesign involves the brand, the agency, the converter, the plate maker and the suppliers of inputs. When everyone approves in the same flow, there is one valid version, and each decision is recorded with who made it and when.

Bringing the converter and the plate maker in early, still at layout stage, avoids surprises at the press. And remote approval stops depending on e-mails: whoever has to decide is notified, reviews and records the decision.