Kent St. Vrain of Paxonix on Packaging Innovation

As consumer goods companies are increasingly rushing to get new products to market, they may instead be sacrificing true innovation. CGT talked to Kent St. Vrain, vice president, marketing and business development for Paxonix, a division of MeadWestvaco Corporation, to hear his perspective on the importance of the right packaging, and what impact that has on success in the market.

 

 

ST. VRAIN: What's interesting is that while packaging is recognized as a key vehicle for generating the greatest impact on brand identity, most consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies don't have the tools in place to streamline mundane processes to encourage innovation in packaging. Unfortunately, most processes in the marketing, branding and packaging functions stifle creativity because those involved in process are spending too much time on administration, rather than focusing on innovation.

 

This lack of innovation does a disservice to the company, its investors, its employees and, most of all, its customers. Innovation has to be part of the overall process of delivering products to market. However, it relies on having enough time in the process for inventive ideas to appear, be refined, tested and implemented. With the pressures of speed to market, quality improvement and a reduction in rework, it is clear that current processes do not afford any extra time. And while necessity may be the mother of invention, panic has no place in the development of innovative packaging.

 

 

 

ST. VRAIN: It's easy to understand why brand marketers and packaging departments don't have time for innovation and creativity when they are tasked with making sure the converter has the right version of the product carton, and verifying the label is rechecked one last time. Though critical, these are time consuming tasks.

 

In order to ensure quality, but also to allow time for innovation, organizations should leverage the power of technology to automate these processes. Digital workflow and project management technology can streamline the systematic steps associated with brand asset development and re-use, empowering brand marketers and packaging departments to focus on innovation and differentiating their products.

 

By leveraging technology your employees will spend more time on strategic efforts like increasing shelf impact and less time on things like investigating bottlenecks in the approval process.

 

 

 

ST. VRAIN: Regulatory compliance plays a major role in competing for time spent on innovation -- from federal/state regulations, like Sarbanes Oxley, to waste recycling acts, to a company's own operational initiatives, like Six Sigma or other quality/manufacturability standards. While pertinent regulations and guidelines that define "good labeling and packaging" are in place, it's adhering to them and providing a comprehensive audit of conformance that's the challenge. Compliance to these efforts requires ongoing monitoring across the entire product lifecycle. Thankfully, digital workflow and project management technologies can support the auditing and the historical recording of necessary information to ensure compliance to both internal SOP's and external regulations. Less worry about these regulatory necessities means more time for your employees to spend on critical initiatives like strategic differentiation and meeting customer needs.

 

 

 

ST. VRAIN: Although there are a handful of very rare geniuses that innovate alone, innovation is typically a team output. Because those teams are often large and dispersed around the globe, the right enabling technologies become pivotal. A solution that operates 24x7 can increase the number of team members able to participate and effectively enhance their level of contribution. Further, with a web-based collaborative solution, the ideas and processes employed to achieve a new product can be captured for repurposing and ongoing improvement thereby actually creating an "innovation library." A digital workflow and project management technology such as Paxonix' PaxPro, delivered as a SaaS, streamlines the branding process from ideation, to the approval and repurposing of brand assets, including management of packaging-related specifications.

 

 

 

ST. VRAIN: As I said, companies that are known as market leaders understand that innovation does not occur in a vacuum. Successful new product introductions require careful orchestration that blends the talents of many disparate groups. We're working with one of the most successful cosmetics companies in the world. They effectively bring together engineers, artists, marketers, scientists and technologists to bring fresh ideas to market and they use technology to do so.

 

 

 

ST. VRAIN: Time is always of the essence and CPG manufacturers are hard pressed for each additional second it takes to bring a product to market. They know that category-creating products -- those that are first to market -- are more likely to generate greater revenue during the lifetime of the product than those that arrive second to the shelf. Therefore, they race to get there first. What they often don't appreciate is that acceleration -- independent of process or supporting technology -- often leads to unnecessary rework, which slows development down. It's a treacherous cycle and one that can only be broken when the decision is made to make innovation a priority. And, innovation as a priority is only realized when process support, underpinned by a technology platform, is put in place. CG