SMC Packaging manages rapid growth thanks to ArtiosCAD Enterprise

The customer

Unique solutions to unique corrugated challenges

With nearly 50 years of dedication to corrugated production with exemplary commitment to customer service, SMC Packaging Group is a full-service provider delivering solutions for packaging, point of purchase displays, protective shipping cartons and ancillary packaging supplies.

Headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, with satellite operations in Kansas City, Missouri, Conway, Arkansas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, the company’s comprehensive coverage has made it one of the largest and most diverse independent corrugated manufacturers in the Midwest.

The challenge

Rapid growth brings more complexities

With a diverse customer base and a wide range of manufacturing capabilities, SMC has proven a popular choice for customers in recent years, resulting in the company growing rapidly across its four sites.

With growth and expansion comes complexity. The ability to manage the number and frequency of jobs, as well as the increasing sophistication of designs, was becoming problematic for work that needed to be handled across the company’s locations.

Jeff Hole, Senior Designer at SMC, comments: “Taking a site-based siloed approach to job management wasn’t working anymore. Each site had its own filing system for work, so we were digging around when a client wanted to repeat or adjust a job we’d previously completed. We were then having to transfer designs between sites, which ultimately was taking up too much time and administration.

“We needed a fix. We were just so busy and couldn’t actually take the time we needed anymore to focus on our creativity and quality, which is embedded in our ethos here at SMC. Something had to change and that change came in the form of learning about ArtiosCAD Enterprise.”

The solution

Storing and sharing to boost productivity

SMC Packaging Group had worked with Esko ArtiosCAD structural packaging design software for many years. While checking out alternative solutions on the market, the team agreed that they didn’t want to switch away from a familiar software that was meeting their needs, if streamlining of the workflow between the sites could be fixed.

Investing in ArtiosCAD Enterprise, SMC designers were now able to store and share design assets and associated documents in one central location for all the sites, boosting productivity and transparency of work across the business.

“SMC is a privately-owned company and the owners are not afraid to invest in the business, but they do understandably need good justification. We were wasting a lot of designers’ time and losing our ability to increase our work load so we pitched to invest in ArtiosCAD Enterprise seeing the connectivity it could bring to our sites and we don’t regret the move.”

The benefits

Delivering the quality, service and performance expected by customers

Jeff comments: “It’s great! Anyone can now get in to the system database and find a job. It has provided huge time savings and the transition was extremely smooth. The Esko team did a great job of getting us up and running quickly and were very knowledgeable and helpful. We’ve now been live since 1st August 2017 and we’ve calculated that the investment paid back in time and waste savings in under 12 months.

“SMC and many of its workers have been around a long time but we learned a valuable business lesson early on. You quickly become fossils if you don’t keep learning and getting better at what you do. With 32 years under my belt, the knowledge base is there but we have to ensure the business is sustainable. Investments like this ensure there’s transparency of what we’re doing, everyone has access and we can focus on what matters in the business – delivering the quality, service and performance our customers have come to expect and investments like this are important to ensure our success continues well in to the future.”