Company size
61 facilities
in 12 countries
worldwide
Industry
flexible packaging
Solution
Automation Engine with Global Vision inspection tools
THE CUSTOMER
Headquartered in Neenah, Wisconsin, Bemis Company Inc. has played an influential role in the packaging industry ever since its founding in 1858.
Now the largest flexible packaging company in the Americas, Bemis serves customers worldwide and their products are found in virtually every aisle of the grocery store.
With 61 facilities in 12 countries worldwide, they offer unmatched size and scope.
Over 70 percent of the company’s products are used in food and consumer goods markets serving a wide variety of companies such as Kraft Heinz, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, Hormel, Boston Scientific and General Mills.
Other markets include agribusiness, medical devices, and pharmaceutical applications.
The system works really well for us and it has eliminated errors and sped up our quality control process.
Jeff Hochhausen, Bemis Graphics Production Manager
THE CHALLENGE
Compare printed jobs to proofs
Missing a graphic element or printing incorrect text on packaging can be extremely costly for the printer or converter. The ultimate cost could be a product recall, with extremely expensive product costs and, more importantly, damage to the brand itself.
The manual proofing process, however, can be time consuming and inconsistent – and can result in a review process that can miscommunicate edits, resulting in errors.
Bemis Graphics originally proofed files like everyone else: visually comparing files to proofs. They wanted a more automated solution that would save operator time and be less error-prone.
What I like most is the speed we can get along with the confidence that nothing has changed – other than those elements that the client has requested. I would say tasks like the barcode check, alone, saves us ten minutes per job.
Jeff Hochhausen, Bemis Graphics Production Manager
THE SOLUTION
File check after every file iteration
Eventually they moved to Automation Engine tools, using Viewer Compare, which places two files on top of one another and highlights the differences.
While they had been using Esko tools for decades, Bemis Graphics learned about Global Vision when they were tasked to compare printed jobs back to the proofs for details like the correct plates, proofs, color and copy.
"I spoke with Esko during EskoWorld and wondered if they could integrate Global Vision tools into Automation Engine," recollects Jeff Hochhausen, Production Manager. "The next year they brought us a beta solution and asked us to test it out."
Bemis has been using Automation Engine with integrated Global Vision inspection tools since the beginning of 2016.
By implementing the spell check within Automation Engine, we only have one library. Now, when words or ingredients are added to the library, everyone has the change instantly. We can also guarantee that our artists are running the spell check, because it is automatically triggered by Automation Engine.
Jeff Hochhausen, Bemis Graphics Production Manager
THE BENEFITS
Significant time saving on artwork
With Global Vision quality control tools embedded in Automation Engine, Bemis is able to conduct automatic quality control checks on packaging artwork for text, artwork, spelling, braille, and barcodes.
Pretty much after every file iteration, Bemis conducts a compare or file check. They check all the graphics elements and text, along with barcodes, comparing them back to the art file. Even after a file has been exported to Esko Plato for step & repeat, Bemis will check the previous one-up to each of the fully stepped files.
Automation Engine with Global Vision proofing system
- saves operator time
- is faster and more accurate than what any person can do
- automatically triggers spell checks during artwork creation
- avoids costly misprints
