Zumbiel Packaging

As a paperboard print specialist, Zumbiel Packaging has helped many top brands with complex packaging needs. When the J.M. Smucker Co. wanted to offer consumer personalization for their popular Milk-Bone dog treat boxes, Zumbiel rose to the challenge with a smart, lightning-fast, cost-effective digital print solution from Kodak.

The J.M. Smucker Co. owns one of the world's most iconic pet products: Milk-Bone dog treats. When the brand's marketing team came up with the idea of letting pet owners create personalized Milk-Bone boxes featuring family dogs, they knew they had a printing and logistics challenge on their hands. The Smucker team reached out to Zumbiel Packaging—established experts in this kind of paperboard design and execution—to explore digital print technologies and workflows that could execute such a complex variable data job. Adding to the complexity was the scale: the popular Milk-Bones sell nationally and would require exceptionally high print volumes even for smaller-scale promotional production. The solution would need high throughput to meet Smucker's expected demand and run economically and without compromising the brand's print quality standards. Zumbiel had their work cut out for them.

Together, Zumbiel and Smucker tested numerous digital technologies and devices, and a clear winner emerged: the KODAK PROSPER 6000 Press. Powered by KODAK Stream Inkjet Technology, it produces digital print quality indistinguishable from the standard Milk-Bone lithographic cartons, cost-effectively, with a remarkable productivity of 600 feet per minute. And the water-based, food-safe PROSPER Inks were ideal for a pet food product. With the press selected, Zumbiel and Kodak then spent several months collaborating with Smucker marketing and technical teams to establish the workflow of taking images and text submitted online by pet owners and transforming them into a unique custom carton. Variable data software was used to map the carton's variable elements—brand background, pet photo and name, plus barcode—for printing. Kodak configured Zumbiel's PROSPER 6000 Press specifically for the job with inline substrate priming, digital printing, and high-speed die-cutting, connected directly to a dedicated folder-gluer.

With their KODAK PROSPER solution to the Milk-Bone challenge, Zumbiel has demonstrated their ingenuity and customer dedication. Their highly automated process takes less than 20 minutes to transfer, assemble, and RIP files and can output roughly 17-18,0000 personalized boxes per hour—including printing, die-cutting, and gluing. The total average cycle time from receipt of files to shipment of finished cartons is an impressive two hours. The Milk-Bone custom box program has been a huge success for Smucker, driving traffic to their website, getting featured on NBC's Today Show, and creating instant marketing buzz as consumers and celebrities post photos on social media of beloved pets with their personalized treats.