Folding cartons are causing a stir in the world of packaging. From design to production changes, folding cartons are standing tall and hanging tough in store shelves. Converting takes a look at some new carton designs being used by Old Navy for men's and boy's underwear, socks and accessories, as well as carton finishing in the UK and the business benefits of in-line printing. But first, we look back on Gallus' Folding Carton Technology Seminar held last month in Charlotte, NC.

During the Cadmus open house, the Gallus KM 510 S in-line folding-carton press showed it can print single jobs like the parakeet insert card (at right), but also create highly complicated products like the ace golf sleeve.

Gallus (www.gallus-packaging.com) joined forces with BHS Printing Machinery (www.bhsworld.com) to host its first Folding Carton Technology Seminar in North America. Themed “Think Inline the Box,” the one-day event featured a live demonstration of the Gallus KM 510 S in-line folding-carton press at packaging converter Cadmus (www.cadmuswhitehall.com), as well as informative presentations about the paperboard-carton industry and new technology developments.

Gallus brought in speakers from its partners to share their expertise but started off with Gallus president Klaus Bachstein, who gave a brief introduction about Gallus and BHS. He explained how the two companies have combined their printing/diecutting expertise, took narrow-web technology and created an in-line press for total folding-carton production.

“Creating folding cartons in-line saves time and is cost-effective,” Bachstein says. “The more processes you can do in-line, the better.”

The KM 510 S press can be extended to perform up to 16 operations ranging from flexo printing—including reverse-side printing—screen printing, hot-foil stamping and cold foiling to gravure printing, laminating and varnishing, creasing, embossing and diecutting.

Jerry Lux, Cadmus president, opened the doors to the company's converting facility so that other converters could see exactly what the KM 510 S is capable of. “Everyday that machine changes form,” Lux says. “(The operators) change what it looks like and what it outputs. The key is modularity and flexibility. It really is its ability to change that made us go with this press.”

Being able to use all of the press' capabilities has helped Cadmus find “new space and get out of the area we're all in,” Lux adds. The press enables Cadmus to have highly efficient short runs and offer value-added options such as brand security. Because they can print and die-cut in one process, it also saves time and staff needs.

“It is a complement to our folding-carton business, not a replacement,” Lux explains. “Our sales have grown in North America, and this has been core to the growth in our customer base. Simply put, this complements our offset business.

To help other converters find their own niche, the seminar included presentations on marketing and industry trends to illustrate various paths they could take in differentiating themselves.

Mark Vanover, vice president of marketing for Esko Artwork North America, provided a look at prepress solutions, while XSYS product manager Tom Hammer presented new inks for brand identification and protection.

Continuing with the brand-protection theme, Bud Gray from the Brand Protection Alliance gave a talk on new brand-protection technologies and how converters can use them to grow their businesses and cash flow.

“Once you start doing brand protection for one of your good customers, they're not going to want to do it with anyone else,” Gray concluded. “It's a chance to once again be the solution-provider and not be locked in a commodity battle.”