EskoArtwork, Vandalia, OH, USA, has formed a partnership with Clemson University‘s Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design & Graphics to create the EskoArtwork Packaging Supply Chain Laboratory. The lab will focus on combining the synergies of packaging design and graphic communications into the overall production and distribution manufacturing process.

Clemson’s Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics, a cooperative effort between the university’s departments of packaging science and graphic communications, is one of the most exciting programs under way at the public research university. The Harris A. Smith Building, currently under construction on campus, will be the new home for the Sonoco Institute. Through the institute, Clemson students prepare for careers in packaging, printing and allied fields. The institute fosters interdisciplinary faculty collaboration to provide leadership and innovation in design and graphics for the global packaging industry. The Institute promotes consumer and environmentally superior packaging design and development, printing-imaging technologies and printing-packaging systems to enhance the reusability, traceability and sustainability of paperboard, film and corrugated paperboard packaging.

EskoArtwork has placed considerable importance on supporting printing and packaging educational institutions around the world, supporting more than 30 projects globally. The partnership between EskoArtwork and Clemson University will provide the resources to pursue research and development opportunities in this global marketplace. Specifically, the EskoArtwork Packaging Supply Chain Laboratory will work inside the Sonoco Institute to:

• provide the resources students need to become the skilled and creative work force of the 21st century;
• house the only research and development center of its kind in the nation;
• recruit, hire and maintain the top packaging design and graphics researchers in the world;
• promote and stimulate technologies that can make the highest impact on the future of global environmental responsibility;

Through its support of this initiative, EskoArtwork says that Clemson University will have the necessary equipment, software and staffing to maintain a fully functioning lab suited to the challenges of the packaging industry. The investment will provide Clemson University students industry-specific training, giving them a clear advantage as they enter the packaging science workforce.