PPC Flexible Packaging, a producer of flexible packaging, is continuing to drive efficiency across its multi-plant footprint using the EFI Packaging Suite and Radius Packaging ERP product from Electronics For Imaging (EFI).

Headquartered in Buffalo Grove, IL, USA, PPC Flexible Packaging is a 49-year-old enterprise with clients in the consumer and healthcare sectors. The company offers fully integrated services from design to production to finishing. Most recently, PPC Flexible Packaging installed the comprehensive workflow at its manufacturing operation in Pewaukee, WI.

It is the latest step in a company-wide roll out of the EFI product that helps the company deliver a fully integrated, multi-site workflow with consistent data gathering and advanced reporting capabilities.

“We have been building our organization through acquisitions and strong organic growth. We knew we wanted full integration with one system that would give us the consistent Key Performance Indicators we need to run the business,” says PPC Flexible Packaging CFO Lyle Meshberger. “We liked Radius and its functionality on the manufacturing floor. It has very good reporting for machine and operator performance. The system is very refined in terms of processes.

“We also wanted an industry-specific system,” he adds. “And Radius is specifically configured to meet that need, so we get top-tier reporting across our complete business. It has absolutely lived up to our expectations.”

The EFI Packaging Suite workflow has now successfully been installed at six locations for PPC Flexible Packaging, and its three remaining facilities will be brought on-line in 2021. The company’s progress to date has helped the PPC management team make more informed decisions with greater insights into the key cost drivers of the business. These insights help highlight opportunities in product delivery, cost control and many other aspects of the company’s manufacturing, sales and administrative operations.

PPC Flexible Packaging is now able to reduce manual data entry and touch points in its production processes, driving increased efficiency, reduced errors and, ultimately, faster turnaround times by leveraging some of the suite’s latest automation technology such as the EFI Productivity Workbench. The Packaging Suite also features powerful business intelligence, shop-floor data collection and advanced accounting capabilities, giving PPC Flexible Packaging’s business leaders the visibility they need to make smarter decisions and drive higher profits.

Many PPC Flexible Packaging clients are businesses that produce healthier snack products, a market characterized by small to mid-size runs demanding quick changeovers and small-order SKUs.

“When you run a quick-changeover operation, you really want to know how the specific jobs and changeovers are running. Radius does that,” says Meshberger. “For us, it’s even more important to have that shop-floor data information and collection because we’re constantly changing over presses.”