In six months, NordPack Relocations, a mid‑market mover supplying corrugated kits across Northern Europe, cut waste from roughly 9–11% to 5–6% and lifted throughput by 15–18%. The turning point came when they paired a lean changeover program with a digital–flexo hybrid for corrugated Board grades—Kraft liners for durability, recycled mediums for cost control.
They didn’t do it alone. The brand partnered with papermart to benchmark SKUs, re‑sequence changeovers, and pilot short‑run Digital Printing for seasonal sizes. We kept what worked in Flexographic Printing for long‑run items and moved the volatile, multi‑SKU work to digital with water‑based inks that play nicely with FSC‑certified corrugated stock.
I’m writing this from a sales manager’s seat in Europe, where seasonality is brutal—May through September surges can double demand. NordPack needed faster response without pushing unit cost over the edge. Here’s where it gets interesting: they didn’t chase shiny equipment first; they fixed the job mix, then tuned the tech.
Cost and Efficiency Challenges
NordPack was juggling 120–160 active SKUs of moving and packing boxes, many with small monthly call‑offs but unpredictable spikes. Lead times stretched to 10–12 days during summer, and every changeover cost 35–45 minutes on average. Waste hovered at 9–11%, partly from setup sheets on multiple flute combinations and partly from color dialing for branding panels. Humidity swings warped sheets, compounding register issues.
Price pressure was relentless. Their marketing team saw searches like “where to get moving boxes for cheap” outpacing brand queries in Germany and the Nordics, which meant customers were price‑anchoring before quality even entered the conversation. NordPack had to hold cost per box in a tight band while improving print readability for handling icons and QR codes. Transit damage was another concern: 3–4% of kits arrived with corner crush, triggering replacements.
We faced skepticism on day one. Operators didn’t want complexity; they wanted fewer headaches. My stance was simple: we’ll shift short‑run, high‑mix work to digital, keep the core sizes on flexo, and cut the waste embedded in setups. If the numbers don’t move within a quarter, we roll it back. No one argued with a trial—only with risk.
Solution Design and Configuration
The configuration leaned on two pillars: Digital Printing for Short‑Run and Seasonal SKUs, and Flexographic Printing for Long‑Run standards. We specified water‑based ink systems for both, aligned to FSC chain‑of‑custody materials—Kraft Paper liners with recycled mediums on Corrugated Board. Flexo plates carried the heavy lifters; digital took artwork‑dense panels and frequent changes. Post‑press held steady: Die‑Cutting and Gluing, with a revised makeready checklist. During off‑peak weeks, the same color management presets extended to e‑commerce lines—think papermart bags and papermart gift boxes—so teams practiced calibration on simpler jobs without burning corrugated sheets.
We built a color workflow anchored to Fogra PSD targets and kept ΔE under 2 across the top 20 SKUs once stabilized. First Pass Yield moved from 86–88% to 93–95% in the second month. Changeovers shed 12–18 minutes through plate sequencing, pre‑inked decks, and a digital “bridge” job to validate color before plates hit the web. None of this is magic; it’s a playbook: lock materials, standardize ink, and give operators a repeatable path.
There were hiccups. Early on, board warp under low RH caused register drift on one flute profile. We installed a moisture check and kept the room at 45–50% RH; the drift eased. Another unexpected win came from marketing: they’d seen the phrase “where can you get free moving boxes” spike in searches, so we added a QR to reuse tips and a donation map. It didn’t sell boxes directly, but complaint tickets dropped, and returns fell in step with better handling instructions.
Quantitative Results and Metrics
Fast forward six months: waste settled at 5–6% on the core moving kits, down from the 9–11% baseline. Throughput rose by 15–18% as short, messy runs shifted to digital and flexo stayed in its lane. Lead time compressed from 10–12 days to 6–8, thanks to fewer plate‑related stalls and tighter job sequencing. First Pass Yield held at 93–95%, and ΔE stayed under 2 on branded panels. The payback period on workflow changes and light equipment additions landed in the 14–16 month range—depending on SKU mix and seasonal demand.
On sustainability, kWh per pack eased by roughly 8–12% with fewer setup sheets, and CO₂ per pack fell by about 10–12% when measured across the mixed substrate portfolio. Transit damage dropped from 3–4% to 1–2% after we thickened certain corners and clarified stack marks. Line OEE lifted from roughly 65–70% to 78–82% on weeks with controlled job sequencing. These are not lab numbers; they swing a little with board supply and weather, but the trend held through peak season.
“We didn’t buy a unicorn,” NordPack’s operations lead told me, “we just stopped abusing the press.” That’s the heart of it. A pragmatic hybrid, a fair bit of operator input, and a willingness to test. If you run corrugated in Europe and wrestle with seasonality, give the hybrid path a look. And yes, the same presets we used for cartons now help their team run adjacent SKUs like papermart bags and papermart gift boxes with less fuss. Based on what we saw with papermart, keeping the job mix honest might matter as much as the press you choose.
