Ronkonkoma, NY - America's fifth largest food manufacturing company, General Mills, Minneapolis, MN, takes pride in the consistency and quality of its packaging. Its family of more than 100 of the nation's most recognizable grocery brands-- Betty Crocker, Cheerios, Pillsbury, Green Giant, etc.-drive some 3,000+ packaging changes each year. Those changes are orchestrated by an eight-member Brand Design Prepress Organization.

The team, whose members boast 176 years of combined industry experience and 85 years of collective time spent in the packaging domain, was established to ensure that all package designs are printable and repeatable. To meet the mission, it offers guidelines for designers, printers and prepress partners based on the Flexographic Technical Association's Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications and Tolerances (FIRST).

As a result of its dedication to, incorporation of and endorsement of FIRST, General Mills' Brand Design Prepress Organization, led by Gail Wong, brand design prepress manager for U.S. retail packaging, earned the prestigious 2008 FTA President's Award.

Wong professed that the Prepress Organization's big-picture focus is on avoiding "major catastrophes, avoiding rework, saving time and money." She added, "The expectation I have of my team is to know enough about the printing process to advise design on what can be printed. They have to think through the whole design."

As a result of working with FIRST, she said that printers have commented that the files they are handed are easier to print than perhaps some other customers' files.

"I have been amazed," said Wong. "We have some pretty sophisticated designs-food photography with subtle details-baked goods right from the oven with steam coming off them. We work hard to make sure that we have a good fingerprint on file from the printer and that we have discussed what plates they are running and that they are not going to change anything prior to putting this on press. When that sample comes back, we compare it to a duplicate proof here. It is exciting to see how close the print can match the proof!"

Wong admitted she and her team still struggle with reducing dot gain, better solid ink densities and bringing down costs. "One of the things that drives cost up is the customization that we have to do for each printer," she stated, asking if there would ever be a day that flexographic printers/converters will be certified as fully compliant with FIRST guidelines, allowing different shops in different states to produce virtually identical results using the same file, regardless of equipment and personnel.

The answer, of course, is "yes!" One part of FTA's vision through TEST (Technical Education Services Team) is exactly that-a FIRST certification program. TEST's mission is to offer a certification of compliance with FIRST guidelines, and the tools necessary to get there, for educational institutions of all levels, as well as seminars, publications and other resources. The printer certification program is currently under development, and will use updated specs from FIRST 4.0, including near-neutral calibration. "Methodology based on G7 will really push the consistency together because you will print toward a target not toward a press," said Joe Tuccitto, FTA education director, who is leading the TEST initiative.

Accepting FTA's President's Award, in front of her team and its industry partners at General Mills corporate offices on June 25, Wong remarked, "Thanks FTA for all your work to bring together the flexo print industry. Your efforts to educate the industry through seminars and training courses, your Annual Forum that shares new technologies and business trends, the publications you produce, and the resources you provide have brought flexo printing to a new level. You are helping us build our brands by making a difference on-shelf."

Note: FTA is in the process of finalizing FIRST 4.0. Release of the publication and its collateral materials is expected shortly. The Association is staging four Regional Workshops, themed “FIRST 4.0 on the Go!” They are set for Sept. 25, Appleton, WI; Oct. 8, Indianapolis, IN; Oct. 14, Toronto, ON, Canada; Nov. 12, Atlanta. Registration details are available at www.flexography.org/regionalworkshops.cfm. FFTA's Fall Conference, “Packaging Premedia: Navigating the Shifting Sands from Strategy to Store Shelf,” is set for Oct. 5-7 in Indianapolis, IN. It will offer insights into FIRST's content and application; plus expert commentary on evolving technologies and process controls that will carry our rapidly changing industry forward.