New offering: Fast and low-cost online ordering service for folding cartons in small batch sizes
5 March 2018
New offering: Fast and low-cost online ordering service for folding cartons in small batch sizes
August Faller GmbH & Co. KG is expanding its production network: Following the foundation of the new subsidiary Digital Packaging Service GmbH on 20. February 2018, with its digital ordering facility, customers will benefit in the near future from a new fast and low-cost way of ordering standard folding cartons with no minimum order quantities. What's new? Faller is the first supplier on the market to fully adopt a digital business model for all process levels. Customers will benefit in particular from significantly shorter lead times and set up costs. By the end of 2018, the new 4,000 m² surface area production site in Worms, Germany will be complete and able to provide test runs. As from spring 2019, customers will be able to benefit completely from all aspects of the new service model.
Processes 100% digitalised
The new, small-volume folding carton production plant specialises in runs of between 1 and 5,000 items and will score in future with parcel shipments geared to a max. five-day delivery commitment. In order to achieve this, all order processing activities will be handled through an on-line shop or by automated electronic data exchange with customers.
All printing will be exclusively digital in 7-colour mode using the Pantone 7 Plus Series. An all-new feature on the market is the fully digitalised die-cutting and creasing process using innovative laser technology. This enables the company to avoid using cutting dies and operate entirely without tools. With this new process, Faller remains capable of meeting the full range of all high-level packaging quality requirements.
Innovative service range with cost savings
By harnessing the latest printing and processing technologies combined with the benefits of digitalisation customers gain new design perspectives for individualisation, personalisation and serialisation of standard folding cartons. And these services are not only aimed at the pharma and healthcare industries but also at manufacturers in other sectors, such as consumer goods and food. With all products, Faller guarantees complete GMP conformity and meets all HACCP requirements applicable to the food industry.
Thanks to its very short delivery times, Digital Packaging Service GmbH delivers crucial advantages, allowing customers to make significant reductions in their time-to-market for new product lines. At the same time, the new service portfolio dispenses with the need for costly warehousing facilities for folding cartons, which makes a significant contribution to reducing the total cost of ownership. The small production runs will generate considerable resource savings and avoid the fact that produced excess material is discarded. Digital Packaging Service GmbH will not only help customers lower their storage costs but also facilitates improvements of carbon foot print at the same time.
Keeping an eye on trends
"With Digital Packaging Service GmbH and its highly automated, fully digitalised processes and the use of new technologies, we are able to serve market requirements that have been untapped to date. In future, we will be able to offer very attractively priced solutions and rapid delivery times with high-level sustainability for all branches of the folding carton market," asserts Dr. Daniel Keesman, President & Managing Partner of the August Faller Group, outlining the reasons behind the decision. "By setting up the new subsidiary, we are expanding our business model and strengthening our European production network. We selected Worms quite specifically, as it is located in the centre of Germany and has good transportation links."
By creating the fully digitalised supply model, the August Faller Group is responding to the increasing demand for small production runs - a conspicuous development in the pharma and healthcare sector, as well as in other industries. The company sees the growing demand for minimum production runs in many areas, as with orphan drugs and biological medication for example, which - unlike tablets and ointments - can not be packed from large bulk orders and then distributed, or in products which are needed in only small quantities for specific countries.
Nikolaus Reichenbach has been appointed as Managing Director of Digital Packaging Service GmbH. The former site head of the Waldkirch plant was recently active as Vice President Operations International with responsibility for integrating the Hvidovre (Denmark) site into the Faller network and setting up the new folding carton site at Lódz, Poland. Julian Erhard, the former Senior Technology Advisor at August Faller GmbH & Co. KG, is responsible for the innovative operating technology.
