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Description
Packaging designs for the client’s frozen food products were subject to an approval process involving up to nine different departments: artwork standards, recipe testing, ingredients verification, nutritional information review, legal review, production, etc. For this process, a single copy of the new packaging design - a “design mechanical” - was passed from one department to the next. This approach caused two key problems. The routing of the design materials was not tracked; it was handed informally from one department to the next. Thus its physical location, and where it stood in the review process, could not be readily ascertained. Additionally, the informal hand-off meant that a design waiting for approval often became buried on someone’s desk, instead of being reviewed in a timely manner, holding up the workflow and compounding the difficulty in locating and determining the review status.
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Results
| Following an assessment interview with the client, listening carefully to their issues and needs, we developed a server-based tracking application, accessible to all participants, using software tools the client had available. The new system streamlined workflow by charting the progress of design mechanicals across all nine departments and through the entire approval process.
| - The system organized and presented the following information:
- Order in which departments were to receive design material
- Date/time material delivered to each department, and to whom
- Status of material in each dept (received, under review, approved, not approved, sent)
- Explanatory notes and comments from each reviewing department
- Date/time material sent to next department, and by whom
- We reviewed and tested the system design with the client at every stage and provided training for personnel using the system.
| Benefits
| By tracking information electronically and keeping the status updated and organized, all involved could see, at a glance, the location of a design mechanical, its status, and when it could be expected to reach the remaining departments. This resulted in a more efficient workflow, a more cost-effective approval process, and faster time-to-market for the client’s products.
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