The Sweet Taste of Success

About 10 years ago, Tap Packaging Solutions found itself at a crossroads. The Cleveland-based business, then known as the Chilcote Company, had just celebrated its centennial and had earned its position as a stalwart in the photography industry, manufacturing paperboard mounts and packaging for professional photographers.

But as the rise of digital photography drastically reduced the relevance of Tap’s core products, it had to make a difficult decision in order to maintain its viability.

The way the company’s management saw it, there were two options. Tap could become more technology focused, printing digital photographs into albums. Or, it could stay true to its core as a packaging producer but dive into new markets where there was future growth potential.

“We went into these new markets when, at the time, we were a 100-year-old-company that really had to think like a startup,” says J. Anthony Hyland, president and CEO. “We had a sales force that was used to selling based on our
reputation, and now we’re in a market where nobody knew who we were.”

Starting in Sweets

The company rebranded as Tap Packaging Solutions in 2010 and made its official launch into the consumer packaged goods market in 2011, debuting a line of folding cartons targeted specifically to the confectionery market.

From left, VP of Sales and Marketing Jordana Revella and Department Lead Tom Brilla approve product on an Emmeci setup box machine.

Jordana Revella, Tap’s VP of sales and marketing, explains that the company already had two Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102 offset presses and a variety of finishing equipment. Because photography packaging often features special effects and targets a high-end audience, she explains the confectionery market was a perfect starting point for Tap.

“We felt it was a really close fit,” Revella says. “The type of product that confectioners need compared to photographers — even though it’s two-dimensional versus three-dimensional — it still has that same purpose. It’s foil stamped, it’s highly embellished and it helps to brand and sell what was otherwise a basic product like a piece of chocolate or a print, at a premium.”

Though Tap did have much of the necessary equipment and plenty of experience in printing, diving into such a competitive market was no easy process. Hyland explains the company became fully committed to learning precisely what it took to create a quality folding carton and rigid setup box.

He says Tap placed a major focus on design and engineering and brought in new employees who had prior experience in packaging. From a marketing and sales perspective, Hyland says that Tap found itself trying to break in from the ground floor, which is something it hadn’t done in more than a century.

“We had to get better at selling,” Hyland says. “We were having to make more calls instead of having everyone who knew who we were call us. It was the same thing for manufacturing. The products were very similar and we knew how to run the equipment, but there were just little integral things, tricks of the trade that we really had to train our people on to be able to make a good folding carton.”

Digital Differentiation

As any printer who has made the trip to Graph Expo knows, it’s almost impossible to come home empty handed. However, most showgoers leave Chicago with product pamphlets and promotional material. The Tap Packaging team left with a new press.

Tap Packaging Solutions was one of the first five North American companies to acquire an HP Indigo 30000 digital press.

Hyland says the staff had been keeping an eye on digital printing technology ever since the company entered the packaging field. And when they found out the HP Indigo 30000 would be on display at Graph Expo 14, they decided to buy it right off the show floor.

He says Tap Packaging was one of the first five companies in North America to install an HP Indigo 30000, and it came at a time when the firm was looking to increase its capacity and produce more short-run jobs. Adding digital capabilities, Hyland says, allowed Tap to move a substantial portion of its offset work to the Indigo and spend less time setting up the conventional machines.

But there was another reason Tap rolled the dice on being an early adopter of this technology, and Hyland says it was based more on a premonition than a plan.

“We saw this was going to be the future,” he says. “The uniqueness of being able to do all of the things that digital printing can do in variable and versioning. We wanted to have that capability. We weren’t even sure what we were going to do with that. We just knew we wanted to have it.”

From the start, Revella explains that she has viewed the addition of the digital press as a way for customers to communicate more directly with consumers. She says that with the Indigo, it’s now possible to talk with Tap’s customers about targeting certain segments of their consumer base and allowing them to develop more of a connection with the product.

A couple examples, Revella says, include segmenting consumers via geographical location or by timing packaging around an event. Locally, she says when the Republican National Convention visits Cleveland this summer, it will provide an excellent opportunity to create some specifically pointed packaging.

“Let’s make some packaging that’s really targeted at this group of 500,000 people that are going to be visiting the city during that week,” she says. “It’s a great opportunity for an economic boost. I think our customers are excited about that and want to know how they can make the most of it.”

A Tailored Fit

In addition to digital capabilities and the opportunities they provide to Tap’s customers, the company also strives to differentiate itself in the way it handles customer relations. Long before a job is sent to press, the team at Tap digs a little deeper to better understand the brand being presented and the story it wants to tell.

Jaime Choudhury, Tap’s manager of design and engineering, explains that oftentimes, to get a customer a package that really stands out, a little guidance from the production team can go a long way.

“Getting all the information from them really makes the process flow better,” she says. “Sometimes they know exactly what they want, and sometimes it’s us looking at their product and listening to their story and guiding them in a direction we think would be best for them.”

From left, Print Shop Lead Ken Meffert Sr., and Senior Design Engineer Brittany Vazquez approve color on one of Tap’s Heidelberg offset presses.

While this is a philosophical approach to business that Tap has created, Choudhury says it is also an area where the digital press can be of assistance. Customers who visit Tap’s facility have the advantage of printing proofs on the HP Indigo 30000.

They can then use those digitally printed proofs to conduct market tests at a low cost and without having to pay for a run of offset printed proofs.

“They can give us a file and we can make a small amount of cartons,” Choudhury says. “It’s changing the game for them and I think that’s the best part.”

Awards and Innovations

Despite Tap Packaging’s recent launch into consumer packaged goods, it hasn’t taken long for the company to turn some heads with its sophisticated printing and packaging. Revella says that multiple recent awards, including a People’s Choice Award from the Printing Industries of Ohio and Northern Kentucky (PIANKO), is a testament to just how hard the team worked to make the transition.

This folding carton earned a People’s Choice Award from the Printing Industries of Ohio and Northern Kentucky.

The winning carton at the PIANKO awards dinner was constructed and printed for Tortuga Imports’ Tortuga 6oz. Rum Turtles and featured full flood UV coating, five-color offset printing, registered emboss and gold foil stamping. While the Tap team was proud of this carton, Revella says that because the company’s industry peers selected it as a winner, the award is even more satisfying.

“I think for me, that was one of the best [awards] because all of the printers in the room got together and voted,” she says. “There were over 50 award winners and there was one People’s Choice Award and that was our folding carton for Tortuga.”

While this award was a testament to Tap’s conventional printing prowess, the company has also been recognized recently for the quality and creativity of its digital printing. At the recent Dscoop conference — HP’s annual users conference — held this year in San Antonio, Tap was honored with an “Inkspiration Award” for excellence in folding carton design.

This award highlighted Tap’s set of eight custom boxes for Fleurir Chocolates, a boutique chocolate shop based near Washington, D.C. These boxes were created specifically for Fleurir’s “Taste the Nation, Bar by Bar” campaign. This series of chocolate bars was created to represent various geographical regions of the country. For example, the Northeast Bar featured maple pecan toffee, while the South Bar had a barbecue twist with smoked bacon toffee.

The bars’ packaging featured bucolic scenes depicting the region they represented and were illustrated by Lauren Weens, a friend of Fleurir’s owner, and structurally designed in house by Brittany Vazquez, one of Tap’s packaging designers.

Tap Packaging won an “Inkspiration Award” from HP for its use of digital printing on Fleurir’s regional chocolate bars.

“I thought it was a really good use of digital,” Revella says. “It wasn’t super high quantity, but it was a quick turn because [Fleurir] needed it for the holiday season. One of the cool things was they could choose the quantity for each of those versions … They could say, ‘I think this one is going to sell the most. It’s the safest bet. We’ll make more of this one.’”

Room to Grow

With the success of its launch into confections as a template, Tap Packaging has now made inroads into other markets in need of high-end folding cartons. Some of these new markets include cosmetics, food and beverage, and health care.

Part of the decision to expand into these markets, Hyland explains, is because they play to Tap’s strengths and they can break in with a leg up on the competition.

“We have branched out since then into things that are luxury brands,” Hyland says. “Things where they place a premium on the embellishment type things that we think we do very well.”

Choudhury says that Tap’s versatility and flexibility to handle so many aspects of the packaging process in-house also helps the company expand its business. When customers see that Tap can handle laminating top sheets to microflute, hand assembly, drop shipping, warehousing and more, they’re often impressed by how much the company can do while also taking the time to foster close customer relationships.

“I’ve worked for some really large packaging companies and they would have to source these things out,” she says. “They couldn’t do it in-house. Here we are and we’re doing it under one roof and it impresses everyone when they come into the building.”

Revella says that as the company looks toward the future, it’s clear that packaging will continue to become more varied and personalized. Educating customers on how they can add this dimension to their packaging, she says, will be a powerful tool as Tap continues to grow.

“Knowing we are in the forefront of that, helping our customers understand what that means, giving them examples and leading them through those first steps of personalizing packaging for the broader consumer product industry is what’s really exciting for me,” she says.