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Axiom has been a valued partner in my supply chain link for the past 30 years. Most impressive of all is the "can do" and "will do" attitude.

Raj, Global Cosmetic Mfr - Glendale, CA
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case studies: Nutraceutical

Axiom’s internal controls, staff training, certification, and audits work simultaneously to ensure excellence from beginning to end when printing labels for nutraceutical clients.


Case Study: Costco - Kirkland Brand Vitamins
In 2009 Costco was challenged with an expanding and growing private label vitamin line and how to refresh the packaging for the next few years. The old labels were printed on an expensive matte silver paper foil and each SKU had its own color. After serious discussion of utilizing shrink sleeves the national marketer decided to use pressure sensitive labels.

Axiom had the perfect press combination to support this new launch. With two 10 color UV flexo wide web presses, the company could react immediately to the request for a reproduction of each vitamin pill, match red for the critical Kirkland brand and match gradated colors for each vitamin SKU. All of these capabilities made it easy to help Costco create a "family look" on the shelf for their in store promotions of the Kirkland line.




Case Study: Healthy Solutions
A large national catalogue company marketing to the baby boomer and older demographic wanted to launch a new personal care and vitamin category to complement their existing product offerings. This became a huge project as the line grew to include 192 SKUs of various vitamin and nutraceutical products.




Project Challenges
  • 192 SKUs, 7 sizes
  • Short, 1 month lead time to ship complete order
  • Small initial order quanitity 1,000 labels per SKU, 6 colors
Why Digital
  • Time to market
  • No plates
  • Run length & variable data
  • HP IndiChrome color system
  • Perfect registration
Axiom suggested state of the art HP digital printing technology for this project. If printed flexographically, each label would have been 6 colors and required an initial investment of 920 plates, increasing the cost of the project by 40%. Not only could the labels be produced only using 4 color process they would also have the perfect registration and color consistency critical to the launch. The speed of the digital proofing and printing processes allowed samples to be approved within 48 hours and production to be completed within a week.


Additional Benefits of Digital
• The HP Indigo process prints excellent halftones and has near perfect ink-over-ink trapping and registration allowing for far less colors required to achieve the same effect in the flexographic process. 
• HP digital printing can be less expensive than flexo depending on run length, run size, and number of colors and number of SKUs.
• The introduction of the WS6000 digital press in 2010 increased the press speed and print blanket dramatically so that 60% of all label orders can be produced more efficiently using digital print technology.   
• More SKUs, market demographics, time to market, event and regionalized product strategies create a perfect dynamic for digital.
• HP Indigo presses have the ability to print a specific mixed "spot" color with extreme precision.
• HP Indigo's large color gamut has the ability to match PMS and designer based colors to 2 delta E variance or better.
• By printing on metallic substrates, HP Indigo's unique 7 color process replaces the need for metallic ink.
• Printing digitally can substantially reduce material waste and the use of harsh chemicals.

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