Quarterpack GmbH adopts Esko WebCenter
Austrian packaging services provider, QuarterPack, has implemented Esko WebCenter to streamline and smooth the complexity of its operations and project management.
Established in 2013 in Vienna, QuarterPack GmbH takes a unique approach to supporting brands to resolve their packaging prepress challenges. Whether a brand is seeking labels, flexible packaging, displays, folding cartons, signage or corrugated packaging, no job is too big, too small or too complex, for the QuarterPack team to handle.
Unlike other reprographics businesses, QuarterPack sees its role as a supply chain partner that sits in the center of the business, organizing everyone to be efficient, wherever they sit in the process from pack design to press.
Alexander Gruber, QuarterPack CEO, said: “We focus on a wide range of packaging applications to ensure the brand, whatever they need, can rely on us. It’s a great way to grow the business, we become an intrinsic player to them and focus on consistency, quality and service, archiving their information and data to make it as easy as possible for them day in, day out for any new project needs they have. Our service is irresistible. Whether they want a new pack design, branding support for an advert, or simply an update to a current range, our holistic approach to doing business serves them really well.”
Alexander Gruber continues: “The reality today is that a brand can need letterpress printing for a cup application that will be sourced in Poland, a lid that’s printed flexo in Germany, the wrapper required is offset printed in Austria and the box it will all be shipped in is flexo printed in Croatia. This means multiple suppliers, substrates, print processes and demands are placed on to the brand management team, who need to ensure their products look as consistent and similar as possible. This is where QuarterPack and Esko software steps in.”
The company required a simple yet effective web-based software solution for archiving and improving approval cycles with customers. The QuarterPack team has worked with Esko technology for many years, typically operating PDF based workflows.
“This wasn’t about achieving big automation for us but trying to smooth out and speed up what we do,” commented Alexander. “Our people know what counts and they are at the core of our business, offering knowhow and support to our customers. We felt we simply needed to boost that value with automation of the archiving and approval processes to add additional speed and accuracy to what we achieve.
“We reached out to alternative companies to Esko, searching for an open solution that could be customised to our business, but the software was too complex to handle and not fit for purpose for QuarterPack. We expected to have more usability, more customisation capability to our specific processes and importantly, ease of integration into the way we do business. It needed to adapt to us, not the other way around!
“The situation was disappointing. Most of the software was too expensive and too complex. It also had several gaps in its usability, so we stopped the whole development and turned to Esko to help us solve our problems instead, incorporating an update to our already reliable workflow solution.”
Esko WebCenter is a packaging management solution designed for both brands and their suppliers. Suitable for a wide range of packaging applications, it is a powerful, secure, web-based packaging management and collaboration platform that allows for companies of all sizes to meet their business challenges head-on.
WebCenter manages all aspects of preproduction specification, approval and project lifecycle to remove the bottlenecks that are most commonly associated with the packaging design to production process.
In the case of QuarterPack, WebCenter had to integrate in to the QuarterPack business model, while speeding up approval times and the archiving process. Importantly, it also had to be compatible with an Amazon S-3 Cloud Server; an extremely secure and highly reliable server solution that QuarterPack was the first company in the world to use.
Alexander added: “We wanted a cloud-backed solution and knew S-3 may present a challenge but the integration was smooth, we achieved the results we had been seeking and the support from Esko was superb. They provided the customisation we wanted, the service and support needed, and got us on track quickly.
“At QuarterPack, it seems obvious, but we expect quality. We expect software that works and does what it says when you purchase it. That hadn’t been the case with the competitors, and we turned back to Esko, who we knew to be a reliable partner.
“Our account manager and all the people at Esko worked to help us out promptly. They supported us in quickly analyzing our issues, selecting WebCenter to resolve the problems and providing a team to test the implementation and ensure everything was running successfully and on time. This is the type of support we expected and Esko delivered.”