Highly creative short-run folding carton is to be dynamically presented at Ipex (March 24-29 in London) by CHILI Publish (stand N2-C185) and Xeikon (stand S1-E090) in collaboration with Belgian toy manufacturer Clics. “What better way to demonstrate that short-run folding carton is child’s play, and not as complex as people might think, than by producing folding carton boxes for toys at Ipex?” says Jeroen Van Bauwel, Xeikon Director Product Management. Bram Verniest, CMO of CHILI Publish, adds: “We want to show brand owners looking at new marketing opportunities the possibilities that can be supported by short-run jobs as well as personalisation."

The cooperation by the three companies will see CHILI Publish establishing an online portal with Clics branding that allows Clics’ customers to pre-order from a number of box variants through the website. The files will then be sent to the Xeikon X-800 Digital Front-End where it will be prepared for printing on the five colour Xeikon 3500 digital press. It provides cost-efficient, high quality, format flexible, short-run and personalised folding cartons. “With brands keen to offer a wider number of versions and generate more specific campaigns, short-run packaging capabilities - with the same high quality - become more attractive,” adds Van Bauwel. “We will be showing how all these elements come together with live demonstrations at Ipex.”

"The ability for operations to seamlessly integrate their services has never been so important. Fluidity in workflow is essential to be as productive and responsive as possible. This is the ethos of our 'Plug in the Power' campaign," says Verniest. "We don't just deliver stand-alone editing functionally but add power with our solutions so our customers' service offering can be taken to a next level.”

With CHILI Publisher, users can achieve greater integration with their customers. “Clics can offer the portal to local resellers to create versions for specific events or customer target groups,” continues Verniest. “They are responsible for the design of their product. You can also open the portal as a B2B application or as a wider web-to-print application.”

The initiative is an extension of Xeikon’s Aura Partner Network of non-exclusive relationships with industry-leading suppliers, created to bring together partners in order to provide integrated solutions and a professional networking source. Key areas include print media, software, equipment, consumables and tools. It aims to draw on a wealth of business-beneficial relationships to help customers integrate solutions in order to fulfil their clients' requirements.

“Each customer needs a specific workflow so successful solutions are those where the right components have been selected and are capable of being integrated within existing workflows,” concludes Van Bauwel. “This co-operation at Ipex is a hands-on demonstration of how our partner network can build an end-to-end integrated workflow for our customers.”