defect free pharma cartons

[kbarz]

been working for this company for 38 years, was sold to another company called clondakin.. same customer's same pricing, same machines , but different Q,A team. we are printing or trying to print with zero defects.. we are throwing away thousands of cartons with a flaw as small as 1mm hickey,color density with no tolerance of set standards.. last 4 months we threw away $ 105.000 a month worth of sellable cartons .. this is very extreme and very job discouraging.. question is, is there any one else operating under this kind of stringent Q A standards.. zero defects.. if so how do you handle them... kbarz

 

[fireplug55]

Hey brother we just order double the amount of cartons we need and print. Who cares how much you toss in the garbage as long as they pay you to do it.

All kidding a side I have never heard of anything so rediculous is my career and I have been around the block. You won't be in business long if this is a true statement.

 

[turbotom1052]

its very discouraging, and bad for moral when you feel like your lifes work. thats always been good suddenly isnt up to par. My guess is that given a little time this problem will correct itself. Perhaps you can take a little bit of comfort in the fact that at least the standards are being set by your employer as opposed to your customers. All too often ive seen situations where quality standards are set by each individual customer. That always works out to be a moving target and you never know where to aim.

 

[Kaoticor]

been working for this company for 38 years, was sold to another company called clondakin.. same customer's same pricing, same machines , but different Q,A team. we are printing or trying to print with zero defects.. we are throwing away thousands of cartons with a flaw as small as 1mm hickey,color density with no tolerance of set standards.. last 4 months we threw away $ 105.000 a month worth of sellable cartons .. this is very extreme and very job discouraging.. question is, is there any one else operating under this kind of stringent Q A standards.. zero defects.. if so how do you handle them... kbarz

Hi yes, we have to print like that. We print a lot of covers for softcover books and since it is the first and last thing everyone sees, we have to meet very tight standards. We have tried to improve different processes throughout our printing to compensate for this (i.e. regular plate curves, higher quality ink that gives less dot gain shift, better cleaning procedures to prevent hickies, etc...) It takes work and can be frustrating! But it can be done. We keep reports and try to better the process every time something gives us trouble and over time it eventually starts to get a little easier. However, bottom line is, high quality costs more money to do, no matter how good you get the process! (You can make it easier to get there though!)

-K