As a business owner or manager, you want everything to go perfectly, including your packaging run. If you notice that the packaging run has the wrong color, all is not lost. While you might have wasted a bit of time, you can resolve this problem quickly, especially if you work with a reputable packaging manufacturer.
Talk to Your Packaging Supplier
No matter the style of packaging you have, anytime the run comes out with the wrong color, your first action should be discussing it with the packaging supplier. It might be able to offer a solution, whether it is doing another run for free or offering a steep discount. In some cases, the supplier might not even be aware that there is a problem until you point it out. However, the supplier will want to know so it can take steps to prevent the same issue from occurring in the future. After all, if your packing run is the wrong color, it is possible that the same thing will happen to another client, so the manufacturer wants to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.
Understand When It Could Happen
To figure out why the packaging run has the wrong color, you or your supplier will need to look at the various factors at play. The color might have gone wrong during the process of specifying the colors, such as if the designer or manufacturer didn’t understand the shade you wanted. Or maybe the material of your chosen packaging did not take the color as well as it should have. Of course, there are also other potential problems, like operator error and natural color drift.
Understand Why It Might Happen
You should also get an idea of why the wrong color might have ended up on your packaging run. Numerous environmental factors can play a role in the color being printed incorrectly, such as the temperature and humidity stopping ink from transferring to the substrate correctly, a pH that is either too high or too low, dirty components on the printer, or even the plate backing material. Sometimes the color will be off due to instrumentation, such as opting for the wrong standard color, using more colorants than you should have, changing out the substrate, contamination, improper drying, or using a batch of ink that was bad due to its own manufacturing defect.
Do a New Short Run to Confirm the Proper Color
If you cannot use the packaging produced with the wrong color, then you should try to make the necessary corrections and then do a short run instead of a full run. This way, you can confirm that the problem was resolved without having to waste too much money or resources. The best short-run manufacturers offer quick turnarounds, so this step does not have to take an excessive amount of time. Once the short run comes out properly, you can go ahead and order a full run of packaging with the knowledge that the colors are all perfect.
