Date: November, 2017 | Category: Compliance | Author: Marvin Magasura
One way companies can ensure high-quality standards is by demonstrating to accredited organizations that they can fulfill specific QMS requirements.
Founded in 1947, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is in charge of promoting and setting worldwide guidelines for propriety, commercial, and industrial standards.
Currently working with over 160 countries, ISO has become the world’s largest promoter of international standards and a reference in almost every sector of the manufacturing industry.
Created in 1994, the ISO 9000 family is a series of QMS standards designed to help companies meet both customers’ and stakeholders’ needs while at the same time meeting specific product statutory and regulatory requirements.
Specifically, ISO 9000 lays down the fundamentals for every QMS, including the seven fundamental quality principles upon which the whole family is based. However, only ISO 9001 exposes the requirements that companies wishing to fulfill the standard must meet.
Looking for Process Change? Think ISO 9000
Every company needs change, but in the midst of implementing it, only a few of them think about ISO 9000. It is mostly perceived as a purely technical standard that only specific industries have to deal with. But for the experienced business owner, the Geneva-based International Standards Organization (ISO) occupies a prominent place within the company’s strategies and policies, especially when those policies involve process changes.
The strict guidelines provided in the ISO 9000 standards help companies develop a quality management system (QMS) that fits their particular situation. Basically, ISO demands strict adherence to its quality system model coupled with thorough documentation of certain processes. Independent internal audits are also held regularly in order to review the company’s system, and if everything checks out, the certification is issued.
Highlights of ISO 9000
The ISO 9000 family has become one of the world’s largest promoters of quality standards in almost every sector of the industry.
Here are some of its leading traits:
- ISO 9000 guidelines focus mainly on quality but can be applied to all types of organizations.
- They are widely adopted in more than 100 countries.
- They have global recognition with more than 1 million company certifications worldwide.
- ISO 9000 helps all types of companies, no matter their size.
- Since they come from previous standards that have been replaced, they are the true form of evolution in the industry.
- The first step in becoming certified is to decide to create an effective QMS that complies with ISO criteria.
- Companies have to set specific objectives based on ISO guidelines and then make the necessary adjustments.
- Once all ISO requirements are satisfied, the company is held to independent audits for verification.
- The process is done once the company passes the audit, but certification only lasts three years, and in that time the company must go through additional inspections to ensure compliance.
How to Get Started
Companies wishing to be certified have to deeply examine their quality management system – or even create a new one – to make sure it meets the criteria of the ISO. This mission shows the company’s desire to satisfy its customers, reduce costs, and enter a more competitive market while also adhering to government regulations.
If you’re still not sure whether you want to implement a new system or just improve the one you already have, there are countless benchmarking tools that can help you decide. Most companies will also seek advice from specialized firms that help businesses fulfill ISO 9000 requirements.
One frequently asked question a lot of first-time companies raise is how to determine if a given standard actually complies with ISO criteria. You can consult with the World Standard Services Network, a publicly accessible site for standard organizations, to answer these types of questions.
Most newbie companies are also unclear about the existence of any regional standards that are equivalent to ISO 9000. Although the ISO doesn’t publish this type of information, an ISO member in your country will likely be able to give you this information.
Structure Your Quality Management System
ISO 9000 requires certain documentation regarding all processes that could affect the quality of your product or service. It also demands keeping records of specific activities as evidence of compliance and contrasting the actual results with what was planned. Finally, it requires the integration of a program that deals with any identified inefficiencies in your processes.
At first sight, it can all seem a bit confusing and time-consuming, but with a lot of organization, any company can get ISO 9000 certification. One of the best approaches to structure your QMS is to use the step system:
- First Step: Develop a Quality Manual, e.g., create and document policies that aim to satisfy all the standard requirements. This manual should describe your entire quality policy, including your mission, organization, specific policies, and responsibilities for each part of your company. Well-written quality manuals can also provide the benefit of acting as an advertisement for the quality of your services or products.
- Second Step: Document all of your processes. It includes their purpose, what will be done, when, how, where, and by who. Additional descriptions can also include the equipment used.
- Third Step: In this final step, you have to identify the word instructions, specific forms, procedures, inspections, records, test plans, and quality plans.
With a proper QMS in place, adequate documentation, and an eventual ISO 9000 certification, any company can be confident that all processes will be made following specific requirements and meet the highest quality standards.
The Future of ISO 9000
As industries change, so do the standards that have shaped them. In fact, this is particularly true when it comes to ISO standards, which undergo periodic revisions. Special analysts state that, while it’s true ISO 9000 standards are continually evolving, recent changes are pointing in the same direction: a standardized format. The main reason behind this comes from the need to align all of the QMS together so they can handle many different standards.
On the other hand, recent ISO 9000 changes are moving toward more impartiality, competence, and consistency. The International Standardization Organization is currently trying to come up with standards where businesses and organizations practice those three principles in all their processes. The final goal is to create an industry where all companies across the globe use and recognize the same quality standards. By doing so, they assure everyone is playing on a more level field.
For instance, ISO 9001 is now one of the most prominent quality management standards in the globe that has been continually changed and revised over the years. The 9001 has moved from being a prescriptive, documentation-heavy guideline to embracing more measurement and increasingly subjective terms. Its revisions enable companies in any sector to adopt it, making it a gold standard for other ISO guidelines and an indicator of how they will evolve in the future.
By integrating the so-called ‘process approach’ – a method the ISO community has embraced in which company tasks are measured alongside coordinated goals – organizations can thoroughly evaluate the efficiency of all their processes by identifying the “weak link” in a sequence of activities. Because the ISO 9001 standard shifted toward the process approach, all of the requirements imposed on a company are now going into each and every one of its processes.
What the ISO 9001:2008 Standard Represents
The 2008 update made to the ISO 9001 standard, commonly referred to as ISO 9001:2008, outlines the main modern quality management principles and requirements companies must meet to emphasize customer satisfaction, including business motivation and continual improvement. Using ISO 9001:2008, companies focus on providing high-quality services and products to their customers, and with over 1 million certifications worldwide, it is currently one of the most broadly used QMS tools available.
The first step to becoming ISO 9001:2008 certified involves initial assessments of the company’s quality system, defining the areas that comply and those in which improvements need to be made. Once that’s been resolved, and everything has been set by the standard, a certification body will then conduct a number of audits to ensure conformance with the requirements.
If approved, the company then has to be subject to a three-year surveillance cycle. As you can see, the certification process can take as long as over a year, yet any company that understands its value knows it is worth enduring this process.
Don’t be Afraid of Internal Audits
Internal audits can be a real nightmare for most companies; however, they’re essential in order to truly examine how quality management systems perform. Because of this, they are also a considerable part of the ISO 9001:2008 certification process.
While some may be reluctant to them, it’s important to keep in mind not only what they can provide to your business, but what it says about it if you avoid them. A few benefits of internal QMS audits include:
- Increase in your business’ revenue
- Valuable feedback that strengthens your QMS
- Promotion of a positive company culture
- Greater product quality
- Better communication and consistency of your company’s processes
- Boost in workplace morale
- Increase your reputation as a company
- Achieve international quality recognition
Why do Businesses Opt for ISO 9001:2008 Certified Companies?
Imagine you’re choosing a new supplier. You will likely look for someone with the following traits:
- Delivers results consistently
- Possess great problem-solving abilities
- Provides a significant return on investment (ROI)
Companies that become ISO 9001:2008 certified already have voluntarily proven all these traits by actively being held accountable for the quality of their processes and operations. The certification also tells future clients they can expect the same high-quality results each and every time. To expand on this, here are the main benefits of working with an ISO 9001:2008 certified company:
Consistency
ISO 9001:2008 certified companies ensure a consistent workflow process every time you choose to work with them. You can even evaluate this by taking a look at the low variation rates these companies offer, which directly translates to product and ordering consistency.
Fast Problem Resolution
Be sure that if any problem arises while collaborating with an ISO 9001: 2008 certified company, the policies, and processes integrated into their QMS will quickly enable a fast resolution of the issue. But the ISO standard doesn’t end with that, it also makes sure the QMS includes a way of collecting and analyzing customer feedback and initiating effective corrective actions. Rather than waiting months for a resolution, an ISO 9001:2008 certified company would already have procedures in place to manage any potential problem that may arise.
Meeting Customers’ Expectations
As we stated before, this is the primary focus of the ISO 9001 standards. Certified companies will know the importance of adopting a QMS that ensures continued quality through the application of preventative measures. When implemented correctly, a good QMS is able to ensure every customer is satisfied while also complying with any regulatory requirements.
Maintaining Certification
An ISO certification is not a lifetime membership. Each ISO 9001:2008 certified company is regularly audited to ensure compliance with the QMS standards. This ongoing process of continued scrutiny actually increases their effectiveness and helps improve final product quality, making these companies an incredible option to work with.
Continual Improvement
By assuring regular audits, the ISO 9001:2008 standard also guarantees that companies evolve and find new ways of addressing different types of issues in order to improve over time. Continual improvement means that all processes must be run efficiently, all policies must be monitored continually, and results must always get better and better.
GlobalVision is an ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company
The ISO 9001:2008 Certification is only given to businesses capable of proving efficient management systems, therefore, companies who work hard on achieving this certification show prospective clients that all of their services and products meet and exceed the highest level of international standards.
To run a business in today’s world not only means that you have to deal with a high degree of competition but also with sky-high customer demands. That’s why complying with ISO 9001 standards has become such a huge advantage right now it can actually make or break the future of your company.
GlobalVision can proudly say it belongs in this group of organizations that offers products specifically built to endure the highest quality standards. We implement and maintain ISO guidelines as a testament to our commitment to our customers and the quality with which we develop all of our systems.
Our ISO 9001:2008 certification provides worldwide recognition for our products, and it’s a testament to our commitment to providing only the best services to our customers.
Are you ready to implement only the best quality management systems into your workflows? Start by requesting a demo of GlobalVision here or try our web-based proofreading software, Verify, for free!
A Printed Proof for Every Occasion: A Guide to the Types of Prepress Proofs
Date: February, 2018 | Category: Proofreading | Author: Mike Malz
If you’ve spent enough time in the packaging and labeling industry, you probably understand what printing proofs are and how they are used. For those of you who are new to the industry, welcome!
There are different kinds of printing proofs that serve different functions. For anyone in the pharmaceutical, food & beverage, and cosmetic industries, it’s important to understand how and when the different types of printer proofs are used.
Firstly, printing proofs are like a contract between the client and the printer. In other words, it’s an agreement that what’s being created meets the customer’s requirements before it’s printed. It is also called a prepress sample which is reviewed to ensure that all the information on the labeling or packaging is accurate.
They are just so critical to the proofreading process that most have run into them at one point or another.
Now that We Know What Printing Proofs Are…
There are many different types of printing proofs that can be generated, but none can be distinguished as being better than the other. It will be up to the graphic designer to choose a type of proof based on how it will be used. Since there are many kinds, it’s important to key in on what makes some more popular.
Hard Proofs vs Soft Proofs
The difference between the two might seem obvious, but they are in no way the same thing. Firstly, a soft proof, also known as anelectronic proof, is produced as a file that will be created for any kind of packaging.
Digital proofs start out as an idea that is transformed into something practical seen on a box, carton, or label. Digital proofs are where the first step of proofreading begins. The proofreaders will review the artwork and point out any differences between the master and sample files. Most companies use proofreading software, like GlobalVision to save time and improve accuracy.
On the other hand, a hard copy is the physical proof. Thus, the electronic printing proof that started out as an idea now becomes tangible. This type of printed proof is ideal for those who would like to see the colors and the graphics in physical form. However, the hard copy can also be reviewed and proofread at this stage. These proofs can be scanned and uploaded to a software system for review and users can check the graphics of their proofs to see if there are any differences between a master and a printed file. This would be the last point of review before the hard or soft copy is sent to the printers. However, there are different kinds of hard proofs which can vary depending on the printer.
Plotter Proofs
You may have heard of an inkjet proof, which is the same as a plotter proof. This is a hard copy of a file. A plotter proof is made to check the content and layout of files to see how the colors look after printing. This is a perfect option for anyone looking to save money. They are inexpensive to produce because these proofs are in a low-resolution format. These do not represent the final copies of the file, as they still need to be inspected before getting the final stamp of approval.
What About Graphic Design?
No matter the industry, every company must ensure all graphics and font sizes are printed correctly. A blueline proof is a graphic-design proof that can be done digitally or as a hard copy. The process is simple; the proof files are created on a thin blue paper that is light-sensitive and placed on a press. Once the proof is printed as a hard copy, the text and images show up in dark blue on light-blue paper.
There are many benefits to creating a blueline proof; the main one being that it’s another inexpensive option. Also, if there are corrections to be made, the proof can easily be modified, as the same negatives can be used from the sample file from the beginning of the process. Thus, it is also less expensive to correct errors with this option.
Conclusion
The popular option among many companies is to go with the soft or digital printed proofs. They are much easier to send to the printer and vice versa. Regardless of the type of printing proof you choose, it needs to be reviewed
The only drawback, however, is the extra time needed to run the files through the software. Ultimately, choosing the right time can save you the time needed to inspect your files and save you money. It would be unfortunate to spend money on a type of proof only to realize that it was not the more cost-efficient one to use.
It is important to invest in technology that catches mistakes in your labeling or packaging. Running your files through a software system that could help you not only save money but your reputation from a disastrous recall, certainly doesn’t hurt.
FDA Break-Down: What is the FDA, FDA 21 CFR and How Do You Stay Compliant?
What is the FDA?
The Food and Drug Administration is a government agency that operates under the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and ensuring public health in relation to drug and food products. Additionally, they monitor the labeling and advertising of products that are sold in the United States. Whether the products are produced domestically or from foreign countries, the FDA assures that the labels on the products are factual and compliant. Also, The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act is under the FDA’s authority as well as the Fair Packaging and Labelling Act.
The products that are FDA approved range from human and veterinary drugs, to biological products, to medical devices and the United States’ food supply. The agency monitors bottled water, but not any alcohol products. The Department of the Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau deals with all alcohol goods. The FDA is also responsible for regulating, the manufacturing and the marketing of other substances like tobacco. Moving away from the drug and food industry, the FDA also regulates cosmetics and pesticides. They keep up with trends and recalls on the food and pharmaceutical markets to keep the public informed.
The FDA gives their stamp of approval to companies that they have reviewed and conclude that the benefits of these products outweigh the risk of the public’s health. The FDA will deem these goods to be safe for consumers and will not cause bodily harm.
And the CFR? What is that?
Most of us in the packaging and labelling industry are familiar with the FDA and maybe what they do as a government agency, but what exactly is the FDA 21 CFR? Firstly, the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is a code that the U.S. Federal Government uses for general and permanent rules. By general, I mean that they edit the volumes periodically. They are created by the Federal Register by the executive departments. The titles of each CFR represent the different types of products that are reviewed by the FDA. The CFR 21 is titled as the Food and Drug Administration. There have been multiple volumes released of the Title 21 over the years, as each volume is revised every calendar year. The current and previous versions of the CFR 21 and other titles can be accessed in the E-CFR.
For anyone that hasn’t accessed the E-CFR before, Title 21 has been broken up into parts that also has links, so they can be viewed individually. In Chapter one, you will find all the information about labeling and packaging for food and drugs. For example, you can read about nutritional quality guidelines and current good practices by FDA approved companies. For any drug or food business that is looking to become FDA approved, this would be a good resource to use for researching.
What about FDA Compliance?
To maintain and ensure the safety of public health, the FDA has policies in place for FDA approved companies to remain compliant. The Compliance Program Guidance Manual (CPGM), gives instructions to those working for the FDA to evaluate businesses that are under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. According to FDA, this document is available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. All of the programs in this manual are divided into sections. For example, if you choose to view the Drug Compliance Program, there are subsections that describe how inspections are done and the what to look for during labelling reviews. They even have a subsection that discusses “Drug Repackers and Relabelers.” Any company or person can click on the links in this section to understand how the FDA conducts their compliance evaluations. The Food and Cosmetics Program is similar to the drug program, having different subsections for more specific information about compliance and inspections.
GlobalVision and the FDA
Did you know that GlobalVision works with many products that are FDA approved? Corporations such as Abbott Laboratories, Proctor & Gamble, Pfizer and WestRock all trust GlobalVision to make sure that their labels and packaging are error-free when they hit the market. Whether it’s the software or the hardware, GlobalVision has been able to help many companies in the pharmaceutical and food industries with their proofreading process. GlobalVision can help food, drug and cosmetic companies to remain compliant and hopefully take them on the road to be FDA approved.
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The IQ, OQ, PQ and Their Impact on Quality Control
Date: January, 2018 | Category: Quality | Author: Ryan Szporer
There are some constants that cannot be ignored, even between two radically different products.
If you were to take those two products and examine them, there is no denying there would be a long list of properties that vary greatly between the two. We’re talking shape, size, purpose, etc. In a way, they cannot be compared. Nevertheless, whatever the industry, products tend to follow similar development lifecycles. From the point at which a light bulb goes off in someone’s head up to the release of the product to the market, set stages are followed. One such stage, testing, is as universal as it gets in principle.
It’s then that the IQ, OQ, and PQ enter the picture.
For the uninitiated, the “Q” stays the same with regard to each of the above acronyms. They stand for Installation, Operational, and Performance Qualification and each impacts the product development process and quality control in its own way, but as steps, one after another.
As an illustration, consider the pharmaceutical industry. Each piece of equipment or system that enters into a drug’s “chain of custody” must be tested as being qualified for use. “Validated” is another way to put it, with validation defined as, “evidence that provides a high degree of assurance that a specific process will consistently produce a product meeting its pre-determined specifications and quality attributes.”
It’s an exhaustive process with many ins and outs, starting with the IQ.
Installation Qualification (IQ)
The IQ, or Installation Qualification, ensures, as its name suggests, that a product is properly installed.
Physical products like instruments or tools may call for properly allocated floor space, correct operating conditions, and that there is physically no damage to the unit in question. In the case of software, this means verifying items like whether the folder structures are intact and that the minimum system requirements are met. Checks may also include the memory of the workstation on which the software is being installed, the operating system, software libraries, and that all required files to run the application are accounted for.
“Minimum requirements” is perhaps a good way to put it in general. Whether it’s hardware or a piece of software that’s being tested, the Food and Drug Administration’s IQ definition applies. It states the objective is to document that the “system has the necessary prerequisite conditions to function as expected.”
After ensuring that the system in question can run, the focus shifts to how it runs.
Operational Qualification (OQ)
The OQ, or Operational Qualification, is next up. It is traditionally started out once the IQ has been run through, acting as a pre-requisite for technical acceptance of the software, equipment, or facility. In this capacity, the OQ tests that the functionality of a product is as desired. It acts as a review of start-up, operational, maintenance, safety, and cleaning procedures where applicable.
Each critical button/ function is tested to make sure it does what it should. This holds true for both software and hardware and includes everything from the smallest of details on displays to the exact range of temperature fluctuations, etc.
What’s critical is that every piece of equipment and software operates within the stated limits. Ultimately, that’s the point of the OQ. Once each is proven to be, it’s time to test those limits.
Performance Qualification (PQ)
The final step in the qualification process, the PQ, or Performance Qualification, is meant to ensure the product stacks up against real-world conditions, albeit in simulated scenarios. Whereas the OQ verified functionality, the PQ is results-oriented. Tests tend to have expected results attached to them, meaning they have to be consistently reproducible.
The detailed test plan itself is created from the product development lifecycle. Both the Functional Requirements Specification (FRS; document detailing the requirements that are expected to be performed) and Detailed Design Specification (DDS; document detailing how those operations are performed) factor in. System and unit testing (testing done at the modular level) are also taken into consideration.
The goal here, aside from making sure everything works, is to make sure the system is able to be validated. After all, the validation document serves as proof that the system works as expected when it is being installed at a customer site. That documentation is something the customer holds onto if ever an issue or audit arises sometime down the line.
At their cores, the IQ, OQ, and PQ are sub-sections of validation, simply parts of a larger process. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, though.
GlobalVision as a Test Case Scenario
Take, for instance, GlobalVision, which develops automated quality control software (and various hardware accompaniments like scanners) for packaging components and product collateral. While its own quality control process is as thorough as you would expect and of course includes internal validation, let’s re-examine the pharma example from earlier.
GlobalVision offers validation execution services with industries like pharma in mind. Pharma is renowned for its stringent requirements revolving around standard documentation and GlobalVision has decades of experience within that space, among others, and caters to the top 10 pharma companies in the world.
As mentioned earlier, each piece of equipment or system that “touches” a product during its development has to be validated. Packaging proofreading software falls into that category. The pharmaceutical company in question could theoretically validate an application on its own. However, GlobalVision doesn’t just supply its own validation documents, extensively developed through its decades of experience working with companies in the industry. GlobalVision offers to execute them onsite, thereby further saving the company time and resources better devoted elsewhere.
In this case, validation execution is a value-added service tacked on to the product itself, the software. Software is somewhat of a particular case as multiple versions of a program are generally released, with each version theoretically an upgrade relative to the last, either through fixes or the addition of new features designed to address issues that had been encountered.
It further proves just how critical testing is to the success of a product, and how it’s ongoing. It’s essentially one lifecycle that never ends, further bridging the gap between different industries. Testing and the success it endeavors to achieve are their common ground.
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What Is a Dieline in Printing and Packaging?
Date: January, 2018 | Category: Proofreading | Author: Mike Malz
In the packaging and printing industry, the term “dieline” refers to a template needed to ensure the correct layout of a final physical package. This template serves as a diagram that marks all the folds and cut lines of a package in a flattened form.
Dielines can be created by graphic designers, die cutters, or a printer and are used in the production of many types of packages, such as pocket folders, envelopes, boxes, and more.
They consist of three types of lines: the perforation line, the cut line, and the fold line. When your design finally goes to the printer, the dielines indicate where the machine makes the cut and perforation so that the package is ready for folding. Usually, as these are two different pieces of information, the perforation lines and the cutting or trim lines should be located on different layers and as dots of color.
In the end, the printer performs the cutting and perforation processes in two different stages.
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Understanding the Impacts of a Great Label in Marketing
Date: January, 2018 | Category: Proofreading | Author: Marvin Magasura
In a world where consumers have become more discerning of the products they buy, we can’t emphasize enough the importance of marketing labels. Shopping is a process that every business owner needs to understand and the discovery of a product or service starts with an effective marketing strategy.
Marketing efforts must be holistic and all-encompassing. While we are all familiar with conventional marketing methods like print and TV ads, it is essential to understand that a great marketing label is in itself an excellent way to advertise your business.
The Importance of a Marketing Label
Consumers don’t merely shop for an item; they are also buying the brand. If you have been using a brand of detergent for more than a decade now, you must remember that this journey of brand loyalty started somewhere. It could be that you’ve heard of the brand’s radio ads or came across it while flipping through a home improvement magazine. That marks the discovery of the product.
Marketing Labels Breed Familiarity
When a consumer goes to the store, shops for a detergent, and comes across that specific brand they first encountered in that magazine or radio ad, he probably won’t choose to purchase it right away. Instead, the shopper takes out the product, looks, and reads the label. A label reinforces familiarity to consumers, making them feel as if they’ve known this product before.
Marketing Labels Breed Awareness
What if the product is new on the market and doesn’t have any form of advertisement before a consumer goes on a shopping trip? Marketing labels are essential in such a way that they make the first impression on them. It visually connects with consumers, making them aware of what the product is all about. Marketing labels carry vital information about the product such as ingredients, instructions, and warnings regarding the use of the item.
Marketing Labels Can Make a Product Stand Out
Similar products are typically grouped together on the same shelves. When there are so many brands out there, standing out can prove to be a real challenge. Different brands compete and vie for the shoppers’ attention, but those with creative, appealing packaging will ultimately win the battle. It is vital for brands to carefully consider the color, design, fonts, graphics, and all the other elements used in their marketing labels.
Labels Are Onsite Marketing Tools
The goal of your business is to make people buy your goods. They need to think that your product is the solution to their problem and that it is worth the money. Effective labeling pumps your marketing game by being the product’s biggest promotional tool.
Creating Marketing Labels that Sell
Brands go to extreme lengths when it comes to producing labels and packages that make a profound impact on the market. There are no hard and fast rules in making labels that sell, but there are specific fundamental concepts many brands follow when creating useful tags that will ultimately aid their marketing efforts.
Follow these concepts to ensure successful marketing labels:
Give Useful Information More Space:
You want people to instantly see what your product is and what it can do. These are two essential pieces of information in your label that must receive a big chunk of space in the packaging. Make sure that the brand name, product name, and its purpose are prominently visible on the label. You want shoppers to figure out how the product can help them instantly, so make sure that these contents are spot on and concise.
Complement the Aesthetics of the Product:
There are instances when a label needs to be smaller or larger, depending on the aesthetic quality of the product. If you’re showing off fine jewelry, you want the product to stand out right away so make sure that the label doesn’t cover the beauty of the item. On the other hand, if the product is less than pleasing, you can opt for a larger-sized label.
Harmonize Your Design Elements:
Plenty of elements come into play when creating an effective label: the texture of the material, color combinations, fonts, and graphics. Opt for a label that easily stands out among its sea of competitors on the shelf. If most cheese products are using orange and cow images, you won’t do that too because that doesn’t make your product any different. Consumers tend to notice what looks unique, so make sure that your design elements work in harmony together so that the label is easy to spot.
Product Labels for Small Businesses
Start-up businesses may not have as many funds to invest in high-end labels, but tags are a must, even if you need to procure them on a budget. Fortunately, small business owners can still take advantage of what an excellent label has to offer despite their limited finance.
First, labels are easy to come by if you are quite savvy with editing software like Photoshop. Using this program, you can create custom labels that fit in with your variety of products. You can edit sizes and fonts, pick colors, and layout.
Additionally, you will need to create multiple copies of these custom labels. Instead of going to a third-party printing service provider, a reliable advanced business copier can produce high-quality copies of your labels in just a fraction of the time and more than half of the printing costs.
In fact, any small business owner who’s willing to put in the time and effort can save a lot of money from potential labor and material costs by creating their own product labels
Marketing Label Inspection is Crucial
As mentioned before, labels play a vital role in your brand’s reputation and overall success. Therefore, labeling errors can do a great deal of damage to your company, and the inspection of all their components – from text and artwork to regulatory compliance rules – must be a priority.
Fortunately, there’s been a lot of advances in the automated quality control industry. For instance, Globalvision’s all-in-one platform allows companies to prevent any kind of artwork, Braille, barcode, or text errors from the copy document to the final product, no matter the format.
Conclusion
There’s a lot of thought that goes toward even the smallest pieces of a label. Labels can create profound impacts on the brand’s overall marketing efforts and can gravely affect a potential buyer’s decision to purchase. Meanwhile, business owners need to ensure that their product labels cater to what the market needs and prefers. Overall, we have to keep in mind that labels are an integral part of the shopper’s buying journey and you need to make sure that your label makes this process, not break it.
*A Guest Post from Advanced Business Copier
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An Overview of ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 and Why They are Vital for Companies
Date: November, 2017 | Category: Compliance | Author: Marvin Magasura
One way companies can ensure high-quality standards is by demonstrating to accredited organizations that they can fulfill specific QMS requirements.
Founded in 1947, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is in charge of promoting and setting worldwide guidelines for propriety, commercial, and industrial standards.
Currently working with over 160 countries, ISO has become the world’s largest promoter of international standards and a reference in almost every sector of the manufacturing industry.
Created in 1994, the ISO 9000 family is a series of QMS standards designed to help companies meet both customers’ and stakeholders’ needs while at the same time meeting specific product statutory and regulatory requirements.
Specifically, ISO 9000 lays down the fundamentals for every QMS, including the seven fundamental quality principles upon which the whole family is based. However, only ISO 9001 exposes the requirements that companies wishing to fulfill the standard must meet.
Looking for Process Change? Think ISO 9000
Every company needs change, but in the midst of implementing it, only a few of them think about ISO 9000. It is mostly perceived as a purely technical standard that only specific industries have to deal with. But for the experienced business owner, the Geneva-based International Standards Organization (ISO) occupies a prominent place within the company’s strategies and policies, especially when those policies involve process changes.
The strict guidelines provided in the ISO 9000 standards help companies develop a quality management system (QMS) that fits their particular situation. Basically, ISO demands strict adherence to its quality system model coupled with thorough documentation of certain processes. Independent internal audits are also held regularly in order to review the company’s system, and if everything checks out, the certification is issued.
Highlights of ISO 9000
The ISO 9000 family has become one of the world’s largest promoters of quality standards in almost every sector of the industry.
Here are some of its leading traits:
How to Get Started
Companies wishing to be certified have to deeply examine their quality management system – or even create a new one – to make sure it meets the criteria of the ISO. This mission shows the company’s desire to satisfy its customers, reduce costs, and enter a more competitive market while also adhering to government regulations.
If you’re still not sure whether you want to implement a new system or just improve the one you already have, there are countless benchmarking tools that can help you decide. Most companies will also seek advice from specialized firms that help businesses fulfill ISO 9000 requirements.
One frequently asked question a lot of first-time companies raise is how to determine if a given standard actually complies with ISO criteria. You can consult with the World Standard Services Network, a publicly accessible site for standard organizations, to answer these types of questions.
Most newbie companies are also unclear about the existence of any regional standards that are equivalent to ISO 9000. Although the ISO doesn’t publish this type of information, an ISO member in your country will likely be able to give you this information.
Structure Your Quality Management System
ISO 9000 requires certain documentation regarding all processes that could affect the quality of your product or service. It also demands keeping records of specific activities as evidence of compliance and contrasting the actual results with what was planned. Finally, it requires the integration of a program that deals with any identified inefficiencies in your processes.
At first sight, it can all seem a bit confusing and time-consuming, but with a lot of organization, any company can get ISO 9000 certification. One of the best approaches to structure your QMS is to use the step system:
With a proper QMS in place, adequate documentation, and an eventual ISO 9000 certification, any company can be confident that all processes will be made following specific requirements and meet the highest quality standards.
The Future of ISO 9000
As industries change, so do the standards that have shaped them. In fact, this is particularly true when it comes to ISO standards, which undergo periodic revisions. Special analysts state that, while it’s true ISO 9000 standards are continually evolving, recent changes are pointing in the same direction: a standardized format. The main reason behind this comes from the need to align all of the QMS together so they can handle many different standards.
On the other hand, recent ISO 9000 changes are moving toward more impartiality, competence, and consistency. The International Standardization Organization is currently trying to come up with standards where businesses and organizations practice those three principles in all their processes. The final goal is to create an industry where all companies across the globe use and recognize the same quality standards. By doing so, they assure everyone is playing on a more level field.
For instance, ISO 9001 is now one of the most prominent quality management standards in the globe that has been continually changed and revised over the years. The 9001 has moved from being a prescriptive, documentation-heavy guideline to embracing more measurement and increasingly subjective terms. Its revisions enable companies in any sector to adopt it, making it a gold standard for other ISO guidelines and an indicator of how they will evolve in the future.
By integrating the so-called ‘process approach’ – a method the ISO community has embraced in which company tasks are measured alongside coordinated goals – organizations can thoroughly evaluate the efficiency of all their processes by identifying the “weak link” in a sequence of activities. Because the ISO 9001 standard shifted toward the process approach, all of the requirements imposed on a company are now going into each and every one of its processes.
What the ISO 9001:2008 Standard Represents
The 2008 update made to the ISO 9001 standard, commonly referred to as ISO 9001:2008, outlines the main modern quality management principles and requirements companies must meet to emphasize customer satisfaction, including business motivation and continual improvement. Using ISO 9001:2008, companies focus on providing high-quality services and products to their customers, and with over 1 million certifications worldwide, it is currently one of the most broadly used QMS tools available.
The first step to becoming ISO 9001:2008 certified involves initial assessments of the company’s quality system, defining the areas that comply and those in which improvements need to be made. Once that’s been resolved, and everything has been set by the standard, a certification body will then conduct a number of audits to ensure conformance with the requirements.
If approved, the company then has to be subject to a three-year surveillance cycle. As you can see, the certification process can take as long as over a year, yet any company that understands its value knows it is worth enduring this process.
Don’t be Afraid of Internal Audits
Internal audits can be a real nightmare for most companies; however, they’re essential in order to truly examine how quality management systems perform. Because of this, they are also a considerable part of the ISO 9001:2008 certification process.
While some may be reluctant to them, it’s important to keep in mind not only what they can provide to your business, but what it says about it if you avoid them. A few benefits of internal QMS audits include:
Why do Businesses Opt for ISO 9001:2008 Certified Companies?
Imagine you’re choosing a new supplier. You will likely look for someone with the following traits:
Companies that become ISO 9001:2008 certified already have voluntarily proven all these traits by actively being held accountable for the quality of their processes and operations. The certification also tells future clients they can expect the same high-quality results each and every time. To expand on this, here are the main benefits of working with an ISO 9001:2008 certified company:
Consistency
ISO 9001:2008 certified companies ensure a consistent workflow process every time you choose to work with them. You can even evaluate this by taking a look at the low variation rates these companies offer, which directly translates to product and ordering consistency.
Fast Problem Resolution
Be sure that if any problem arises while collaborating with an ISO 9001: 2008 certified company, the policies, and processes integrated into their QMS will quickly enable a fast resolution of the issue. But the ISO standard doesn’t end with that, it also makes sure the QMS includes a way of collecting and analyzing customer feedback and initiating effective corrective actions. Rather than waiting months for a resolution, an ISO 9001:2008 certified company would already have procedures in place to manage any potential problem that may arise.
Meeting Customers’ Expectations
As we stated before, this is the primary focus of the ISO 9001 standards. Certified companies will know the importance of adopting a QMS that ensures continued quality through the application of preventative measures. When implemented correctly, a good QMS is able to ensure every customer is satisfied while also complying with any regulatory requirements.
Maintaining Certification
An ISO certification is not a lifetime membership. Each ISO 9001:2008 certified company is regularly audited to ensure compliance with the QMS standards. This ongoing process of continued scrutiny actually increases their effectiveness and helps improve final product quality, making these companies an incredible option to work with.
Continual Improvement
By assuring regular audits, the ISO 9001:2008 standard also guarantees that companies evolve and find new ways of addressing different types of issues in order to improve over time. Continual improvement means that all processes must be run efficiently, all policies must be monitored continually, and results must always get better and better.
GlobalVision is an ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company
The ISO 9001:2008 Certification is only given to businesses capable of proving efficient management systems, therefore, companies who work hard on achieving this certification show prospective clients that all of their services and products meet and exceed the highest level of international standards.
To run a business in today’s world not only means that you have to deal with a high degree of competition but also with sky-high customer demands. That’s why complying with ISO 9001 standards has become such a huge advantage right now it can actually make or break the future of your company.
GlobalVision can proudly say it belongs in this group of organizations that offers products specifically built to endure the highest quality standards. We implement and maintain ISO guidelines as a testament to our commitment to our customers and the quality with which we develop all of our systems.
Our ISO 9001:2008 certification provides worldwide recognition for our products, and it’s a testament to our commitment to providing only the best services to our customers.
Are you ready to implement only the best quality management systems into your workflows? Start by requesting a demo of GlobalVision here or try our web-based proofreading software, Verify, for free!
Looking for Process Change? Think ISO 9000
Every company needs change, but in the midst of implementing it, only a few of them think about ISO 9000. It is mostly perceived as a purely technical standard that only specific industries have to deal with. But for the experienced business owner, the Geneva-based International Standards Organization (ISO) occupies a prominent place within the company’s strategies and policies, especially when those policies involve process changes.
The strict guidelines provided in the ISO 9000 standards help companies develop a quality management system (QMS) that fits their particular situation. Basically, ISO demands strict adherence to their quality system model coupled with thorough documentation of certain processes. Independent internal audits are also held regularly in order to review the company’s system, and if everything checks out, the certification is issued.
Highlights of ISO 9000
Since their first release in the 80s, the ISO 9000 family has become one of the world’s largest promoters for quality standards in almost every sector of the industry. Here are some of its leading traits:
How to Get Started
Companies wishing to be certified have to deeply examine their quality management system – or even create a new one – to make sure it meets the criteria of the ISO. This mission shows the company’s desire to satisfy its customers, reduce costs, and enter a more competitive market while also adhering to government regulations.
If you’re still not sure whether you want to implement a new system or just improve the one you already have, there are countless benchmarking tools that can help you decide. Most companies will also seek advice from specialized firms that help businesses fulfill ISO 9000 requirements.
One frequently asked question a lot of first-time companies raise is how to determine if a given standard actually complies with ISO criteria. You can consult with the World Standard Services Network, a publicly accessible site for standard organizations, to answer these types of questions.
Most newbie companies are also unclear about the existence of any regional standards that are equivalent to ISO 9000. Although the ISO doesn’t publish this type of information, an ISO member in your country will likely be able to give you this information.
Structure Your Quality Management System
ISO 9000 requires certain documentation regarding all processes that could affect the quality of your product or service. It also demands to keep records of specific activities as evidence of compliance and to contrast the actual results with what was planned. Finally, it requires the integration of a program that deals with any identified inefficiencies in your processes.
At first sight, it can all seem a bit confusing and time-consuming, but with a lot of organization, any company can get ISO 9000 certification. One of the best approaches to structure your QMS is to use the step system:
With a proper QMS in place, adequate documentation and an eventual ISO 9000 certification, any company can be confident that all processes will be made following specific requirements and meet the highest quality standards.
The Future of ISO 9000
As industries change, so do the standards that have shaped them. In fact, this is particularly true when it comes to ISO standards, which undergo periodic revisions. Special analysts state that, while it’s true ISO 9000 standards are continually evolving, recent changes are pointing to the same direction: a standardized format. The main reason behind this comes from the need to align all of the QMS together so they can handle many different standards.
On the other hand, recent ISO 9000 changes are moving toward more impartiality, competence, and consistency. The International Standardization Organization is currently trying to come up with standards where businesses and organizations practice those three principles in all their processes. The final goal is to create an industry where all companies across the globe use and recognize the same quality standards. By doing so, they assure everyone is playing on a more level field.
For instance, ISO 9001 is now one of the most prominent quality management standards in the globe that has been continually changed and revised over the years. The 9001 has moved from being a prescriptive, documentation-heavy guideline to embracing more measurement and increasingly subjective terms. Its revisions enable companies in any sector to adopt it, making it a gold standard for other ISO guidelines and an indicator of how they will evolve in the future.
By integrating the so-called ‘process approach’ – a method the ISO community has embraced in which company tasks are measured alongside coordinated goals – organizations can thoroughly evaluate the efficiency of all their processes by identifying the “weak link” in a sequence of activities. Because the ISO 9001 standard shifted toward the process approach, all of the requirements imposed on a company are now going into each and every one of their processes.
GlobalVision is an ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company
Since its foundation, companies like GlobalVision have been strong advocates for quality control in the packaging world, offering products that are specifically designed, built and released complying with the highest quality standards in the industry. Its ISO 9001:2008 certification provides worldwide recognition to their products, and it’s a testament to their commitment to providing only the best services to their customers.
The Role of Packaging in Supply Chain Management
Date: November, 2017 | Category: Proofreading | Author: Marvin Magasura
The packaging industry is evolving.
We now know that packaging no longer refers to a box or a carton, but rather to a coordinated system of preparing goods for safe, cost-effective, and efficient movement throughout the whole supply chain that eventually leads to maximizing consumer value, sales, and hence profits.
This means packaging also plays an integral role in supply chain management. It protects products from damage, allows for their efficient distribution, communicates to the consumers, and is one of the major product promoters in a competitive marketplace.
In fact, packaging design has recently developed into a mature communication discipline on its own – and clients now realize that packaging is a critical and central element in the creation of an effective brand identity.
Read more
How Your Business Can Benefit from the Sustainable Working Methods that are Changing the Packaging Industry Landscape
As the packaging industry moves towards more responsible ways of working, our team at Bonus Trading, a packaging supplier based in the UK, decided to interview one of the leaders in our industry, UPM Raflatac.
UPM Raflatac works hard to create sustainable practice within their workforce and ensure responsible working methods, and by discussing some of the ways they do this, you can learn how to improve your business too, to offer a better service for your customers and even save money.
For packaging suppliers all over the world, including ourselves, we think looking at the way UPM Raflatac work is key to developing the industry in the right way so that we have a sustainable future, but these concepts and sustainable business practices are applicable to a nearly all industries.
Want to improve your business and turnover? These highlights from some of UPM Raflatac’s best practise will help you learn how those on a small business scale, such as ourselves, can emulate their conduct.
Find out how you can do the same to make your business not only more responsible, but more efficient and cost-effective too.
UPM Raflatac began by explaining some of the main ways they work sustainably and therefore responsibly:
Whilst smaller label and packaging suppliers such as ourselves may not be able to offer a similar service and give new life to our waste and our customers’, we can certainly aim to limit waste production and resource usage, also thus making our process more efficient and cost-effective.
For instance, we can work to make more innovative products, utilising resources more efficiently and improving the production process all along the management line. Along with this, we can also make usage of the following more efficient:
Not only is this responsibility to the environment part of a good work ethic, efficiency just makes business sense – and sustainable working is fast becoming a core trend in the packaging industry as others realize the power of its potential.
In addition to better working methods, there is also a move to create recyclable packaging, to once more reduce waste wherever possible.
But their sustainable working doesn’t just benefit the company:
Bonus Trading spoke to the Senior Sustainability Specialist at UPM Raflatac, Noora Markkanen about the value she has seen the sustainable working methods have on the business:
Noora encourages others in the industry to promote and share sustainable working methods to help improve the quality of business to come. That way, we can look forward to a future where businesses work with the world in a way that means we will be able to produce and reuse for hundreds if not thousands of years to come.
We’ll end on one final comment from the team at UPM Raflatac, on how we as small businesses need to move forward in sustainable working:
Learn More about Sustainable Packaging
Presenting GlobalVision 4.1 for Desktop: New Workflows for Print Production
Having previously pulled out all the stops unifying our apps into a single platform, we’re going further and adding to that all-in-one offering. Presenting our latest desktop release: GlobalVision 4.1. Users can now take advantage of the brand-new Job Wizard and other exciting features to streamline inspections to an even greater degree.
A New Workflow for Easy Inspections
We created the new Job Wizard workflow specifically with users in mind. It’s front and center here and promises to simplify inspections for print production and press operators among many others. It’s just a matter of creating a new profile or selecting one of the default options. Essentially individual collections of pre-set parameters, the profiles enable jobs—possibly comprising multiple inspections at once—to be run more efficiently. The Wizard can be set to launch right when the platform loads. It then guides users step by step through inspections, ensuring everyone in the organization follows set processes and standards.
Faster, Stronger, Bigger, and Better
There’s also the matter of file-loading speeds, which have been improved. With specific regard to PDFs, the PDF Viewer functionality from Version 4.0 has been integrated into the new and improved interface. PDFs are now loaded directly into either the Master or Sample panel. You can then make desired separation and layer adjustments right there instead of in a separate window. It’s that easy!
Quality Control with All the Fixin’s
One of our ultimate goals has been to reduce users’ time spent switching between applications. Previously unifying all our apps was a giant leap forward. The integration of the PDF Viewer in this latest version is now following suit. Furthermore, in Version 4.1, you also have the option to scan in files at the push of a button, without a scanner interface popping up. And, when generating and viewing inspection reports, you can launch the platform’s very own Report Viewer instead of your system’s default PDF reader.
Additional updates include:
GlobalVision is consistently looking for more and more ways to improve users’ efficiency. These are just a select few. Overall, GlobalVision 4.1 can best be summarized as another step in the right direction, with more inevitably to come. Have something you want to see in a future update? Let us know here.
Join the GlobalVision 4.1 Webinar
We have recently released GlobalVision 4.1 for Desktop, and invite you to join our webinar to learn how this new release can help streamline your quality control process.