Package Design and Prototyping Services

The Optimal Combination of Design, Function, Materials, Time and Cost Savings.

Most people would not consider buying a car without test-driving it first. It may be the most beautiful car inside and out, but if it doesn't run well, it won't get you very far. Why would a new package be any different?

When it comes to packaging, there is more than what meets the eye. With over 40 years of experience, our experts can assist in designing a package that is visually pleasing, displaying attractive, customer-focused branding that stands out in a crowd of competition. Many package designers can do that too, but we can help by taking it many steps further, shortening time to production and to market.

Considerations:

• What type of machinery is needed?
• How will the package look?
• What materials are needed?
• How well does the package function, and is it versatile?
• Who is best suited to help find a solution?
• Can I meet ALL of my packaging requirements, while reducing costs and labor turnover?

We can help you sort through these considerations and more. We'll walk you through options for size, shelf life requirements, seal and reseal capability, sustainable material considerations, recyclability and waste minimization. Explore options such as tray sealing, thermoforming, flow wrapping, shrink and flow vac, plus complete product to pallet automation. We'll help you find out if it's right for you, now or down the road. 

This page gets deeper into the various stages of designing a package, but first, check out our patented C-PAK cheese package design from start to finish:

Collaboration and Planning is Key

What product are you packaging? We'll collaborate with you to figure out the best solution. Our packaging expertise spans the bakery, dairy, seafood, meat, medical, poultry, produce and snacks & ready meals markets. Our packaging design capabilities are no different. A final package design needs to meet both a company's marketing needs and production requirements of the engineering team. Comprehensive assessment of the final packaging needs upfront can help avoid:

• Significant production challenges
• Potentially expensive errors
• Implementation delays
• Redesigns
• Costly equipment configurations

Use the Knowledge Extracted in the Assessment and Turn it into a Solid Plan

With the project's needs firmly established, it's time to start sketching out potential solutions that could meet all of the requirements. The critical collaboration between Harpak-ULMA and the client continues here. The vision begins to take shape as ideas are sketched out and we have a rough visual to help sort out what may or may not work for the product. 

Visualizing Your Potential Solution 

Start to really get a good idea of what your packaging solution could look like. Digital renderings bring the napkin or tablet sketch to life, allowing for a quicker, more accurate evaluation of a  design and whether or not to continue with it or head in a different direction. Take a look at a couple of animated renderings:

Sample 1 - Cracker Cuts Cheese Package > 

Sample 2 - Sandwich Package > 

We'll even show you what your product could look like on the shelves at the supermarket or other retail location.

Get a Package Sample or 3D Printed Model for a Tangible Evaluation

We have multiple pieces of equipment to produce samples and can now add 3D printing to the mix, accelerating the process. It gives you a greater level of comfort about the design's potential for successfully packaging the product. 3D printing can also help relieve costs in fabricating the tooling necessary to run sample packages. 

Ready for the Store Shelves

Just like this patented package created at Harpak-ULMA, we are ready to help with your entire design process, from initial thought all the way through to being retail-ready.