Business development director Europe, Justin Lewis
US company, Graphic Measures International is opening a new UK office to introduce its packaging quality and print consistency programme to European retailers and other manufacturing businesses. Heading up the UK operations is Justin Lewis, who has previously worked at Heidelberg and comes to the company from Vacuumatic, where he served as the sales and marketing director.
GMI works closely with retailers and brands that source their packaging from the global marketplace, in order to ensure consistent standards and implementation of brand specifications across the board.
The company operates a certification programme for print and packaging providers, which includes rigorous testing of graphics, including process and spot colours, coatings, barcode readability, registration, trapping, die-line accuracy, brand content, and structure management covering substrate weight, thickness, brightness, type, format, fit, and finish. Once the packaging standards have been established, the programme continues with constant monitoring of supplier performance, which includes in-store audits of products on shelf.
In its fifth year of business, GMI is working with several major retailers in the US including Target, Walgreens, Lowe’s and Best Buy. Approximately 550 printing and packaging suppliers are currently certified, including some in Europe though none in the UK to date. About 1,200 product vendors work through the various programmes, with over 750,000 print and packaging items measured and tested by GMI.
President Tim Curtin said, ‘The UK has always been strong in private brands and we see that retailers experience the same problems that we have seen in the US with controlling a global supply chain. We ensure packaging is produced consistently, turnaround times are adhered to, work is produced cost efficiently, and flexibility is built into the process.’
Justin Lewis said, ‘We have a global reach with offices and evaluation centres already established in the US, Hong Kong, China, India and Costa Rica, and can offer our customers local support so they don’t have to fly staff half way across the world.’ He continued, ‘For printers, the advantages are clear. Once they are certified, they become part of the pool of suppliers used by the major brands that are in the programme.’
