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Andrew Woon Chay Tan, managing director and CEO

Linocraft innovates packaging

  • The move opened up untapped market potential as vibrant colours and excellent print quality transformed cartons into a marketing platform in itself
Supported by:Discovery Reports
Country Business Reports interviews and articles by Discovery Reports www.discoveryreports.com

Andrew Woon Chay Tan fondly recalls the humble beginnings of Linocraft Printers back in the 1970s when letterpress printing was its speciality. The distinguishably dressed managing director and CEO of the home-grown Malaysian company takes pride in Linocraft’s journey through five decades of incremental growth and strengthening market position. Publicly listed in Hong Kong and headquartered in Malaysia, Linocraft has expanded with a production plant in the Philippines and a sales office in Singapore, while strategically reaching out globally.

We don’t see packaging as just paper materials. The presentation of packaging signifies the brand and influences consumer behaviour
Andrew Woon Chay Tan, managing director and CEO

With its undivided focus on service quality and unprecedented product innovations, Linocraft has reached the pinnacle of the offset print and packaging industry. Today, it has the largest printing press in Southeast Asia, boasting paper width printability up to 1.85 metres. Large-box printing had been constrained by the size printability, prompting the company to invest in technologically advanced machinery that can print and produce very large formats. The move opened up untapped market potential as vibrant colours and excellent print quality transformed cartons into a marketing platform in itself.

“We don’t see packaging as just paper materials,” Tan says. “The presentation of packaging signifies the brand and influences consumer behaviour.”

An uprising trend of offset printing on larger shipping cartons for home appliances requires printing press quality and capability known in the industry as very, very large format or VVLF. Multinational brand owners have come to rely on Linocraft’s expertise in VVLF packaging through the years. At the same time, the company is a preferred provider of premium packaging especially for consumer electronics of varying sizes. Linocraft is extensively considered as one of the very few one-stop solutions providers in Southeast Asia that produces books, corrugated inserts and rigid box packaging in-house. As such, Linocraft functions integrally from design and conceptualisation, prototyping and engineering to print and production so that client specifications are met, whether it is VVLF or small premium and everything in between.

“An early involvement in the product cycle induces the strategic advantage and triggers faster and stronger product launches,” Tan says. “We have positioned ourselves to enable co-branding, strategically partnering with brand owners on a shared frequency that helps both parties succeed.”

Working with the resourceful functions of Linocraft, clients take a shorter time to get products onto the shelves
Leon Yong, marketing general manager

As a premium supplier in the global supply chain, Linocraft goes beyond ISO compliance on quality assurance and environmental management while being socially responsible and placing utmost importance on human rights and the welfare of more than 900 dedicated employees. The firm likewise supports the sustainability of clients in response to the global initiative to reduce and eventually stop the proliferation of one-time-use plastics. Understanding that brand owners are invested in the changing needs of consumers and environmental conservation concerns, Linocraft innovates its packaging development workflow to ensure the rightful use of materials, which contributes to clients’ sustainability scorecards.

“We are able to transform a dream or a brand image that a client wants into something that is producible, while at the same time managing the cost and sustainability of the materials we use,” says Leon Yong, marketing general manager. “Working with the resourceful functions of Linocraft, clients take a shorter time to get products onto the shelves. This gives them the competitive market advantage over other brand owners who have had to recall products or suffer sales failure from bad packaging.”

In the next decade, Linocraft expects the market impact of packaging to evolve further. As the consumer experience becomes more interactive, with consumers and brands engaging on a personalised level, so will packaging encompass technology and design work towards protecting and enclosing products for storage, shipping and sales.

“The global marketplace is evolving so rapidly and constantly being transformed and reinforced by new technologies that drastically shape fresh perspectives,” Tan says.

“It is of foremost importance to constantly upgrade technological and manufacturing processes, invent business models and be the most creative in design and structural innovations. The future beholds in our hands – if we can’t do it, who can?”

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