Did you know that our Founder, Dr. Andrew Hurley, is a Professor of Packaging Science with over 16 years of experience at Clemson University?
Recently, he wrote in Packaging World discussing how his students come up with cost estimates during their packaging design competition that takes place during the spring semester.
Dr Hurley stated:
If there are ten teams in the class, this is generally what happens:
Three teams will be unable to deliver anything but a random guess. While some will stumble upon accurate predictions, others come up with mind-boggling calculations using numbers from goodness-knows-where.
Three teams will review the cost of similar products on Uline to approximate the costs of their projects.
Three teams will find similar stock packaging and determine the cost-weight ratio or cost-volume ratio and multiply to arrive at their final figure.
One team (usually the team struggling the most with their design) will act like a buyer, calling a supplier and convincing a kind salesperson to deliver a quote. Many of these teams have learned to divide and conquer, with each calling a different supplier, resulting in multiple quotes. It's an impressive boost for their morale and smiles abound on presentation day.
Students perspectives immediately change (for the most part) when they see how much their design costs. This is when they really learn what the "I" means in ROI, especially those who create complex designs or octagonal cartons.
Read the full publication here: https://www.packworld.com/home/article/21614985/clemson-packaging-students-prepare-budget-estimates
Learn More About Packaging Design
Here at the Packaging School, we have a collection of online packaging design courses designed by packaging professionals for packaging professionals!
Our suite of packaging design courses include:
We also have a collection of packaging design videos on our YouTube channel, including our most popular video to date—How Package Design Affects Sales.