Jay Sperry is the Director of Graphics Commercialization with Packaging Technology Integrated Solutions (PTIS), is a division of HAVI Global Solutions (HGS) – a privately held HAVI Group company. Sperry is responsible for strategy development, tactical implementation, business integration, and team development for the Graphic Services team. 

Sperry was instrumental in developing the current graphic management team through discovery and implementation of technology platforms, commercializing the proprietary ColorSentry print management solution, industry benchmarking, training, and staff management. Known as an innovator, sounding board, and realist, Sperry is skilled in taking complex technical knowledge and models and communicating those through interactive techniques and methods to diverse audiences of practitioners and business leaders.

So Jay, tell us about yourself.

My interest in graphics and printing really began in high school. I earned a degree in graphic arts and printing from Appalachian State University. After college, I accepted a job at a printing company where I worked with operators and print technicians, and ran a printing press. Gaining early hands-on experience and regular interaction with stakeholders helped me see the big picture—from creative intent to finished package— and launched my career in problem solving. I returned to school to complete a graduate program in graphic communications and, after working as a package print consultant and print industry trainer at Clemson University, I joined HAVI Global Solutions.

Are print standards for packaging meeting expectations? Are they better, more effective?

Print capabilities in the packaging space have improved substantially in the last three to five years as we have seen greater ability to provide highly decorative, advanced graphics on challenging packaging substrates. Expanded gamut printing (expanding the range of color beyond conventional four-color process printing) is a great example of a technological advance in the industry that is enabling printers to standardize their presses with a base set of components. The result is a less complex, more cost effective approach for printers and potential savings that can be shared with the brands. More importantly, the end product is higher quality.

Why does it take so long to approve artwork?

If all the decision makers and designers could be in the same room at the same time with the right materials and equipment for every project and every graphic, it wouldn’t take very long at all—but that’s not a realistic scenario. With packaging artwork there are several stages along the print supply chain and many cycles of approvals—including environmental, legal and nutritional approvals—depending on the project.

How can you, and your team, help shorten the approvals process or at least make it more efficient?

Understanding how the print system works and how creative will be transformed in the final packaging, knowing what to expect, planning accordingly and designing with the end in mind, will reduce costs and shorten the approvals process. We know the right questions to ask and anticipate challenges. We know different substrates and equipment capabilities and have workflows in place to manage all of these elements so brands aren’t making costly changes at the last minute that slow production. We also have a technology platform to manage approvals and enable real-time collaboration, as if everyone really were in the same room. Having real-time print reproduction data via our technology platform enables rapid decision-making and continuous improvement for managing expectations.

You can view Jay’s webinar ‘Managing Color in Complex Packaging Supply Chains‘ on demand by clicking here.

Puneet is responsible for JDA’s solution, sales and marketing strategy for asset-intensive manufacturing industries, including semiconductor, automotive, metals, energy, chemicals and oil.

1. Why did you decide to do a webinar with Business Review Webinars?

With the limited time that business people have today and the very relevant audience it was an easy decision to make!

2. What are you looking forward to explaining to the audience?

Leading manufacturing supply chains exhibit some common traits that result in superior performance.  We call these traits the core tenets of high performance supply chains: Customer-centricity, segmentation, business-agility, synchronisation and optimisation.  Over the course of this webinar, we will delve into these core tenets in adequate level of detail, provide examples from real companies and hear directly from a leading practitioner in the high tech industry at SanDisk Corporation who helped make these tenets a reality for his company, earning SanDisk Gartner’s Supply Chainnovator Award in 2014.

3. What is the ideal outcome you would like from doing the webinar?

Our desire is for supply chain practitioners to learn what it truly takes for supply chains to operate at a high level of performance, in all business conditions.  We hope that webinar participants will be able to learn from the experiences of other companies such as SanDisk Corporation that have traveled this path before them and then apply some of this learning to their own supply chain operations.

4. What is the most interesting thing you’ve done within your current role?

I have helped growing companies turn their supply chains into sustainable competitive advantage, watching some of them, such as SanDisk Corporation, grow fifteen-fold in annual revenues over a 10 year span.

5. What motivates you?

For more than two decades that I have worked in manufacturing and supply chain management, helping make a positive difference has been my biggest motivator.  Tremendous opportunities remain in supply chains for further improvement.

Puneet and his colleague Hans-Georg Kaltenbrunner,VP Industry Strategy, EMEA will be presenting their webinar ‘The Core Tenets of High Performance Supply Chains‘ on the 3rd September at 3pm London time. Register now.