International oral care leader with hundreds of SmileShops. Network of hundreds of affiliated registered dentists, orthodontists, and Partner Network offices in North America and thousands of Team Members across the globe.
Since its founding in 2014, SmileDirectClub has helped more than 1.8 million people transform their smiles through their pioneering telehealth platform for orthodontia.
SmileDirectClub believes everyone should have access to a smile they love.
Want to know more about SmileDirectClub? Click here.
Project Background: Impressions Kit
The Impression Kit is a business-critical print item. No kit, no business.
It represented the single biggest print spend amongst 60+ printed pieces. In addition, raw materials costs were spiralling and could not be controlled within SmileDirectClub’s purchasing environment.
As a mail carrier device for impression moulds, the impression kit serves as a key first point of contact that a consumer has with the SmileDirectClub brand.
Kit production specification at the time of the review:
Carton substrate. An expensive paper was printed and laminated to the inner side of the carton.
Additional printed piece, laminated to the outer of the carton substrate.
Matt laminate over the outer carton. This had a twofold purpose. A visual and tactile element to purvey a sense of quality. A practical element that protected the carton during its journey to the customer.
SmileDirectClub’s Challenge
How to reduce the kit cost without any detrimental impact on the brand or quality requirements for the kit.
The team set about to find a print management partner they could trust to:
Investigate alternate methods of production
Achieve costs savings without compromising brand integrity and quality
Ensure kit met the packing and mailing requirements
Improve production lead times
Agile Print Media Appointed as Print Management Partner
Top 4 reasons why SmileDirectClub appointed Agile Print Media:
Single point of contact customer service to save time and stop the worry
Project management plan which included a quality assurance process
Proven track record to create fit-for-purpose cost-effective print production specifications
Ability to achieve cost savings without compromising product quality and brand integrity
Solution
Agile revealed that cost savings could indeed be achieved whilst maintaining brand integrity and kit quality. The solution required a different approach to 3 aspects of the current kit production specification.
Elimination of printed sheet laminated to the inside substrate
Print directly to the inside substrate of the carton using a more cost-effective print technique
Exterior coating changed to a cost-effective, fit-for-purpose finish that provided the protection required for mailing and maintained brand integrity
Agile Advantage
Top 5 benefits reported by SmileDirectClub:
1. 15% cost saving:
New print production specification
2. Unit price:
Stopped the worry around unit price control of printed sheet laminated to the inside substrate
Removed the budget stress and worry
3. Improved production lead time by 1 week
4. Single point of contact:
Made life easy and stopped the worry
No longer needed to deal with multiple suppliers which saved time and worry
Freed up time to focus on other critical projects with impending deadlines
An extra team member but without the associated cost
5. Robust planning and quality assurance process:
Consistent kit quality that stood up to the rigours of the mailing journey to the consumer
