A checkpoint that requires validating a production-real comp of the pack, matched on the aspect being tooled, before committing to expensive molds or plates. It’s one question, not a new committee: have we held the real version of what we’re about to tool, and does it clear the bar?

Changes before tooling are inexpensive; changes after mean re-cutting tools, schedule slips, and possibly a missed launch. The comp is the least expensive place in the system to be wrong, and tooling is the first place a mistake gets expensive, so the gate sits exactly on that line.

It adds a day or two up front and removes the risk of weeks lost to a re-tool. On balance it protects the timeline rather than threatening it. Skipping it is the move that actually risks the launch date.

About 62% of package redesigns fail to lift sales (Designalytics). The gate is a structured moment to confirm the direction is genuinely better before tooling makes it permanent, which is when it becomes expensive to reverse.