Today’s food and beverage manufacturers are navigating a challenging spot. Not only is the industry increasingly competitive and fast-paced, it is also being reshaped by global supply chain disruptions, food price inflation and regulatory changes. But not enough companies operating in this space recognize the vital role of packaging to mitigate these challenges. It is high time that organizations reevaluate their packaging and Artwork Management systems by leveraging recent digital transformations to future-proof their business operations.

The need to prioritize packaging
Driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies are currently running digital transformation programs that include moving core business applications to the cloud. Despite this, packaging is often overlooked and not always considered as part of this process.

Many manufacturers continue to rely on antiquated manual systems to edit and update their packaging artwork. Manual processes, such as emailing PDFs and FTP file drops, are time consuming, result in disjointed collaboration, and allow greater room for costly errors, all of which delay time to market. Of nearly 1,000 professionals from 55 countries across all major industries surveyed by Loftware, 88% think having an automated workflow and approval processes for labeling and packaging artwork would shorten time to market.

It’s not too late
To avoid the headache of mislabeling, failing to achieve compliance, and having to issue costly recalls, food and beverage manufacturers must focus their attention on how they can better manage their product artwork packaging. One solution in today’s unpredictable market is the adoption of  a cloud-based Artwork Management solution that can be integrated into product packaging workflows and managed across global enterprises. Fortunately for companies yet to upgrade, cloud technology is fast and easy to deploy with a low upfront cost.

Improving agility
The ever-evolving regulatory demands of the food and beverage industry requires manufacturers to adapt quickly. The importance of agility is becoming increasingly apparent in order to stay compliant with changing regulations. Artwork Management solutions centralize digital assets making it easier to draw from sources of truth for label data, allowing food and beverage companies to dynamically change and update label templates and content as needed to comply with regulation.

Crucially, the centralization of digital assets also makes the proofing process more accurate. This effectively protects brand reputation by not only preventing hazards to human health but also reducing the number of product recalls issued due to non-compliant packaging.

Increasing efficiency
By centralizing digital assets, cloud-based Artwork Management solutions eliminate the pain that comes with managing volumes of spreadsheets, excessive review cycles, and input from dozens of stakeholders. This significantly reduces time drains for food and beverage companies, especially when you consider that up to 33% of a graphic department’s time has traditionally been spent searching for the correct and necessary assets to begin work. It also allows for greater collaboration between remote team members and external stakeholders. Slashing the time dedicated to coordinating, reviewing, and approving packaging artwork, reducing the time taken to get food and beverage products to shelves.

Adapting to e-commerce
The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the shift to online shopping, which in turn brought a renewed focus on labeling and packaging. As the public continues to move away from traditional retail and purchasing from brick-and-mortar establishments, manufacturers must pay more attention to labeling to accommodate increased packing and shipping.

Food and beverage products need functional labels for product identification, warehousing, order management, shipping, and inventory to ease supply chain logistics. Customer-facing labels are equally important because packaging influences purchasing decisions.

The right label and packaging artwork can strengthen brand identity, improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, and reduce potential delays. This is particularly important within the food and beverage sector, where sell-by-dates restrict product shelf lives.

An easy step to future-proofing your business
It’s clear that adopting a centralized cloud-based Artwork Management solution aids compliance, optimizes labor, breaks down silos, reduces overheads, and gets products to market quicker. When you consider the challenges facing food and beverage manufacturers today, it becomes clear that adopting a cloud-based Artwork Management solution is critical to business success. 

About the author: Troy Walker brings over 20 years of experience in the global packaging and technology sector to his role as Global Artwork & Packaging Solutions Executive at Loftware. Before joining Loftware, Walker spent over 10 years in senior management positions with two ground-breaking SaaS startups in the packaging and Artwork Management space. Over that time, he has gained extensive industry expertise, working with clients such as Eli Lilly, Estee Lauder, Costco Wholesale, Chevron, Microsoft, Bacardi Global Brands, Beam Suntory, Kroger, Loblaws, J&J Ethicon, Premier Nutrition, Heineken USA, and Hain Celestial, to name a few. At Loftware, Walker enjoys helping brands, retailers, and pharmaceutical organizations increase the efficiency of their product and packaging lifecycle processes with Smartflow, Loftware’s label and artwork management solution.