Centralized artwork management keeps approved content controlled, current, and production-ready
Teams can approve packaging artwork while relying on email and shared project files to determine which version is current. A supplier or co-packer may receive a copy that no longer reflects the brand's latest decision, carrying the version problem into production.
Artwork management gives the brand one process for moving a project from its brief to an approved print-ready file, while supplier labeling covers the stage when an outside partner uses approved content in production. Brands can keep the stages connected by distinguishing the artwork decision from the labeling activity performed by the supplier.
Product packaging communicates many things from your company's image and corporate values to brand, product, and safety information. And with more pressure than ever to consistently bring new products to market ahead of your competition, packaging has a direct impact on your bottom line. The problem is you're managing hundreds of packaging projects, each with countless variations all at the same time. To manage the complex packaging artwork and approval process as part of a new product development process, companies have traditionally used email and spreadsheets.
But this time consuming manual approach is inefficient, leading to excessive revisions, lack of collaboration and limited version control. The result? Errors, process bottlenecks, lack of compliance and worst of all, delayed time to market, which is why forward thinking companies are automating their packaging artwork processes with software designed to allow them to collaborate efficiently between internal departments, local offices, and supply chain partners, while making it clear who needs to do what and when. Loftware offers a digital platform for artwork management that lowers cost, eliminates mistakes, improves collaboration, and reduces time to market.
By automating critical paths with real time intelligent workflows, you can clearly identify projects which are behind schedule or at risk of running late. Loftware empowers you to manage content from multiple sources, oversee digital assets, simplify global translations, maintain compliance, and manage packaging artwork more effectively. If you don't have a comprehensive packaging artwork strategy, it's time to get one. And the right artwork management solution starts with the right partner.
With five thousand customers, a global presence, and over thirty years of industry experience, Loftware is the only company that helps you address all your artwork management and enterprise labeling needs. Contact Loftware today to get started.
Artwork management covers the creation and approval of packaging artwork, including the copy and assets it contains. A managed workflow keeps the brief and proof connected with reviewer comments, and the approval history for the production file.
Artwork management and label management support different stages. Brand teams use artwork management to establish the approved graphics and fixed copy for a package. Manufacturing teams use label management to produce barcodes and variable information drawn from business systems. Approved artwork may become an input to the package or label produced during manufacturing.
Teams lose track of artwork status when project records sit across separate systems and spend time reconstructing whether a file awaits review or has reached approval.
An incomplete brief can send the studio back information before meaningful artwork creation begins. During review, the artwork team may know that a proof was sent, but colleagues responsible for a launch cannot see which review remains pending.
Teams create another version problem when they re-key or re-translate copy approved during an earlier project. Brand managers cannot use a fragmented history as a dependable record when logos, dielines, and approved files remain scattered across internal systems and supplier folders.
Loftware Artwork brings the artwork lifecycle into one configurable workflow from the brief to the print-ready file. Teams can see project status throughout review and identify which decision is pending without reconstructing progress from separate messages.
Reviewers can annotate and compare artwork versions through online proofing without specialist software. Loftware Artwork keeps their comments with the proof under review, giving the studio a clearer basis for revision than feedback gathered from separate attachments.
Loftware Artwork provides a centralized library for approved phrases, translations, and digital assets. Teams can reuse authorized content without re-keying or re-translating it for each project. A time-stamped audit trail records the user and action associated with each workflow step, creating an approval history for the released file.
Loftware Artwork provides live reporting and integrates with SAP and Oracle. Configurable reports show project status, cycle times, and bottlenecks, while master-data integrations reduce manual re-keying between business systems and artwork.
Loftware Artwork establishes the approved artwork asset inside the brand's process, while Loftware Connect gives partners access to approved, current label templates and data through shared workspaces outside the brand's facilities. Each product supports a different stage between artwork approval and supplier production.
A supplier that prints a label for the manufacturer can use Loftware Connect to access the approved template and data from the brand without working from a local copy. The supplier prints the label onto the goods before shipment, so receiving sees the information the manufacturer defined for the inbound item.
The brand can publish a labeling change to connected partners in one action and view which suppliers have adopted the current version. A single audit trail records published content and partner activity after the artwork team establishes the approved content.
Supplier participation requires workspace access and a change in process. The organization introducing the program acts as an anchor tenant and needs enough purchasing influence or authority to establish the labeling standard with its suppliers.
The commercial relationship affects how the manufacturer manages the change. Manufacturers may need different rollout approaches across supplier groups because each process and commercial relationship creates different adoption conditions.
Supplier programs that span many partners or regions may require more change-management support than the manufacturer can provide alone. Global systems integrators can help organizations communicate the change and manage supplier participation during such a rollout.
After onboarding, supplier managers face a new adoption task whenever approved content changes. In a file-based workflow, each revised copy prompts supplier outreach to confirm that local templates match the approved version.
Loftware Connect's publish-once model gives the manufacturer a live view of adoption after a labeling change. Supplier managers can focus follow-up on partners that have not adopted the current version.
The network audit trail gives the manufacturer a record of published content and partner activity. If a question arises about a supplier-printed label, the brand can review the labeling record connected with that partner along with the original file transfer.
Supplier Label Compliance explains the operating costs and compliance exposure associated with labels printed beyond the manufacturer's facilities.
What is the difference between artwork management and label management?Artwork management covers the creation and approval of packaging artwork up to the print-ready asset, while label management governs barcodes and variable data produced during manufacturing. Approved artwork can become an input to the label or package produced at that stage. |
Which artwork management problems does Loftware address?Loftware Artwork replaces artwork status spread across email and shared project files with one configurable workflow that supports online proofing and centralized phrase and asset libraries. It records a time-stamped audit trail and provides live reporting, plus integrations with SAP and Oracle. |
How do Loftware Artwork and Loftware Connect support different stages of production?Loftware Artwork manages packaging artwork from the brief through approval of the print-ready asset. Loftware Connect gives suppliers access to approved label templates and data for production outside the manufacturer’s facilities. |
How does a manufacturer manage supplier adoption?Supplier adoption requires a change-management plan and enough commercial influence to establish the new process with partners. Programs that span many suppliers or regions may involve a systems integrator that helps the manufacturer communicate the change and manage supplier participation. |
How does Loftware Connect handle a revised label?Loftware Connect lets the manufacturer distribute revised label content through one publication and see which partners adopt the current version. Partners work from the manufacturer’s approved template and data, with no local copy to maintain. |
