A demonstration of accelerated packaging update workflows has been made by Esko and its partner TraceGains at the former’s Esko World event in New Orleans, showing how brands can quickly respond to changing consumer, regulatory and market demands.
“The Big Easy” project brought together AI and integrated production workflows such as Esko’s packaging and artwork management solutions to deliver updated, redesigned packaging and labelling for a fictional product with a new ingredient added in just 48 hours. The companies said the project “demonstrated how a connected ‘Source-to-Shelf’ approach can dramatically accelerate product and packaging updates”.
“For many brands, compliance will extend beyond packaging design alone,” said Paul Bradley, senior director of Product Marketing at TraceGains. “Changes to pack formats, material choices, product claims and ingredient declarations may trigger broader reformulation and packaging update projects, placing additional pressure on teams already managing complex portfolios.
“Regulatory change has always been a catalyst for innovation, but it can also expose inefficiencies in disconnected processes. As organisations prepare for requirements such as PPWR, they need the ability to assess impacts quickly, update product and packaging information accurately, and execute those changes across multiple markets without introducing additional risk. By linking product data, compliance information, packaging content and production workflows, a Source-to-Shelf approach helps organisations adapt faster while maintaining confidence in every pack they produce.”
Jan De Roeck, marketing director at Esko said the partnership with TraceGains was about eliminating siloes, simplifying complexity and accelerating innovation. He said: “The real value of Source-to-Shelf comes when product data, packaging content and production workflows operate as one ecosystem, enabling brands to execute change at a speed that simply wasn’t possible before. This wasn’t a simulation or a theoretical use case. We connected people, processes, data and technology to solve a realistic business challenge in real time.”
