In the world of consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, and food and beverage, your packaging is more than a box or a label—it’s a regulatory document, a brand ambassador, and a competitive asset. Every element on your product’s label must be accurate, approved, and aligned with both marketing strategy and compliance requirements.
Yet, for many organizations, packaging artwork is still managed through disjointed systems—emails, spreadsheets, and disconnected teams. The result? Costly errors, missed deadlines, product recalls, and regulatory penalties.
That’s why it’s time to take control of your artworks—not with more meetings or manual checklists, but with Artwork Management Software designed to simplify, automate, and secure the entire packaging process.
Taking control of artwork means having complete visibility, traceability, and accountability over every step of your packaging artwork lifecycle—from creative brief to final print.
It’s about ensuring:
And most importantly, it's about speed and quality without sacrificing compliance.
Before diving into solutions, let’s explore some of the most common pain points:
Marketing, regulatory, legal, and design teams often work in silos. Mismatched files, outdated versions, or misinterpreted comments cause delays.
Proofing via email and hardcopy markup wastes time and increases the risk of missed errors.
Teams often work on outdated files or create duplicates, leading to confusion and inconsistency.
When regulations change frequently (especially in pharma or food), unmanaged artwork can lead to non-compliant packaging.
According to industry data, 60–70% of product recalls in pharma and CPG are due to packaging and labeling issues.
Modern Artwork Management Software (AMS) centralizes and automates the artwork process, offering a secure, collaborative environment with built-in compliance tools.
Here’s how it transforms the process:
All artwork files, templates, legal content, and design elements live in one secure location. No more searching through inboxes or shared drives.
Define custom workflows for different product lines or regions, ensuring the right people review and approve at the right time.
Internal and external stakeholders (agencies, printers, regulatory teams) can annotate, review, and approve in real-time on the same platform.
Track label regulations by country or market, link legal texts to specific SKUs, and maintain version-controlled audit trails.
Streamlined approvals, fewer rounds of revisions, and real-time tracking reduce artwork cycle times by up to 50%.
While artwork control is important across industries, it is mission-critical in the following:
Packaging must meet FDA, EMA, and other regulatory guidelines. Every change must be documented, approved, and auditable.
High SKU volume and regional variations make consistency and speed vital to brand success.
Allergen declarations, nutritional values, and expiration dates must be updated accurately and quickly across labels.
As global markets expand, managing regional claims, ingredients, and artwork language variations becomes complex.
Ready to take control? Here’s how to implement artwork control practices across your organization:
Develop clear SOPs for artwork creation, revision, and approval. Use templates where possible.
Use a RACI matrix to define who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for each stage.
Implement a cloud-based artwork management platform that integrates with your ERP, PLM, and QMS.
Track metrics like:
Let software handle version control, deadline reminders, and routing logic. Focus your team’s energy on creativity and strategy.
Taking control of your artwork is no longer optional—it’s essential for brand integrity, regulatory compliance, and operational efficiency. Whether you're in pharma, food, cosmetics, or consumer goods, the benefits of streamlined artwork management ripple across your entire value chain.
Modern problems require modern solutions—and Artwork Management Software is the key to unlocking better speed, accuracy, and profitability in your packaging process.
