GHENT, Belgium—Esko announced a major new release of its packaging management solution, WebCenter. WebCenter 18 streamlines and speeds up the packaging development workflow by delivering extra features that give brand owners and converters more control and visibility of their packaging preproduction specification, approval and project life cycle, according to Esko.
When CMO Council asked packaging professionals how long it takes to make a packaging change, they reported that changes take an average of about 198 days. Marketing leaders think it takes 90 days or less, but consumers don’t understand why packaging changes and other physical media can’t be made in one day, according to an article on chiefmartec.com. WebCenter 18 helps its users to get much closer to that one-day ideal, reports Esko.
Esko’s WebCenter is meant to help brand owners manage packaging pre-production specifications and project life cycles, enabling them to engage with the consumer by giving them more control and visibility of the entire packaging design project.
The review and approval process with WebCenter has been improved, enabling more visibility into project status and reviewer input, according to Esko. With WebCenter 18, brand owners can now understand the root causes of any bottlenecks, as it now captures the reasons for rejection and the number of approval iterations, allowing for ongoing process improvement. It can also automatically involve the right stakeholder after a rejection, speeding up the revision process.
What’s more, reviewers can now analyze the product exactly as it would be on the shelf. This can improve the accuracy of the review feedback and further reduce approval times and number of iterations. The 3D packaging models can then also be used to clearly communicate internally, but also to populate and market with retailers and consumers online.
WebCenter 18.0 content management now includes built-in and custom templates, so users efficiently comply with regulations such as nutrition fact tables and over-the-counter drug facts. The graphic content management functionality allows brand owners to centralize artwork data, and merging it into templates, including the logging of symbols, logos and barcodes, as well as packaging copy and graphics. These elements must be perfect for branding and regulatory compliance, and this process completely removes manual processes that lead to mistakes. Translations within and outside of the system can be managed systematically as well.
The new WebCenter is meant to give converters an edge by including exactly those new features that give them valuable insights into their processes. Capturing data around the number of approval iterations and the reasons for rejections are only two examples of how WebCenter 18 uncovers bottlenecks and root causes of delays in the process, according to Esko. These insights provide a basis for continuous improvement of the processes to further speed up turnaround times.
WebCenter 18 also comes with a social media-like instant messaging function, which can be utilized inside the context of a specific project. All communication is therefore stored inside the project for full traceability and transparency. This further streamlines communication between stakeholders and results in a greater reduction of errors and increased efficiency, according to Esko.
Even more exciting, reviewers now review the product exactly as it would be on the shelf. This 3D review process significantly reduces approval time and iterations and lets converters catch more errors, reports Esko. This also provides unique differentiator to brand owner customers, allowing them to really “see” the proposed packaging.
The “QuickStart” versions of WebCenter are available to allow organizations to implement the tool in less than five days with proven and expert workflows ready to use. This way the “QuickStart” versions deliver instant benefits in project management, data management, the approval process and data automation.
“Packaging is an ever more important part of almost all consumer goods, from food to electronics, and it plays an even greater role as consumer awareness and demand increases. WebCenter is already the leading packaging management platform used by Fortune 500 companies that are active in the CPG and pharma industries, as well as converters and packaging printers. The feedback from our early users has been overwhelmingly positive. With this new version, Esko has the most powerful solution that ties the entire supply chain together,” says Udo Panenka, president of Esko.
WebCenter 18 is now available. Every new system will have the new version installed upon release. Existing customers will be updated following customers’ request—this to ensure they can prepare for internal training and rollout.
To have a closer look at the entire portfolio of WebCenter 18.0: WebCenter 18 for brands here. WebCenter 18 for converters here.