GHENT, BELGIUM—Matthews International’s subsidiary SGK, a leading global brand development, activation and deployment company, has chosen its partner for the future. HYBRID Software and its CLOUDFLOW workflow solution will be used by SGK facilities worldwide.
Earlier this year, SGK installed more than 400 seats of HYBRID’s PACKZ PDF editor in their production facilities while performing an extensive pilot program, code-named “Shockwave,” which tested PROOFSCOPE and CLOUDFLOW for live automated production in selected facilities in North America, Europe and Asia. After more than 12 months of dedicated effort by SGK and HYBRID, the pilot program was a huge success, and PROOFSCOPE and CLOUDFLOW have now been deployed for live production worldwide.
According to Joe Bartolacci, CEO of Matthews International, SGK’s search for a new workflow partner began two years ago at drupa 2016.
“Major brands and CPGs have been asking for faster turnaround, greater accuracy and global real-time visibility utilizing native PDF formats to help them manage their brands around the world. We knew that only SGK had the global scale to deliver this solution. Cloud-based infrastructure for workflow and file management systems was essential to our solution but not available off the shelf from any other industry partners.
“We began searching for a software company that would become a long-term partner with SGK, able to tightly integrate with the power of our new SAP system and our new end-to-end Service Delivery Platform, which will accelerate speed to market and improve efficiency at all levels of the packaging supply chain. We found this partner in HYBRID Software. We are now able to seamlessly manage our clients’ packaging workflow from our desktops to any printer in the world, giving our clients complete reliability and improved speed to market.”
Guido Van der Schueren, chairman of HYBRID Software, says, “This project was the largest that HYBRID has ever undertaken. It required a tremendous commitment of resources from both SGK and HYBRID as well as a shared vision. SGK set a high bar for speed and quality that CLOUDFLOW was able to achieve because our development team received valuable insights from SGK throughout the process. This was not simply about replacing old software with new software. We needed the product to deliver a greater level of manufacturing automation and productivity across all SGK facilities. Together, we’re ready to lead the next wave of automated packaging production.”